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The State of the Writer: 1/23/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment

<–The State of the Writer: 1/9/22         The State of the Writer: 2/6/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 10,530
Prior Word Count: 10,530
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 2

I highlighted the text where the fixes need to take place.  I wanted to work on it last night but was too tired.  Some of the fixes are in a specific place, but some are more general like showing a slower progression of time.  I’ll have to fix that in a fuller edit.  I still hope to be drafting again before the end of the month.

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The State of the Writer: 1/9/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 12/26/21         The State of the Writer: 1/23/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 10,530
Prior Word Count: 10,530
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 2

I figured out a lot of the logistical stuff with the time, and made a guideline for myself.  I think I’m going to do a micro-outline for Chapter 2 next and then highlight in the text where the fixes/updates need to take place.  I really hope to be drafting again by the end of this month.

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The State of the Writer: 12/26/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 12/12/21         The State of the Writer: 1/9/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 10,530
Prior Word Count: 10,530
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 2

I’m making progress with my organization but still working on it.  Given the last two weeks contained Christmas, I wasn’t expecting to make much headway; however, I managed to organize the conversation beats for Chapter 1 and fix the micro-outline (it was such a mess).  I need to do the same for Chapter 2 and fix the micro-outline there as well.  There are other things I need to add in/fix like how I completely fucked up the progression of time.  It’s the equivalent of an August evening so the sun would set late, so I have to figure out the logistics of when they get to town, how long they’re there, and when the sun sets.  They keep time differently from how we do, but the hours of the day are the same.

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The State of the Writer: 12/12/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 6 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/31/21         The State of the Writer: 12/26/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 10,530
Prior Word Count: 771
Word Difference: 9759
Status: Drafting & Organization
Progress: Chapter 2

I’m happy to report I made my NaNoWriMo goal of 10k words and then some.  Setting lower goals or maybe more bite sized really works out for me.  There were some days where I wrote more, a few days where I wrote less, and some where I wrote nothing, but all in all I was able to make my set goal, and I’m really happy about that.  I thought I’d only be working on the first chapter, but 10k is a lot of words for just one, and there was a natural place to end it and start Chapter 2.  I’m absolutely loving the relationship dynamic between Maya and her BFF.  It’s…different but still familiar.  There’s some subversion of the familiar “best friend with a crush” trope that I hope works out.

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The State of the Writer: 10/17/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 12 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/3/21         The State of the Writer: 10/31/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 771
Prior Word Count: 774
Word Difference: -3
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

Slow going is better than no going.  I’ve spent the past few weeks figuring out ascot/tie knots as it pertains to status/standing because that was a thing in my first novel that this one is the sort of sequel to.  I remembered I had a site saved with a bunch of different ways to do it.

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The State of the Writer: 10/3/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 7 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 9/19/21         The State of the Writer: 10/17/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 770
Prior Word Count: 774
Word Difference: +4
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

I honestly thought I didn’t have any extra words this week, but I wrote four?  Holy shit!

Most of what I did the past two weeks was trying to figure out clothing materials so I could describe what a tie was made of.  Am I babbling nonsense?  More than likely.  I’ll try to explain.  So in my first novel The Serpent’s Tale I came up with this system of telling a man’s status by both the material and method of how he ties his ascot/tie.  While I didn’t go into too much detail about the knot in TST, I did decide that the “highest” material was silk.  Well in attempting to describe her BFF’s outfit, I had to stop and do some world-building on this whole system, which meant researchng fabrics and reaching out to my fabric/historian friends on FB lol.  I’m still working on it, and because I am how I am, I can’t move on until I have the foundation laid.  I have to know why I’m picking that particular material.  It’s…weird.  I think a lot of this comes from me needing to justify why I do/think things, and that’s carried over into my writing.  Even if I don’t put all the details into the story itself, I always consider, “What if someone asks me why I did this?” so I always want to have an answer.  World-buidling based on trauma responses, y’all!

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The State of the Writer: 9/19/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 9/5/21         The State of the Writer: 10/3/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 770
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: +94
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

What?  Drafting progrress??  An increased word count???  WHAT???!

While I didn’t fulfill my goal of drafting Chapter 1 on my two week vacation, I did at least make progress, and there’s actually a lot more done in the background.  Even though I added less than 100 words, I did a lot more work with the world-building, organization, and micro-outlining.  I’m also having an extreme amount of fun writing the dialogue for the main character Maya and her BFF Caemlyn.  It’s this friendly, flirty banter that’s hamstrung in the beginning by the MC’s anxiety about something happening tomorrow.  I’m very adamant about showing as much as possible, so I’m trying to have his reactions to her perceived grumpiness reveal that this isn’t their typical dynamic.  I’m also being a presumptuous prig by doing this sort of metatextual foreshadowing (I implore you to try using that in a sentence without sounding like an elitist ass lol), and I just hope it works out.  I know drafting is just supposed to be about shoveling the sand into the bucket for castle building (editing) later, but I have to make sure I”m laying the groundwork for exactly what I want to build with maybe some surprising embellishments.  I do feel like I can move forward now and continue drafting (when I have the time/energy), and I actually look forward to it, too 🙂

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The State of the Writer: 9/5/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 8/22/21         The State of the Writer: 9/19/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 1

I did some serious brainstorming/notetaking over the past few days, fleshing out one of the side characters.  Even if it doesn’t find its way into the story, I like to have a robust background for as many people as possible.   I might work on more today, since I still have some creative juices left for it.

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The State of the Writer: 8/22/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 8/8/21         The State of the Writer: 9/5/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 1

I wracked my brain for a week over what to do and where to put my “false” starts.  I wound up making a separate section for them on Scrivener.  I have two more to sort out, but one of them occurs later in the story when the two protagonists meet, so I might just hold off on putting that anywhere on Scivener since I don’t know what chapter that will be.  I’m not sure when I’ll start drafting again, but I am on vacation for two weeks in September so I might plan it out then.  I’m hoping if I can get over this beginning hump, things will be easier.  This chapter has a radically different tone from the rest of the novel, which could be one of the reasons it’s giving me so much trouble.

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The State of the Writer: 8/8/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 7/25/21         The State of the Writer: 8/22/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

I moved all my notes for Chapter 1 to Scrivener, so now I have those and my outline on that program.  I did some more world-building over the past few weeks as well, since there were a few things I needed to figure out.  Now I want to look at all of my “false starts” over the years and see what I can glean from that.  No clue when I’ll start drafting again, but I at least know the direction I’m going.

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