I believe that it was a game developer who once said the following in relation to their upcoming release (the game, Master of Orion 3, was a terrible flop, incidentally):
“Aim for the stars, hit the trees. Aim for the trees, hit the ground.”
The point of that statement, of course, is that the greater our ambitions are, the greater our achievements are likely to be, even if they don’t match said ambitions. I find this a very pertinent statement in relation to my own writing, as it never does reach the heights I imagine for it. Nothing ever comes out quite as good as it is in our heads. Anyway, my aim for these holidays was to write 20,000 words on Yellowcake Springs in 10 days. I’m pulling the pin today at 13,000 words in 8 days (today would have been the ninth). Why? Why not push on through the pain barrier?
I am fond of quoting William’s Burroughs famous (at least to me) statement:
“Writing that you do when you don’t feel like writing ain’t worth shit.”
And I didn’t feel like it this morning. I stared at the blank page, I cast my eyes uneasily over my paltry notes (the writing had virtually outstripped the planning), and I said, ‘No.’ This is surely one of the most useful words in the English language.
So now I have slightly more than 51,000 words, weighing in at 184 pages of double spaced script. With any luck, I’ll be ready to write another 20,000 words (read: 13,000) in the term 3 holidays in October…
