As expected, July turned out to be hot and busy. Between plenty of family activities and long days home with kids, it was hard to consistently find time to work on my book. Even with these challenges the word count rose from around 57,500 words to 72,000 words – a net increase of 14,500 words or about 60 pages, and that deserves a happy dance all around. A good part of these words were salvaged from an earlier draft and edited to fit the new needs of the current draft. The rest are new scenes written to round out the story.
These pages contain both the action climax and the emotional climax of the book, and have been a bear to work on. I owe my family an apology for the days I was mentally withdrawn as I worked through some of the emotions myself. Part of me feels bad about what happens to my characters, I have put them through the wringer and there’s not much I’ve given them as a reward. During future editing I’m going to have to make sure that the payout for completing their quest is enough or my readers might end up throwing the book against a wall.
I’m excited to have reached this point in writing Stonebearer’s Betrayal. At this pace, I should finish this draft during the month of August and be that much closer to publication. After this, I’ll begin the more detailed and painstaking work of filing down the rough edges and filling in gaps and holes, of which I already know there are many.
Between this draft and the next, I’m looking forward to taking a break for a few weeks and working on some short fiction to submit to magazines and contests. I’ve collected a few fun ideas that I hope will turn into some great fiction.
Until next month, happy writing!
Jodi L. Milner, Author 
Hot and busy? I thought this was a family-friendly blog!
I think you managed to accomplish quite a bit, especially with children underfoot. I haven’t done squat all summer. A sudden, serious loss of mojo.
LikeLike
Thank you for bringing a touch of class to the comments, I can always rely on you! I’m really excited for school and more of those no kids underfoot moments, I might actually finish this book.
LikeLike
Well done, Jodi. Those revision sessions can be a lot of fun. Almost as much as kids. In my case, grandkids, however they aren’t underfoot all that much since most are now teenagers begging for money. Then there’s the gardening, family reunions and birthdays. Next comes the holiday season.
I hadn’t thought about using word count as a measure of productivity in my edits and revisions. Whole sections in my books have been cut and/or rewritten, however 3 entirely new chapters have been written. A quick check and there’s been a net increase in the book’s word count of about 22,000. I’m only on chapter 9 of 32, so that may increase a bit. There won’t be any new chapters so I don’t expect a big increase like that again.
I’ve felt good about my revision effort when it began in June, but now I’m even happier. Thanks for the idea.
LikeLike
That’s wonderful, Jodi!!! Go you.
LikeLike
It feels so good to be this much closer to finishing, the goal of starting queries at the end of the year is within my reach!
LikeLike