WiP... Thursday: Just Write!

[Tried to post this yesterday, for WiP Wednesday, but Blogger was giving me major agita and I gave up. I know, no one likes a quitter, but I felt like I was about to smash something that probably cost more than I make in a month. Makes the above picture that much more appropriate, non?]


Last night I hit the 30K mark of my WiP (see an excerpt here). Go, me! I rule!

Oh, wait, I don't really. Thirty thousand words may sound like a lot, but when I realize it's taken me almost a month to write the last five thousand words, it's really nothing to be proud of. *hangs head in shame*

In my defense, the past month has been pretty busy. So many books came out that I wanted to read, and I have to admit I've been a little... distracted. I've learned that having an agent hasn't stopped me from compulsively checking my inbox after all. If anything, my palms are even sweatier than when I was querying. My breath catches every time I check my gmail in the hopes there might be some good news: that an editor loves my book. Obviously, it hasn't happened yet, and I'm about thiiiiis far from a freak-out of epic proportions. Good thing I live in New Orleans, where no one would notice.

Ugh. Submission is worse than querying. I never thought I'd say that, but it's true. It's enough to make me throw my laptop out the window or set it on fire. Or go all gansta on it á la Office Space.

But for a few hours last night, Finding Nemo on in the background (after I caught the beginning of this sweet documentary on t.v about the history of Pixar), I forgot about all that and wrote over 1500 words. And I thought of a new direction for the plot. No, there are no missing clown-fish involved, don't worry, but there's intrigue and danger, and magic... This story's going to kick ass, y'all!

That's when I realized that there's no excuse for not writing when I have the time to actually sit my butt in my chair and type. I know I'm not the first person to figure this out, and hell, it's not the first time I've had this same epiphany. But I'm adding it to my list of mantras for getting this first draft finished:

Butt in Chair = increased word count

Don't get it right, get it written.

Anyone else have a mantra they follow when drafting?

Anyone out there in editing/revision hell? What do you say to keep yourself motivated?