After many years of threatening to do so, I’ve decided to start 2018 and the Apartment Complex story by writing it longhand. Though I’ve done rough outtakes of various stories with paper and pen in the past, the last one I’d completed in this manner was The Phoenix Effect back in the late 90s.
I can usually write three to five handwritten pages in an hour. I don’t rightly remember how much that comes out to in terms of word count (as you can see above, I write pretty small compared to others), but last I remember, it would work out to about 300 to 500 words. And since I’ll be editing/revising as I transcribe it to Word at a slightly later time, that’ll add even more. So all told, I’m not gaining or losing word count, it’s just getting spread out differently.
[Yes, I still put a start timestamp (and whatever I happen to be listening to) in the left margin. No particular reason other than to keep track of my words and soundtrack. It’s been a habit of mine since the 80s.]
So how will this one be any different from the rough outtakes and incomplete stories? Well, for starters, I have this one almost fully outlined — yet another relatively new process for me, pantser that I usually am — so I don’t think I’ll be flailing as much as I normally would. It also makes me more mobile, and less susceptible to internet and musical distractions. And most importantly, I’m already dedicated to the story, having written outtakes on the 750 earlier in 2017. I’ve been looking forward to writing this one for a few months now.
Wish me luck!
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