Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count:
Nothing on a new YA suspense manuscript (Well… You can count the 20 chapters and 53,910 words I wrote during my first go at this manuscript back in 2012, but I’m doing a page one rewrite with different characters and a supernatural element removed so 70-80% of that will be scrapped.)
Current report WC + CC/ SC:
YA SUSPENSE: 15,706 words, 6 chapters
WIP Issues This Month: Setting myself up with unrealistic expectations. I’m probably in the minority of writers in that the first draft is my least favorite aspect of writing. I just get weighed down by the tens of thousands of words still ahead of me and wish I could finish a draft in 10 days every time. (I did it once! Of course, I wound up adding 30k in edits over the next few years, but still.) 5000 words a day for 10 days seems doable on paper… Ha, but it’s only rarely doable for me.
Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. Drafting doesn’t always come easily for me. (Not really a new lesson!)
2. I’m strangely very interested in marketing my books after they’re out when I have a draft I should be working on–probably because I don’t want to draft.
3. I feel like I’m not a “real writer” if I don’t say that writing is my favorite part of being a writer (does that make sense?), but it’s not. I have moments where it’s amazing, but it usually feels like a chore until I get to editing and the excitement of hoping the manuscript has a future.
4. Publishing is slow.
What distracted me this month while writing: Not too much. I tried to work on the manuscript every day, even if just a few hundred words. I spent a day in Chicago earlier in the month and attended a local cartoonist’s fair, both of which were fun.
Goal for next month: I might be getting my 2nd round of edits for NOBODY’S LADY in October, so that’ll have to take priority, but naturally, I want to continue working on writing the YA SUSPENSE and I actually have to start a new idea soon, too. I’m going to NYC again for a week, so that’ll put a dent in my progress, as I’m usually too exhausted and busy to get much done while on vacation. I hope I don’t lose my (slow-going) momentum on the project if I take a break, though.
Oh, I’m participating in YASH again in early October with NOBODY’S GODDESS! Stop by to win prizes and play along. 😀
Amy McNulty 
I know that feeling of wanting to finish a draft quickly but not having the time! (My latest’s in that stage, and the longer I work on it, the harder it gets!)
Have fun in New York! 🙂
I want to pump out two books a month! It seems totally possible, but it’s totally not. XD Although I think you may have done it before! Or closer to that than I have…
Thank you!
I much prefer editing to drafting! I love drafting, but editing is far less chaotic and stressful for me. You made some awesome progress this month! Have a great & productive October no matter what you’re working on! ^_^
Good, I’m not the only one. XD I see a lot of writers say they hate querying and marketing, but I love those parts as well! (And they just want to get back to the writing, but I’m fine with doing all of these other things instead.)
Thanks! You too!
You are NOT alone. I also prefer editing big time. First drafts scare me, but not as much as plotting. But once the first set of words are slapped down, I begin to relax since I’ve got something to work with — even if it hardly resembles what I’ve got in my head. And don’t ever feel like you’re not a “real writer” for that. It’s work, and if you’re doing it, then you’re a writer, period 🙂
Enjoy NYC!
Oh, good! I think you might be the first writer I’ve ever met to agree with me. XD (You know all those writers that don’t want to market or anything because they want to write–I want to market! XD) And you’re right, plotting is awful too. ;-;
Thank you!
Publishing is SO slow! Ugh. But you’re actually not the only person I know who hates drafting, so don’t even worry about it or think that it makes you “not a real writer”, because it doesn’t. Everyone’s different!
Good luck next month! 🙂
Thanks! Now I feel less nervous about making the confession!
You too! 😀