My Writing Life ~ Forward Momentum!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last updated with one of these posts. Mostly because I hadn’t much to say. I was still floundering. I wasn’t writing. I was mulling over the outline for the standalone I was writing, trying to pin it down so I could get back on with writing it – because I did have the first 20,000 words down but had stalled. The general idea was there but I hadn’t fleshed it out any. I had the beginning and the end but nothing much in the middle. Remember it is a dual timeline novel and I was struggling with one of the timelines.

Well, I have news. I finished the outline and I have started to write. Only 500 words a day at first. It was a tentative first step back at the keyboard. Feeling my way back into routine. I don’t think you can jump from writing zero words for a month to a large amount of words. It felt good to be back at my desk working on a manuscript, back to the story and seeing it progress. Even if it was only by 500 words a day it was still a progression and I was thrilled. With about three or four days of small steps like that I had a day out on a train in which I took my laptop and produced 3,000 words. I was back in the saddle! After that I have consistently written 2,000 words every day and the manuscript is moving forward well. It’s not in bad shape for a first draft but it will definitely need some editing once I’ve finished, to get it into the shape I imagine the story to actually be in. It’s one thing to hold the story in your head and another altogether to get it down onto the page.

I’m now 36,000 words into the manuscript and hope to have finished it by the end of June. It is currently titled New Series as I have no other title for it. (I absolutely hate titling!)

So, where was I going on my train journey you may be wondering… If you haven’t heard the news on Twitter already, I went to see a literary agent and the great news is that I signed with Hannah Weatherill of Northbank Talent with my standalone novel. I am absolutely thrilled about this. The agency have been so warm and welcoming and really enthusiastic about the book. It really feels like the right fit for me. I’ve had some stops and starts in this area but I already feel settled and comfortable and I’m really happy and confident about my future.

I don’t know how quickly you are going to be reading the new series (I’m actually really excited by the new series. It’s very different to the Hannah Robbins series, but I do think my readers will love it) because Hannah has asked to read it when I’ve finished it. If it’s not to her taste then I can get out it late Summer/Autumn, otherwise, you might have to wait a while.

The next book I’ll work on will be a Hannah Robbins book and I promise to try and get that out to you as quickly as I can. I will shortly try to start drafting an outline so I can start work on it as soon as I finish up with this. You know I like to keep working – usually. This month off was an unusual occurence for me. Maybe it was something I needed to do. Take some time off. After all, I’ve been hard at it since I started the NaNoWriMo novel on the 1st November. I wrote and edited that and then finished the second half of the book that went to Hannah and then edited that before sending it. Not bad going.

Let me know how your week has been going. I love to hear from you.