It’s been a couple of weeks since I last did a writing life post. Last week I was busy sharing the posts from latest release, Kill For Me.
So, what has been filling my life this past week?
The standalone novel that I told you I got back, which was half written. I have set myself a goal to finish the first draft by the end of February and that means I need to write 2 thousand words a day to complete it. Funnily enough I received an email from the NaNoWriMo people as I started this half of the project telling me that they had a new website up so I went to have a look. I found you can set yourself new projects any time of the year, not just in November and you can follow it on a graph and with bar charts just as you do in November, to keep track of your progress. This worked amazingly well for me in November last year so I set up a new project for this book and I’m tracking away again. I’m loving it. My best day so far has been a 3,600 word day. I was really happy with that and hope to push myself just a little more before the end of the month and hit 4k. I was only 400 words off!
If keeping track of what you’re doing, watching that graph climb as you work every day, is something that motivates you and keeps you going then I’d strongly suggest you keep an eye out for the email from NaNo and join the new site. It may be that you can do it on the old site I just didn’t see it. But I’m sure you’ve probably had the email anyway.
This past two days saw me skip ahead and write the ending. I have always known what the ending was going to be. I got a little stuck with where I was and instead of staring at the screen I jumped to what I knew I could write. I wanted to keep the story flowing and hoped that by continuing to type my brain would just go back to where I’d left off and keep going again. That’s where I’m at today. I’m going back to where I left off and I have to figure my way forward now. From that point to the ending. It’s not the easiest novel as it’s only one person’s POV and I’ve never written a book from only one POV before but I’m determined to finish it and to make it work. I’m not against having to make big changes if it doesn’t work at the end.
So, I have another week of drafting this book in front of me. I’m not working on anything else at the same time. The new series I started has had to be put aside until I’ve finished this first draft. I can work on two projects at once if one is drafting and the other is editing, but I can’t draft two projects at once. So, the other project will come back out in March.
Let me know how you are getting on, what your week has been like, I’d love to know.
Margot Kinberg says
I’m glad you’re getting back to your project, Rebecca. I always find that helps me. And it’s interesting how a writer can go back and forth in a novel…and it works! I look forward to reading the finished project.
Anita Dawes says
So glad to read of your progress, Rebecca… You are inspirational!