My normal daily target when writing is 1,500 words. Yesterday I wrote 4,600. Why? Simple reason. I'm now in the closing stages of this particular book and yesterday, for the first time, I finally saw in detail how it would move to the end.

Usually this happens a bit earlier but every book is different. With this one -- which is very much a mystery I guess, more than a thriller -- there were some tantalising unknowns right up to the 105K mark in a book that will probably, on first draft, come in at around 117K.

Should I worry about this?

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Well yes, in the sense that an author with a draft manuscript should, in all honesty, be worrying about everything. What happens to me when I see the finishing line is something very simple: I want to cross it. I can't wait to try to phrase the resolution of the book. And so I write very quickly. Had I the energy I'd still be writing now -- but I think 4,600 words is enough for one day frankly.

Long experience has taught me that enthusiastic writing like this is, in the main, good for the book. Work that comes easily is often better than work I have to slave over. That's my experience. It says nothing about the experiences of others.

But you do have to keep an eye on fast writing . Here are some of the things I always find I need to look out for.
<ul>
	<li>Literals and typos. Usually I'm composing on screen. When I'm writing quickly I'm setting down the words that are forming already in my head. They may be the right words there but the wrong ones when they come through my fumbling fingers. All work needs reading carefully. Passages that have been written quickly need proofing with special care.</li>
	<li>Logistical hiccups. When something's screaming at you to be written it may well be that you haven't fully thought it through. This isn't such a problem at the end of the book. If you take a wrong turning there you don't have far to track back. But if you're writing furiously a third of the way through beware -- because you may set up something that sends you down a blind alley.</li>
	<li>You miss opportunities. I'm a great believer in squeezing scenes for all they're worth (in moderation, if that makes sense). When you're writing quickly that doesn't always happen. Simple example: I have a key climactic scene which happens in an unusual and strange Venetian location. In the first, rapidfire draft this was on ground level in a deserted little square near the Rialto in the dead of night. Fine, but looking at it, and reading the first effort through, it was immediately obvious how much more resonant this scene would be if it was all of this <em>and</em> an underground room too, a basement, a cellar, somewhere out of the way and hidden from view. Had I been writing at a more considered pace I would have seen this immediately, I suspect. Hammering away to get to the end it escaped me.</li>
</ul>
Writing quickly is good and we should never forget that books are made up of nothing more than text. Architects have to tear down walls to correct their mistakes. Film directors have to reshoot or recut scenes. All we need do is find new words at no cost to anyone but ourselves.

But it's still important to keep your eye on them, especially when they're flowing.