Twenty Weeks?

Okay. I did it. I think.

I made an outline. I had to. I had to stop writing aimlessly. If I’m ever going to finish something (and by something I mean a book), I have to have an outline.

It’s like training for a marathon. I need a plan to follow. Sure, I may stray from the plan now and then, but if I didn’t have it, I’m pretty sure I would not be running 26.2 miles four weeks from now.

I mean, have you noticed I haven’t updated this site in a bit? Yeah, that’s because I strayed again because…well, I’m sure there are number of reasons, but really it’s because there’s no outline!

But now it’s done. A complete outline. Complete. Not half an outline like I usually do. This is all there.

Twenty chapters. It may change, but for now, it’s complete.

And I crunched some numbers, too. If I am looking at about 80,000 words for my memoir/creative non-fiction novel (think Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster* except instead of being about losing your job and reinventing yourself through a blog, it's about being a mom and reinventing yourself through running and a blog, but unfortunately, without all the witty comebacks because I suck at those, and with a lot of disgusting details about ginormous blisters and the places where a distance runner needs to put BodyGlide), then each chapter would be about 4,000 words.

Four thousand! That’s not bad at all. I probably have blog posts that long. (Seriously. Have you seen this? Or this?)

So, 4,000? I can do that. I know I can! I wonder how fast I can do it? Twenty weeks? Should I challenge myself? Sort of a KerNoWriWhoa! type of a deal. Hmmm, that might deserve a logo…

Wait! Focus. No logos. Just words.

*This book really inspired me. It made me realize that memoirs don’t have to be all sad and reflective. They can be funny and sad. Just kidding. Sort of.

Organization and Excuses

There were some great suggestions last time I asked how to organize my running memoir. I tried Liz's suggestion, but I'm not organized enough yet for separate documents. My outline is all over the document, as I try to figure out exactly what the hell I am doing. Maybe when I figure that out, I'll be able to create a solid outline.

Christina suggested headings, so I tried that today using the Bookmark Tool in Word. So far, I like this method because it's all in the same document and I can more easily keep track of my word count.

So finally, I have a total word count to share. It looks like I did a lot compared to last week, but I really only wrote maybe 500 words. It was a tough week. We got a puppy last weekend and T Junior has been sick for two weeks. This week it was a stomach virus and diaper rash. Plus, running and I've been busy at work.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of excuses.

Total Word Count as of 4/22/10:
Running Book: 11,521
Children's Truck Book: I'm not going to list this one for now; I'm not working on it.

Chaptersize

This week, I forced myself to sort of come up with some an overall theme and some chapters for my running memoir. And so I started a new Word doc for one chapter.

(By the way, it feels strange calling it a memoir. I'm not sure if that's what it is or not because sometimes I'm talking directly to the reader instead of just recalling stories. Know what I mean?)

Taking these actions was sort of an exercise in writing discipline for me. I'm calling it "chaptersizing." I had to stick to one subject and it had to have what resembles a beginning, middle and end.

Thinking of a whole book is overwhelming. But if you break it in to small, chewable bites, it seems less intimidating. Right?

Here's my word count for the week...I took advantage of T Junior's nap today to write. I had a hard time getting started, though. I'm sick and was not feeling inspired. In fact, not worthy to write about running. But that's another story.

The word count itself is getting hard to follow because I'm so disorganized. I need to spend some time merging some documents. I often write on my computer at work during my lunch hour, then send it home. Then, I've written in a different version of the same document at home.

Total Word Count as of 4/16/10:
Running Book: Not sure - at least 2,850 (yesterday and today)
Children's Truck Book: 0 hours or words :(