iSuck Redux

So Sunday was a miserable day, one of those days when I slammed smack into the wall of my own limitations and realized I was never going to be able to write this d@mn story. Majorly stuck in iSuck.

And then I awoke Monday morning to find I was riding another white hot writing streak that hasn't let go since. Odd, no?

Of course, I'm grateful! But puzzled a bit, too, and wonder if this is part of the process. I think it must be, hitting the bitter bottom, realizing that we suck, but we are so stubborn and obsessed and insane that we don't care and keep going anyway, even if only fueled by sheer determination. Eh, the mysteries of the writing life.

So the good news is I now have 55,000 words of a good solid draft--probably a 2nd or 3rd draft quality at this point. I also have another 25,000 words written. Unfortunately, I'm guessing only about half of those words are useable. The bad news? It's looking like this sucker could swell up to around the 120,000 word mark. I'm hoping not, but it's hard to tell at this point. I know that's borderline unacceptably long, so I'm guessing I'll have lots of choices to make when I go back in to trim it. ::sigh::

But that is why I haven't posted anything meaty in the last day or two. I am working on a post for tomorrow, though, about methods of revealing character and how to do so in a way that makes if feel as if there is a growth arc involved.