Today I emailed off Draft One of Those Who Went Remain There Still. With some exhaustion, some nervousness, and some relief, I await Bill’s commentary on that manuscript’s state. And in other Subterranean Press-type news, you can catch a sneak peak at the TPB artwork for Dreadful Skin, over on Irene Gallo’s page. Yeah, the post is a little old — but I’ve been busy lately, and sometimes I’m slow on the uptake.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 45,000 words
Total word count at present: 45,088
Total words composed today: 1230
Goal for tomorrow: A nap.
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: I am DONE with Draft Zero.
Problems I’m encountering: I’ve got a bunch of notes that I’m going to have to use to clean up and reshape the manuscript a little for Draft One, but for now I’m going to let the manuscript sit for a week or so. Next, I must return to Fathom and haul out my editorial letter.
No rest for the wicked, I tells ya.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 43,000 words Perhaps 45,000 or 46,000 words. It’s all over but the shouting.
Total word count at present: 43,858
Total words composed today: 4574
Goal for tomorrow: The end
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Finished John’s final POV, more or less.
Plot things accomplished: Lots and lots of chaotic ickiness.
Problems I’m encountering: Desire to go back and insert/fluff out another thread or two, but it’ll have to wait until Draft One. Draft Zero can survive without it. Draft Zero shall meet its doomy end tomorrow, one way or another. All I need now is (a). to reproduce the contents of one note and (b). Daniel Boone’s epilogue. Neither one of these things will be exceedingly long.
Hot damn.
It was a good wordcount day.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 40,000 words Oh, let’s revise to maybe 43,000 words.
Total word count at present: 39,284
Total words composed today: 3788
Goal for tomorrow: 3000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Finished Meshack’s final POV. I think.
Plot things accomplished: Madness! Mayhem! Bloody chaos, cave monsters, heart attacks, burning monsters, etc.
Problems I’m encountering: Time to write, that’s all. I’ve got a freelance project competing for attention, but I think it’s under control. If I can get another day or two of work like this, I’ll kill off this bad-boy for sure. Of course, now that I say that, I’m sure that the kitchen will explode, or the power will go out (it’s a distinct possibility; weatherman predicts catastrophic windstorms).
But that’s all right. I’ve updated my reviews page with a few of the exceedingly kind words offered via this assessment of my Tor trilogy. Do note the kicky illustration that accompanies the story. It has charmed me to pieces — and the artist, one Daniel Krall — has given me permission to download it and turn it into LJ icons at my leisure.
Hurrah!
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 40,000 words
Total word count at present: 35,496
Total words composed today: 1783
Goal for tomorrow: 2000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Finished Boone’s next-to-last POV segment. His last-last POV segment will be the epilogue, so what I just wrote was sort of his last POV segment. Except for that epilogue, which will be rather brief, I only have two more primary POV segments left, so this draft has maybe 6000 words to go at the outside. I wanted to have it all finished up this weekend, but then real life happened, and this novella didn’t. Blah.
I’d like to say, “Two more POV sessions, two more days of work!” But with other work trickling in, I can’t make that kind of promise to myself. So let’s say I’ll have a Draft Zero by Friday. I’m pretty sure I can make that deadline without killing myself or sacrificing quality.
Plot things accomplished: Just as the hillbillies find their fortunes turning for the worse, Boone and his company are finding the tide turning in their favor. And that’s not a spoiler. As a matter of historic fact, Boone survived and finished the Wilderness Road. So, yeah. My Boone shall likewise carry on.
Problems I’m encountering: Sometimes I don’t know why I even bother to set goals, I swear. So much has been going on, and so much keeps getting added to the So Much that is already in process, that I’ve really been a little bit lost and overwhelmed. Today I did much to dig myself out of that hole — answering emails that needed answering, taking a couple of phone calls I’ve been putting off, paying some bills, running some errands that couldn’t wait any longer, etcetera … not to mention the fresh batch of freelance work that has just landed.
In other news, the editorial letter for Fathom has landed, and I’m intensely relieved. I knew the book was broken; and now I have a better idea of how it’s broken, and I am confident that it can be fixed. Liz is pretty damn great that way. Mind you, when I’m going to find the time to make all this fixing happen, I don’t know for certain. My tentative plan (ha!) is to begin deconstruction on the manuscript starting this coming weekend. Then, once I’ve gotten a better idea of how the repairs should possibly go, I’ll get on the phone with Liz and seek her counsel.
It’s not that I’m putting it off. It’s that I can only do so many things at once, while still putting my best effort into all of them. I’m a hard-ass for deadlines, heaven knows; but I think I might have to get used to the idea that once in a great blue moon, it’s okay for something to be a little bit late rather than a little bit sucky.
