Something New

I’ve got a bunch of different works-in-progress on the go right now, so here’s a little update of how my summer has been, writing-wise.

NOVELLA
I’ve written just over 20,000 words of the novella and it has fallen flat.

I’m bored by the characters, something feels off about the plot, and the person who all the “stuff” is happening to isn’t even a main character, so it’s like talking about her without her even being there.

So…..yeah. It needs to be reworked. The good news is it probably doesn’t need to be ripped apart. I think I can salvage some of the main plot points, and by shifting the focus to the main character and adding in someone who will be more of a foil than a tag-along might make it work better.

NOVEL
The current novel-in-progress sits at about 35,000 Words, so just under halfway. Since I’m in the middle of things, that initial sense of excitement over a new project & new world have given way to the grind of sitting down and getting the work done.

I just have to keep pushing through, keeping my eye on the end, and knowing that I can fix things in the edit. Sometimes, it’s difficult to remember that, especially on days when the words don’t come or they suck.

SHORT STORIES
The last few stories I’ve written have been different than my usual fare. Different voices, a new approach. One came to me in 2 days and I love it. The other, I struggled with off and on for a month and now it sits unfinished until I can figure out how to make it work. Either way, it was nice to shake things up a bit.

I have a few other ideas that I am itching to work on, along with getting back to editing the novel(s) and thinking about NaNoWriMo.

NANO
I have a story seed (i.e. an idea that I haven’t yet done any major brainstorming on to see if it will actually work).

My short stories tend to be horror. My current novels-in-progress are more suspense/thriller. This idea is more adventure. Kind of excited to (again) try something new.

SCHEDULING
My goal while doing the Million Word Challenge was to have at least 2 projects going at the same time – one (or more) writing, the other editing. So far, I haven’t been very good at that.

That story that came to me in 2 days was kind of a fluke. I’m one of those writers who needs their idea to sit and brew a while before I can get it to where I want it to be.

Unfortunately, editing has taken a backseat as a result. I know that skipping NaNo would probably help in that regard, but I just can’t say no to that seat-of-your-pants writing challenge. Especially with so many other people taking part at the same time – it helps keep me on task. Maybe I need to give NaNoEdMo another try next year. Or just find other like-minds who are editing at the same time.

So that’s where things stand. It all seems a bit chaotic – and it is – but it’s all good.