This is Creepy, Signing Off!

For another summer-long hiatus:) That’s right. School is finally out, the kids are home free (which means my freedom is officially out the door:). Even though we’ve kicked off this summer with a crap load of rain and the defeat of the French and American soccer teams at the World Cup (booo!), there is still SO much to celebrate in the upcoming months.

My parents and two youngest siblings are flying over for a two-week visit, and arriving July 16^th. We’ll be celebrating my daughter Phoebe’s baptism on the 18^th and then heading down to the French Riviera for two weeks of camping on the Mediterranean coast.

And in mid-August, I’ll be heading back to the U.S. for a brief trip, for my best friend’s wedding, which I am extremely excited about!

I don’t plan on getting much writing done over the next two months, but you never know when inspiration may hit! I didn’t reach my goal of finishing a manuscript before July…but I’m okay with that.

I know I can write a book.

I’ve done it before, and I can do it again. But it feels almost like now isn’t my time, and I’m perfectly okay with that, too.

Sometimes you just have to let go and stop trying to force productivity for pride or ambition’s sake, and just be where you’re meant to be, doing what you’re meant to do, without judgment or fear.

In any case, here’s wishing all of you a beautiful summer! See you in September!

Katie Gets Philosophical

I’ve been on a spiritual journey these last few weeks. I think, at some point, many of us experience a period where we start to question our beliefs, who we are, and why we’re here. And lately that just happens to be where I’m at.

It started with yoga. I know I joke about a broadening of perspective that many people claim when they begin practicing, but in my case it’s true. I started to feel different. And I began to desire a closer relationship with something. Something big and important and imperative to human life and happiness.  (I am Catholic and I’ve always believed in God, but I wanted something beyond religion)

I began by reading The Secret. I’ve read it before, and while I believe in the Law of Attraction and thoughts creating our world, I still felt there was more to it than that. Something deeper.

Then came Positive Magic by Marion Weinstein, which has been on my kindle for a long time and I’ve read before, but never really ‘got’ it. Now, however, the messages were breaking through and this has become pretty much my go-to manual. Everything she has to say rings true for me,-- but while I felt and agreed with all of this on an intellectual level, the desire to feel it on a skin deep level remained.

Then our yoga book club started reading The Four Agreements. Even though this book didn’t have the same effect on me as Positive Magic, there was one thought, one idea that stuck with me and for which I’m so grateful. And it happened. I finally began to ‘feel’ what I’d been looking for.

This is going to sound trippy. Don’t be frightened. I’m still wearing shoes and haven’t purchased any white robes yet. No plane tickets for any deserts.

But the basic idea is--there is something inside me. A force, an energy. The universe is made up of it- like one, huge, perfect diamond. And each of us are shards of this diamond, smaller but equally perfect and equally priceless. And this piece of me, at my core- it is also in each of you. We are made of the same thing. When you can look at others and see that part of yourself staring and reflecting back, recognize the sameness in every living thing, and acknowledge it, well, you can’t help but love it as you love yourself. Because that is the force, the energy, or at least what we call it down here. It’s love.

Many people have said it in different words and different ways but only now have I really ‘felt’ it.

I think this force is positive and that is why we are constantly striving to be happy and joyful and grateful and see this life as a pursuit of happiness--, because those emotions are more closely aligned with where we came from.

But between positive and negative polarities, everything hangs in the balance. All life.

Without one or the other, there would be nothing. Therefore, we need the negative. The key is learning to appreciate it and be thankful it is there, helping hold everything in place, without letting it take hold of us, our thoughts or our lives. It is possible.

Whew! *sigh*

I think it’s time for some coffee.

Any of you ever had a spiritual awakening that threw you on your ass?

Fight for your Right to Party

Like the United States, France adheres to a strict separation of church and state.

Except, not really.

For instance, today is a national holiday. Why? Because it’s Pentecost weekend. And last week there was no school on Thursday… because it was the Ascension. The Monday after Easter is always a national holiday as well. 

