Publish a novel

God, I’d almost forgotten about 43 things! I’m still working on the novel, and it’s going well. I hit my first real bit of actual, true writer’s block last week, and it bled over into this week some, but I’ve managed to beat it back down into its dark place. The novel is well over 90,000 words now – it’s closing in on 100,000 – but the good news is that I’ll be done soon. I’ll just have to edit the beast down to about 80,000 words (which is the goal for length). It’ll need a good spit and polish, but this book has turned out a hundred times better than I could have imagined.

I finally hit 80,000 words…unfortunately, the first draft still isn’t done. I underestimated how long the denouement and other third act elements would take to flesh out, but it’s all right. I’m optimistic. It might be another ten to twenty thousand words, but that only means I’ll have plenty to cut out for the second draft, which I plan on being a slender 75,000 words.

I’m still chuggin’ along on the book, nearing 70,000 words as we speak. The first draft with be at least 10,000 words longer than I had first anticipated, putting it up to at least 90,000 words, but I plan to cut a lot with the second draft. The first act drags quite a bit, so I’ll have to go in with the pruning shears and get rid of some of that flowery language that slows it down!

I finally hit the 60K-word mark this week. I got derailed over the last month with graduate school (excuses, I know).

It is going to take a week or two for me to get back into sitting at the desk and writing for hours on end, because the ‘get up and do’ bug has hit me pretty hard.

The story itself is still coming along well, though I know the revisions for draft two will be extensive, and I do NOT look forward to that!

I’m still on par to hit my monthly word goals, but this week I’m focusing on editing an earlier piece I wrote. It’s shorter than a novel – 40,000 words – and I only have about 11,000 words left to edit. Once I’m done with that, I’ll get back on top of writing ‘Boogie House’. It’s coming along nicely, but it’s about to ender the all-important third act, and I want to make sure I write it well, so I’m trying not to rush through it, as I have done in the past.

I’m 56,000 words into the first draft of this novel. I’ve only been doing about 10K words/month, but that’s because I’ve been going to school and working on other writing projects.

It just hit me last night – as I lay in bed – that I’m 56K words in, so I think the first draft may be a bit longer than 80K, which was my original goal. I don’t want to clip the third act at all, but I also need to start moving in that direction. I’m crossing my fingers that this doesn’t end up @ ‘The Stand’ Length! J/K.

I haven’t updated in a while, but that’s only because I’ve forgotten to! ‘Boogie House’ is going well. I’m about three-quarters done with the first draft. I haven’t quite hit that 60,000 word mark, but I’m getting there. I’ve already begun thinking of a few changes I want to make for the next draft, and I’ve made notes about them in the document.

I have not given up on finishing this novel, but it has hit a snag. I have basically taken two weeks off completely to finish up course work for grad school. I had to write a couple of papers and write a presentation, so the novel took a momentary backseat. I’m ready to get back into writing, but it’s going to take some time, I think, to develop a rhythm. I hope the novel hasn’t gotten stale for me.

Last week was not a good period for the novel. I wrote some stuff on Monday and Tuesday that I wasn’t crazy about – plot points that might be considered cliche – so I let the novel cool for the rest of the week. I spent the majority of my writing life re-working past stories, novels, etc.

I’m re-energized, though, and happy to dust myself off and work on the book again. I’ve already added a couple thousand words to the book and look forward to seeing how it turns out! That is to say, I have strayed from the outline a little, and I do like the direction the book is taking. Instead of controlling it, I feel ‘Boogie House’ is taking on a life of its own.

I finally hit the 40,000 words mark today. So, hopefully, the manuscript is halfway done. That means I’ve only got, like, three-and-a-half more months dealing with this beast before I can relax and then start editing it! Whoopee.