When I first heard about nanowrimo.org's project for getting writers to compose a 50,000 word novel in a single month, I thought it would be impossible. My longest work had barely reached 40,000, and that was after working on it for a year (and consequently scrapping the whole thing).
But after reading the website and seeing how many people actually accomplished their goals, I worked it out that reaching 50,000 words in a month meant writing 1667 words a day. Piece of cake. So instead of waiting until November when the website holds their competition, I decided to start right away with the month of January (call it a new year's resolution). Some days I wrote far more than my goal, some days I couldn't get to it at all - but on January 31st, my last day, I had only 600 words to go.
I liken a first draft to a globule of clay: you want to create a beautiful sculpture, so you first build the armature (the outline/notes), then you cover the whole thing in clay in the generic shape you eventually want it to be in (the first draft). By then, it doesn't look like what you want it to be - definitely not something you want to show to anyone else! But then you edit out the clumps that don't do anything for the story, and you gently and painstakingly sculpt everything that remains into your final product.
My stories go through a "test audience" before I start sending it for publication (usually on my 3rd draft - then I polish it once more after they read it and incorporate any good ideas they give me). Anyone interested in being a test subject for this latest one, let me know.
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