Qtr 2 True Up
Posted by: La-Tessa
I am more than late in posting my Qtr 2 progress report, but I’ve had a very good reason for this…. I’ve actually been writing!!! 
My wonderful critique partner told me about a book she’d just purchased, Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. My first thoughts were “I am NOT getting any more crafts books, I have plenty on my shelf to read now.” But after a couple of days, her growing enthusiasm about both this book and her wip intrigued me enough to go to the book store and get it. Since then, I’ve embarked on my own Book in a Month journey and I must stay, I’m quite pleased with the progress I’ve made in just 3 weeks.
After I recieved my contest feedback on my current work in progress, I decided to revamp the begining in order to pick up the pace more. So basically I kept the prologue and scrapped about 7,000 words. It was very painful to do this, being that it had taken me close to a year to produce those 8,000+ words in the first place. But if you check my progress meter over in the side bar, you will see that I am now at over 27,000 words after only 3 weeks of concentrated effort on my story.
WOOHOO!!!
Yes, I’m more than behind in schedule to actually produce a completed draft in 4 weeks, but I ‘m more than happy about my progress so far. In just 3 weeks, I have more than tripled my previous word count and I’m well on my way to finishing my draft in about 2 weeks time.
I’ve also entered another contest, so I should have the results of that by the time I do my Qtr 3 recap. All in all, I am quite pleased with my progress and growth as an author this year.
Qtr 3 will be very busy for me. I’ll be attending my first RWA conference in a DC in a few days. I’m very excited about meeting several of my CP’s in person for the first time, catching up with a few old friends, and meeting all the industry professionals what will be on hand.
My writing goals for Qtr 3 are to:
- Finish my intial draft of Worth Fighting For
- Revise and polish my draft
- Begin actively querying & submitting my manuscript
- Pitch my completed mss in September to an editor that’s visiting my writing chapter
Needless to say, I will be quite busy the next few months, but I’m looking forward to it.
For more info on the Book In A Month book:
Tags: Writing
July 13th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I think we have to keep ourselves open to reading books on craft, particularly those who offer various ways in which to think about our work.
And anything that stimulates us to write is worth acknowledging and sharing with others.
I will checkout “Book in a Month”.
I’ve recently been reading 1st Draft in 30 Days by Karen Wiesner and her follow-up on “From 1st Draft to Novel”.
Did I use everything she suggested?
No.
Was the books helpful.
INCREDIBLY!
We take an amalgam of all we read and hear from others about what they’ve read and create our own structure and process for writing and refining a story/novel.
Our goal is to ultimately develop and refine our own unique process for crafting and refining a book. This way when we receive that contract for the novel we’ve written and 2 or 3 others we don’t have to cringe while wondering, “Can it again?” We’ll know how.
Good luck and have fun at RWA.