Mind The Gap

In my previous post I waxed poetically about #1k1hr and the amazing things this meme & writing schedule has done for Sprit Hackers. I have been getting writing done and making real progress in this WIP. Surprisingly, I've made some friends along the way via Twitter and this hashtag. That's been fun too since Becca and I did a session at the same time and then bragged our progress to each other when 60 minutes were up.

All these thoughts of writing and the schedule that I've put in place brought me to the scary task of seeing my writing progress on this book since I've started. Now it's no secret that I've written on and off for a while as priorities have changed and while I've worked on non-writing projects. The surprising thing I found when reviewing my writing stints are the amount of gaps in my writing. If I had just kept going at even a slow pace, this book would be long done!

I am 2-days shy of the re-written draft of Spirit Hackers being TWO YEARS OLD! That's right. Chapter 1 in my rewrite was created on September 22, 2008. September and October were good for the book since I got 7 chapters written but then HOLY MOLY!! Chapter 8's creation date is August 12, 2009! I took a year off. Wow. There are 2-3 month gaps from then on, spanning chapter 8 through 20.

Then.... then I began my writing schedule and the world became my oyster. The 21st chapter of my WIP was created on August 4 of this year and I haven't looked back. I've written 17,000 words and I'm mid-way though the 29th chapter. Now of course I'm still a ways off from my goal of 80k but I think it's incredible that I can have such large gaps in this book's creation to then come back with a fierce energy to get it done. My output has impressed me and all I can hope now is that it gets me to place I want more than anything: your bookshelf.