As soon as I poured my coffee this morning, I started another pot brewing. Today will be a two-cups-of-coffee day. I have no idea whether that will translate into good writing or not. I sort of suspect not, but it was COLD when I was walking my dogs. (Okay, cold is relative: it was cold for someone who’s lived in Florida for several years and never wears socks and doesn’t turn the air-conditioning on until the inside temperature hits the mid-80s. I tend to think anything below 70 is freezing. It was, at worst, in the mid-60s. So, you know, “cold.”)

I finished up yesterday with a 1200 word document. I could say, therefore, that I wrote about 600+ words, but actually, I think I wrote more like 1000. This week’s writing has been very typical of my progress. I started a chapter on Tuesday. Didn’t know where I was going with it, noodled around, dumped lots of words on the paper. Finished with under 500 that I thought would be in the final book. Wednesday, I thought about the scene, looked at what I’d written, added a little more. Yesterday, I ripped it all apart. Expanded parts. Added dialog. Got rid of repetitive actions. (Why do my characters need to nod so much? Why, why, why?) Moved phrases around, tweaked jokes*, kept writing, came up with a good idea that screwed everything up, fixed the screw up, polished some more and kept going. Yesterday’s 1200 words will definitely be in the final book, but they don’t have much in common with Wednesday’s final words. I definitely count the day as a win, and hope today can be as good. I’m so close to my ending, I’m starting to dawdle.

Today’s goal: 1000 good words (I’m raising my own stakes!)

*Tweaked jokes. So I’m in Rose’s POV. She’s the ghost of a girl who died in 1957, and notoriously fond of television. Long story but if you could only use one of these lines, which would you have chosen?

They were a perfect match. Like Bogart and Bacall. Grant and Bergman. Dean and Castiel.

or

She was sure of it, as sure as she was that the sun would rise in the morning, that blondes had more fun, and that Dean and Castiel were meant to be together.

Obviously, not everyone will get this joke. I figure that people who don’t will just move on (that’s what I do when authors make pop-culture references that I don’t understand) but for those who do (ahem, Lynda), which line would you have saved?