Guess what I found, right in the nick of time?
Merit badges! Click on them if you’re not sure what they’re for, they’re all writing related.
Here’s a video about adverbs, the dastardly foe between me and my next merit badge.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VHxDo9Y9wM[/youtube]
Stephen King is well known for hating adverbs, and for good reason too – ideally, context and dialogue should tell us about a scene without any need for things like “he said angrily”, “she said mockingly”. And don’t even get my started on running quickly, panting tiredly and all those other unnecessary words. Getting rid of them is easier said than done, though.
Anyway, 50k words! I feel pretty good about hitting those words (I did have a little panic it was too small a word count, but for YA it’s actually a decent length). Ploughing into the second draft now, which involves lots of cutting and moving around giant chunks of story to get something that feels right.
Blogs might be a little scare on the ground for now. So in my absence, don’t forget you’re all awesome.