Burn-out

Phew.

Total word count: 87,000
Today's word count: a paltry 500. I know I should be grateful for every word, and it's better than nothing, but I can't help feeling a little down.
Cups of coffee: five
What's playing: Regina Spektor

Writing. Is. Hard. Today. I feel tired and achy, and all I want to do is sleep. The book seems tangled and overwhelming. LOML suggested that a change of scenery might be good, and I agree. I don't want to work at university because I think that would be more stressful than helpful, and also distracting - they're doing noisy construction in the English building, the Arts students are still protesting, and there will inevitably be other post-grad students sharing the room, and I'm not up to socialising with new people at the moment. Sad, but true. The book is taking up all of my Daring and Adventurous Self, and leaving only my Hermit Self. I think tomorrow I will take my laptop for a field trip and do some work in a different environment ... minus the Internet and all its enticements.

I can see that my original deadline of reaching 100,000 words by the end of March is well within reach. The book, however, looks like it's going to overshoot that goal by 10 or 20,000 words, so I imagine I'll be finished mid-April. Finished the first draft, that is. Overshooting isn't such a problem, as when I come to revise I'll be trimming off a lot of fat.

I've spent this afternoon working on a chapter that's about 3/4 of the way through, which deals with the 1997 food riots (among other things). I'm about ready to format up to page ... um ... about 130 or so, to send to my advisor. Which leaves 60 pages of untidy stuff that hasn't been formed into coherent chapters yet. That's the stuff I'm thrashing out now. It's following its usual pattern, something like a messy room - it has to get a lot messier before it gets clean. I'm gradually working through and getting them into some kind of shape.

Okay, time to get back to work.