Monday, January 6, 2014

Getting whipped

About this time last year I was incredibly stuck. Stuck writing 250 wpm, stuck hating my WIP, and stuck thinking that I bit off more than I could chew. That's when a good friend told me to write the f&#*ing sentence. When I first talked about it I had just started to implement that advice. I managed to get to 300 wpm and was working on the rest. After a year of writing the f&#*ing sentence, the difference is astounding.

The most obvious change is that I'm now writing 500 wpm with bursts up to 600. I've more than doubled my output. That's pretty freaking awesome. Better yet, I no longer see ______ word count as being impossible. I know a few people who can write 1K an hour and while I'm not at that speed yet, I believe that I can -- that's a huge step right there.

Another huge step is that I can look at daunting scenes and say "I'm not sure I can pull it off but I'm going to try." and mean it. It took a good part of the year to get that through my thick skull. I still have the occasional "what was I thinking" moment but every time that happens I hear Lee's voice in my head and get back to work. In some ways he's kind of become my shoulder angel. Except instead of wielding a harp and kind word it's a whip and some tough love. That statement might be a little too revealing but that doesn't make it any less true.

This philosophy has bolstered my confidence so that I no longer feel like a newbie that can't do anything right. Instead I see myself as an up and coming writer with a lot of potential. If that's the result of getting whipped once perhaps it needs to happen more often?

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