Homer...but not THAT one

Hello!  Well you'll be pleased to know that I have done some writing today instead of playing Wii...however it's been in the form of the first essay for my new Open University course, rather than any of my projects.  It was unavoidable though, as the deadline is midday this Friday and because I'm out at work at that time, I have to upload it on Thursday night.  So I have even less time available!

Fortunately it is only a 500 word essay - a critical review of an extract of Homer's Odyssey (an epic read, to say the least!).  However because it's only 500 words I have to be pretty picky with which ones I use.  That's one of the benefits of these courses, they do teach you how to be economical and efficient with words, getting your meaning across in the most concise way possible.  Of course fiction does require a little more than that to stop it from becoming dry and lifeless, but the idea is the same.  Pretty much all the writing advice books I've ever read have mentioned at some point the fact that however many words you put into your first draft, you'll need to take a good percentage of them out to make it into something that an editor/agent/publisher would consider. 

This makes me think of the problem I have whereby I self-edit as I go along.  I seem to be trying to take out words before I've even got them all down!  Maybe what I need to do is try to be as wordy and waffly as possible (in the safe knowledge that any or all of it can be removed later) so that I can steam through and make proper progress with the story, instead of hanging around at the beginning worrying about the small stuff.  I wonder whether there is any way of flicking my brain into this mode..? 

Thanks for reading!  Knowing I have to write to you every week is very motivating - even if (as today) I didn't do any project work, it can be quite thought-provoking to consider how what I have done can relate back to writing. 

Have a great week! :o)
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