Flying Fingers

Oh, don't I wish?

Each month, my writers group offers a BIAW challenge. For those who aren't "in the know", BIAW means Book In A Week. No, we don't really strive to write a whole book in one 7 day period, but we do try to make headway--even if that headway is only a page or two a day.

Switch gears for a moment:
When I'm on a contracted deadline, I've found that cutting my goal down to bite-sized pieces is the only way to get it done. If I don't do that, just the thought of writing 160 pages in a couple of months can leave me wordless. Imagine that!

The first thing I do after I hear "we want to buy the book" is to sit down and map out a writing schedule. I have to take into account the time of year. While summer is great for some people, it isn't my time to get a lot of writing done. The g-kids are out of school. (Bless teachers and school!) When school is in session, there's the dropping off and picking up to contend with, but it's the same every day, five days a week, so that makes it easier. And there are other things that will always interrupt, but most things can be worked around and time can be made up somehow.

I'm one of those people who, even on a short trip, must have a map handy to see my progression down the roads. It's the same with writing. I have more charts than a cartographer has maps. My charts are my maps. I know when I've hit the 30% finished, when I'm over half-way, what days I wrote and how much, both page and word count. Much of that in duplicate, if not triplicate. There's a name for that. Anal (as in analytical). I'm not like that at all in my everyday life. Not even a smidgeon. But it works with writing, which is why I am more than 2 weeks and 2 chapters ahead of schedule, and unless something comes along to bring me to a screeching halt, I'll gain even more speed--and pages and words--now that I've passed the 60% mark. It's all downhill from here, and I can almost see the light in the tunnel. I'm just hoping, as my friend Kathie D would say, that light isn't a train.

So if I should disappear for a few days and not make it here to blog (and whine and laugh and complain), it's because I'm reaching for that brass ring, that moment I can lean back in my chair and say, FINIS!

Which brings me back to WARA's BIAW. In spite of a gazillion interruptions and moments of absolutely writer's block, and aware that anything can happen, I set my goal for 30 pages. As of this moment, I'm close with 27, and that will be reached if not surpassed later tonight.

Flying Fingers? No, just determination to get ahead of the game and stay there, one word at a time. This is really a no-fly zone.