onwards and upwards

[erastes]

I have made a new word count chart for 2011. I'm ignoring the fact that I haven't actually finished my novel from last year and am concentrating on the word count. With 5k a week, all being well, that means 187,000 words. Think that's doable, and if I set myself 200k or 250k as I've seen others do, I simply won't do it. all being well being the operative term. Last year I had six weeks of near blindness, a week of Lili being ill and my novel being turned into indecipherable gobbledegook by Word.

What do you mean, how could I tell? *smites the back row*

As to WHAT I'm going to do—finish I Knew Him, which is already at 64,000 and has only really just started (waily waily) then write (or convert) Chiaroscuro for Carina – and I'm wondering actually if I can manage both at once, because they'll probably have their publishing schedule for 2011 filled up pretty soon, if not have done already…So I'd like to get it in to them as soon as possible.

When I first started writing—or at least when I had finished Standish, I was mildly panicky because I thought "What if I'm the sort of writer that only has one novel in them?" (this is ok if you are Harper Lee, because you can sit back and revel in international fame and pots of money, but Standish, as fond as I am of the book – ain't no Mockingbird!) But I needn't have worried I suppose. I've got more blooming ideas than I know what to deal with and I get about a new bunny every couple of months. Anyone who can do basic maths will see that if I'm writing only two books a year and I'm getting about six bunnies a year I'm in trouble…I have stuff I wanted to write 2 years ago and didn't. It's all very well getting hit with the inspiration to START writing, but there's no temporary OFF switch.

I often see writers blogging on the subject "people ask me where I get my ideas from" and I have to say I'm rather left out. No bugger has ever asked me that. LOL.

Eye clinic was boring, and they didn't do more than just test my eyes, very briefly. I'm seeing them again in 2 weeks, so I'll bring up my complaint I made before Christmas when I go back. For the record, Dad still has a bit of a temperature and the shivers, but after 2 days I don't think it's anything worse than a cold. Good