'Thinking'

Hmm, yesterday I was sitting in front of the boobtube watching - you guessed it - FOOTBALL!!!! and realized that my last blog was on the first football Sunday of the year. Now, it's not like I only function on football Sundays but the last few weeks, it's been the highlight. Sick, huh.

I'm still trying to wrestle the community of characters into shape on RC. So in addition to eating something that didn't sit well with my stomach all week and pulling a muscle on the treadmill (I told you that would happen), I had to just grit my teeth and plow through all my notes, character sketches, prewritten scenes, to get organized.

I know where it's going, some high points, though I don't know where they'll end up - end of a chapter, end of the book, the second book... My plot is essentially character driven so if I understand my characters' past and present, their paranormal natures and abilites, I'll wing the rest.

In my notes, I came across four scenes that I'd meant to write, so over the weekend I wrote 4000k. God, it was good. Reminded me what I'm preparing to do - and research ain't it.

So what to call my thinking process? I mean it should have a name. It can't really be research when some aspects are totally fiction. Planning seems to involve plotting, and I don't do plotting. Inventing, procrastinating... Then, I remembered that Allison Brennan, a pantser, said she'd been planning her paranormal suspense series for eighteen months! Yowsa! That's a scary thought. But this was done while she was writing her other books and actually it took much longer than that. What did she call her process? Drum roll (bdddDDDDDrrp)

THINKING! (Duh, so much for grandiose terms.) She quoted Steven King who said if there's a simple word for it - use it. Great minds...

Yesterday I brainstormed some titles. A good working title helps me stay focused on the story's theme. Also, finally got everything organized into my Scrivener file. I can promise you it won't be 18 months before I get back into it, more like a month. My new goal is November 1st - the start of NaNoWriMo so I can use the momentum to write a bunch in November.

How many words do you average a day/week/month? How long does it take you to finish a rough draft? I seem to write around 900 words per sitting in sprints, 2500-3000 on good days so I think 1000 a day average would be safe for goal setting. That would be a rough draft in 3-4 months. I could live with that.

On another note, don't forget Castle starts tonight on ABC. And of course, Monday Night Football. (Saints won big time - again - but that's a subject for another blog.)