If you ask a French person why these are national holidays, when technically, Catholic (not necessarily cultural) holidays aren’t supposed to be sited or celebrated by a government when there’s a true division of church and state, they just shrug. Doesn’t seem to matter much to them, as long as they get their long weekend. To be honest, it doesn’t really bother me, either. I figure, at least, the government is honest about the true nature of their holidays, and don’t try to cover it up by calling it something else or putting emphasis on a non-religious reason for the day off…

Minor Catholic/Pagan holidays are also celebrated in lesser degrees that aren’t official national holidays but are widely-known cultural traditions. Like the cutting of the ‘King’s Cake’ containing hidden figurines on the day of the Epiphany. The exchanging of ‘lily of the valley’ flowers on May 1^st. Or the Chandeleur when everyone makes and eats crepes. Then there’s Mardi Gras, of course,- a time to pig out or go drinking to get all your vices out before the beginning of Lent. Some of these are internationally celebrated holidays. Others are only celebrated in France or French provinces.

In deeper, more rural parts of France, there are carnivals and festivals and traditions that date back to before Catholicism even arrived. Bon fires, the throwing of fiery disks, lanterns, parades and masquerades, etc…rituals that managed to remain intact despite the passage of time. How do I know this? The national news covers them regularly, during their afternoon broadcasts dedicated to cultural heritage. And I have to say, it’s interesting stuff!

So, as bummed as I was yesterday, when I realized the kids had yet another day off school this week, I have to say I’m grateful to live in such a culturally and historically rich nation.

What are some of your favorite low-key holidays? I noticed an increasing excitement about May 5^th in the U.S. these last few years, even though I don’t remember celebrating cinco de mayo when I was younger because... we’re not Mexican, but what the heck… Sometimes any reasons a good reason to party:)

Yoga Me

Taking a little break from the usual to share one of my newest passions. Truth be told, whenever I thought of yoga, I pictured well-to-do real housewives holding stretchy poses while making weird ‘omm’ noises.

But, after four kids, my regular exercise routine just wasn’t doing it for me anymore and I had a lot of unresolved pain in my hips and back from all the baby-carrying. I started to research some of the benefits of yoga and saw just how strong and muscled yogis get from in-depth practice and though ‘why not?’ **Okay. This totally sounds like an infommercial. It’s not, I swear. **

I didn’t have time or money to invest in a studio and while I tried to find a decent at-home dvd yoga program on amazon, it was hard to know the best option for me and I didn’t want to waste my money on something I'd be dissapointed with.

And then I thought ‘Hey, Youtube taught me how to crochet monkey hats and make glasses out of Corona bottles…maybe it could teach me yoga, too.’

So, I started ‘shopping’ for a yoga coach on Youtube, clicking through all the 30-40 minute yoga classes. It took longer than you might expect.

First of all, I didn’t bother clicking on any headline I couldn’t pronounce, so that eliminated about half my options.

Then there were videos that featured someone bending backwards to touch their ankles or some other no-way-in-hell-asanna.

When I’d actually check out a video, I’d end up hitting the ‘next’ button after much of the following:

-Exotic or psychedelic music

-Gongs

-Swedish accents

-Irritating high-pitched voices

-Instructor so far away on their mountaintop, I can barely see what the hell they’re doing

-Diaper-wearing yogis

-Videos that began with ‘Today we’re going to work a willywankomalafidofatcha…sana’ in other words, the ‘pooping pose’.

No, but really. It took me some time, but I finally found an instructor whose videos were clear, professional and fun. If you guys have the time or interest, I sincerely suggest checking out Yoga With Adriene.

Over the last two months, I worked through her beginner classes and up to the intermediate strength & lengthen weight loss classes and now I’m currently on the third week of her REBOOT program.

My energy is up, I’ve lost all the baby weight leftover from Phoebe, and I swear, my body hasn’t been this lithe or fit since I was a teenager. But more than that- something unexpected happened as I started working the poses day-to-day; a deepening and broadening of perspective that I’d heard happens, but didn’t necessarily believe it would to me. I swear, it's taking every ounce of self-control not to start eating kale and researching chakras.

So, yes, all in all, yoga rocks and I’m totally hooked.

Besides writing, you guys have other passions that have become an integral part of your day to day? 

It's Been Awhile Since I Could Hold My Head Up High...

Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned. It has been seven weeks since my last pitiful post. I could blow off this newest impromptu hiatus by saying it was due to waiting out the end of A-Z, or that I’ve been too busy, but none of that would be true.

I have a confession to make, and this has been a long-time coming.

