As an introvert I try to get the point across in as few words as possible. That doesn’t do much for my word count.
My third book is getting close to 70,000 words. That is amazing.
My first book I had to struggle, slave, and take long cuts to make it to 50,000 words. I needed 50,000 words to call it a novel. I ignored repeats, excessive descriptions and other bad writing tropes to get it to 50K words. And if you have ever seen my writing you know I will repeat words, groups of words and the character’s name over and over again, often in the same sentence. It comes naturally to me.
During the latest re-edit of the third book I am cutting words, redundancies left and right. I’m also cutting cliches, but I don’t think I’m making much of a dent in them. Still the word count is going up. I must be doing something right.
They tell writers, again and again, that you have to kill your darlings. Do you know what that does to my word count? Doing that could turn my novel into a short story. And it hurts, and not just my word count. It’s hurts so bad. I don’t know where the darlings come from, but they sound so good and the words that replace them sound so flat. I want my darlings. But I warn you, they bred, like crickets, and sound about as bad.
Recipe of the week
Bacon Egg Foo Young
What means breakfast more than bacon. Egg Foo Young is eaten for breakfast in China. This fusion recipe makes for a great omelet or burrito.
Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 Pound bean sprouts (a small hand full) course chopped
1 or 2 green onions chopped
1/2 cup of bell pepper (or 1/4 of bell pepper) chopped
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 strips of turkey bacon chopped
Directions:
- Add eggs to bowl, beat. Add bean sprouts, green onions, bell pepper, and soy sauce to bowl. Mix well.
- In a skillet cook bacon a little. Add egg mixture. Cook till eggs brown on bottom and fill over. Cook till done.
You can add to mixture, before cooking;
Brown Onions
Mushrooms
Garlic
Ginger
Sesame oil
Stay strong, write on, and have a good breakfast. Your writing depends on it.
Professor Hyram Voltage