Squidge

Good for you @philippaeast. You more than deserve that break! What a rollercoaster in a whirlwind you’ve been riding, but also, what an awesome result. Do you have an outline for book 2?

My update is that backat the end of last year I thought that Penguin Random House had gone too quiet and all was lost (my agent was getting ready to go out on…[Read more]

I am planning to start working in earnest on Book 2 from March onwards, after giving myself a break from writing / editing for all of February.
I hope you will help me my cheerleading / offering tea / kicking my butt, hard.
Hope you are all getting on well with your own writing tasks. xx

January update from Fife – Last week I thought that a) I’d never ever in the universe get to the end of the huge wip edits, b) not hit the word count target. And c) not get to write a short for RwaV in time. And d) just meh, really.
But since then, got to end of edits, hitting my word target, and now am mid first RwaV target with DAYS left in…[Read more]

Hey guys, how are you all doing? I am crawling very close to the finish line with this latest round of edits. I don’t honestly know how I’ve done it! Sheer bloody mindedness, I think. I’m hoping to do an overall read through over the next week to check it all hangs together, and then I think I’ll be done. Until the next round begins….
How are…[Read more]

First day of school hols, which means a final, wonderful end to all the school xmas events (slides into exhaustion coma…) AND I am now ALONE till sunday, for which YAAAAAY!!!

I’m half way through the book edit and have cut from 120k to 110k. Which means I’m on target to get to 100k… so far. I want to get to 99k for that subliminal 5figure…[Read more]

Congratulations to my fellow December SloMo members on all your achievements in December. I know there is a third of the month to go but I am about to disappear in Christmas – ferries permitting. December hasn’t worked out for me quite how I thought it would and has ended up being more of time to reflect. I have written and edited a lot in 2018…[Read more]

Had a lot of NoMo here recently. But that was to be expected. And today I have the mini home sick, so am going to attempt to edit against a backdrop of Attenborough programmes!! Actually, despite the painful slowness, I figured out a couple of key plot changes that I think will go miles towards addressing the issue of the final stakes not being…[Read more]

Still SloMoing along and hitting my very modest targets. Chip, chip, chip. Over 10,000 words now and it’s been pretty easy going, really, esp after NaNo.

I got some editorial notes from a publisher who’s shown some interest – all of which is gold and so useful – but one of the comments was that a 2 book series would be easier to sell, so I…[Read more]

Hello fellow slomoers (?)
I’ve been very slow… but I now know how my novel is going to end! I have an outline for the bits I’ve still got left to write. Need to flesh them out a bit and then get on with it. That will be the third draft done, then.
Well done to all of us! And keep going all of us! Might do a Janowrimo!

Visiting EmmaD’s blog last night for the first time in a while, I found a delightful phrase that could be the motto for this group, though it’s actually from Jenn Ashworth rather than Emma herself. Anyway, I love it.
No word count boot camp, no productivity porn.

I’ve had a few days off as we went to London to see children and grandchildren as far as Mr Janeshuff was concerned although I’d organised two surprise birthday celebrations for him as well. We’re back now after a wonderful but exhausting time and I’m hoping to restart tomorrow. I’ve spent the best part of a month planning this WIP and after only…[Read more]

I’ve a few NoMo days (xmas, health, rubbish stuff), but managed to edit two chapters yesterday and transcribe them today. I am checking my % cut after each chapter, and making a graph. Yes I know. I’m a scientist, don’t @ me, as they say. It’s actually really encouraging, as well as being pretty…

Hoping for two more chapters edited this pm

I’ve changed my profile pic to something less bot-like. These are the leaves of a whitebeam, one of my favourite trees. I was thinking of growth, hope, aspiration. You know, general upwardsness. Fingers crossed.

The past few days have been very slowmo/slowgo. Max of 1,000 words a day editing by hand when really I should accomplish 2,000 or at…[Read more]

Ug. Today I feel like I’ve gone backwards in my editing process. I’ve put in my three hours, but most of that was spent unearthing problems in my “back-plot” (or lack thereof) that have now thrown the other plot threads out of whack.
I feel like I’ve discovered dry rot and woodworm in a house I’m trying to redecorate.
How much backstory…[Read more]

Nice post, @kazg, and one that resonates with me. I’ve always worked by chipping away, little by little. I don’t set myself targets, and I try not to think about how far I still have to go, in case I get discouraged, something I’m far too prone to. The night driving analogy puts it in a nutshell. Surprising how those few metres at a time mount up.…[Read more]

Well done all SloMoers and it looks like gentle forward motion is happening for everyone, even if it might not feel like it (@daedalus – I’m a firm believer in the power of mental gathering and composting, even if no actual words are landing on the page).

I’m finding SloMo a lifesaver – it’s slow enough to feel like a break from the frenetic…[Read more]

Well, I’m sure glad for this SloMo month… until the start of this week, I had too many distractions to focus on writing and the lack of progress was just making me increasingly panicked. But for the last three days, I’ve managed my plan of a few hours a day. I feel less panicked now, because I feel sort of ‘back in the familiar groove’ and I can…[Read more]

My SloMo has virtually been NoMo so far. Interrupted sleep patterns and disruption from house repairs, not to mention preparations for puppy, have just left me with little mental energy in the evenings. Nice to hear about and vicariously enjoy other people’s progress though!