Wow, this was a big one. And hard earned at that.
I honestly didn’t think I would make it. Well, let me rephrase…I set a deadline for myself and spent all day on the deadline date working towards this word count. I didn’t think I would reach it but in a last spurt of writing inspiration, I chugged on past my 30,000 word goal. And then Downton Abbey was on and so it was a whirl of celebrating in an English accent.
There was a big difference to me in the effort it took to reach this extra 10,000 words compared to the first 20K. Maybe it is just my strategy of writing where I like to write out all the big scenes that came to me when I started really outlining the story and plot. Most of those scenes made up my first 20,000 words. However, getting into the next 10K, I had to start tying those scenes together and filling in the blanks. I felt like I was putting a puzzle together and the pieces kept getting smaller and more intricate.
I have talked to a few people who say they write from start to finish and that helps to relieve this issue; however, that never seems to work for me. Maybe it is because I never really have a 100% clear vision of my novel before I begin. I have the concept and I plan out as much as I can within a few days but I like to just jump right into it even if I don’t know all the details yet. I am worried, though, that each extra 10K of words is going to be that much harder… I sure hope not because this set was tough enough!
Thirty thousand words to me feels like an approximate half way point and that excites me beyond words (even thirty thousand of them). I know that my novel could likely go over the average 60,000 words, but at least I know I am halfway to average. I have never been halfway on any book and I have to say I am very proud of myself. For the first time, I feel like I am really work towards a goal that is dear to my heart and that I truly believe in. I am hesitant to give it wings and really let it fly in fear that it might be shot down by future piles of rejected query letters, but that is a worry for another day. Today is a win in my writing book and I am looking forward to many more.
Bring it on, 40K!
J.A. Ward Writes 
I ALWAYS jump in before I have the entire thing planned. And then I have to go back and change things. But it’s more fun that way! Because your characters lead the story – and they’ll come up with things that you didn’t think of. Well done on reaching 30k!!
This is all very true and I think I will probably stick with my current process as it is working for me now that I am forcing myself to finish. I really tried to go as far as I could from start to finish but roadblocks started coming up and in order to avoid totally stopping the “writing” part of the process, I just moved on to other scenes that I had already thought out as big moments later on to keep the flow and inspiration at full charge. Glad to know there are others who take the longer but more scenic route 🙂