loaded_march | Drive-By Metrics

I said Friday, and as it turns out, it's Friday ~~holy shit when did that happen, I lost two days, I thought it was still Hump Day~~ so here's the quick and dirty on the metrics for LM #11.

I've explained before that I work in sections, and that my sections are saved in different documents. These are equivalent to chapters. So I don't have a total word count because I'm not writing in Scrivener, which has a handy feature called Project Statistics, which I obsessively refresh whenever I'm in Scrivener.

But, no. Not this time. I'm writing in plain old Word. I could import the files, I suppose, but I'm too lazy. No Project Statistics for you.

However, I can give you a ballpark estimate. The chapter length varies from part to part, but in #11, the going average is around 5,000 words. Bearing in mind that once I get the ball rolling, the chapters get longer and longer, first by 500 words, then 1,000 words, and (what looks likely to be soon) 2,000 words, I'm going to be seriously underestimating the total word count by the end of this, but, hey, I don't think anyone will be complaining.

ANYWAY, yes, back to the word count. I have seven documents, so that puts me anywhere north of 35,000 and south of 40,000.

Unfortunately, I have no ETA. Remember when I said I sketched out the outline? That I had three pages, single-lined, double-sided of outline? Outlines are awesome. I totally respect anyone who puts work detailing outlines to follow so that they know what they're writing next. I am not one of those people. Outlining, for me, is a teasing lie. A filthy, misleading lie. I could look at that outline and think, "Yeah, I'll be done soon" and I'd be wrong.

Obviously this means I'm not following my own outline. I've gone off-roading, my GPS is down, my compass is in the rapids back there, my ATV ran out of gas, I'm in the middle of freaking nowhere, night is falling, there's an unseasonable cold snap on the way, but at least I have my trusty flashlight --

-- had my flashlight. The batteries seem to be dead. Yep. They're dead.

I'm not going to say I'm lost, because I'm not. My map might be a little soggy and a lot useless, but I know my way out of here, and it's somewhere... thataway *points wildly*.

(please send help)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

#swoooons# at wordcount! :)

Sadly, Icelandic rescue folk don't know how to rescue folks from forested areas (We have none... the joke goes "What do you do when you're lost in an Icelandic forest?"... Anwer: "You stand up."...) but if you were to find yourself wandering some tundra, a glacier, or find yourself lost at sea, shoot up one of those flares, or turn on your cellphone, and someone will come get you. :) (One shouldn't joke though, people die regularly out there, I'm sure you have the same in Canada...)

My understanding of outlines has always been that they're just to demonstrate that it's _possible_ to get from A to Z. Having one thus gives you the green light to go ahead and wander off, and perhaps (ok, almost certainly) find some other way. One that includes butterflies and rainbows, or in your case, probably explosions, heart-wrenching feels, and general awesomeness. Seems like you're doing just that... :)

Happy Exploring! :)

Haha, that is a cute joke :D

Where I grew up, I literally could not go for a walk 20 minutes in any direction without getting tangled up in the bush, and I'd wander for hours in the forest without a compass and always find my way home. My brother? Even with a compass, he always got lost. My parents never worried about me!

Outlines are... evil. That is all I want to say about them. They don't work for me! *pout*

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