I’m a real slacker on this blog right now, aren’t I? I’m sort of that way with everything, though, so don’t feel sad little blog. And on top of being in general slacker mode, I have some sort of nasty bug this week. I’ve been out of commission all week, mostly lying in bed sleeping. Today I am actually at work, but I’m losing energy pretty fast, so I think I’ll be going home early.
In better news, I made my BIW goal this month. I even went one page further. And right now I am working for a few weeks with a creativity coach—she’s in training, so I get to work with her for free. I wish that my first full week with her wasn’t one where I couldn’t even sit up for any length of time let alone write anything. Still, something she said in an e-mail yesterday has triggered an idea I want to try out. I am slightly stuck with how I want the next part of Blood of the Mist to go. So I am going to try to freewrite about what I want to have happen in this last section of the book. I’m just going to write as many pages as I can of how I want it to be—what I want to happen, how I want it to feel, all of that. And see if that doesn’t stir things up and let me write the ending finally.
In other news—next weekend is Potlatch! I am excited and reluctant all at once. I am worried that I’m going to find that it’s a waste of time. There are discussions and things that sound interesting, definitely. But I’m worried that since I didn’t manage to write something so I could be in the critique group I won’t find anything really worthwhile to do there. This is probably a totally incorrect idea. But it’s still a bit of a worry. I’m sure I will get there and find interesting people to talk with and make contacts and do all the things I was hoping to do. Which reminds me—I need to print up my little contact cards so if when I meet those interesting people I want to keep in touch with I can give them a card with my name and e-mail address and maybe the URL to this blog.
Oddly, although I haven’t yet managed to finish a book, and although I haven’t been writing that much for the past two months, I think I may be becoming a real writer. I am starting to be able to see it, and it is starting to feel like I need just a few more pieces to the puzzle, a few more things put properly into place, and I will be doing it. I think part of this is because I am close on BotM, and then I only have a little bit more to go to get a first draft finished of Ordinary Girl. And then I have the new story that I started plus a really good idea for a story that I came up with two years ago that I think I can actually write now because I’ve learned how to do planning in a way that lets me write. And then after that I have some one and two line story ideas hanging out in my notebook. So I think I have some things to work with.
So should I have some sort of schedule for this I wonder? Maybe a tentative one, at least? Honestly, since I’ve never written a whole book before, I am not sure how long these things should take or how long they will take me or how I should progress or what I should expect from myself. But if I have at least a tentative schedule, then at least it’s something to aim for, right? So, here:
February 22-March 31—Finish first draft of Blood of the Mist
April 1-May 30—Finish first draft of Ordinary Girl
June1-June 30—Planning for new stories (paranormal investigators and Irish ghost story)
July 1-August 15—Second draft of Blood of the Mist
August 16-September 30—Second draft of Ordinary Girl
October 1-October 31—Revise BotM
November 1-November 30—NaNoWriMo (work on one of the two new stories I planned)
December 1-December 31—Final rewrite of BotM, then give it to readers for feedback
This will take me through the end of the year. If I push a bit, I think I can mange to submit BotM by the end of the year which was one of my goals for the year. I will have to think about this schedule a bit and maybe do some revision to it so I can have the book ready to submit by mid-December. Because I would really like to make that goal for the year. Even if it is scary.
And with that, I think I’m going to wrap things up here and go home and go to bed. I got my new Charles de Lint book, and I think a pile of pillows, some juice, and a good book are in order for the rest of the day.
2 comments:
One word to watch out for (I have been cautioned against it)--"should." I think every novelist probably has his or her own rate of speed.
I am impressed with your schedule plan. :) It makes me think I'd better write mine out, even though there is way less.
Can I be one of your readers? Please please please???
I think you are misunderstanding my use of "should" here. This is not "I should be doing this" or "I should have this and this in my life." It is "I wonder how long this should take me given my own tendencies and writing speed, etc." I do understand the concept that you are referring to, but "should" is not always a bad word.
Perhaps in my scheduling case I might instead have written "I wonder what is a reasonable amount of time to schedule for this." But for me, it translates most easily to "I wonder how long this should take?"
And yes, you can be one of my readers. That would be awesome! :)
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