April Camp NaNoWriMo is coming to an end. My goal for this adventure was to complete as least 15000 words of Doctor Jack (30-35K words). Camp is useful that way – I can write new stories, revise, edit – whatever. But how to record the rewrites?
The official camp information quotes one hour of rewrites equals 1000 words. By this reckoning, I have written over 50000 words! In truth (to date), I have rewritten two short stories (total 7000 words) and over 26000 of my novella. I felt more comfortable with my assessment.
As of 28th April, my word count is 33792 – double my original goal. I am very happy with that.
What does this really mean?
This months camp has left me wondering a few things:
1. Do I write too slowly? I have only achieved half of NaNo’s suggested word count for the number of hours I have actually toiled away on my computer.
2. Am I comfortable with the whole ‘write the entire draft first then rewrite everything’? Not really; Okay, I admit the first draft outlined the entire story of Doctor Jack. It was the first time I have attempted this method (often recommended in writing books etc). Honestly, it made rewriting a more onerous task for me. I admit it did make it a lot easier to rewrite background story changes – but at what cost?
I confess I find the whole rewriting and editing gig less stressful when I write one or two chapters, then rewrite. Write. Rewrite. Next section. Repeat. I completely understand that this will most likely mean that more time is needed on final rewrites – in changing background information, changing characters or editing plot points. On my head be it.
3. Is all of this because I ended up with a much shorter deadline than expected (I lost almost a month due to family issue, dying pets and poor health)? Was it because I felt out of my depth with such a large unedited word count hanging over my head? It was almost claustrophobic.
My main ‘take home’ from this entire process has been: If I think I need one month for rewrites, I will schedule two (or maybe three?).
So two days to go. 7352 (or thereabouts) words left to rewrite and edit. Then Doctor Jack is ready for the final (hopefully) proofreading. Then to cross my fingers and hope that the postal service doesn’t screw up and take too much longer than expected. Book launch here I come!
