After Week 8 of this Round of Words in 80 Days (linky), I’m starting to think I’m focussing too much on my WIP.
In Week 3, I made it a goal to re-write a chapter by the end of the round. At the rate I’m going, I think I have to accept that won’t be happening.
The only editing I got done this week this week was the re-reading each night, covering a total of ten pages (and 700 words that weren’t printed out yet). Since the scene I wrote up last week was the last one still on paper, that was enough to meet my goals.
But if I’m meeting my goals that easily, I should be aiming higher.
New Goals
I could increase my editing goals. But that just puts me back with the failed goals I had last week, so I think Beth Camp‘s suggestion from Week 6 might be more useful: spend some time editing, and also work on other projects.
I should also acknowledge a major non-writing goal. Specifically, I’m trying to organise my first overseas trip, and that requires research and emails.
Taking those into consideration, these are my new writing/editing goals:
- Re-read at least a page of Conkers every day.
- Do something else productive (a poem, 200+ words of prose, or research/emails for overseas) at least three days a week.
Reading
While my re-reading of my own work didn’t go well, I did read a couple of novels. The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks and Halting State by Charles Stross were both sci-fi, and both had interesting twists. But as a writer, Halting State was the one I found most interesting.
It is completely written in the second person — switching between three characters who are all referred to as “you”. Pretty much everything I’ve read advises against using the second person, but somehow Stross gets it to work; I’m considering reading the book again to try and understand it.
Good luck and happy writing!
Jenkins Rising 