A Rewarding Ramble (Writing Report)

The 4th of the month is a special day for me and my husband every time it comes around, for many reasons. Mostly, because it’s our dating anniversary. But also, it’s the one day a month that we get a takeaway. In this month though, November, there was even more to celebrate than usual.

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So, I had been dragging my feet a bit with editing chapter 3 of my book-in-progress. Procrastinating and making excuses to go really slowly with it. I knew exactly what I wanted from the chapter, which made the job easy, however after I was finished with that job, I knew I’d be back in uncharted waters writing the next part. Chapter 3 felt like a little safe spot where everything was already structured and I could just sit and tinker away, and it was a bit intimidating to think of going back to a blank page to write something new.

A side effect of this procrastinating was that I didn’t really have anything writing related to do a post about, so blogging was at a bit of a standstill too. My husband incentivised me though using the upcoming November 4th. He made me a deal, that if I could get to 25 blog followers, or finish editing chapter 3, then we would have a bigger day out than usual, and I’d get to decide what it was.

Thankfully, I actually did get to 25 followers! It might be a pretty small number, but when I first put the blog online I didn’t think a single person would actually view it, so for me, 25 is much more than I expected. For the promised day out, it was a no brainer what I would opt for. I chose to take us around a few nice villages on a little bus tour, to try and take some pictures. It was a bit risky because we’ve had truly awful weather recently, but luckily it was bright and clear on the 4th. I was really pleased with the photos that we got, and although it was pretty freezing cold, it was a lot of fun, since I’ve been yearning to get out for more photo-taking days lately.

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By the time we got to the last village on the route, it was sunset time, and the temperature dropped. There was still an hour left till the bus home, but we found something very adorable to pass the time with.

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Overall, it was one of the nicest trips I’ve had in a while. I think just having a relaxing walk around a picturesque place and taking lots of photos is definitely my favourite way to spend a day out. Especially in Winter, there’s just something about the vibe that I can’t explain well, but it’s incredibly enjoyable.

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So when we returned home, we were both eager for dinner after walking all day. Thankfully being the 4th meant that we could have a delicious treat for tea. Every month we get the Chinese takeaway from the same place. It’s by far the best one in the local area. They even have a fun food pun as their name: The Wok Inn. I love that.

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After we enjoyed the food, we watched an episode of Daredevil season 3, (which is fantastic) since it was too late for a whole movie. But there was still more fun (and food) to be had. So as a small celebration for getting 25 followers, we had a mini carrot cake to end off a really nice day.

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There was just one more thing that I wanted to do.

It was very late at night and we were both tired, but I felt motivated to try and finish chapter 3. The Winter feelings from being outside earlier had put me in a really good mood, so I ignored the clock and got to writing. I think it was 3: AM before it was done, but I did it! I tweaked and tinkered with the whole 10,000 word chapter in one go. It’s such a big hurdle to get sat down and started but I think once you get into the rhythm you really don’t want to stop. The word count didn’t change too much despite writing for ages, most of it was replacing things I wasn’t keen on. I think roughly for everything that I cut out, I ended up adding a new line in somewhere else. It did increase by a few hundred words and now sits at:

15204!

Not a massive change but better than nothing! More importantly than the word count, I feel happy with the chapter now, I think the wording flows better, and it just seems more consistent. At least, it does when I read it! Maybe someone else would disagree, so I’ll test it on my husband soon and see what he thinks.

I had fun with the editing, but now I’m back to blank. Chapter 3 had a strong plan which made it a joy to write. So, for my next step, I’m going to try and form a similarly detailed plan for chapter 4, which will hopefully eliminate some of the stresses of ‘I don’t know what to write’, which is a frequently used phrase by me!