A Novel Idea (Day 0)
I’M DOING THIS. I’ve had enough time to ponder and dream. And now it’s time to get to work and write my first novel. Scratch that. Now it’s time to finish my first novel. But before I can finish it, I have to start it. And I have. I’ve written just over 1500 words in what is shaping up to be Chapter 1. Tonight I’m sitting down with Wendy and finishing my outline and tomorrow, Saturday May 1, 2010, I will work towards churning out an average of a thousand words a day for the next 90 days. I wish I could say that this is going to be one of the biggest creative challenges I’ve ever undertaken—and in some ways it is—but I’ve been known to work well under pressure. As a matter of fact, my last “major” literary work, “A Balmy August Wednesday,” a collection of five short stories, was written in just under three weeks with a total word count of about 23,000 words; or about a thousand words a day…
My novel is called “Smithdown Road,” and tells the fictional story about the Beatles’ “real” last album…and the secret that George Harrison took with him to the grave.
I’m going to briefly chronicle my daily writing activity here and though I won’t necessarily be commenting directly on detailed information about the novel’s argument, I will try and document the challenges—and successes—that I encounter over the next 90 days.
Finally, for those who might be looking for a new way to increase productivity and/or improve your focus, I’m going to be using the “Pomodoro Technique” throughout the writing of this book and will record my thoughts and opinions about the technique here as well.
