Basically it was a terrible week. The first two days were okay but then I was distracted by the review. More trouble came in the form of computer hell. Internet Explorer and other things on my Start menu stopped working. Here is a secret about me. It’s not thrilling. It’s a character flaw. When something goes wrong with my computer I can’t let go until I fix it. I think of nothing else. I wish I was this obsessive about writing.
I tried calling you know who and the annoying customer service woman told me I’d have to pay. Oh, no. So I looked for a program that might help me. Found one. It didn’t help that, but I got back my system sounds, which I’d lost about a month ago. The good news is that my computer problem didn’t affect my Word program so I can continue writing. Well, I guess it’s good news. If it had affected my writing program I would’ve had to get a new computer (this is the way I think) and then it would’ve taken me days to transfer and install stuff. No writing. Actually I’m glad that didn’t happen because I have no time to waste with this book.
On Friday Mr. Cooper did something I didn’t expect and would never have thought he was capable of doing. So now I’m not exactly in a hole, but I’m not sure where I’m going next. I don’t like that feeling. And, yes, I’m still glad I don’t have an outline.
Did you know one is now told in their contract how many words you have to have? In this first draft I’m going to come up short so that I’ll have to make it up in the rewrite. This disturbs me because I never want to put in filler. I’ve spent my whole career learning how to write lean and mean. And I think I’ve accomplished that now. But if I have to get to the right word count by adding unnecessary words it will make me unhappy. This trend to get writers to make their books bigger is terrible, I think. When my agent was negotiating my contract she (at my request) got the publisher to come down in the count by 15 thousand words.
Once again I dread Monday. As for the computer problem I’ve learned that I can live with it. When the book is finished I will get a new computer because it’s my reward. You have to give yourself rewards. I know, the finishing of the book is a reward in itself along with an acceptance and the next payment. Too bad. I want a new computer.
7 comments:
I 100% vote for the satisfaction of a new computer. Just gave a custom built desktop to myself for Christmas and have been cheering ever since. Next comes the notebook. :)
I am a computer expert... but when I write, I use a Macintosh. I could probably fix any Windoze problems I have in a just a few minutes but it would break my writing flow... so when I started on my second manuscript, I bought a Powerbook and never looked back.
It's strange that the publisher would pressure you to make your book longer. I would rather have a book be too short than too long. Too long is death for a mystery or thriller.
When I'm deciding what book to read next for possible review, I'm much more likely to choose a shorter book than a longer one, all else being equal. Time is nearly always a factor, and I'm frequently reading on deadline, so a shorter book has that much more to recommend it.
I will almost never read a book that is substantially longer than 400 pages, unless I'm already familiar with the author or have some other particular reason to give it a try. Nearly always, the book is padded out and drags.
I wasn't asked to make my book one of those fat padded things. I was given a word count, which surprised me as I'd never had that happen before. The word count I ended up with was 80,000. I don't think anyone who reads it will feel that there are too many words.
My contracts all say 80,000, too, but my publisher has never held me to that... or anything close to it. Typically, my Diagnosis Murder books come in between 60-68,000 words. And no matter how many words I write, the books are always the same number of pages...they just adjust the size of the type. My last book should have come bundled with an electron microscope.
I have the solution to your IE woes...the Firefox Browser. Built in pop up blockers, for one thing. But the best thing about it is "tabbed" browsing. You can select for a new page to open, not in a new window, but in a "tab" with a little file-tab marker at the top of the screen. So you can swtich back and forth between pages. Very useful for blogging and posting on message boards.
But it does sound like your computer is getting to that point where stuff is tangled up way down in the guts of the operating system, with bits of old programs mysteriously interfering with new, with unpredictable results. At that point, a new one is the only answer. At least that's what I tell my wife :-)
I'm using Firefox now. But it won't allow me to do a few things I want to do. Also not being able to use the other parts of my computer like control panel, etc. is very annoying. Still, I have to wait to do anything about it until I finish this book. Thanks for the support.
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