Manuscript Monday # 16

Manuscript Monday is a series of blog posts which chronicle the life of my manuscript. It follows the journey I take to turn my week old baby story idea into a fully grown, polished novel. Take the journey with me. 🙂

My 16 week- old manuscript:

This week, my drafting progress consisted of adding just under five hundred words. All week. Yeah, that’s it. But… at least I added some words! So instead of focusing on how many words I was not able to add to this manuscript, I’m going to focus on a few other accomplishments:

One, I was able to keep my head in the story most of the week. For me, that’s important. It takes a long time to get started once I stop drafting, so if I can keep thinking about my manuscript, even when I’m not getting words on the page, then I’m more successful when I have the opportunity to write.

Two, I revised the opening of my other manuscript this week. This exercise will certainly make my writing stronger, so even though it wasn’t direct work on THIS manuscript, it was work that will benefit it eventually.

Three, I read a book. Not a whole book, but some of a book. Taking time away from writing to read, is one way to improve writing skills, and that will definitely help me when drafting later. Besides, it’s a perfect winter night activity and so yeah, there’s that.
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Four, I tried something new. We all know that having new experiences can inspire great writing. A few nights ago, I went running with my husband at 9:00pm at night, in the cold, in the dark, over snow covered roads. This was new for me because I hate the cold and snow! And though I like running, I prefer the treadmill this time of year. I mean, it’s COLD outside!! But I gave in and my husband introduced me to a world of running I hadn’t seen before—a winter wonderland full of snow covered trees, twinkling lights, and a night so still I could hear the snow crunching beneath my sneakers. I can’t wait to see what story ideas develop from a simple night out in the winter cold!

So even though my progress this week may not be tangible, I’ll still take it. Writing a novel is hard. It’s time consuming. It takes work and patience. And for me, it’s especially hard to do during the holiday crunch time. But I’m still plugging away! Hopefully you are too!

Thanks for checking in this week. I hope your writing is going well. Remember, if you haven’t checked out the details of our next critique round, click on Critique Corner. It’ll be here before you know it!