The screwed-up sleep patterns that are sometimes the price of shift work kicked in this morning. I'm on late shift today, but after the 3 previous early mornings, I wasn't able to stay awake later than 10:00 last night, which in turn meant that I was awake before 6:00 this morning, even though I didn't need to get up that early. At least I managed to make reasonably productive use of the extra time, in making a start on the new story. One page down, plenty to go, although I did do a little online research as well, finding a couple of web sites that will be useful for my purposes. I'm still quite enthusiastic about the prospects for this story, although whether I'll be able to maintain the commitment needed to get to on towards the 100,000 words that seems to be about par for the course for a novel remains to be seen.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
Hi there, Sammy
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you make me thankful that I don't do shift work. Though, as a natural "night owl", I can happily let my waking hours drift later and later in the day - if I didn't have to go to work, I might easily end up with a 25 or 26-hour sleep cycle.
I'm glad to hear you've started both writing and research. I wouldn't worry about a particular number of words: to my mind, the story will have a natural length, and it's just a case of whether your muse will sustain you until it's finished. Best of luck with it!
Take care
Mark
Hello Mark
ReplyDeleteInteresting you should mention a 25 hour sleep cycle - I'm sure I've read a report somewhere about some research that was done where volunteers were kept away from external daylight cues for a period of time and ended up on just such a sleep cycle after a few 'days'.
I think this new story has got enough life to become a novel, and you're quite right that it will probably find a natural length - I'm not setting myself a target of a specific number of words, more giving myself an idea of the sort of order of magnitude that constitutes a novel as opposed to a novella, or some other format. You're equally right in saying that my motivation is a big factor - as far as feedback goes, any would be warmly welcomed, if you or anyone else thinks what I'm writing is garbage, I'd consider the implications of that just as carefully as being told I was the great white hope of novels in the English language! The truth, I hope, will be intermediate, probably nearer to the former alternative than the latter, but, as ever, all I can do is my best. As I said, it will probably be a little while before anything appears, because I'd rather have a chapter or two in reserve in case inspiration wanes, or other priorities intervene, rather than putting everything out there immediately it's finished - apart from anything else, it will give me a chance to edit slightly earlier stuff in case the plot takes any unexpected turns, much better and more experienced writers than me having said that a novel doesn't always go where the author was originally planning for!
Love & best wishes
Sammy B