Library Weekend

I spent yesterday afternoon and this afternoon in the library study carrel and feel so much better. I've finally broken through the 43,000-word ceiling that had me stymied for so long. Check the meter—I'm now 74% done! (Assuming no word currently in the draft will ever have to be edited out, ha ha.)

More than that, I've had a chance to read through the whole draft, which I'd been avoiding for ages. Reading one's own writing is so painful. But it has given me a sense of the whole that will help as I churn out the remaining 26%.

Speaking of churn out, my latest writing strategy is to write as parodically badly, and with academic clunkiness, as possible. That helps me avoid writers' block, and amuses me to boot. Warning: do not try this at home.*

* OK, maybe a warning label isn't necessary, but it does feel a bit dangerous. If you write badly, will your writing get stuck that way? But I think it's OK, as long as I go back and revise later. It's a variation of Anne LaMotte's philosophy of the "shitty first draft."