The truth is, my life in every other aspect is going just fine. My kids are healthy and happy. My husband’s doing great. I’ve been doing yoga, running, and preparing to find a job for September. All’s good.

Except for one thing.

That ‘other’ part of my life. The one I once held so dear, it could have drowned out everything else if I'd let it--That great thrill of creativity, words, and stories come to life and the thriving community that accompanied the process.

It’s time I stop beating around the bush and just state the truth about why I keep dropping off the face of the virtual planet:

I haven’t been around the blogosphere or the writing community much because I don’t like the way it makes me feel. (through no fault of its’ own)

I hadn’t realized it until now, or maybe I had, but just wasn’t ready to deal with it. But the truth is, I don’t think I’ve completely gotten over the deception that came with all those near-misses ages ago. I hate to admit it, but maybe I’m not as strong emotionally or psychologically as I once believed.  Sure, I talked a good game, but when it comes down to it, I’ve started and stopped four different projects in the last two years, some getting 30k along before I simply ‘lost interest’. I haven’t been able to make myself blog regularly or keep up with publishing, author, or industry news.

When it comes to writing, I'm sure it's partly because I’m afraid. Afraid of finishing a project and investing in it emotionally again. Afraid of putting it out there. And afraid of enduring the same feeling of failure and just-not-good-enoughedness that I had last time.

When it comes to the community, I still flip through my writerly facebook regularly, because I miss the connections and friends I made during my blogging hayday. I spend time ‘liking’ all the amazing things my writing friends are putting out there and experiencing, admiring how productive and accomplished they are.

But it’s only a matter of time before I turn to my own, empty status and realize I have absolutely nothing to offer. I’m not productive, inspired, or successful. I’m a hack. Total fraud. Undeserving of interest or praise.

That sinking, no-good feeling begins to spread. 

Which is why I quickly retreat back into myself and the other aspects of my life, and away from the writerly part, in a self-imposed exile that really affects no one but me; punishment for being so utterly unsuccessful, boring, and incapable. My solution? Complete and total avoidance of the problem.

Does it make sense? No.

But it is what it is. *shrugs*

I’m just tired of letting this feeling of failure keep me from a part of my life that I miss terribly. I think it’s time to put ‘er down. And I’m hoping that putting it out there will be the first step towards that. It’s easier to shoot an animal that’s out in the open, and all that jazz.

Anyways, I want to offer a heartfelt apology to all of my blogging friends for my absence. For being little and weak and cowardly and not facing my own crap sooner so that I could be here for all of you- have joy in your successes and offer encouragement through your obstacles. You can be sure this community has left its mark on my heart. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here. So here’s to taking back the reins.

You guys ever let negative emotions keep you from something you love? Any advice as to how to get over this feeling of failure that settles over me whenever I think about writing?

The Hills are Alive...

First of all, thank you so much to DL Hammons and everyone who participated in Wednesdays Blitz Bombardment. Even though I joined the Blitz team months ago, and try to participate now and then, I never realized just how much being Blitzed could completely change the course of someone’s day; how something so simple as leaving a blog comment could have such an impact, until it happened to me. I’m so glad DL came up with this, and thankful for the hundreds of you who take the time to comment and brighten up your fellow bloggers’ day. It’s just amazing. For those of you who want to know more about what it means to be ‘blitzed’ and would like participate, click here.

In other news, I finally broke 20k on my wip! And it only took me two and a half months! *sigh* It hasn’t helped matters that my one-year-old is cutting her back molars and thought she and I should celebrate by pulling a couple all-nighters last week, from which I’d only barely recovered before France ‘sprang forward’ with the rest of the world and I was forced to get up an hour earlier.

Chronic fatigue aside, I absolutely love this time of year. You know that bone-deep sensation before a big storm when the air feels alive and you can smell change on the horizon? That’s kind of like what Spring is for me, but on a larger, yet less dramatic scale. That smell of change in the air, the warmth, and all the deepening and brightening of landscape colors makes me want to twirl around like Julie Andrews and sing the ‘hills are alive, with the sound of music!’. Hopefully nature’s vibrance will give my muse the boost she needs to finish this damn manuscript before summer vacation.

Do you guys find you’re more or less productive during different seasons? 

If Your Characters Were Real..

It’s one thing to imagine my characters as real people, arguing with me over which way a manuscript should go. It’s another thing to see my characters living and breathing before my very eyes. Because I don’t usually base their appearance on actors or people in my life, so seeing someone who looks exactly like the person I’ve been writing about would freak me out.

