Last month (is it August already?!), I participated in a writing challenge hosted by Tristi Pinkston. Well, actually, I did almost no writing, unless you count rewriting, but then again I did have two family reunions, a road trip, moving my sister and a long visit from my family in July, so I tried to take it easy on myself.

Yeah, apparently I don’t know what that phrase means.

So I had to lighten my own load with revised goals the first week of the month—and I’m glad I did.

1. Edit 350 pages of my MS. Woot! I mentioned this before, but not only did I finish the two rounds of editing, I added a bunch of words (side note: once I had a writing client inform me that you cannot use “not only” without the accompanying “but also.” Riiiight.). I’m still working on cutting. Well, not really. I’m working on getting chapters to critique partners, still. My mom read it and liked it, though 😀 .
2. Read my library books:
   • Bedford Square (Anne Perry comes very highly recommended—and this counts for the Summer Reading Thing.) Read, now to review.
   • Death in Holy Orders Decided I’d have to check it out again.
   • The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life Skimmed. Some chapters might really be useful enough to read again, especially the chapter on “Transcendency.”
3. Read at least one book off my Summer Reading Thing list.: Lockdown, reviewed last week! Hm. . . . two challenges this summer. Have I ever met a challenge I didn’t like? (Oh yeah.)
4. Continue to mull over the exact plot, premise and motifs for my next WIP. (If I’m feeling really ambitious—or, y’know, stuck on a long road trip—even outline one book or the full story arc.) Mulled like cider, baby. (Um, wow . . . let’s just move on.) I have most of the book outlined, though I still need to clarify a few things and work on the conclusion. Still doing a lot of research in this area, and I definitely want to brush up in the genre before I nail down the characters and events, but I’ve already written a little of the opening. It was tough going, though, and I don’t like fighting with my writing from the beginning, so we’ll see.
5. Stay current on critique partners’ edits. Thankfully, there wasn’t much demand in this area.

Even if you weren’t part of the challenge, how did your writing (or your vacation 😉 ) go for July?

Photo credit: Richard Dudley

Note: coming up in our deep POV series this week: Getting into our characters’ heads in two different ways!

Well, we’re almost a week into Tristi Pinkston’s July Writing Challenge. I admitted when we started that my goals were rather lofty, especially given that I’ll be spending the rest of the month with family in town. Plus, my library due date is fast approaching. So I’m revising my goals a bit, and reporting on the progress I’ve made so far.

1. Edit 350 pages of my MS:
   • Go through my writing partner’s notes on the last ten chapters. Down to the last five!
   • Go through the second half of the book last eight chapters again to make all my planned changes, add two scenes one scene to go! and cut out the parts people skip
   • Get as many chapters to my critique partners as they can stand. 😉
2. Read my library books:
   • Bedford Square (Anne Perry comes very highly recommended—and this counts for the Summer Reading Thing.) Read, now to review.
   • Death in Holy Orders (Ten guesses why.)
   • The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life Skimmed. Some chapters might really be useful enough to read again, especially the chapter on “Transcendency.”
   • The rest of the books will go on my “to be checked out again later” list.
3. Read at least one book off my Summer Reading Thing list.
4. Continue to mull over the exact plot, premise and motifs for my next WIP. (If I’m feeling really ambitious—or, y’know, stuck on a long road trip—even outline one book or the full story arc.) (Mulling away!)
5. Stay current on critique partners’ edits.

Even if you’re not part of the challenge, how is your writing (or your vacation 😉 ) coming along?