Writing Fast

I do this with every book . . . I decided that this is the ms I'll finish in less than six months. I set schedules. I make goals. I get up early. I keep track of my word count on a Post-It note. I-I-I! One of these days, I'll learn to say, "Okay, Lord. All in your good time."

The bottom line is that I need those last weeks to polish the story. I can get a ms written in, say, 4-1/2 months, but it won't be very good. I find the best parts of the story--the little things that make it thoughtful--during the second rewrite. Yep. The second rewrite. Not the first draft. Not the first rewrite. It's the third pass through a story where I find the images that really fit the characters.

I just polished a scene with a secondary character plucks a sunflower. It fits her perfectly. In the first draft, she didn't even notice the flower. Neither did I. I was thinking about other things. In the second, she looked at the grass. In this draft, she plucked the flower, twirled it and remembered dancing in Boston. Now she's homesick : )

It takes what it takes . . . For me, it's three drafts, one last read-through and then proofreading.

Back to it!