First Draft
“Fairfax”. Started month with about about 28,000 words, in the midst of Chapter 11. Now I’m in Chapter 14, with about 36,000 words. That’s a third of a book!
And now I will espouse for a moment on why I write a page a day.
A couple of nights ago, I’d done like 4000 words of the Dowsing rewrite and I wasn’t totally into writing a page (roughly 280 words) of Fairfax. But I had to, so I sat down and started writing. I wrote a couple of paragraphs of description, and then the POV character said something that totally surprised me: he said (without giving anything away) he missed the clothes. He didn’t miss the lifestyle of what he was looking at, but he did miss the clothing.
I was totally shocked and surprised, because right there, with those four words, he gave me all of his backstory. I knew who he was right now, but I had no backstory for that character, and because I was dragging my way through that block of text, he gave me a gift, “this is who I used to be.”
Editing
“Rabbits.” Took this off OWW, didn’t really work on it.
Fairfax Chapter 1. Since this started out as a flash fiction, not even really a short story, there was a lot of stuff to add. The ending needed to be opened up, the characters fleshed out, and the setting defined. Also, it ended a different way than I thought. But I wanted to get it up on OWW. To make essentially Draft 2 of it as a chapter (the “final” version of the initial flash fiction served as Draft 1) I added 900 words. With all the flash stuff I’ve been doing, it’s been mostly cut-cut-cut, so this was a neat change.
“Dowsing”. (short story, 5K). I’d done a bit of work on draft 2, changing the POV and adding some logic to the worldbuilding. Then I read that Lovecraft/Derleth book and just started over. I wrote an outline (!) and a completely new story with the same elements as the old one, so I don’t know what to call this. Is it a rewrite? I’m typing it (going to finish it tonight) and then do a couple of editing passes, and then I’m going to get it on OWW, maybe by the end of the weekend.
Toothbrushing Club. (Middle Years novel) I’m going to have a draft 2 proper by the end of November.
See, what I decided was, the last thing I need in my life right now is another completely unedited manuscript. So, tempting though it was to just power my way through Fairfax or something for 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, I decided to do NaNoEdMo instead this month. I need to finish some things. Next year, I’m doing it, though, for sure. And I’ll have some finished stuff too.
Being reviewed
“Karate Zombies”. Got it back.
Knitting
Loppem (Norah Gaughan). This is my anti-Morrigan, knit in fluffy white yarn on big needles. Finished.
Fair Isle Argyle socks. First started – KPPPM and some regia silk I had lying around.
Double Heelix socks. Done.
Blackwork socks. First started; this is where I start my Christmas knitting. I’m taking the motifs from PGR’s ethnic socks and stockings book.
“Fairfax”. Started month with about about 28,000 words, in the midst of Chapter 11. Now I’m in Chapter 14, with about 36,000 words. That’s a third of a book!
And now I will espouse for a moment on why I write a page a day.
A couple of nights ago, I’d done like 4000 words of the Dowsing rewrite and I wasn’t totally into writing a page (roughly 280 words) of Fairfax. But I had to, so I sat down and started writing. I wrote a couple of paragraphs of description, and then the POV character said something that totally surprised me: he said (without giving anything away) he missed the clothes. He didn’t miss the lifestyle of what he was looking at, but he did miss the clothing.
I was totally shocked and surprised, because right there, with those four words, he gave me all of his backstory. I knew who he was right now, but I had no backstory for that character, and because I was dragging my way through that block of text, he gave me a gift, “this is who I used to be.”
Editing
“Rabbits.” Took this off OWW, didn’t really work on it.
Fairfax Chapter 1. Since this started out as a flash fiction, not even really a short story, there was a lot of stuff to add. The ending needed to be opened up, the characters fleshed out, and the setting defined. Also, it ended a different way than I thought. But I wanted to get it up on OWW. To make essentially Draft 2 of it as a chapter (the “final” version of the initial flash fiction served as Draft 1) I added 900 words. With all the flash stuff I’ve been doing, it’s been mostly cut-cut-cut, so this was a neat change.
“Dowsing”. (short story, 5K). I’d done a bit of work on draft 2, changing the POV and adding some logic to the worldbuilding. Then I read that Lovecraft/Derleth book and just started over. I wrote an outline (!) and a completely new story with the same elements as the old one, so I don’t know what to call this. Is it a rewrite? I’m typing it (going to finish it tonight) and then do a couple of editing passes, and then I’m going to get it on OWW, maybe by the end of the weekend.
Toothbrushing Club. (Middle Years novel) I’m going to have a draft 2 proper by the end of November.
See, what I decided was, the last thing I need in my life right now is another completely unedited manuscript. So, tempting though it was to just power my way through Fairfax or something for 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo, I decided to do NaNoEdMo instead this month. I need to finish some things. Next year, I’m doing it, though, for sure. And I’ll have some finished stuff too.
Being reviewed
“Karate Zombies”. Got it back.
Knitting
Loppem (Norah Gaughan). This is my anti-Morrigan, knit in fluffy white yarn on big needles. Finished.
Fair Isle Argyle socks. First started – KPPPM and some regia silk I had lying around.
Double Heelix socks. Done.
Blackwork socks. First started; this is where I start my Christmas knitting. I’m taking the motifs from PGR’s ethnic socks and stockings book.