Today, around midnight, I just had this urge to escape reality and jump into my novel. That, so far, has proven to be the most effective way to escape the strange sense of procrastination that keeps me from writing when I can. I stopped caring about sleep and just dove in. Now, I’m 717 words in, and the story is progressing very nicely. Yay!
Also, I decided to change the font from Courier New to Times New Roman. The idea was that I’d write the novel in the format of the manuscript that I’d actually send out to get published, and the publishers I’ve submitted too all have Courier as the required font. However, from talking with some of the members of the writing group in last week’s meeting, and also with Locke (the leading editor of The Leading Edge), I figure it’s better to write in Times New Roman. This is because 1) it’s easier to read, 2) TLE prefers Times New Roman, and 3) some of the writing group members (Xen!) really have a thing against Courier new. So meh. It reduces my page count from about 170 to about 130, but I can handle the blow to my ego.
Thank goodness we got an extra hour of sleep this weekend! I can tell you I’ve already spent it!
I personally avoid writing in “manuscript format,” including double spacing things. The reason is that if it doesn’t look final, then it doesn’t feel final, and my first drafts are never final.
Interesting. I’ve never really looked at my story and said “this looks final,” but I can see how you could think that. I guess with me, it makes me think “man, maybe I actually CAN submit this someday!” and that’s a motivator. Plus, the double spacing is easier on my eyes.