Approaching Infinity: Book Three
Word Count: 92,300
Since I am no so close to the end, I've done away with the goal. The final count will be what it will be, and it should be coming in the next few weeks. I know! I failed to have it done by today. Apologies.
But, actually, I'd like to talk a little about word count. There are lots of opinions about word count (though perhaps only among people with nothing better to talk about), which are mostly negative. Most people would say that a story is exactly long as it needs to be, which I will not contradict, but if you set out to tell "X" kind of story, having some framework, some realistic parameters, is rather helpful. It's a gauge. Also, since I write when I'm not at my full-time job, the running word count serves, once again, as a gauge. As a physical manifestation of my guilty conscience, it keeps me on task. It's not a quality gauge, per se, and it doesn't only go one way, but it can be a stark reminder of whether I've been lazy or productive. Even if the count goes down (temporarily) after a re-write, the exercise of writing the crap that came first was productive. Writer's block can slow anyone, but the only way I've found to overcome it is to write through it--as many times (badly before well) as is necessary. For me, to say the count goes up (or down) means only that the piece is that much closer to (or further from) completion.
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