Writing Update: April 2024 Works In Progress

CURRENT WORKS IN PROGRESS

Drafting:

• CC

• Hilde

• NLTOO

Editing/Revising:

• Book 2 of The Manifold Chronicles

Querying:

• WSD

What I’m Doing Right Now

I’m having so much fun with my writing, and am just enjoying the ways my process is currently flowing. I’m learning that each book seems to take on a life of its own when it comes to how it’s written, and instead of fighting to fit them into a specific structure (or rather, instead of holding myself to specific, rigid structures and routines), I’m allowing it to happen as my creativity desires. This has meant closer to a 50k/month word count instead of 100k/month like in 2023. It’s also meant drafting several projects at one time instead of staying nose down in one until it’s completed.

All the big writing advice warns against “distractions” and the importance of staying focused on a project and seeing it through to completion instead of jumping from one thing to another. I completely understand that advice, and even agree that it’s probably very sound, and best for most people. Perhaps I’ll change my mind with more experience, but for now? I don’t think it’s the right approach for me. I certainly don’t want a graveyard of incomplete manuscripts, but I also don’t want to stifle or dismiss my creative inspiration when it comes, especially when it is relentless in its pursuit of my attention. Sometimes, as a creative, I actually work best when I stop trying to make everything a rational, structured system, and instead give my creative mind full authority over deciding not only what I work on, but also how and when.

Managing the Chaos

I know this approach isn’t for everyone. It isn’t even for me all the time! But I think it’s important to listen to my inner guidance, and right now it’s encouraging me to remain open to it. Flexible.

This is all well and good, and I’m committed to honoring it, but I’m also the type of person who wants at least some sort of plan or organization, otherwise I feel a lot of anxiety. To mitigate this particular struggle, I’ve come up with a few things that seem to be working:

• I organized my files into specific folders on my computer so that I can quickly and easily access everything I need for my current works in progress without having to wade through the hundreds of documents related to other projects or aspects of my writing career.

• I check in with myself before sitting down to write. I ask myself what I want to work on that day, and then I listen to the answer. If I’m unsure, I’ll start with whatever I worked on last time, but I’m willing to change course if another story calls to me.

• I’ve stopped rigidly scheduling when and what I work on, so I write what feels right in the moment, even if it’s not what I originally felt called to do that day.

• I reread the last chapter or scene from whatever project I’m tackling that day to get my mind fully back into the world.

• I have music associated with each particular manuscript so that I can turn that on and my brain immediately switches into that story. Music is a big positive memory trigger for me, so I’ve found this is the quickest and easiest way back into the associated world.

Project Updates

• CC is around 40k words, but I’m taking a break from it until I decide what I want to do with the present-day storyline.

• Hilde is around 11k words, and I’m considering shelving this one. It’s fully outlined, and I do love the heart of this story, but I’m just not connecting with the characters as much as I need to in order to feel excited about working on it. I know it’s my job to create characters that are relatable or that resonate, but so far I haven’t been able to manage it. So, maybe some time and distance will help. We’ll see.

• NLTOO is around 25k words and currently has most of my attention. It reminds me of WSD… Not in content whatsoever, but in the way it seems to be flowing out of me. WSD practically wrote itself over the course of a month or two, and required only minimal revision to get it to the point where it was ready to query. NLTOO has been similar so far, which I’m hoping is a good sign that it’s the right book for my current focus.

• TMC Book 2 is back from its developmental edit. I’ll be creating my revision plan over the coming weeks and will be working on implementing those changes from there. I knew it needed a lot of work, and it did, but now I’ve got some direction and suggestions for the issues I was facing with it. As of now, there are a few things I know for sure.

  • I’ll be removing a POV, so I’ll need to rewrite some chapters to make sure that the plot relevant aspects remain in the story.

  • I’ll also be adding a few scenes to show a couple of key events on-page instead of referencing or describing what happened off-page. This one should actually be pretty simple, since the things my editor suggest I show are scenes I’d already written but removed for word count purposes. I should have trusted my instincts and kept them in, and found other ways to cut back on the word count (like removing that POV and reworking those parts).

  • I have at least one chapter I can take out entirely.

  • Overall pacing—the front half needs some work in order to lay a solid foundation for the back half. Removing the one POV, removing that chapter, and tightening the already-existing plot should take care of that.

  • I’m going to be really expanding on my magic system in-book. While I’ve written it out in great detail for the purposes of world-building, I haven’t included all of that background (history, rules, applications, etc.) in the book itself. I still won’t, but my editor thinks it would be better to really define the magic system more than I have so far. Since I know all of the elements and it isn’t like I’m trying to develop and expand it now, it should be relatively simple. I just need to find places and times throughout the story where I can organically weave the information in.

• WSD is still out to agents and I haven’t had many query responses in the past 2 weeks. I think I had one rejection over a week ago, but that’s it. I did send out one more query to an agent I heard on a podcast. After looking over the information on their website, I knew I had to at least query them, so I did. I’ll be sure to post when I’ve got anything relevant or significant to share.

Dropping Things

The way I’m approaching all these projects may change over time, but for now, this is what I’m doing. I’d like to get back to working on my poetry collection and short stories, but I haven’t spent any time on them in the past month. I’ve did have one moment where I felt bad about that, but I was reminded of that one juggling metaphor.

We’re all juggling things in our lives, all the time, and for the most part we’re all terrified of dropping a ball. However, it’s helpful to think of those balls as being made of different materials. Things like my managing my health and parenting my kids are glass balls, which means that there will be significant consequences if I drop those ones, so I do whatever I can to make sure those stay in the air at all times, no matter how many other things I’m juggling at the time. Writing and spending time with friends are both plastic balls—they’re important, and if they drop they may make a lot of noise and disruption in my life, but they won’t ultimately break. I can pick them back up at any time. And things like getting my hair cut or cooking dinner are cotton balls. If one of those has to fall while I’m juggling in order to keep the others in the air, it’s no big deal. Obviously, I want to get to them, but it doesn’t harm me to reschedule my hair appointment to the following week, or to order dinner in instead of cooking.

I know things are going to drop from time to time. Even the best jugglers in the world drop balls, so I’m no exception. I’m just focused on keeping the glass ones in the air first and foremost. While my heart says to put writing as a glass ball, it’s not; it’s plastic. Each of my writing projects are their own plastic balls, and some months I can keep them all flying, no problem. Others, I have to let a couple bounce to the floor. This month, I’ve allowed my poetry and short stories to hit the ground, but I have no doubt I’ll pick them back up soon.

Until then, I’ll keep writing every day, grateful for the creative inspiration that’s pouring out right now!

Today’s date: April 15th, 2024