It’s Writing Wednesday again, and today we’re all about the good news.
What I’m Writing
I finally finished Draft five of my Machines VS Monsters project on the 26th of September, removing or rewriting 24,000 words and adding 31,344 new words. By the end of it was basically a new book.
Today’s agenda Finish 5th draft ✔ Send to betas ✔ Roast a chicken ✔ 🐔 Time to bury myself in my queue of awesome beta reads. 📚
— Emma Maree (@EMaree) September 27, 2015
I started it on the 16th of July, thought there was about three weeks in July and August where no writing happened because I was busy panicking about the driving test and then enjoying the freedom afterwards.
Celebratory end-of-edit Funko (with necklace of +5 editing skills made by @Rockwell_JB) . A wendigo joins the crew! pic.twitter.com/5fTJElh5vx — Emma Maree (@EMaree) September 27, 2015
It’s a good feeling. I’m basking it in while it lasts, before my beta readers bring me back down to reality.
Next week’s agenda: the focus is on catching up with my beta reading, but let’s say 5,000 new words? Aye, let’s go for that.
What I’m Reading
My head’s been firmly in the beta-reading game over the last few weeks, with nothing new to report on the book front. I’m still keeping up on various news and advice articles though, so let’s share a few of those.
If you’re going to read anything today, make it this gorgeous article about why you shouldn’t give up on your writing. Why you should stop focusing on success and instead work on what you love. “Be a lovely odd duck instead, one who hardly notices if people are booing or cheering.”
Recognize that it is a privilege to be a poorly-selling author nobody knows of and who’s barely making it. YOU GET TO WRITE FUCKING BOOKS. — Bad Boy Raeder (@LeahRaeder) September 17, 2015
Author and illustrator Jackie Morris had a gorgeous article about why powerful heroines star in her fairytale retellings.
V.E. Schwab, author of A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC, blogged a day in the life of eighteen different authors. I love how different all the schedules are! Adam Christopher’s was the most intruiging, to me — lots of things there I’d like to try.
There was the article “Dear Self-Published Author: Do NOT Write Four Books a Year“, which (despite the clickbaity title) had some really interest points about quality vs speed. Then Chuck Wendig responded with a great article about how you *can* write fast while still writing quality work, and his bibliography is definitely proof of that.
In the end, you do you, writer friends. Everyone has their own system, and all these ‘you should’ and ‘you shouldn’t’ posts do nothing but muddy the water.
Kameron Hurley had an eye-opening look at the business numbers behind her writing. That lady is an inspiration. Chuck Wendig responded with another post about the financial peaks and valleys of the writer life.
Delilah S Dawson had some interesting posts about writing endings, and writing a series. It was interesting advice, though Miss Cole’s recent blogging about the opposite was also inspirational.
Every writer is different! That’s one thing I love about this community.
I also revisited Chuck Wendig’s post on endings, because that’s where I am right now, and he and I see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. 10 of his points are here, with the full 25 available in his book.
That’s ten articles I really enjoyed this week, and highly recommend to others.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
The end of the year is coming up damn fast. I’ve got a roundup post for the end of September that’ll go up tomorrow, and I’m setting my sights now on the YA Buccaneer’s Fall Writing Boot Camp, a chance to get stuck into a new project.
September’s been a whirlwind of a month, going SO MUCH faster than I ever expected it to go. But in the end, I achieved my goals for the month, and that’s a damn good feeling (and a rare one!).
How’ve you done this month? What are you looking forward to in October?
Miss Cole says
Congratulations! Confetti! Music! Dancing! Cake! YAY!
Haha, that’s me, doing the opposite of everyone else ;)
Thanks for all those links! I’ve got a few open to read later.
Good luck with bootcamp ^_^
J. M. Dow says
I’ve got a friend that would FREAK OUT for a necklace like that, I’m pretty sure.
Also: GAAAAHH Kameron Hurley is such an inspiration. I admire her and Myke Cole’s work ethics so much.
Go you on getting that draft done!
EMaree says
I love that necklace. :D My beta writer buddy made it to fit my last WIP.
Kameron Hurley is SO AMAZING. It’s really refreshing to see someone with such a transparent and yet businesslike attitude. She really is so inspiring.