Twas the Week Before Xmas

Update 28:  13-19 Dec. 2021

This year has not gone as planned. Not at all.

There are plenty of excuses that make that statement palpable, but I’m still feeling down about it. I didn’t send out nearly as many query letters as I planned, I’m not using my degree to change jobs, and I’m ending the year with only a meager influx of words.

Originally, I had planned to have the book finished before December. I was supposed to be outlining the next book, and working on characters and maps and moving forward, before I finally got around to revisions.

But, if you’ve been reading along these last 28 updates, you know that I kept stopping and restarting THIS manuscript. Revising and reorganizing and changing up the POVs with each version of the manuscript.

Accepting my Limitations

I might feel bad, but really this is a crazy month. Between my health (mentioned in the last two posts and I won’t redress any of that here), my family’s health (no details, sorry), broken appliances, and the holidays (extra work shifts, side work, and just too many tasks)… I really can’t be surprised that I need to take a little time off from the book.

But I refuse to just stop entirely.

This week sucked for writing but I managed to get past the pain, and other problems, and got in a single session this past week. Yes!

Words Count

They really do. Any forward progress is still progress.

I managed to get half a chapter done, gaining 1706 new words this week. The manuscript sits at 115,531.

I probably won’t get much more done between now and January, and I thought about skipping the next two Mondays. No updates. But in three years I believe I have only had 2 weeks without a single post on this website, and that is a hell of a streak.

I don’t know what we’ll talk about next week… maybe xmas gifts or holiday foods. Either way, I’ll post something to keep you entertained.

Though maybe I should think of something to entertain you on THIS post first.

Ha!

Blank

I literally just went blank and stared at the keyboard for a full ten minutes. I almost ended this post super early and then decided to talk about this block. I know, stupid, right?

I thought about talking TV, but I’m not watching any of the stuff that everyone else is right now. I haven’t watched Hawkeye yet because I prefer to binge shows. I haven’t started Witcher… and I’m still debating watching Wheel of Time as I’ve never been able to finish that book series. (I could probably do a several thousand-word rant about how Jordan pissed me off and drove from the series, and how I tried to read it twice, first making it through 8 books and then 10 books before I quit).

I’ve mostly been watching lots of Korean TV and I could talk about that for days. I’m sure. But I don’t know if I’m ready for that (or if you would be interested in reading that). I started watching gritty crime and supernatural shows, but slowly added more dramedies and romantic comedies into my assortment. And I’ve had my friends questioning me, WHY?

I have a bunch of reasons and I know what I enjoy about it. But I just don’t know how to organize my thoughts, nor do I know if anyone would be interested in them.

Maybe I’ll think about that for the rest of this week and next week I’ll do a post about Korean TV shows and X-mas.

Outro

Sorry for the short post, but the end of the year is looming and a lot is happening in my life. I’ll keep posting and in the next year we’re using winter to knock out the last half of the book. I also need to get my desktop computer fixed so I can get back to my query letters. Hopefully, my targeted agents will actually open up to queries?

Be well, have a great holiday, and take care of yourself and your loved ones.