Decisive December - 500 words/day or editing - all genres welcome!

Hey Liz! Sounds like you've been keeping busy!

I'll join in. I'm going for any genre. I switch around a lot.

Woo, December. Woo?

This month I am going to finally finish the edit I have been continually putting off because I am afraid of breaking an otherwise-perfectly-good book. The changes I am making will make the book *better*. I just need to get on and do it.

If I manage that, I can think next year about writing something new! Just kidding, I have older projects that need to be rewritten first, aka the book I only ever first drafted and therefore no-one read but that is vital to understanding wtf is going on in the book I actually did finish properly.

So anyway, yes, this month is edit mode. Then January can be rewrite from scratch mode, and who knows, I might end up with more than one actual book that makes sense.

Have a good month, everyone. 2020 is almost over! That is A Good Thing.

Welcome DanielSTJ! I switch genres a lot, too!

::waves to Liz & OSG::

As usual, I'm late.

Due to being slammed with editing work, I've abandoned my antho story. Unless I can squeeze it in around the holidays - that's still a possibility - b/c I will be taking a bit of time off. But I think most likely it's going to be a bust. The time and energy just isn't there, and deadlines are approaching and I am behind, and I'm still fighting this horrible fatigue, and I just can't do everything. So we'll see.

Once things calm down some, I'd like to take another whack at The Vanishing. And then I don't even know. I did finish my own version of Nano with just under 6k which was awesome (my goal was 3k) and that felt really good after not writing since August, so I might just do something like that again. It's clear that I need some sort of schedule, and baby steps. Pressure doesn't work well for me. But I do want to get back to writing again. And poetry. That also got abandoned as well. Health-wise, the "migraine" has stayed gone, so I'm sure it's the nerve. I have an appointment with my neuro to confirm all that, but I'm pretty sure that's what she'll tell me. So we just need a long-term plan, as these shots don't last forever. And a sleep study, which I haven't been able to get scheduled yet even though I've been trying for months.

Hi Everyone - sorry for the radio silence of late, I haven't been by, largely because my post would have said "editing" and little else.

I've started trying to put together a query for my project "Paroxysm", and I've discovered query writing to be even less enjoyable than endlessly editing! Writing is my constructive escape from everyday life and I have to admit that the endless rounds of editing have started to drain my enthusiasm. With the pressures of my job and trying to maintain some sort of physical fitness in lockdown, my motivation to return to my desk at evenings and especially weekends has flagged. My concern is that I don't want to get to a point where I stop all together.

After finally having someone beta read my project, I received a burst of enthusiasm when their feedback was far better than I had expected. So much so, I decided to stop procrastinating and try and write the query. Progress is being made, however, it's a slow and not particularly pleasant process and I'm not convinced I'll ever get around to actually sending it out. Amongst my general apathy, I have made a start (opening scene and character background notes etc) on my next project "Exigent" - although this has been so I have a reason not to edit or query!

Good to hear that you are all making some progress. Hopefully we'll all find some time/drive/space to make some more over the holiday season.

OSG - thanks for the support in the query thread, it really made me feel better about the whole process! I'm planning on have another go over the weekend.

Checking in. One week until Christmas! We're trying our best to make it feel festive at home, even though we've just learned this morning our area is being moved into harsher COVID restrictions. One set of plans cancelled, though honestly that's almost a relief. Strange times.


ANYWAY. In the virus-free world of the novel, edits are moving ahead with a bit more speed than in previous weeks, which is good. It's hard to do these, as a perfectionist: I'd polished every paragraph and made sure I was really happy with the book before I sent it to anyone, so it's tough to make changes that don't feel as though they're worse than the previous stuff, even when it's to resolve inconsistencies or confusion. It'll probably be better once track changes are off and I can't see the stitches.


How's everyone else doing? Hang in there with the query stuff, BK. Like I said on your other thread, this is a whole different muscle group - think of it as leg day. Everyone hates leg day

Good news about the migraines, Saoirse. Now you know part of the root cause, hopefully the docs can start finding a long-term solution.



ETA: I didn't mean to sound ungrateful to my lovely beta readers! Their comments are very helpful indeed. What's not helpful is my brain going "yeah but it was fine" when clearly it's not. These changes are for the better!

Howdy folks, I've been absent for a while as well, popping in when I'm in desperate need of some answers to questions I'm posed by my critiquers.

Anyway, for the most part I'm working on critique notes, but it's a slow go since my critiquers work on their own schedule (which is understandable and not a bash at all!) and while I'm only 1/2 way through the book, I'm tempted to toss it up here for a Beta-read because I'm impatient -.-

Otherwise, been doing some of the bones work for the next book in the series, but by and large not making a WHOLE lot of progress.