'We were on a break'

Just a quick update this week as time and I are on a break. It's been another good writing week - surprisingly so in the midst of so much stress *Puts small violin away to give you my word counts for the week*

Saturday 10th September 2016
748 words. Due to lack of time I could only write for 45 minutes but I had an absolute blast and loved every single 45 minutes of it.
Sunday 11th September 2016
1,137 words. I was a little out of it and a bit distracted so found it hard to concentrate on the page but all things considered, I was still very happy with what I had written. I am trying to remember that this is pretty much a first draft even though I have worked on this story for a long time and the only person who is forcing me to do it quickly is me. I need to remember that because sometimes it feels like I have an invisible contingent of people telling me in my ear 'WHEN'S IT GOING TO BE FINISHED?' - THERE IS NO ONE THERE GIRL, CHILL OUT.
Monday 12th September 2016
1,018 words.
Tuesday 13th September
1,158 words.
Wednesday 14th September
0 words. Today I decided not to write and I was ok with it. I could barely keep my eyes open so what is the point if I know I'm barely going to be able to string a sentence together and not do my best?
Thursday 15th September
1,196 words. I think it's safe to say that I made up for yesterday.
Friday 16th September
0 words. I have no time and I'm trying my best not to freak out and panic *throws laptop out the window*

This week my little draft hit 50,000 words. Not bad going considering what conditions I have been writing under. So far I think it's showing real promise and I am extremely excited to see where it's all going to go. There are some big changes happening in my life that are going to make the next few weeks hilariously busy and as a result I will be taking a break from blogging. I will be writing as much as possible but I think I need to step back when I can to avoid going into my default stress 'I'M A TERRIBLE WRITER' mode. I know for sure that I won't be writing for the next few days then I am forcing myself to take an entire week off from 26th September where I don't have to think about anything bar tall, dark, handsome men that I will read about in romance novels. FABULOUS.

Until next time.

I've had a bit of a shock

Something troubling has happened: I have found a Judith McNaught book that I don't like. I shall first show you a picture of the cover to soften the blow because it's so damn pretty...and goes with the rest of my collection so it ain't going anywhere. It tells the story of Ramon, a sexist, medallion-wearing, tyrant and Kate, our sweet gullible, racist heroine as they navigate the unnecessary dramas of their love story. I am a diehard Judith fan - her books got me through one of the hardest periods of my life when I was housebound with a really bad skin condition but this one almost feels as if it was written by someone else. Regardless, I shall not let it get to me and instead admire it from afar as it gathers dust on my bookshelf never to be touched again. In other news, it's been a great writing week so here are my word counts for the last seven days:

Saturday 3rd September 2016
924 words. I may have written hilariously early to fit everything in but nevertheless, I had a great time.
Sunday 4th September 2016
897 words.
Monday 5th September 2016
859 words. Within the hour I had to write I had a lot of disruptions and in turn felt I couldn't get into it as much but I was still very happy with what I wrote.
Tuesday 6th September 2016 
805 words. Today those nasty symptoms of self-doubt reared their ugly head but this time, not only did I tell myself to just ignore them, but I knew EXACTLY why I felt that way - I had once again put too much pressure on myself to fit in as many words as humanly possible into the hour allocated for writing and wrote at a time that was just plain silly. I have to say though, what I wrote wasn't that bad and a lot of the ideas and parts etc I actually really liked.
Wednesday 7th September 2016 
878 words. Back to normal. No self-doubt. No stopping me.
Thursday 8th September 2016
1,131 words. Great writing today.
Friday 9th September 2016
636 words. I didn't write for the full hour today as I have so much to fit in but it didn't take away from the fact that I had a BALL!

Lastly, I just want to include a link to one of my new favourite speeches EVER made by Kate Winslet at the Baftas this year. I couldn't have found it at a more appropriate time and it definitely helped me through a rather tough situation this week. The speech can be found here and prepared to feel empowered.

Until next time - I'm off to burn my bra.

A blog post with no name

It's week 3 of quite possibly the most healthy writing phase of my short writing life. I had a tiny dip in confidence that lasted all of 2 hours but apart from that, I have been not only excited to start writing each day but close to joy when I am actually doing it (ahem). I also read something wonderful this week that helped me a great deal. It was written by the fabulous author V.E. Schwab who among many others, wrote the FABULOUS novel Vicious. The piece talks about the battle it is to get through a first draft while dealing with feelings of extreme self-doubt. I have discussed many times on my blog my own feelings of self-doubt towards my writing and even though I have been in a good place recently, I know in the future I'll read this if those feelings rear their ugly head and not feel so alone. The article in question can be found here. I think I've already said enough so here are the numbers for my week in writing land:

Saturday 27th August
1,199 words.
Sunday 28th August 
994 very sleepy words. Due to tiredness, I wasn't as into it as I have been but I was still happy to just write.
Monday 29th August
1,139 words. I have been waking up the last few days immensely early to fit everything in and this morning I woke up at 6am so I could write first and get it out of the way. When I realised that is how I was looking at my writing, I knew I needed to wait until I had woken up properly to do it. At 3pm, I finally felt ready and ended up having one of the most exciting hours of writing EVER. I got so into it that the hour flew past in no time at all. Such a wonderful feeling.
Tuesday 30th August 2016
1,068 words.
Wednesday 31st August 2016
1,143 words. So very exciting.
Thursday 1st September 2016
703 words. It was strange this morning but I seemed to have trouble forming coherent sentences. Whatever disaster they turn out to be when I read them back in a few months though, I still enjoyed writing them and think even in their confused state, there will be things I can salvage from the wreckage.
Friday 2nd September 2016
923 words. A coherent and exciting hour of writing today.

My draft as it stands now is already nearly 39,000 words long and I'm not even halfway yet. I could be wrong but at the rate i'm going, it's looking likely it'll be a MASSIVE first draft. I am both excited and terrified at the prospect and look forward to reading my new Judith McNaught book later on today.

Until next time.