Beyond Word Count

The word count for my current work-in-progress is hardly growing, and because of the way I write, I can’t look at that number for gratification.

I don’t write sequentially from the story’s opening sentence through ‘The End.’ I revise scenes I’ve written as I go along before I’ve completed the manuscript’s first draft. The day’s ending word count is often lower than when I began.

What the word count doesn’t show, though, is the impact the revisions have made to my story. I tweak the plot, develop characters, and strengthen scenes.

When I feel the need for authorial gratification, I read from the beginning and immerse myself in the story. I’m always amazed at the manuscript’s improvement, and I feel inspired to forge ahead.

Unusual Jobs

I took a literary side trip with a short supernatural piece I wrote for a themed anthology. In it, a character needed employment, so I searched the internet for unusual jobs. These are some of my favorites.

• Dog food taster
• Fortune cookie writer
• Herb strewer
• Hippotherapist
• Iceberg mover
• Marmite taster

But with the writing’s supernatural slant, I was hoping to find job titles more along these lines:

• Alchemist
• Astral projectionist for the Cannes Film Festival
• Cephalopodiatrist
• Ghost biographer (not to be confused with ghost writer)
• Piranha dentist

Now that post-pandemic hiring is on the rise, I wonder how many of these job titles might be filled.