Writing Progress

NaNoWriMo is winding down to its last week.  Have you been writing this month?  Have you made some solid progress? 

I'm behind on where I should be for NaNoWriMo, but I can't complain.  I've been making some good progress on a pair of projects, which I am quite pleased with.  For secret project #1, I haven't written as much lately.  I had to put it aside and work on secret project #2 for a little while because it has something of a minor deadline.  What's more, I broke an important rule of mine -- DON'T EDIT PREVIOUSLY COMPLETED PAGES UNTIL THE ENTIRE ROUGH DRAFT IS COMPLETE.  I figured since this isn't on deadline and not a contracted project, I can do whatever the hell I want, which is kind of true.  However, going backwards rarely ever helps you move forward.

As I worked on secret project #1, I realized that I didn't like the first chapter.  Oh, it's a good chapter, but it's not where a book should start.  The chapter wasn't doing everything it needed to do.  So, I went back and wrote a new first chapter.  I have since been going back through previously written pages, tweaking, filling in more worldbuilding, and adding some important information and characters.  I'm feeling a little better about this draft than I did initially.

Will it ever see print?  Who knows?  I'm having fun and that's the point.  Here's my progress on Secret Project #1 at the moment.



For secret project #2, I buckled down and got some serious pages done in a relatively short amount time.  It's not been my usual book writing speed because I've been doing some long-term plotting while I write.  My typical process is to outline the entire plot for a book before I start writing.  This one, I've got the major points and important areas in my head.  I know where my characters are headed and some big things they have to accomplish.  I just don't know how they're going to get everything done.  But I'm okay with that.  The first three chapters are down and I'm heading back to the synopsis for some tweaking.

Will it ever see print?  I sincerely hope so.  Here's my progress on Secret Project #2 at the moment.

   

And no matter how good of a writer you become, there's always room for improvement.  I think every author I know drifts back to one or two favorite writing books to revisit a key technique or maybe just as a pep talk when things get rough.  In celebration of NaNoWriMo, HarperCollins has 10 writing e-books on sale for $1.99.  I grabbed a couple myself.  Check them out.  For more information, please click here.