This weekend was a surprisingly good one. We had a family reunion in Eastern Oregon (my spouse’s maternal line) and spent a lot of time on the road in beautiful country. I met family members I’d only ever heard stories about (after being together for 14+ years!) and got to explore tiny rural towns and a whole new kind of wine country. There’s a lot of beauty out there folks, you just have to go find it!
Last Week
- Read Victoria + make Revision Road Map
- Read a book
- Write something?
How'd I Do?
- Read Victoria + make Revision Road Map
- YES! Not only did I read it through once, but I made the road map and STARTED the revision!
- Read a book
- Nope. I did make some good progress on Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse over the weekend, though.
- Write something?
- Not even a little.
Weekly Word Count: 0
I’m in Revision Central, y’all. Word counts are going to be low until a new idea percolates enough to come knocking on that little door in my brain. I have a little trickle of something, a tweaking of a half-finished short story that came to me on a late night drive through rolling hills after hearing a story about a long-dead man. Things are cooking, it’s just a little simmer at the moment.
What's Next?
- Finish Victoria Revision #1
- Read a book
- Clean/Organize my office
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got for this week. I’m battling some serious dread in regards to returning to work next week. There’s a lot of prep, both at home and in my head that needs to happen in the next seven days, and I am. not. ready. So, I’m going to focus on making the most of the time I have left.
Revising Victoria is the biggest priority (obviously). I’m actually feeling pretty good about the state of the rough draft. There are a lot of skewed details and little inconsistencies, but I honestly expected that from my first attempt at a non-linear narrative. The actual story being told, though? That’s good. I think it builds well, pacing is good, tension is strong, and the tone is very atmospheric, which were all things I wanted. I’m really pleased with the bones of this book.
Now I just need to iron out details and really flesh out the themes and elements that I think will have the most impact. Which is REALLY EXCITING! I’ve never felt this good about the rough draft of a longer work! Which is encouraging because I want to have it DONE by October so I can send it to Neon Hemlock during their open submission period.
As for reading, there are two books on my bedside table right now: Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse and Gallant by V.E. Schwab. I’ve wanted to read both of them since they released (April and March respectively) and I just haven’t made it happen. If I could read them both this week that would be AMAZING. But, since I have a novella to revise and an office to clean (and a million other little pre-work things) I probably won’t read that much.
But, I don’t plan to do much out of the house this week. After the long weekend out of town meeting ALL the people, I’m ready for some very serious at home introvert time. Fingers crossed this means I have a calm, productive week.
As of this moment I don’t have any other blog posts planned for this week. It might be quiet here at the site unless I come up with a topic or get some good news!
Until then, Blogland!
BZ
