Hello everyone!
Well it’s time for another update (it’s been way, way too long since the last one!) and for some tentative plans to be told for this year.
For the update part of things, I’m still working on the ‘second’ draft of Windborn, which is up to about 119,000 words at the moment. The original plan for Windborn came in at around 29,500 words and I have about 8,000 words left on that plan, so potentially around 40,000 words left on it if it goes the same way as The King with Splintered Eyes. The protagonist is hopping onto a longship and heading out into the third act so I’m hoping the rest of it will flow nice and quickly. It will end up a bit longer than my original estimates, but I’m happy with that! It feels much more like a complete story than the first time I drafted this story (and only ended up with a 50,000 word manuscript…). I’m planning for it to be done by 17th February, which should be do-able if I can keep up the pace of 1,200 words a day that I’ve managed to far this year.
That brings me neatly onto the plans for this year!
I’m trying something different with my goal setting this year. Rather than seeing out goals for the whole year I’m going to be trying out goal setting in 12 week blocks. I read The 12 Week Year and it made some convincing arguments, and I’ve got nothing to lose by using it, right?
This first 12 week block will be dedicated to finishing up Windborn and also planning my next book (more on that in the future, spoiler: there’s dinosaurs) and working on shorter stories, whether that’s writing or planning. My aim at the moment is to write 1,200 words every day on Windborn until it’s done.
Why 1,200 words a day, I hear you cry? What madness made me choose this number?
Well, if I can sustain a minimum of 1,200 words a day during a 12 week block then I should be able to write 100,000 words over that time. In theory (and I’m using 2019 to test this theory…) that means I should be able to write most (if not all) of a draft during one 12 week project, and then use the next 12 week project to edit it and write any shorter works I have my eye on.
If I can keep up with the 1,200 words a day I’ll have Windborn finished by the 17th February as planned, which happens to be the half-way point of the first 12 week project. I’ll leave it for at least a week or two before going back to make notes and edit it, but all going well I should have a readable draft by the 1st April and the end of this first 12 week project.
I think that about sums everything up for now. I’ll report back once Windborn is done and once we’re done with the first 12 week block as well, so keep your eyes on this space!
For now, happy writing and be well!