Last month, I shared some photos of what I had been doing over the summer, very little of which involved writing. I think I maybe cobbled together just over 4,000 words in three months. Which, for me and my particular place at this moment in time in both life and my WIPs, is not totally terrible. But it does mean that this month, I am buckling down—or will at least be attempting to buckle down, I should maybe say—to finish the year strong and set myself up for a great 2025. Or whatever.
Which means my main focus this month will be finishing the rewrite of Full Circle, Book Three in my fantasy series. For those who maybe need a recap, the short-ish answer is this: The beta round didn’t go particularly well. I totally missed the mark (sucks, but it happens), and I’ve been striving ever since to figure how to improve the story.
Lately, it feels as though I have made some progress on this front. Whether any of those changes will last remains to be seen, but I have been working my way through the manuscript, implementing some possibly exciting new changes. Or possibly terrible changes that have only made the story worse. I mean, it’s possible. Either way, I would like to be finished with this rewrite by the end of the month.
Now, I have no idea if this is at all feasible, but I’m going to try to do it all the same. My thought process is that if I can wrap up the rewrite by the end of the month, then the manuscript can sit in the virtual drawer for the rest of the year while I do other things (worry about the manuscript in the virtual drawer, for example). Then, come January 2025, I can read over the entire manuscript with my fresh(er) eyes and see how I feel about all the changes I’ve made.
On paper, this goal is doable. At last count, I have eighteen scenes that need to be updated to reflect said changes. This could absolutely change, too, the snowball effect being what it is, but it’s eighteen at the moment, and eighteen feels like a manageable number. Some scenes will require some slight tweaking. Some will probably be thrown out and rewritten from scratch. Fortunately, there are more scenes which fall into the first category than the second.
And then there’s the scene on which I’m currently working. Its summary on ye old storyboard is “Dana does something. Maybe.” I just haven’t figured out exactly what the something is yet. I’ve pondered more than once whether this means that maybe Dana doesn’t need to be doing anything at all at this point in the book, but my gut keeps telling me he does need to do something. So I’ve been writing a lot of spec scenes in the hopes that I will hit upon the something that makes my gut go all,
But so far, my gut is all, “Eh…I think you’re in the ballpark, but it’s not quite a home run yet.”
Whatever, gut.
So, that’s the plan for the month. Eighteen scenes or bust. I mean, it won’t be bust. Whatever doesn’t get done this month will just move to November’s To-Do list. What’s that thing someone said about writing at some point? It’s like always having homework every single night for the rest of your life?
Let’s get it done.
September Recap
Be safe and well, all. See you next month.
In the longer story draft I’m working on, I have a number of “something happens here” moments and “blah blah blah” witty lines of dialogue. 🙂
Good luck this month!
I have those a lot, too. My favorite was the time I just wrote “Insert fight scene here” and then forgot to go back and insert the actual fight scene before I sent the story off to the betas. Oops.
My first instinct when I feel like “something happens here” is to skip it. If I don’t have a specific need, then the scene can probably be omitted. But then again, sometimes there needs to be time before the next scene happens.
Good luck with your 18 scenes. May they be easy rewrites.
The scene didn’t exist in the beta version, so it’s a new thing, and I do keep going back and forth on it, but I keep feeling like I need *something* there. Right at this moment, however, I feel like maybe I don’t need it. And that will probably change by noon. Not sure where it’ll end up when it’s all said and done, but we’ll see. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I love your recap graphic! That’s a great idea. Oh my, but you have a lot of writing this month ahead of ya. I need to get back on the writing ball so I can finish strong this year too.
I currently have a Canva subscription and a list of rewrites to do. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of graphics this month. Not that I procrastinate because I…don’t. 🙂
Summer wasn’t very productive for me either, so I’m impressed with your four thousand words. Good luck with your next steps.
Thank you!
Three months. You can do it.
Well, I’d like to do it in one, but I’ll take three if I have to.
Some good stats here! You’ve got this! @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
Let’s hope so!
You can do it! Way to go with your goals and your hard work.
Thank you!
You crossed my mind when I heard about the hurricane. Based on your post and visit, I’m taking it that you’re okay. Were you affected? Everything around you okay?
Figuring things out with writing is so stinkin’ tough. Good luck with your last 18 scenes!
Oh yes, we’re okay. We’re on the east coast, so we were well out of the path of the storm. A little wind and rain, but certainly *nothing* like what other people went through/are still doing through.
I have a lot of those “X does something here” notes in my current WIP. along with “figure out what happens next to get from A to B” and “Something else needs to happen here”. I just skip ahead until I can figure out what those things are, hoping that by writing the next bit I’ll figure it out. So far… not so much.
I’ve been writing around that scene a lot, just popping in once in a while to add a line or two when I think of them. Haven’t had a Eureka moment yet, but it could still happen.
Are you planning on participating in NaNo this year, or something similar? I know the org itself has gotten a bit chaotic, but I’ll miss the chance to do in-person events.
No, I won’t be doing NaNo or any NaNo-like challenge this year. I’m not currently in the right place to be taking on something like that. I’ve seen a lot of new challenges popping up around social media, so maybe sometime in the future?
Totally understandable!!
Good luck with your writing plan. I haven’t made any real plans or goals for writing. Christmas craft season is coming up and I have a Paranormal con at the end of October, so I’m once again knitting my fingers off between working my day jobs.