Back from Databaseville

I've been in a bit of a slump this last week. First I had to pull out the 250 trick. Then I took the weekend off for my birthday. Then fell off a cliff into agentland. I've been bookmarking websites of potential agents for years now, and I suddenly got a bug up my butt to create a database with all their contact info and requirements and whatnot. I got totally sucked into it and spent every waking, non-tutoring moment of the last two days working on it. As distractions go, it wasn't a total waste of time-- this would've needed to be done eventually-- but it was also definitely not staying on track. I think it also lit a fire under my ass to finish, though, 'cause I wrote for an hour today.

I know the problem-- it's this scene. I just plain ol' don't feel like making up any new shit right now. Plus, there's an important plot point I'd decided to move here, and now that I've written it I think I actually need to take it out and move it back to Act II-- not as far back as it was originally, but far back enough to have a ripple effect of a few lines needing to be added here and there. I'm going to sleep on it, and see how I feel about it tomorrow.

The Ol' 250 Trick

Yesterday I took the day off and focused instead on catching up with everything else I was behind on. Today, I am still having a seriously acute attack of the I-don't-wannas, coupled with the there-are-so-many-other-things-I-need-to-dos, and a sprinkle of I'm-really-not-feeling-that-well-maybe-I'll-just-go-lie-downs. And we all know where THAT's heading. So I dusted off an old trick from me draftin' days: just write 250 words. That's it: 250 words of forward motion on the scene, and then I get to go on my merry way for the rest of the day, feeling good about myself for meeting my goal. If need be, repeat on day 2 with 300 words. Etc.

It doesn't get you anywhere fast, this trick. But it keeps you from stalling.

Frankenscene

Ugh. I am stuck. I've reached one of the two new scenes I need to add to this Act, and I am all out of words.

This isn't even really an entirely new scene; it's made of pieces cut from other scenes that I've sewn together and moved here. But now I have to breathe life into my Frankenscene creation, and I am not feeling breath-of-life-y. I am exhausted (I had a migraine last night, and my migraine medication has caffeine in it so I slept for shit) and overwhelmed (everything in the world is due this week and must be done right now), and I just want to go sit in a hole, like Dwight from Origami Yoda.

That Scene

I worked on THAT scene today. The one I knew had to be there when I was sketching out the plot, but couldn't visualize at all. The one I couldn't make a scene card for. The one I summarized in the first draft. The one I made too melodramatic in the second draft.

Yeah. That one. Almost done editing it now, after two hours at the library. Also managed to cut 1,000 words already. Phew!

Notes on Act 3

I finished making notes on the hard copy of Act 3 today. Just like Act 2, I'm going to need to do more shifting, trimming, and adding than I anticipated in my initial read-throughs. I need to add two complete scenes, and cut a LOT of rambling. Acts 1 and 2 came at 25,500-26,500 words. Act 3 is currently sitting at nearly 30,000, which makes me gulp. I have at least 2,500 words to add, which means I'm going to have to cut a whole freaking lot and make it as tight as I possibly can to make the length what it needs to be.

Onward to Act 3

This has been a hectic week, what with all the end-of-the-year special events at The Son's school, and my new job picking up steam. Did I mention I took a part-time admin position with the tutoring company I work for? It's a great opportunity, but there's been a learning curve, technical snafus, and a readjustment to my daily schedule. I hadn't gotten anything done on TOB since I finished ACT 2, but today I managed to get through making notes on the first two chapters of Act 3. Tomorrow I'll do at least another 2 chapters.

50%

The third draft is 50% done! Act 2 is edited, checked, spellchecked, and sent off to Sharon. Anyone else who's willing to beta read in installments, don't be shy! Speak up and I'll send it off to you.

I have a whole whiny post in me about how long this whole process is taking and how I'm definitely going to die before I can write all the books I have in my head now... but it can wait for another day. Today, I'll just be happy I finished Act 2.

Lucky Thirteen

Thirteen chapter edited! Now I just need quickly read over Act 2 for clunkers, repeated words, typos, failures to indent (I noticed a bunch of those in the Act 1 I already sent to Sharon-- sorry!), and all that careless stuff.

Twelve Chapters Edited

One more to go and I'll be at the halfway mark of this draft!