D.L.: 2 more pages is absolutely fine. Remember, production is the bottom line. I know it's
extremely hard to ignore your dissatisfaction with that scene, but that's exactly why you can ignore it: We won't let mistakes go unfixed before moving on. When you're in a contemplative, critique & review phase of your draft, you'll have all your energy to fixing all those nagging defects in the draft. Resist the itch!
April Swanson: The power of food shall compel you!
Also, congrats on 1k. I'd say you're at the top of your game at the moment. Organizing and tackling two projects simultaneously is a monumental challenge, and you seem to be navigating it expertly. Now go forward and enjoy that sushi!
Alessandra Kelley: Nicely done, congrats on 1k! And whatever works, works. Simple as that. Everyone has a personal flare to get them on track for the day/week/month. If your happy with the quality and quantity you get for the effort put in, no reason to touch that system. Keep at it!
Layla Nahar: Ah, I see your story is also playing the game of hide and seek that mine started. Welp, one of these days we'll find them. They can't hide forever! (Congrats on 3/3, by the way.)
Keithy: Good for you! POV is always a tough decision, but you've probably made the right call. If it can be told in one POV, it probably is better off that way. Plus, with rearranging 11 chapter of an outline?! That's a lot of change that I commend you for holding true to. I know my story-altering faculties are very hardened in that any major change has to break everything apart before I'm ready to listen to it.
DanMorrison: Oh my god, that's fantastic! In my opinion, that's probably one of the hardest things in a story for me to develop. The MC's character motivation gets to gradually show itself throughout the story, but for the antagonist? They have to be cranked up to 11 from the gun—so much so that they are completely unfazed by opposition. That's always a weight of your back when you figure it out. Also, congrats on 1321!
Taylor Harbin: Good luck, and more importantly, enjoy it! I find the climax really becomes the payoff for all that nonsensical writing, thinking, and re-imagining we do before it. I hope things fall in place smoothly for you!
Lakey: That's a good and healthy resolution to the matter, I think. Feel things out, and if you encounter resistance, stop again. It's totally okay. One way or another, you'll climb over this hump, I'm sure of it. Take it easy!
<Deep breath> Okay, I'm just gonna reset. I have not, generally, been happy with myself this week. Lots of work, two tests wiping me out of my groove, and a crippling bout of depression. Thankfully, I've cleared away the slate on Sunday, Monday, and today. I got all those backlogged tasks off of my phone and mind, reorganized my music library for the third time this year (despite misdiagnosing a technical issue that was not, in fact, related to my computer), and started reading a particularly topical personal development book that I needed right now. I have been writing still, and managed to hit 40k on Book #2 yesterday with some of my best, improvised scene development I've had all year. I also got another 1k in today, which puts me in striking range to extend my goal for April to 45k words if I want to go the extra mile (which I really,
really do). Summer break is two weeks out from this date, and I'm trying to hold strong to that beautiful time when half my obligations vanish. I also decided I won't start writing a new query letter/start querying agents again until May now, because of this Herculean crater I've had to crawl out of throughout the month. For now, I just want to write 1,000 words 4 more times before May 1st. I hope everyone else is closing in on their April goals too!