Wordcount Wednesday

You know, it's been so long since I've posted an actual wordcount for one of these, I've almost forgotten how it's done.

Kidding, of course. But as I said last week, I finally started my downward spiral into the world of Failstate, a YA superhero novel. I wish I could report that I've made a lot of progress, but I haven't, not nearly as much as I'd like. Part of that is pressure from the "real world." Part of that is laziness on my part (combined with being distracted by our new Wii Fit Plus and the Sims 3: World Adventures).

But a lot of that had to do with my greatest arch-enemy: the blank page.

I hate blank pages. So much pressure to fill them and do so in a way that's good. And it's even worse when the blank page is the first of a new book.

Maybe I'm the only person who faces this tyrant with such fear and trepidation. I've kind of set a goal for myself to always try to have a great first line or a good first scene that really hooks the reader. I mean, we only have so many words before someone would put a book down, right?

Well, with Failstate, I had a problem with the first line. I couldn't think of a good one. I finally had to throw a weak one on the page and start writing. But because the first line was so lackluster, I didn't feel good about the two or three pages I pieced together.

Then, one evening, a better first line came to me. And it helped. The better first line led to a stronger opening, which led to a fun little scene, which led to more fun...

I'm not done with the first chapter yet (close, but my bed is calling to me with its siren-song), and I'm a little worried about that. I'm on page 13 and I was hoping to have the first chapter be 15 pages or less so I could have an easy entry for ACFW's Genesis Contest. Oh well, maybe I'll lose some bloat when I rewrite the chapter in a few weeks.

Anyway, on to the report. As of right now, I have put 3,234 words on the page. Not too shabby for about half a week's work.

But I know it could have been better. So please, feel free to leave somewhat disparaging remarks for me. I could use the motivation.