I am feeling a lot better today.
Loads of snot and some slime in my throat are all that remain. My internal battery also isn't fully loaded yet, but I sure feel more charged ( in a good way ) than has been the case, since I fell ill, a week ago.
There's one thing I forgot to mention in my previous write up and that makes up for the last two words of this write up:
Cold Turkey
The reason why I might have felt extra crappy, in the past seven days, likely had to do with me using my flu as an excuse to stop drinking coffee ( again ).
That's not really how it went. When I am sick, the taste of coffee appals me. Which makes me wonder if it's actually a good thing to drink, at all. My body clearly doesn't want any of it, when it doesn't feel healthy. The only drinks it craves - when in dis ease - are water and tea.
Ten months ago, the character 'Cold Turkey', came to me. It was inspired by a coffee break. You can read that story in Cold Turkey - A Hypersensitivosarus Story
A month later, in March, the actual idea for my first dino book came into existence. It was decided on that Cold Turkey was going to be the first character honored to be starring at the side of (y)our favorite raptor, in a series of Hypersensitivosaurus books.
More on that in Cold Turkey on the Rocks - Shaken, Not Stirred
Thus "Hypersensitivosaurus and Cold Turkey" was born.
So, in my previous rant of a write up, that I just had to get out of my system, I briefly mentioned that I had an insight about my upcoming book.
Let me share that insight with you here. It might actually bring me closer to finishing my book.
Now it wasn't a EUREKA moment, not even a huge eye opener, but receiving it felt good. Even more as I wasn't expecting it. I wasn't thinking of my book.
I guess that's when insights usually arrive. When we let go of things.
Without further ado, here it is:
Use Fewer Words.
Inspiration told me that it's time to cut back on the amount of words for my book.
If you have been following me for a while, you might be aware that it all started with 50k words, during national novel writing month ( in November 2019 ). Hypersensitivosaurus, a character from the book inside of that ( attempt at a ) book, eventually got his own story. And - over time - these short stories led to my current series of dino books in the works.
For a long time, I have been feeling that my current draft of Hypersensitivosaurus and Cold Turkey was too wordy but, at the same time, I didn't really see it.
I just kept rewriting and sculpting away, letting myself be distracted by whatever or whomever came my way. I sculpted with plyers, it seems.
Now it's time to pick up the heavier tools.
After receiving this insight - to cut down on my words - days ago, I checked my word count and found out that it is around 5k. I have to admit that it feels like ( quite a lot ) too much.
Every now and then, I have visions of only short lines ( merely summarizing a scene depicted on an illustration ), but I think cutting away this much would be a waste of carefully crafted words.
I am a storyteller, not a summarizer. People who know me, will agree.
I feel that if I would be able to cut things down 3000 to 4000 words, I would probably be satisfied.
So let's see what I can do here.
TO BE CONVINUED...