Wednesday 20 January 2010

WIP Wednesday - When there were words

Oh my, I am the perfect definition of a struggling writer. The word factory seems to have sunk to my boots and it's in danger of seeping out through the soles. I'm a little fearful I'll never write and write and write again, but I'm sure normality will return soon. Here's a little about my current WIP...

Story Title: Daylight Filtered Through Bone
Draft: One
Word Count: A painful 1002 and counting
Days worked on so far: 6 - please do not calculate how many words a day that equals.
Time spent in the brewing stage: about 15 minutes (and herein may lie my problem)
Story Inspiration: The want to write something brilliant (erm...) for Clarkesworld, a picture of two homeless men and a picture of a stranded ship.

First Line: "Is it going to rain today?" Frank shivered within the threadbare weave of a tartan blanket.
Favourite Line: When the government reclaimed the land, they gave no thought to the dead things floating there.

In much brighter news, Gary McMahon has sold two novels to Angry Robot Books. Go bask in his glow.

19 comments:

Rabid Fox said...

You're not alone, Cate. I've had to scrap a draft that was not coming together at all, now trying to pull something together before submissions deadline.

Ah well, a thousand words is better than nothing. And good news for Gary too.

Cate Gardner said...

Gef, I keep reminding myself that everyone goes through these periods (me included), but I go into wide-eyed panic mode staring at the screen. I hope your words pull together majestically.

Jamie Eyberg said...

I like your favorite line. Something about dead things always catches my attention though.

Cate Gardner said...

Me too. Dead things that is.

Andrea Allison said...

You're doing better than I am. Haven't written a single word yet this year. Just can't hide the shame anymore.

Cate Gardner said...

There must be something in the air.

Aaron Polson said...

The government has a tendency to do silly things like that...

Cate Gardner said...

...Story making idiots. :D

Fox Lee said...

Silly government, they're only asking for trouble ; )

Josh Reynolds said...

Don't feel too bad. Great works of lit'ratewr take time, you know.

K.C. Shaw said...

I love that title. Of course, I always love your titles.

I definitely commiserate with you about the dry spell. I've got the same problem, and my title isn't as good. :)

Katey said...

I've written jack all week and it hurts. Trying to focus on this beta read I'm doing, which is some salve, but yeah. Times like these make me feel all wrong :/ I understand!

Love that favorite line, again :D

Alan W. Davidson said...

When you say 15 minutes in the brewing stage, I assume that it has nothing to do with beer (or wine).

Rich said...

You definitely have an eye for an interesting title. If I saw that on the contents page of an antho or magazine, it would have me flicking the pages to read it.

Maybe the slow down in productivity is just a sign of you moving into a higher level with writing. Extra critical and all that...

Cheers
Rich

Danielle Birch said...

Hopefully inspiration will hit soon and you'll be writing like a mad woman :)

Unknown said...

I've been away from all things writing in the past weeks and it has taken its toll. I can barely even blog ;). WIP looks great!

Cate Gardner said...

Natalie, I concur.

Josh, I 'preciate that.

Kate, what's up with January?

Katey, I repeat 'what's up with January?' Perhaps it's all the snow.

Alan, never assume.

Rich, that's it, I'm sure of it. Ahem...

Danielle, in my opinion, I'm already writing like a mad woman - tearing hair out, staring goggle eyed at the screen.

Jeremy, I've seen your twitter word counts. :/

Kimbra Kasch said...

Love to hear of other writer's victories. Go Gary!!!

Cate Gardner said...

Kim, it always adds a smile to the day.

Anon, so I believe and thus with regret, I delete you.