Saturday, November 8, 2008

Day 7--An Excellent Day!

Day 7 started out sunny and not too cool. I got to go out and clean up the garden, even raking up all the fallen tomatoes to prevent so many "volunteers" next summer. Don doesn't have the heart to pull them out so his number of tomato plants goes up. The sneaky devil.

Going to my desk and writing 500 words or so at a crack worked really well yesterday. It wasn't an onerous task and didn't make me feel like I was being punished. I have a hunch that most of what I wrote on Day 7 won't make the final cut but it's interesting nonetheless. Oh, the oddest outcome of not using any contractions popped up and I have to comment. When you're writing dialogue instead of saying "don't you?" you have to write "do you not?" How stilted is that??? (see below) But I have to keep remembering it's the word count that counts--quantity, not quality.

Line of the day:
Sam never knew if the latest questioner was of a higher rank than the last or not. He tried to give the third one, or maybe it was the fourth one, their address at the bungalow so they could leave. “I do not think that would be a good idea,” the policeman said, squinting at him as if measuring him for handcuffs. Sam had reached the end of his patience and began yelling. “Where do you think we are going to go on an island this small? We have paid our rent for the entire month and are probably going to stay for another one. We are not leaving.” The policeman pressed a hand on Sam’s shoulder trying to make him sit down again and behave but Sam was having none of it. He dug in his heels and stayed on his feet. “You think we killed that poor guy, do you not?”

Daily total: 1775 words
Running total: 11, 681 words

Helloooo? Is anybody out there?
--Barbara

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