Two Days in a Row!

I somehow managed a very painful 1300 words this evening... but it was not fun. Sometimes all it takes is to get yourself started and it all just kind of flows. Sometimes you pick each individual word out of your brain one letter at a time, and all the while you are thinking things like... I'm never going to use this. This isn't important to the story. This isn't worth your time.

Sigh.

I recently read, Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner. Good in Bed, as I understand it, was Jennifer's first book. I actually read her second book first because the library didn't have her first book available. Her second book, In Her Shoes, (which is being made into a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley McClaine) was decent. I have to admit to being overly critical here. I enjoyed it, but I also was struck by a number of typos and some minor irritations with the way the story was told. In Her Shoes was one of those books that left me thinking, "I can do this... If she can do this, I can do this."

None-the-less, the second book was still good enough to make me want to read the first book. I have a thing about first books, you see. And given that Jennifer has a wonderful essay about writing on her site (and she's only 2 months older than me -- coincidence?), I was driven to not only read, but buy and read her first book.

Good in Bed was awesome! It was so compelling that I almost read the entire book in one day, staying up well past midnight to finish it (something I almost never do -- can't get up early to write if I stay up too late reading). Here's the kicker. I loved the character of Cannie so much and was so struck by her situation, that I recommended to my hubby that he read the book. He never reads girly fiction, but he picked this one up, and sure enough, HE read the entire book in one day. I can't even remember the last time we both enjoyed the same book so much.

Anyway, it is the book I am dwelling on for the moment. Constantly comparing my story to hers. Those critical demons going off in my head... Good in Bed was a really good book. I'm not quite sure I measure up.

But that was her book, and this is my book, right? So I will dwell on this as little as possible and focus on my current challenge as part of the 3 month novel plan... to complete 10,000 words by Thursday. I'm approximately 2,900 words there... if only I can convince myself to keep the 1,300 I wrote today.