Hi All!
It’s been a busy month for me tackling both Camp Nanowrimo and DVpit!
I figured not falling off the wagon on that was a touch more vital than blog updates, but still, I missed yelling about my writing updates! Now that I’m within spitting distance of my stretch writing goal for April. (47K!!! which I hope to knock out my last 3k tonight and tomorrow.) I feel like I can get back to my regular blogging schedule.
So, let me start by saying this has been my first attempt at writing a 1st draft that has been really intensely outlined. I spent the month of March creating character lists, character arcs, and then finally a chapter outline/roadmap to write from. It has really made writing on low inspiration days so much easier.
HOWEVER, now that I am writing the back 3rd of the novel I realize I’ve left all but the faintest suggestion of the road behind. I think overall this will be a good thing for the novel, as I wrote the characters more and really fleshed out their relationships with each other I realized some of the interpersonal conflicts I’d put in the outline just didn’t make sense anymore. I think as soon as I hit my 50k I’m going to take a pause to re-align the tail end of my outline with where we are now before I really dive into writing the climax in May.
A short excerpt the current opening lines of Gator 911 sure to be polished about a million times but it’s a good start:
The buzz of her phone was easy to ignore, the high pitched pings of the texts coming in likewise. She threw the phone in the general direction of the window and heard a thunk rather than the desired crash. Half a bottle of tequila had vanished and so she was too far gone to help anyone. The burn of alcohol as it slid down was as comforting as the scream of the cicadas that seemed to waver through the humid air outside. As much a firm reminder of where and when she was, as the lack of Afghanistan’s haunting Adhan, the call to prayer, and air so dry even her frizzy hair had behaved itself.
She was back home in good ol’ Salt’s Bayou, Texas and she was safe. She hated it.
Goals for this week:
Write the final 3k words I’ve been procrastinating.
Write a scene with Morgan, Grace’s ex-fiance Betrayer and Destroyer of Worlds, even if it doesn’t go in the draft and is going to get cut, because I desperately need to understand who this guy is beyond how angry Grace is about his existence.
In other news, given recent pay cuts and general job market uncertainty, I’m activating the Patreon account I’ve been sitting on for a few years. I suspect I’m about to have a lot more free time on my hands! So if you’d like to get sneak peeks of my attempting not to go mad as a forced stay at home wife and writer, or would like to support my continuing to write, do check it out!
G.A. Buba 