I’ve worked through a section of the cut-and-paste stuff I pulled in from Book 3 yesterday. I’ve written a lot of words. I’ve deleted a lot of words. I have a net gain of 59 words that does not reflect the amount of work I’ve done — but I already knew it wouldn’t.
Tomorrow will probably be a lot like today, because I’ll still be in this section, which is long, and which has a LOT of stuff that needs to be fixed and rethought, some stuff that needs to go, and some things that I’ll need to make up from scratch.
Working through moved text doesn’t have the fun to it of letting me be able to show my work.
But this was worth saving, I’m still getting there.
These sorts of days never feel quite as fun or fulfilling, since the Muse is less in the driver’s seat, and you’re spending time evaluating rather than coming up with a lot of new things.
Sometimes what can make me feel better is to go for a nice walk where I think about the story, and maybe come up with an idea or two that I can note down. That’s always a nice feeling. Or, if no new ideas are flowing, putting the story into your mind in a relaxed way and enjoying your perspective on it, can also be satisfying.
No joke. I was glad to get past that part, to figure out what stayed and what went. Today was more of that, but after yesterday’s evaluation of what the scene had to offer, it went much better.