I’ve been writing and writing and writing,
but I’ve also been deleting, deleting, deleting, so the novel’s wordcount has
hardly shifted. It’s gone up by about 2,500 words, whereas I could swear I’ve
written 10,000 new ones.
It means I’ve had to redefine what progress
looks like. My little progress bar over on the side is measuring scenes revised
rather than wordcount, so I can see I actually am moving forward, despite how
it feels. But I’m so used to wordcount as a measure of progress that the
feeling of running on the spot is very hard to shake.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch had an interesting
article about how the markers of success in the new world of self-publishing have shifted, but really, “shifting the
goalposts” is a pretty universal problem.
Like when you leave fulltime work for
fulltime mothering instead. You no longer measure your worth in successful
campaigns, reports written, satisfied clients, or whatever business-related
units you’re used to. Nobody gives you a promotion or a pay rise when your baby
starts solids, or begins sleeping through the night. You have to find new ways
of defining a good day or a bad day.
Or when you leave school. Or retire. Or
change careers, or relationships. Take up a new sport or hobby. Even find new
friends. Situations are always changing, and we have to adjust. No use complaining
“but I’ve always done it this way”.
And yet, we are creatures of habit. How
many times have I checked my wordcount after adding a whole new section, and
felt disappointed that it’s hardly gone up because of all the other words I’ve
ripped out? I can tell myself wordcount doesn’t matter till I’m blue in the
face; my inner child is too busy throwing tantrums in the corner to listen.
In short: editing painful, progress slow.
Guess I’ll just have to send my inner child to the naughty corner and get on
with it.
Wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment