A Work in PROGRESS

Debra is making good headway on her WIP.

It's been a good writing summer. Something that hasn't happened in a while. Last time I posted I was excited to report that I'd begun writing again, picking up a WIP that had been languishing. I am proud to say I've written almost every day since then. My word count is up to 48,700 with a target of 65,000, so I am extremely pleased with my progress. When I picked it up again in June, I was at 23,100. So in a little less than a month, I've recorded approximately 25,000 words.

Some days it's easier than others and I know just what scene I want to work on and where I'm going with the story. Other days it's a bit more like pulling teeth. Difficult and painful, but in the end I get there and am happy and relieved with the end result. Today (Sunday) I wrote about 1,500 words of a scene that I knew I wanted to include in some way, but hadn't exactly figured out how it was going to move the story forward.

I have been writing a bit piecemeal and not in chronological story order, and I was wondering how everything was fitting together, so I took a couple of days to do a read-through of what I had down. Other than that, except for a few tiny rereads just for continuity information, I've been writing and not rereading, editing, or revising. I think it's working well.

Once I've reached my word goal, I'll do a full read-through and begin the editing and revising process. I'm also planning on snagging a few beta readers for this one. I have a few questions in my mind about the story already, and I'd love the opinion of a reader or two. This will be a new step for me, so I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

In the meantime, I've also been trying to be more active with other aspects of my writing career, while I have the time here in the summer. My book Fourth of July at The Corral is on sale for #99c in the month of July. I've been posting and advertising on various outlets for that. And I'm also trying to be more active with my Twitter account. I'm trying to post something every day, although I don't always accomplish this. I've been posting new release blurbs from fellow Roses and sometimes just a what I'm up to at the moment type thing. I'm refraining from posting 'buy MY book' Tweets every day, but have plans to sneak those in too. At the moment, just trying to build a following and make sure my account isn't sitting there inactively. I'm still on the fence about Facebook, but I've posted a few personal and authory things from time to time there as well.

So, all in all, I'm having a lot of fun being an author again this summer. It's been a while since I've felt like one.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com