Writing Status Update: August 2021
If you've been following me, you know that my daughter just started preschool last week. And I can't even tell you how excited I am to have dedicated time to work. The excitement is unreal!
I've made several lofty goals to accomplish during these two days per week (that's a topic for another day) and one of them is to get back to a regular posting schedule here on my blog. I've created a rough blogging schedule and I've decided that at the end of every month, I'll create a blog post dedicated solely to updating you on writing progress. Not only will this keep me accountable, but it will be fun to take you along for the ride as I finish this draft. I'll share all the nitty-gritty, including my word counts and current issues I'm struggling with. I want this to be a reflective experience for me and a fun behind-the-scenes for you!
Let's get started!
CURRENT WORD COUNT
Current word count: 31,371
Target word count: 80,000
Whew, it's exhilarating and terrifying to share these details with you! I'm an underwriter, so even though I'm only at 30,000 words, I'm at about the midpoint of the story. During the editing process, I'll go back and add a ton of scenes and details. For right now, I'm speeding through this draft, getting down the main story beats so I can write "THE END!"
WRITING THOUGHTS
My writing process is crazy right now. To tell you the truth, I've been working on various iterations of this book for about three years now. In my latest iteration, I made a TON of changes to my outline, and right now I'm focusing on figuring out which scenes I can keep from the previous version while also writing a bunch of new scenes. If you could see my Scrivener right now, you'd be appalled! It's a jumbled mess of notes and new/old versions of scenes!
The good news is, I'm pretty much past where I had previously written content, so from here on, it's all new! I think this will be a lot easier for me. I won't have to worry about the old stuff. Instead, I can focus on what I'm good at: getting lost in the story.
Can I share a lofty goal with you? I want this draft to be finished by the end of September so I can move into the editing phase. In order for that to happen, I need to write 1.5 chapters per week.
That doesn't seem too bad, does it? Especially now that I am working two full days per week!
If I can hit this goal, then it will FINALLY be time to schedule a cover and release date reveal! I have so many fun ideas brewing for this, including creating a book trailer. Eep! I am so excited.
Stay tuned. In my next status update, we'll either celebrate my victory or bemoan my defeat!