The rain is back in full force today. But after some morning yoga, iced coffee, and listening to a podcast from my favorite youtubers, it’s feeling pretty sunny in my office right now. I’ve got a list of chores that should feel overwhelming, and yet I’m settling down to write with a smile on my face and Jason Mraz playing in my headphones.
Point is, life is good today. Let’s see how last week compares.
Last Week
- Finish scene rewrites
- Start scene splices
How'd I Do?
- Finish scene rewrites
- Yes!
- Start scene splices
- Yes… technically. I did, in fact, splice a scene together, but I didn’t make as much progress as I wanted.
Weekly Word Count: 3,404
These goals are broad, deceptively simple, and very big. Two little bullets, six words that encompass a giant task, and I’ll admit I felt a bit daunted by them. But, I rewrote the entire intro of the book. The first ~5k words are all brand new. Not revised from what existed, not tweaked, but reimagined from scratch.
And I love them. I think these scenes are infinitely stronger than what existed in the first draft. They feel right, the real way into the story that could only be discovered after I’d looped back from the end.
But if this past week was daunting, then what comes next is, uh, intimidating.
What's Next?
- Revise Act 1
Yeah. That’s the only goal for this week because it is MASSIVE. The first act currently is about a third of the book (hint: that’s too much.). It’s also the roughest segment of the draft. There are timeline issues and pacing issues and characterization that needs redone/smoothed and made consistent with the latter half of the book. There’s a whole issue where I got locations mixed up in my research and things need sorted out for accuracy.
There’s a LOT to do in this first, oh, 150 pages or so. Like. A lot, a lot. So, I’m not going to worry about any other projects or tasks besides the barest chores that need to happen to ensure we’re fed and clothed and maintaining proper hygiene.
That’s it. I don’t expect to back on the blog before next week’s Goals Summary. It’s nose to the grindstone time.
Until then, Bloggarts,
BZ
