Draft 1 is now at about 85%, 119,496 words.

Writing progress as of 5th November 2018.

After a nice day off yesterday (Sunday) I’m back at it again today - and have had a few interesting ideas that would mean going back and changing quite a lot of the book so far. It’s not going to happen right now though, as that’d ruin the momentum. And my purpose with Draft 1 is simply to get to the end, and have a story to edit. Every idea I have now (no matter how large or small its impact on the story) is being noted down and I will come back to it during Draft 2.

The main reason I’m doing this is that Draft 0 started well, lost its way and then I went back to structure and outline it to make Draft 1. If I now go back again and change major features, it might take a few days or weeks and I’ll still be no nearer the end. This way, I can finish something and then go back and make all the changes I want to a finished draft. Imagine sculpting a lion from clay: it might be tempting to stop part way and fiddle with the feet again, maybe change it from sitting to standing, or rearing up, but if you never sculpt the head it’s not done. Finish your first attempt, then you gave a much better idea of how the whole thing should look.

At least, that’s my approach - and I’m sticking with it!

2,236 words are now in the draft that were not yesterday.

Draft 1 is now at about 85%, 119,496 words.