Novel Writing Update #4
Hey everyone,
Time for another update on my writing. I’m sure some of you have been dying to know what’s been going on or have some type of curiosity. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this. Anyway, let’s break down everything I’m going to throw at you:
Draft #5 progress
Writing everyday
Struggles / improvements
Yeah. I’m currently writing draft #5 of my manuscript, currently titled Crescent Regent, and the story’s urban fantasy genre is centered around a girl trying to find her place in the world. Probably heard that somewhere before, which is why I worded it that way… an effective clichéd way to avoid saying too much about the plot / characters.
Writing this story has been taking a huge bulk of my free time, but at the same time, I feel like I’m never enough. Writers, especially famous ones, don’t talk about their daily struggles getting words on the page, which is strange to me considering it’s a common problem we all share. I’m here to disclose the truth on that issue… writing is indeed hard.
Effort and consistency are your best friends, but even those fall short on your worst days. I know writers who put down 1,000+ words in one sitting, others only mitigate 200 or so each passing day to reach the goals of their story. I have done both over the years, and currently, I sit in the middle, writing about 200 words on my worst day, but occasionally managing to hit the 1,000 word jackpot on my best day. These methods are not wrong in any way as long as one makes the time to write.
Time is something writers have to work for. Life gets busy—day job for capitalism, family, friends, living, eating, going to the bathroom, reading, television, etc.—but being a writer means finding the time in all those distractions or obligations. I have written words on numerous visits to family, in the bathroom (Yeah. Typing on the phone, you know we all do it), eating meals, and sometimes while watching television if I’m doing a rerun session. NEVER DURING NEW EPISODES OR MOVIES. Okay, sometimes, but I hit pause.
The story is also playing in the background of my mind 24/7. Even when I’m trying to sleep. Sometimes, I drag myself out of bed at 2 in the morning so I can jot something down before it gets lost in my hopeless dreams. Did I mention writing is hard? So, why do I do it?
Because it’s my life. Being a writer, in my opinion, means I write. Of course, I’m going to force myself awake to write a random idea down. Why? Because I’m going to hate myself later if I choose sleep over writing. I am a writer… that statement took me forever to internalize, but that’s who I am.
I struggled with a lot of common issues like writing everyday, inconsistent tenses, convoluted plot points, and bad dialogue because I’m anti-social and not well-versed in talk… until I was asked to join a Writers Group last year, fixing the majority of these issues or at least making me self-aware of them.
Having other writers critique your work is terrifying, but in the long-run, your writing / story / characters will thank you for implementing the feedback because most of the time, the editing critiques are on-point, and will ultimately improve your story, preparing you for the next draft.
What I am currently doing? I’m writing and getting ready for my Writers Group meeting. My blog episode reviews have been getting affected by my novel progress, but I do plan to circle back to them today after finishing this post.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read. Happy Writing!