I officially decided my Nanowrimo is over. I hit my word goal (53k) and have a good first draft of one novella and two-thirds-ish of a second one. I tried to write a bit more of Only You these last few days, but I am BURNT OUT. And when I'm burnt out, I don't write well.
Today, I started doing a final edit of And Then It Was You. I'm planning to release it in mid-March, but I want to have every book in this series ready to go before I release the first one. After I do my final edit, I'll have my editors (who, to be honest, are two of my friends from college who are also writers) go over it for me, to make sure I didn't miss any plot holes, grammar mistakes, or any other inconsistencies. I think I'll be done editing it by December first. Then, I'll do my final edit of Dance for You, the second book in the Falling for You series. After that, the real work will begin. I will have taken some serious time away from writing, and with fresh eyes, I'll work on the second draft of Waiting for You, which I know will have significant rewrites. Once I finish that draft, I'll finish writing Only You, then do another draft of Waiting for You, and so on. So that was a very long description of what I am hoping to accomplish by mid-January. Around that time, I will be kissing the Seabrooke family goodbye, and saying hello to my next two series, which I plan to release simultaneously. You'll get to meet the Tremblay family in the Ex-Pats series, and I'll be starting my Happy Holidays series. I am so excited about both of them! I hope my US readers are enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend! I know I ate way too much this weekend, but I've decided diets and exercise can wait until January. Bring on the Christmas cookies! Enjoy your week :) Love always, Lucy
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Sooo... I finished?? For the first time ever, I hit the 50k words goal, and I hit it a full eleven days before the month ends. I actually hit 52k last night before I went to bed and I am so glad. It's been a furious, crazy journey, writing 50,000 words that quickly, but I don't know if it was the best idea.
I usually write about 30-35,000 words a month, which is still a lot. I didn't think tacking on that extra 15-20k would be too big of a deal, especially since I occasionally take days off from writing, but here's what I learned. 1. When I write this quickly, my B and C plots are pretty much toast. I was wrapping up Waiting for You about ten days ago and said to my husband, I forgot to write the C plot. I started it in chapter 3, but then I let it go. Editing is going to be a b*tch. 2. My second novella worked on is suffering for it. Once I finished Waiting for You, in true Nanowrimo style, I forewent editing, or even a read-through, to keep writing. I started writing Only You, but my energy was all wrong. I was writing the beginning of a novella with end of novella enthusiasm. I'm only at 20k words, but my action is already completely wrapping up. My plan is to "finish" writing it, and then do a crazy edit/ rewrite so I actually have a well-formed story, and not just an A plot with nothing else. But, I'm happy to announce I have fallen IN LOVE with Lydia and Everett, our couple in Only You. My plan for the next week is to slow down. I'll still be writing every day, but I am going to take some time to do a few other things in the writing world. I need to reach out to my (hopeful) cover artist and get that sorted, and I really need to research publishing on iBooks and Nook, since I only have experience with Amazon so far. If all goes to planned, you can expect to see the Falling for You series hitting Amazon in March! There will be a staggered release, but all four will be out by summer. After that, you can look forward to my next series about five brothers opening hotels in fun, European cities. There will be glamour, good food, and, of course, a sultry romance. To my stateside readers, have a Happy Thanksgiving this week! Love always, Lucy I'm happy to report that Nano is going better this year for me than it ever has before. I am at 22k, well ahead of schedule, my novella is flowing seamlessly, and I'm about the hit the climax of the action when the words will really start moving. Because the books in the Falling for You series tend to run between 32k-35k, the plan is to finishing Waiting for You and then begin Only You, getting me to the 50k mark. This is going to be a divergence from my normal monthly schedule. I usually spend about three weeks writing the novella, then I give myself until the end of the month to do a first read-through, and get some notes put together for the next book. This month, I will be plowing right on to Only You, but I'm hoping with the accelerated writing schedule, I'll have time at the end of December to do my read-throughs for both, and then get a bit of a breather before January hits and the major editing begins.
I thrive on a schedule, and so far I have been keeping to it very well. In the past, I had a lot of things throw me off course. For one, with my first pregnancy, I found that while my body is busy creating life, and then nursing said newborn life, I can't write. No matter how much time I try to carve out for myself, my mind and body are completely consumed with what my person had managed to create, and no writing is done. By the time my babies hit around five months, the muse starts to whittle her way back, but she's usually not in full force until I have a sleeping-through-the-night and weaned ten month old. With four kids under my belt, I'm hoping that part of my life has come to a close. (We'll see. I'm sure when my twins are three I'll start moaning that we need another baby.) I'll try to keep you current on how Nano is going, what the Seabrookes are up to in their romantic endeavors, and general writing updates. I've got to get back to Lincoln and Charlotte, and see what they're up to. Hopefully, something a little naughty :) Love always, Lucy |
Lucy HudsonMy thoughts on the writing and indie publishing process, as well as life occasionally Archives
April 2020
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