It has kind of happened before, on some level—that I’ve crossed paths with people who held a striking resemblance to my imaginary creations. And in those cases, I’d stop, stare, maybe even take mental notes, and then, after further observation, realize they don’t look that much like my character after all.

But what if they not only looked the part, but acted the part? What would you do then? I suppose for some writers it might go a little something like this:

Do you guys tend to base characters on the real people around you? If so, is it weird watching those people live real life, all while orchestrating their fictional lives with a click of the keys?  Have you ever come face to face with someone who seemed to pop straight out of your imagination?

PS- posting next clip just for fun. Love these guys!

Scene Sudoku

I think many of us can agree that when writing a first draft, there are some scenes we’re more excited about than others: The scenes that inspired the story to begin with – The ones that hold a lot of tension or introduce our favorite character, have a shocking revelation or relationship game-changer. Scenes that are funny and full of life or have a setting you just want to wade around in and soak up for awhile.

Sometimes the perfect scene will just fall neatly into your lap; one that combines everything you love about the book, and preforms its allotted task. And other times you have to go at it from different angles before it fits into the fold like a missing piece of a puzzle.

My two least favorites scene situations are:

The ‘you know what needs to happen. You’re just not sure how it should happen’. These are the scenes you really have to think about. Brainstorm about. Because not only do they need to be functional but they also have to function; i.e.- they need to work with the story and not feel like they’re there mainly to get us where we need to go. It’s a complicated balance.

Then there’s the ‘you know how things need to happen, but you’re not sure how to make them important.’ These are the scenes that are in the consequential order of things, but lack function. They are there because they make sense and yet they don’t really add anything to the plot. So now you have to try and give them a purpose.

*sigh*

I’m currently about to enter one of the natural-order-of-things scenes and I think I’ve found a way to give it purpose by bumping up the introduction to a very important character. 

Needless to say, my brain hurts.

What are your Scene Sudoku methods? Do you write a ‘place holder’ so you can keep going until you come up with the perfect situation? Or does your word count come to a grinding halt until you’ve found ‘the scene’? Any other difficult scene situations you can think of?

When the Snow Won't Come to You...

You go to the snow! Or at least, that’s what I told myself when the family and I began our trek out to the Vosges Mountains, in eastern France last week. While the United States has gotten their fair share of snowfall this season, we poor folk over here in middle Europe haven’t had diddlysquat. Not a single flake!

So we decided to take a ski *ahem* vacation.

To be honest, very little skiing was actually done. Besides my husband, none of us have ever skied. The girls, however, had their first lesson with a professional instructor and we had a great time sledding and snowshoe hiking for the most part.

And yet, after all the non-skiing, my six-year-old Lucy still managed to come home with a cast when she twisted/broke her ankle walking (running) on the cobblestone streets (after the pigeons).

Our visit to Strasbourg was otherwise the highlight of our vacation- what a beautiful, peaceful, pleasant city! I officially want to live there.

And I suppose, in her own way, Lucy enjoyed it, too. She had been pretty high on life all day- running, skipping, and walking into things just for the hell of it (as featured in the photo below). 

And after she snapped her ankle, not only did she continue to walk around as though nothing was wrong, but she also tried to convince her father to climb the 330 steps up to the top of Strasbourg’s Notre Dame Cathedral! (he refused, thank goodness) 

It wasn’t until we were all seated in the car that I saw her ankle had swollen to twice its normal size. #parentfail

So here I am, back after a not-so-bad vacation, but also thankful that school is in session again and I’ll have a routine that involves a little more time to relax and work on my writing. It’s been slow going, with all of the interruptions but I’m hoping to hit the gas pedal and still finish this thing before summer vacation!

Have any of you ever broken a bone? Or had the trying task of keeping a crazy kid from hurting themselves?

Yer Crampin’ My Style, Kid

I can’t help but feel a little jipped this morning. It’s a Monday. And I’d usually have plenty of time to sit down and blog and work on my current manuscript on a day like today.

But I can kiss that ‘me’ time goodbye because my little angels are on another two-week vacation thanks to France’s six-weeks-on, two-weeks-off school schedule.

