On the one hand, I want you guys to know when I’m working on a project, so you know that this whole Allison the Writer isn’t dead. On the other, I don’t like talking about my projects, because there’s always the chance that this undisciplined procrastinator of a writer will run out of steam and shelf the thing forever until I get more inspiration.
I think that at this point, it’s safe to say that this project has actually taken off. So I’m going to ramble a bit about it.
So I’m writing a book again. I’ve been thinking of what I want out of the experience, what my goals are for the project,
- Self-publish something that’s bigger and better than Seaport. I could work on that story for millions of years if I so desired, but why should I obsess over fixing its flaws if I could just take it for what it is, and write something better to prove that I’ve improved since then?
- Experiment. Experiment with new themes, a new setting, a new voice, and challenge myself to use them. For this story, I’m writing in the first-person present-tense. I am, not I did. I’m walking, not I walked. I used to hate reading that narrative style; I also hated reading poetry. But I gave writing poetry a try and I rather like it now. Perhaps I’ll enjoy this too. Perhaps it’s that little change in scenery that’ll make this book all the better.
- Improve. Take everything I learned the hard way about Seaport, everything wrong with it, and apply what I learned from those mistakes to After the Fall. For starters, I really rushed with Seaport. I thought I could write something over a lazy summer and publish Draft 2 to the world. I’m writing a novel now – this will take time. I’m hoping to be done with Draft 1 by the end of this year, and then I’ll bug all my writing friends about beta-reading.
- Novelize. I’ve been writing for years, but never have I actually written more than 15,000 words in a project (to my knowledge). The average length for a middle-grade novel is 30-50k words. I’m aiming for at least 25-30k. Mind you, I believe in quality over quantity – the word count isn’t what matters, but I feel that if I didn’t rush myself, Seaport could’ve been a novel, not a novelette. I want to see if it’s possible for me to write an evenly paced and substantial novel-length body of work.
That said…
And so it begins.
Love it, girl! Run on that grand adventure. 🙂
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Can’t wait! (Can I just say already that I’ll beta anything and everything I can get my hands on?) 🙂
As for the rest, boy do I hear ya. I’m pretty sure you’ve summed up my writing.
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Oooh! I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s beta-ready. 😀
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