Riding the Momentum

Our WIP historical fiction novel has been slow going. With all the research (both before and during), getting a handle on a new cast of characters, and finding our feet in a complex story both Sarah and I have been struggling to get words on the page.

We started writing the first chapters back in November, and only this week reached the 50,000-word mark. Usually, we would be much further ahead than this. In our teen fiction series we could pump out a chapter each every week and a half—about 3500 words. Up until now, at least for me it’s been taking a month to write a chapter in our new book. Twice as long.

I know writing a novel isn’t easy, but it has been demoralising and frustrating thinking about our slow progress, and toiling away in chapters where a good day’s writing is a paragraph at best. The past few months I’ve been hoping it will get easier. Maybe, once I got used to a new setting, new characters, and ironed out the details of life in ancient Greece, my writing would go smoother. Up until last month, it was all the same.

But, I think, during the month of April I finally turned a corner. I’ve written more than one chapter—a (whopping) almost 7000 words. It took me only two weeks to write my last chapter. I know it’s not that much, but it finally feels like I’m gaining some momentum back.  And with that comes motivation (which I have been lacking) and inspiration (which I have been searching for).

As I write this blog post, my mind is already churning with what is going to happen in my next chapter. I can’t wait to start writing it. Ride the momentum to the end of the book (hopefully). They say momentum is like a wave, catch it and it can help you to shore. I hope my momentum is a tidal wave, strong enough to pull both Sarah and I to the end of our book.

-A

PS If you look close enough in the picture at the top of this blog post, you might be able to spy my husband as the lone surfer.

I realise I haven’t posted a LabLife post in while. This has mostly been due to me having a wrist injury for a number of months which prevented me doing any lab work at all. Then, it was followed by lecturing, and preparing papers for publication. I have one upcoming (watch this space) and another that was recently made available online.

It features a number of students who I mentored, and I am very proud of the work they produced. If you want to check it out, click here.

Hopefully, next time I’ll have another paper to share with you so you can see exactly what I’ve been up to.

-A