How many times can I start a blog with “It’s been a month?” See how I technically didn’t do it this month. I’ve been crazy busy at work, which has slowed me down on my writing and revision because of my changing schedule and stress. I had hoped to revise Project B in two weeks, and had it been a less hectic month, I would have. As it is, it took me nearly the whole month, and I only got started on Surrealist at the very end.
Progress
Project B is off to beta readers, and it took me three weeks for the first half of the book’s revision and one week for the second half. I rewrote about 25k of 65K, which is a huge overhaul. The revision was much more involved, and I did a lightning round review with one of my critique partners that showed me that it was beyond worth it.
I wrote 26.7k words this month and fell a little short of my 1k a day average, but that is still quite good for a revision month.
I just started Surrealist. I am beyond excited about this project, but I am also terrified that I am not up to the task. Conceptually, I understand this story better than any other story I’ve ever written. However, it is still going to be especially difficult to write. I’ve talked through much of it with multiple people, which has helped, but it’s very high concept. This means it will probably take me much longer than I would like to draft, but I plan to enjoy the process as much as I can.
What I’m learning
I love writing, and I can’t imagine not doing it. I know, if you’ve read any of my blogs before, that fact seems obvious, but I’ve said those words aloud multiple times this month. It is crazy to think that I only completed my first manuscript less than five years ago. Writing is an integral part of my life now, and I do it pretty much every day, because I love it. I really truly love it.
I love the characters and worlds I create. I love putting together scenes and plotting arcs. I love brainstorming and coming up with ideas. But, I think what I love more than anything else is when things fall perfectly into place. When I draft, I am anticipating how beautifully things will fall. My subconscious works on these stories even while I’m working on other things. I see the scenes in my mind like a movie, and I know that I can spend time in the worlds I create with the people I have made, whom I love dearly.
Leisure
I ended up returning the Spellshop to the library as it was due back, and I didn’t finish it. However, I do plan to check it out again later. Right now, my focus has shifted as my plan is to read the Hugo finalist books before the end of July so that I can vote.
I am going to attend Worldcon in August and therefore have a voting membership, so now that the Hugo finalists have been announced, I hope to vote at least in a couple of categories. I’ve started reading Alien Clay and Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and I like both so far.
As far as TV goes, I am still watching Survivor along with Tracker, Elsbeth, and Watson. They are all Paramount+ shows, and it kind of goes to show that the ads on streaming services do work. I don’t think I would have ever watched any of those three shows had I not been watching Survivor and thus seen the advertisement for the shows each week. I think this is also because I’ve been watching Survivor live, so there are more ads.
Looking Forward
This month and likely next month will be working on Surrealist. I’d love to get it done in a month, but even I know that is unrealistic. My target for it is around 80k, and I’ve only ever done that in a month once. And back then, I didn’t have a full-time job.
Surrealist is straightforward in terms of what I need to do statistically in terms of word count, and anything but when it comes to writing the actual thing.
Many things in the future are uncertain. I have something I am waiting to hear back about that has the potential to make a huge impact on how many books I write in the near future. However, the end of this year will still be much the same. I will hopefully go through all stages of Surrealist and then query it. Somewhere in the midst of that, I will get Project B back from betas, and then once that one is done, I will start working on Project C.
The work is never done, and I am glad about that. Every new endeavor is an adventure, and I never know what will come of it.
Until next time.
Naomi
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