The Little Things

Sometimes you have to step back and appreciate the "little things."

And other times, you have to tell the "little things" to shove it.

I have been working on this manuscript since high school, but have actively been writing it consistently since I've been in college, so about two years. Because I've had this idea for as long as I can remember and have been working on putting into words for approx. 5 years, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything simply because I haven't finished it.

That's unreasonable, I know.

It's hard to gauge how long your novel is when it's in the works because all you have is a massive Microsoft Word document that is double spaced. I read on WritersDigest.com (check out that site, by the way, it's great) that a reasonable length for a novel is 50,000 words. They even offer classes on how to write the 50,000 word novel. 

I know what you're thinking: 50,000 words. That's a HECK of a lot of words.

That's what I thought too. I thought, "There is NO way I'm ANYWHERE near that. That's so many words! How many words am I even capable of writing?" In all my panic, it didn't occur to me to actually check my word count until later.

35,922.

35,922 words. Okay, so it isn't outrageous to expect a 50,000 word novel. But then a new fear overwhelmed me. I'm not even halfway through the content of my story and I already have almost 40,000 words! What if my book is too long? What if this is going to be like Moby Dick?

I know, I know, I overanalyze EVERYTHING.

I decided that instead of a phantom number from out of nowhere (which was at least helpful in the sense that it told me that I was capable of writing that much), I needed to know the word count of some books that I like that are similar in genre to what I'm writing. Since my novel is young adult fantasy/sci-fi, I turned to two of my favorite young adult series, The Hunger Games by the incredible Suzanne Collins and Divergent by the amazing Veronica Roth. I googled the word counts for each of those books.

Divergent word count: 105,143 words
The Hunger Games word count: 101,200 words

You see where I'm going with this? I'm not limited to 50,000 words either. I control my word count, and I can make it whatever I want it to be.

My point here is that I was seriously stressing myself out over something stupid. Yes, word count is important to keep an eye on because it helps you manage the length of your manuscript and lets you know on what part of the story you're spending the most words, but the story is beyond the number of words. If I write an absolutely heinous story, no one will care that it was 100,000+ words. Likewise, if I write a truly incredible story, no one will care that it was under 50,000. The part that matters is content. I have to focus on content and not get absorbed in numbers.

And I think this applies beyond the written (or typed) world. If I spend my life wondering how many years will I live, how many diplomas should I have, how many friends/colleagues should I know, how many credits should I take, etc., then I'll miss out on all the great things I could have accomplished and enjoyed, all because I spent my time worrying instead of just doing. 

So take time to pay attention to the little things, but don't obsess over them (like I do). When it comes down to it, my word count isn't what's going to be on bookshelves someday (hopefully). What will be is my name on a book filled with an idea that came out of my head and that I put into words (again, hopefully). If I want that book on the shelves at Books A Million, then I'm gonna have to actually write the darn book, not spend all of my time worrying about writing a book.

Sidenote: If you haven't read either The Hunger Games or Divergent, then there is something severely lacking in your life. Check them out.

xo
KMG