I said 'au revoir' to my peaceful morning the moment I awoke to blood-curdling screams because ‘Lucy’s bugging me!’ – this was the only real explanation I was given.

My middle child, Julie, then came in and informed me the baby had peed through her diaper and her crib was wet. Great. With eyes still closed, I grabbed a diaper and new onesie and pj’s and headed into their room. After stripping the baby down and changing her diaper and onesie, I realized everything was perfectly dry and I just changed her clothes for no goddam reason. Thank you, Julie.

I grabbed a much-needed cup of coffee and sat down to relax when Lucy, my six-year-old, came bounding up to me, hands, mouth and pants covered in white-out (which I told her about 2.5 seconds ago not to play with, all while needlessly changing the baby’s clothes).

“I don’t know what happened!”

Yes.

Her words.

She was really upset. So, naturally, I took a picture with my phone before rubbing her down with olive oil to help remove the white out. I finally sat back down to my (now cold) cup of coffee, looked out the window only to realize my oldest daughter, Lily, left her brand new coat outside in the back yard yesterday. And it had rained. Son of a…!

Out I went, bare foot, with barely a half cup of coffee in my system, to recuperate her soaking mess of a jacket and hang it up to dry, thinking there must be military camps out there with less physically and mentally stressful wake-up calls. And maybe I’ll go there. In any case, this is starting out to be another lovely, long vacation.

What irks me most isn’t even all the calamities that can happen within the first 15 minutes of any given morning. It’s that my writing was actually going really well pre-vacation. I’m nearing the 15k mark and becoming more and more addicted to the story and characters. So taking time out at this crucial point is hard.

But, hey. Guess this is one of those times where I have to remind myself ‘they’re only kids once!’ so best to try and enjoy our time together while I can:)

What’s been keeping you from your writing lately?

The Birthday Party

It has been decided by the fates that Wednesday blogposts just ain’t go’ happen. So, I guess Monday is my day! And what do you know? Here I am! On Monday. Writing a blogha. postah!

*ahem*

Okay, I’m more than a little off my game this morning. You see, my oldest daughter turned ten this weekend. Which marks a decade of parenting for the hubs and me. So, like any normal mother, I spent most of Saturday looking at photos of her (and our) evolution and sporadically bursting into tears.

There was no time to dwell on Sunday, however, because my big 10-year-old decided this year she wanted a party with all of her friends. And not one hosted at school, or our local indoor park, or a restaurant, or anything involving a couple of giant golden arches.

Nope.

She wanted a themed makeover party done the old fashion way.

At our house.

*insert the sigh that never ends*

There is a reason why I’ve never thrown a class birthday party at our personal dwelling before and some of you who have thrown such a party and lived to tell the tale may know exactly what I’m talking about.

It takes about 80x the preparation, brain power, physical energy, and clean-up that a public-place party does. There are decorations to buy and hang and blow up and hang and roll out and hang. There’s food, cupcake baking, activity planning, and gift bags to prepare. There are awkward phone calls and emails clarifying the theme, and appropriate gifts, and directions to the house. And let’s not forget the eventuality of jubilant, dancing, candy-crazed children doing the cancan while stomping chips into your living room carpet. Yes it was worth it. No, I won’t be repeating the experience for a long long while.

The way I feel this morning, it might as well have been an all-night keger. Emotional milestones + class party = one drained mama.

*yawn* I think it’s time for me to curl up on the couch with some coffee and zone out on guilty-pleasure CW shows...

How was your weekend everybody?

'You Look Older Than You Sound'

I was doing some thinking this weekend about ‘voice’ and how authors use it to capture and reflect the age, background, and perspective of their main characters throughout their stories. And I found myself wondering what aspects contribute most to a main character’s ‘voice’? Is it the vocabulary they employ? Their observations or opinions? Or simply the tonality and pacing of what is written?

When I was preparing this blogpost, one of the things that struck me most was how often an author mentions their MC’s age right there in the very first page. It makes sense, really, since it’s the fastest and easiest way to convey a mental image to the reader.

But what if they hadn’t mentioned age right away? What if there was no outside blurb, physical descriptions or indication of who’s telling the story and all we had to rely on was ‘voice’? Would we still have an accurate image of who’s telling the story? I’m curious. Below I’ve taken three different extracts from the first page of three fairly well-known books; each one written from the point of view of a different age group.

