Wasn't the sun just up?

I might not be very good at this writing thing yet, but at least I have intense focus to rely on.  Tonight I spent four hours in my car typing away on my little laptop, but the funny thing is that I was so wrapped up in writing I didn't even realize it had gone dark outside - even though I had to squint to see my scribbled notes as the light dissipated.  As soon as my battery ran out in my computer, I finally realized how much time had passed.

So, I think I'm about finished drafting the fourth chapter of my book.  At this point, I'm really just adding the final touches and revisions to my work before I submit it for critique to my instructor.  It needs work.  There's no question about that, but at least I have something down on paper.  Write, write, write.

Although many, many books I have read on technique for writing fiction has told me that I should write every day - get into the habit of at least one hour a day where I sit down and just write - I'm not sure if this would work for me.  There's a lot of energy involved in getting 'in to' the story after putting it down (no matter how long), so in order to pick it back up EVERY NIGHT would require about a half an hour of reviewing where I was and THEN I could get to continuing the writing.  Plus, my brain just needs to relax sometimes...Here's a quote from Gail Dayton's blog from last week:  "Your writing goals are Your writing goals. Your process--How You Write--is Your process. I probably do it differently. So does everybody else. And however you do it--if it works for you, then Great! If it doesn't work, well--try something else." 

I've written short fiction before.  That seems so easy right now and remembering how simple it is compared to writing a novel makes me want to put away all of the work I've done and go back to just doing short fiction.  I'm good at taking the easy way out.  Isn't everyone?  PLUS, I've taking on my first novel and it's fantasy, a genre in which I read constantly but have never formed even a short piece of work within.  What have I been thinking?  Talk about jumping in feet first - or head first - or butt first, whatever makes it sound worse - maybe belly first (flops really hurt).  However, I'm on this course and I need to see it through.  I have a lot to learn about spreading out the plot, building tension and in-depth character development, but I'll get there.  Maybe slowly - maybe in leaps - who knows.  One thing I'm sure of (at least at the moment) is that in the end I will have a novel written.  What?  I want this to be a trilogy?  Stop.  One book at a time.  One chapter at a time.  One paragraph at a time...