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Feb. 18th, 2009
Counting words for fun
Feb. 18th, 2009 03:17 amInspired by a remark in a discussion on writing, I just went and counted the words of all the fics I've written in the last three years. Result: I've written about 21,000 words' worth of fic in the last three years, i.e. my average word production per year is pretty much exactly 7,000 words. Sadly, much of that is in as-yet-unfinished fics...
ETA: That's slighly under 600 words per month. So... if I could actually work on only one fic at a time instead of flitting from one project to another like a frelling butterfly, I could actually - considering that my average fic is about 1,500 words or so - put out a new fic every two or three months. That would probably be hugely less frustrating to readers and to myself than my current practice of working in parallel on half a dozen things at any one time.
Of course, the reason I have adopted the many-fics-at-once strategy is that I run into blockages so often. Write 300 words on one fic; hit a block. Write 200 words on another; hit a block. Write 250 words on a third; hit a block. Return to the first for another 100 words; hit a block. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
I wonder if it's possible to just basically *force* myself through those blockages? Maybe I haven't been persistent enough so far, maybe I need to remove the option of 'taking a vacation' in another, less frustrating fic every time I don't know how to continue with the one I'm working on?
ETA: That's slighly under 600 words per month. So... if I could actually work on only one fic at a time instead of flitting from one project to another like a frelling butterfly, I could actually - considering that my average fic is about 1,500 words or so - put out a new fic every two or three months. That would probably be hugely less frustrating to readers and to myself than my current practice of working in parallel on half a dozen things at any one time.
Of course, the reason I have adopted the many-fics-at-once strategy is that I run into blockages so often. Write 300 words on one fic; hit a block. Write 200 words on another; hit a block. Write 250 words on a third; hit a block. Return to the first for another 100 words; hit a block. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam.
I wonder if it's possible to just basically *force* myself through those blockages? Maybe I haven't been persistent enough so far, maybe I need to remove the option of 'taking a vacation' in another, less frustrating fic every time I don't know how to continue with the one I'm working on?
about global warming on a German website while eating dinner. It's depressing. 90% of the discussion goes like this:
"Al Gore is using 20 times as much energy as the average American. Therefore, all environmentalists are hypocrites."
"The policies proposed by the current German minister of the environment are inefficient. Therefore, all environmental policy is crap (and unnecessary to boot.)"
"Climate scientists who agree with the prognoses of the IPCC do so because they want to get lots of money from the government. We are spending billions on climate research."
"Environmentalists want us to spend money on climate research instead of spending it on saving people in Africa from starving."
"Environmentalists want to tell us what we can and can't do. Therefore they are fascists."
"The predicted effects of global warming cannot be proved with 100% certainty in advance. Therefore, we should not do anything to try to prevent them."
"We are living in a state of unprecedented wealth and progress. This will always continue, and will help us fix whatever climate problem may manifest in the future."
"Climate change has occurred without human interference in the past. Therefore our present instance of climate change cannot be the result of human interference."
"We are so small. We can't possibly be having an effect on something as large as the atmosphere."
"So far, we have not gone extinct from any past change in our habitat. Therefore, we cannot go extinct from a future change in our habitat."
"It's cold outside my door today. Therefore global warming is rubbish."
"Global warming will be great for us. There'll be wine from Sweden and potatos from Greenland, and palm trees everywhere in Germany! Yay!"
"We can adapt to anything. There will be plenty of time."
Etc.
*deep sigh*
"Al Gore is using 20 times as much energy as the average American. Therefore, all environmentalists are hypocrites."
"The policies proposed by the current German minister of the environment are inefficient. Therefore, all environmental policy is crap (and unnecessary to boot.)"
"Climate scientists who agree with the prognoses of the IPCC do so because they want to get lots of money from the government. We are spending billions on climate research."
"Environmentalists want us to spend money on climate research instead of spending it on saving people in Africa from starving."
"Environmentalists want to tell us what we can and can't do. Therefore they are fascists."
"The predicted effects of global warming cannot be proved with 100% certainty in advance. Therefore, we should not do anything to try to prevent them."
"We are living in a state of unprecedented wealth and progress. This will always continue, and will help us fix whatever climate problem may manifest in the future."
"Climate change has occurred without human interference in the past. Therefore our present instance of climate change cannot be the result of human interference."
"We are so small. We can't possibly be having an effect on something as large as the atmosphere."
"So far, we have not gone extinct from any past change in our habitat. Therefore, we cannot go extinct from a future change in our habitat."
"It's cold outside my door today. Therefore global warming is rubbish."
"Global warming will be great for us. There'll be wine from Sweden and potatos from Greenland, and palm trees everywhere in Germany! Yay!"
"We can adapt to anything. There will be plenty of time."
Etc.
*deep sigh*
