My Greatest Enemy...

If there's one thing I struggle with when it comes to writing its Word counts. I always go over them. By hundreds, sometimes thousands of words!

Last year I entered the Emerald award. The cut-off was 130 000 words. My novel was 170 000. You should have seen my face. I didn't know if I could do it, but to be honest, it wasn't that hard to accomplish. Through refining and rewriting my manuscript, I accomplished it. It was weeks of hardwork but I did it.

Then came the next word count.

Most publishers don't accept contemporary romances over 100 000 words. It's not a massive issue for there are publishers out there that will accept my novel at its current length. But everyone needs to optimise their chances of being published. So I guess that will be my next project. It won't be easy and I always feel like I'm losing something, but I guess its a matter of prioritising.

Last year, I also intended to enter the Little Gems competition. I had a great story planned and I began writing. I was going well until I got to the 3000 word limit and realized the first 3000 words were just the beginning, that what I was actually writing a novel! So there you have it, a future work. A historical I can't wait to write.

I'm also currently working on another peice of writing. Four linked narratives, four different female perspectives. My limit: 8000 words. I haven't finished them as its a slow progess, but already I can see the redline that marks the wordcount behind me.

Then there's my Synopsis I require for 'What Happens In Ireland...', my Val Parv entry.
1000 words is the limit and I was over 1300 words to begin with. And let me tell you, its hard to summaries a 130 000 word novel into just 1300 words. What's hard is to do it in 1000. I spent all morning on this and when I reached 1040 words, I was ready to throw in the towel. But almost half an hour later, I got there. 998 words.

So now that I've shared my tale, you might understand exactly how much I hate wordcounts. They are my greatest enemy as a writer. Perhaps one day, I shall conquer them. :)

Have you ever had a battle with a wordcount?

Whitney K-E