How did it already get to be the end of May?

I'm glad I'm currently writing only under my own deadline.  I'd set a goal to be finished with my current WIP at the end of June so that I could have it ready to pitch at this summer's PNWA conference.  Not going to happen.  Not if I want to have done a decent edit on it first.

Oh I guess there's a possibility - I'm currently at about 60% through my first draft.  I write longhand in notebooks and track my progress by estimating 350 words per page.  To hit my word count, I've got about 100 pages more to write.  I usually write about three a day on days I sit down to write, but I've only been managing to write about two days a week.  My last novel then took 3 weeks to type up.  Then I'd need to print it out and start the real editing process.  I'm thinking October before I'd actually send it to an agent.

Until recently, I'd always thought I was more of a plotter - I knew where my story was going - but recently I've discovered that I'm actually more of a pantser.  Yes, I have milestones - I know where my story is going - but I have no idea of how I'm getting there until I do.  When I teach writing, I tell kids that they need to have a plan, a roadmap, and that I can always tell when they haven't done one and just sit down to write.

How did I discover the difference?  Last week I was writing away, figuring out what happened next between Point A and Point B when my character's brother called her.  I knew that he was calling her because he had decided to move. Where the hell did that come from?!  It was not something I'd planned.  It was opposite of what he'd been telling her 100 pages before.  But I knew that based on what was going on in his life, that is what he'd do.  And, of course, it deepened the crisis my character was going through - perfect for the storyline.

That was when I discovered that I really had no clue what was happening in my story.  To use the analogy I teach with - I knew I was driving to New York and wanted to go through Denver, St. Louis, and Cleveland.  But the roads I would take, how I was actually going to get to those places?  No clue.  A pantser.  Someone fully dependent on the muse in order to write.  And those of you who write know how fickle she can be.

So, I'm going to end this post, go make myself a cup of coffe, and encourage her to work for an hour or so before I go exercise and take a shower.  Yep, it's 10am and I'm still in my jammies.