Most Stoked

I did it!

50 hours in April, despite the week of zero writing.

Finished writing Act 3.

Got through about half of the same kind of word-search trimming I did for the first half of the book. I've cut ~700 words this way so far, so that's good. I am determined to come in no higher than 105,000 words!

Whew.

I am so, so stoked right now.

Act 4 still to do. Target completion date: May 20.

So Close

It's the countdown to the end of the month, and I am soooooo close to making both my goals. I have to write for three hour and forty-five minutes today, and I have one more short, action-packed scene to finish the revision of Act 3. I know I still have a whole quarter of the book still to go, but I can't tell you how excited I am to have this part of it behind me!

Six Chapters Down

Just one more to go to finish up the most arduous quarter of this revision!

I'm at 41.5 hours for April so far, which means I have a lot to do these next three days, but I am confident I can make it 50 hours, and confident I can finish Act 3.

Five Chapters Down

BAM! I am on fire, baby.

I finished the last completely new scene, too. Thank dog. It's all editing from here to the end. No more making up new stuff.

Four Chapters Down

Only three more to go to finish up Act 3. They're shorter chapters, though-- pagewise, I'm 75% through the Act. And I'm already like halfway through the next chapter. PSA: when you write 3-4 hours a day instead of one hour, you get 3-4 times as much done. True story!

I've hit 25 hours for April so far. Yeah, yeah, I know there's only 9 days left in the month. I'll get there. Or not. But either way, I'll get closer if I don't ditch the 50-hour goal.

I'm also signing up for the Beta Project over at Absolute Write. You submit your entry (info about your story, info about what you're looking for in a beta, and the first 750 words) to the moderator (who must be a saint-- this thing sounds like a bitch to organize). The mod posts all the entries anonymously, then pm's you to let you know which two you've been assigned to critique. So every one gets two critiques of their sample. Meanwhile, everyone can look through all the entries and choose which ones they'd like to beta. With luck, I'll come out of it with a few writer-betas (who are useful in a different way from reader-betas, which I also need). In any case, it's a big external push to have this edit done by mid-May. Ish.

Getting Back in the Swing

Between crunch time at work and traveling for The Son's school vacation, I haven't written in a week. I am not giving up on 50 hours for April, though-- it just means I have to work my butt off for the next 10 days.

Three Chapters Down

Things are rolling along much better now, and I'm feeling much perkier about the book. The cops have broken up the pity party.

I'm at 16.5 hours for April so far, and this next week it's going to be a huge challenge to find writing time: The Son is on school vacation; I have a ton of tutoring work to do-- sessions, prep, and admin; we're trying to smooth relations between our cat and my mother-in-law's cat, whom we're cat sitting for; we're going out of town to visit The Parent for a few days; and I have an article deadline. I'm going to try to do an hour a day, but that will leave me playing catch-up the last third of April.

Checking In

I am out of the gloom, so thank goodness for that. I've written the two new scenes, and have decided to shift one other scene to Act IV. So that leaves 8.5 scenes left in Act III, only one of which is brand new (and fairly short). That feels totally doable by the end of the month, though I can already hear God laughing. I'm over making time predictions, though-- that's so 2013.

Two Chapters Down

Five more to go to finish editing Act 3.

I need every teeny milestone I can get right now. I'm in a dark pit of yuck about the book again. Not so much about the actual book-- more about how long it's taking me to write it.  I am cringingly embarrassed to keep coming back here and posting that I'm not done yet. I have always had issues with finishing things; it's one of my least favorite of my character traits. Blogging about the book feels like a weekly exercise in self-loathing.

Gee, aren't I a ray of sunshine today? Really, I'll be fine. I am stamping the adage "the only way to finish things is by NOT STOPPING" on my forehead and moving on. The next two scenes I have to write are from scratch, which is bumming me out. Draft three and I still have to make new shit up?? Why didn't I just make up the right shit the first time?

I need to keep telling myself that right now is the worst of it. Once I'm past these two scenes, there is only one more from-scratch scene in the whole book. The rest of it all just straight-up editing, and will move faster than I'm moving now.

If I don't stop, the book will be done.