Writing at a snail's pace

This past week has been filled with writing activities … but you wouldn’t know it by looking at my novel’s word count.

Last week I managed to add 5000 words to my novel-in-progress, but this week I’ve added about 500.

I wrote the 500 words on Monday night. On Tuesday night I went to ballroom dancing after work, so no writing. On Wednesday, I worked all day, finalised my Book Week sessions after work, designed covers for Serenity Press’s novelette series, and fell asleep early.

On Thursday I recorded a radio podcast, drafted a new picture book, sent acceptance and rejection letters for Serenity Press’s next anthology… and did heaps of running around for Master 18 (six weeks and he can get his license!). On Friday, I ran five sessions at a local primary school, reaching close to 300 students in the day! And on Saturday, I rewrote, read out loud, rewrote and read out loud my new picture book about ten times over the afternoon.

Here’s the character sketch I drew for inspiration – his name’s Fergus:

I feel a bit like Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, who ate more and more as the week went on. Except for me, my writing-related tasks amped up as the week went on (and by Friday night I found myself in my bed-cocoon much earlier than usual). Does that mean my picture book will turn into a butterfly? My fingers are crossed.

As for my novel, I’ve had a break from it this week, but I’ll be back at the desk at 6am tomorrow. I’m a bit like a snail when it comes to my novel, but I’m hoping the ‘slow and steady wins the race’ adage will work in my favour.

And on the topic of snails … here’s a baby one I found in my garden: