Writing Progress

Writing is so hard.

I used to think it was funny the advice “Quit, if you can” was funny. But that was before I had really become addicted to it. Writing was always something fun for me as a kid – a break from reading books and watching movies. I wrote a lot of horror fan fiction. Then as a teen, I turned to sloppy melodramatic poetry for a release (like so many other people I know – hee!). Then while I was in college, I wrote nothing but essays and literary criticism for five years. That sucked so bad, I didn’t really see myself finding writing OR reading fun ever again. But pretty soon, when I was home with my kids, I was back to both as it was the only me-time I could steal between diapers and naps. I fell in love again. I had missed stories, and writing fiction was like putting on an pair of well-worn hydraulic jeans. Why would I ever want to give that up?

Well, I get it now. Holy smokes, if I could quit writing, I definitely would, because I would truly like to be able to sit on the couch without these characters talking inside my head, badgering me to find my thumbdrive, fire up Word and take some flippin notes.

I’m working full time, the kids are busy, hubby is still renovating my office, and progress is slower than a snail making his way across the interstate, but I’m working on it. I’d really like to finish this first draft of Heart on Fire soon. In fact, I’d like to set some goals, but I’m not even sure what realistic means anymore. What would be realistic? To rewrite the same sentence over and over again three times a week? Attainable maybe, but not so encouraging. However, summer is here, and I’m having surgery next week, so I’ll be out of work for a little while to recover. I’m hoping I’ll feel like writing after the first day or two.

Tonight, I’m doing a little read-through with the feedback I received from another contest I entered it in. It wasn’t nearly as well received as the first contest, as it was judged strictly as a romance by both judges, and I did NOT win a prize. One of the two judges told me I should get a dictionary, and consistently called my main character Edward (his name is Edwin), so I wasn’t too worried about her feedback at all, but But I do believe I recieved some valuable feedback for moving forward and steering the characters to where I want them to go from the judge who was a bit nicer. Here’s where I’m at with the current draft:

I estimated my final word count to be 90,000 words, which is on the long side for a YA. But some YA’s, particularly the ones I’d compare this to, are a bit longer. I still think I might wrap it up in under that though, which would be good for the market.