Second Draft Push, Week Four
Time to close the book on October. The sun has set on the last day of the month and on my October goals.
Work on the second draft of Saving Grace is winding down, but not as quickly as I’d hoped. The second act was completed early in the final week of the month, but further work was delayed first by the loss of a full chapter and the need to reconstruct it and by the sudden discovery of a major problem with the third act.
Replacing the lost chapter was easy enough. I rewrote it from scratch and ended up with a better chapter than the one that was lost. I love when that happens!
The third act problems were more difficult to solve, although they were quite easy to diagnose. The majority of writing time at mid-week was spent exploring solutions to the Third Act Problem, so there wasn’t much forward momentum on the story itself.
The ‘last nail was driven into the coffin’ on October 31 when I awakened with a migraine that lasted all day, resulted in a lot of time spent doing nothing or less than nothing and an early end to the day. I told Neal I was disappointed to have done nothing and to have taken all day to get it done!
I did try to give thanks in all things and to find His grace and mercy even in the midst of the migraine and, as I look back on it, I can see evidences of those mercies.
How did the month turn out? In spite of things, it went very well.
The Goals
- Write or edit 25,000 words a week
- Edit fifteen to twenty chapters edited per week
- Finish Part 1 in the first week
- Finish Part 2 in the second week
- Finish Part 3 in the third week
- Finish Part 4 in the fourth week
- If successful, take a deep breath and prepare for NaNoWriMo
The Results
As of the end of the day yesterday (Friday, October 31):
- 13,706 new words written this week
- 65,286 new words written this month
- 60 chapters edited
- The first act completed
- The second act completed
- The third act started
While I am disappointed to have missed the goal, I’m pleased to have gotten so close. The second draft of this 2009 NaNoWriMo tale has been the bane of my existence since my first reading of it in December 2009. More progress was made in October than in all the previous months combined, so praise the LORD for the progress!
I’m also disappointed to not be officially participating in NaNoWriMo this year. NaNo 2011 was my reward for a second draft completed. I must be strict with myself and continue to push through the second draft until it’s finished.
However, there is a consolation prize for Carrie L. Lewis, writer. More on that tomorrow.
In the meantime, it’s back to the drawing board (or the writing desk) with Saving Grace, the Second Draft.