Based on voice alone, how old would you say each character is?

Example 1 - ‘Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amelie and Moulin Rouge. The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, although I have no idea what the function of either actually is. Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, and a lot of kings named Louis. I’m not sure what they did either, but I think it has something to do with the French Revolution, which has something to do with Bastille Day. The art museum is called the Louvre and it’s shaped like a pyramid and the Mona Lisa lives there along with that statue of the woman missing her arms. And there are cafés or bistros or whatever they call them on every other street corner.  And mimes. The food is supposed to be good, and the people drink a lot of wine and smoke a lot of cigarettes.’

Example 2- ‘It has not been the rip-roaring spectacular I fancied it would be, but neither have I burrowed with the gophers. I suppose it has most resembled a blue-chip stock; fairly stable, more ups than downs, and gradually trending upward over time.’

Example 3-‘We moved on the Tuesday before Labor day. I knew what the weather was like the second I got up. I knew because I caught my mother sniffing under her arms. She always does that when it’s hot and humid, to make sure her deodorant’s working.’

Did you get an impression of how old each narrator was? What aspects do you think contribute most to a character’s ‘voice’? 

(I'll include the answers to these in the comments section later on today :)

Blogger's Block

I love sitting down to write a blogpost whenever the inspiration strikes. When the inspiration doesn’t strike, however, it can get downright painful. Like this morning.

I knew Monday was coming for awhile. Because…well, yesterday was Sunday and the day before that was, well, you get the idea. *ahem*

So, anyways, I knew I had nothing new to blog about. But I still thought I’d give it a shot. To try and keep up with newly-set goals and all.

9:15 a.m. Paris time: *Katie sits down in front of the computer* I really need to write something for today. Now’s a good a time as any. Baby’s fed and playing peacefully. I’ve got coffee. Wait, no I don’t. Finished that cup. Should I have a second? Wait, that was my second. Would a third give me heart palpitations? Maybe I should Google it…

9:32 a.m.: *sits back down in front of computer. With coffee. And an egg, cheese and ham English muffin* Okay. It’s time to blog. Right! Good!

Huh.

Blog.

That’s a funny word. Blog.

Blooooog.

Blog.

You know what? I don’t like the way my mouth feels when I say it.

Blog. *shudders* Ew.

Blog. *shudders* Ew!

*sigh*

There aren’t a lot of words that start with ‘Bl’, are there? Let me think…Bleep. Bloated. Blasphemous. Blooper. Okay, I guess there are a lot, kind of.

Blight.

Wait, is blight a word? Or am I confusing it with ‘smite’? Maybe I should Google it…

9:45 a.m.: *sits back down in front of computer with newfound knowledge of what the word ‘blight’ means* Oh, look at that! The baby needs to be put down for a nap. I’ll just think of a blog topic while I’m in the shower. My imagination always perks up in the shower…

10:15 a.m.: *sits back down in front of computer* I’m ready! Wait. No. I still don’t have a topic. Geez! What the hell happened to all that shower-induced imagination? I guess I must have blown it all on my audition for the imaginary judges of The Voice.

Again.

*cringes*

Okay. I’m a writer. And as a writer, all I really need to do to write for this writer’s blog is to share what’s on my mind. As a writer. About writing.

...what is on. my. mind!

What is on my mind...

What the hell IS on my mind?!

Oh my god, this is hopeless!

Tell me, how do you guys find something relevant to blog about on a regular basis? After four years of covering everything from writing and querying to itchy noses and smelling melon butt, I think I’m just about plum out of ideas.

The Disciplined Writer

After last Monday’s post about being rusty when it comes to writing regularly, I’m proud to announce I finally chose which project I want to continue with and finish before summer, and I added a total of ten pages to it in the last week and a half. Strangely enough, it was the project I’d written the least on over the last year that held my attention.

I haven’t worked on it every day, like I’d hoped, but progress is being made and I have a pretty clear idea of where I’m going and what needs to be done so I’m feeling optimistic. And when I need a reminder of what my goals are- I have SA Larsen’s Writing Rebel’sCreed 2014 in my side bar to help me stay motivated:

It’s slow going, and I know I’m capable of writing a lot (a lot) faster than this when in the throws of a wip, but I’ll take what I can get.

How fast do you usually write your rough drafts? And what elements affect your pacing when you’re starting a new project?