October 15, 2007

Posted on | 4 years, 3 months ago, in the evening | No Comments

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?

Category: misc

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