Friday, July 13, 2018

At-Home Writing Retreat: Day Five

Brief update. The kids have been sick for the last week and half, and I think it might be my turn. (Blech).

Edited chapter eight of the third novel (all eighty-four pages of it) and worked on some of the remaining arcs of the rest of book five. While scrolling through, I was surprisingly pleased to find the bulk of chapters 27 through the epilogue are written.

My goal was to get through chapter 27. As I stand on the precipice of the final day of my BTB writing retreat, I really did better than that.

Here's what's left to do for book five:

1) Write half a dozen (or so) story arcs.

2) Fill in the blanks of dense details I bleeped over to save time.

3) Write most of the sexual scenes and one intense death scene.

4) Do the best I can do to fix the epilogue.

5) Edit the book.

Scrolling through book four, I found most of it in very good shape. Depending on time and energy tomorrow (if I really am sick), I will finish editing book three and four. Going forward, that will leave six weekends or so to address one through five in a major way.

At least three of those weekends have other stuff planned, so this can be challenging as I tend to stay away from most of the fiction during the week, preferring to put most of my time into my job.

Granted, book five doesn't have to be perfect to give books one through four to my editor.

But I do want to be certain it's structurally sound. And while she is reading the first four this fall, I will continue polishing five.

I think being able to release the first book in Before the Blood in January 2019 is very doable.

For those of you who find any value in my dribble, thank you. Your support is greatly appreciated.

BTW, I spent most of today on Fisher Farm, and I don't have an existing illustration for it. So here's a photo Sarah Stegall took a few years back and sent it to me because it reminded her of Simons Woods.


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