Do not. I repeat do not google image search the title. I warned you.
…
You didn’t listen.
How do you write 210,000 words in 100 days? Especially if you’ve never written fiction before. There is not much to it. No magic. You open up your calendar. You mark the times, block out four-hour intervals for writing, two-hour intervals for editing, one hour for revisiting notes and research. One hour for walking and clearing the plot point that just doesn’t stick. Plenty of time still left. No excuses.
Then you follow the schedule. You write when you said you’d write. Never wait for inspiration or the big idea. The big ideas hide somewhere between the tips of your fingers as they re-engage the keyboard one more night. I was never a morning person. In the morning you reread and edit. You wrote only 2,500 words after all. You edit them because as a Greek saying goes “the deeds of the night become the laughingstock of the dawn.” Somedays you have to revisit research so you skip a day and write 5,000 words the next. Never count the editing as writing, that’s cheating. You rest on the seventh day because “god” says so. You use the name god or goddess to refer to your personal trainer. Yoga. Walking. Walking is so important I’d have to write a separate post on that.
And more importantly: you turn a deaf ear to those who will not take you seriously. Which is about everybody. Because writing is serious business so you have to take yourself seriously, ignoring everyone else, especially those very close to you.
So you remember that verse from Pulp’s “I spy” song.
It may look to the untrained eye
I’m sitting on my arse all day
You can YouTube that. I’ll allow it. Come back in 5:55
Are you back? We’ll talk more tomorrow.
Come back for my next post: So what about those flesh-eating warts