Right now I’ve got the demands pared down to (a). freelancery, (b). TWWRTS [which needs a full draft by Halloween], and (c). Fathom. So you see? Really it’s just three things, and that’s totally manageable.
Right?
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 40,000 words
Total word count at present: 33,713
Total words composed today: 1405
Goal for tomorrow: 3000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Meeting friends for drinks in a little bit; hit the end of John’s POV chapter.
Plot things accomplished: Poo has officially hit the fan in a catastrophic and wacky way for our hillbillies.
Problems I’m encountering: Today has been an absolute madhouse of things that needed my attention right this very moment; and most of those things were very good, very happy things — but this does not change the fact that I found myself a bit overwhelmed this morning. I didn’t get a chance to even open the file for this manuscript until suppertime.
Tomorrow I shall devote my very fullest attention to it, because I very much want to finish a Draft Zero by the end of the weekend … but I’ve got a good friend’s birthday party on Saturday and a conference call with a book club on Sunday, so those fine events will take a little bite out of my work time. But I’ll get it sorted. You just watch.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: I’m going to change the projected length to 40,000 words. It might go a little longer in Draft Zero, but I want to keep it down around that length as a final product. I want this to be nice and tight.
Total word count at present: 32,308
Total words composed today: 2352
Goal for tomorrow: 2000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Ran out of inspiration. Eh. Sometimes it happens. At least I stopped in the middle of a good “lively” chunk of action, and it should be easy to pick back up tomorrow.
Plot things accomplished: Got into the meat of the cave, so to speak. Bad things are a’happening.
Problems I’m encountering: I’ve just gotten distracted this afternoon; the phone keeps ringing, and little needs-my-attention-right-now emails have been popping up … and oh well. I wanted to hit 3K again, but such is life.
Next up: Still on John’s section; will finish it tomorrow.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: I’m going to change the projected length to 40,000 words. It might go a little longer in Draft Zero, but I want to keep it down around that length as a final product. I want this to be nice and tight.
Total word count at present: 29,956
Total words composed today: 3096
Goal for tomorrow: 2000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Finished chapter. Have Super Secret project I want to get underway. What? Everyone else has a Super Secret project. Why can’t I have one?
Plot things accomplished: Wrote a full segment of Meshack’s POV. Got the men into the cave, where it smells like Satan’s outhouse after a five-alarm chili festival — but whatcha gonna do?
Problems I’m encountering: None today. I’m a happy camper, and I expect (barring unforeseen catastrophe) to have a Draft Zero on this within another week or so.
Next up: Back to John, who has started seeing things that may or may not be there.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 38,000 words, give or take
Total word count at present: 26,860
Total words composed today: 3529
Goal for tomorrow: 2000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: Computer’s starting to heat up again, and I’ve hit an excellent stopping point.
Plot things accomplished: Wrote a full segment of Boone’s POV. First actual, immediate physical encounter with the creature on the ground. But is she playing possum?
Problems I’m encountering: None today. I’m really getting “in” to my POV guys. It was a challenge to establish them, but now that I’ve got their speaking voices nailed down, I love to listen to them tell their stories.
Next up: Back to the hillbillies. I think one of Meshack’s POV chapters is next.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 38,000 words, give or take
Total word count at present: 23,331
Total words composed today: 2237
Goal for tomorrow: 2000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: I’ve got a few things to take care of this afternoon; need to see if the laundry room is free and/or if I have enough quarters to take advantage of it. Husband will be gone most of the afternoon/evening, though, so I might return and get more work done.
Plot things accomplished: Resumed John’s POV. Cave. Ghosts. No monsters for this party yet — not quite.
Problems I’m encountering: None, at the moment. I just handed in a big fat freelance assignment so I’ve been taking it easy today, noodling around and having a lovely time with the story.
Next up: More ghosts and cave thingies. Yeah.
Yes yes, I know. I’ve been away from here, and that’s very bad. But as I’ve said before — the freelancing pays the bills more immediately than the fiction, so it gets priority sometimes. The real world is cruel that way. Such is life.
Those Who Went Remain There Still
Projected total: 38,000 words, give or take
Total word count at present: 21,094
Total words composed today: 2652 (hurrah!)
Goal for tomorrow: 2000
Deadline: Halloween
Reason for stopping: I have some phone calls to make, and some other work to do before zee husband returns home from the office. And frankly, I’m exhausted — and I sort of want a nap.
Plot things accomplished: Have introduced the other members of the cave-party. Messed-up family dynamics are in full swing, and we’ve almost arrived at the cave itself.
Problems I’m encountering: None, once I get started. The story’s flowing pretty nicely. The trick is finding the time to sit down and work.
Next up: Into the cave, and here there be monsters.
Cherie Priest's books on Goodreads
