Month in review
This week was banging! Gotta read on to find out more, but suffice to say I am very, very happy right about now.
Journal Entries
Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Total words: 0
Today and yesterday I have been focusing on deep outlining the finale, but I did write about 2,000 words in that. Maybe I should call it my zero draft. I think on my next project I will use Lore Forge’s revision system more heavily and write my deep outlines direct into the scene since they are basically super sparse, punctuation free drafts.
It will be the same tomorrow because I want to get to the end with my deep outline so I can really power through with the drafting. I only have a week left to finish, so I’m feeling the crunch. I had hoped to be finished by now, but it seems I’m still very good at underestimating how much work is involved in a project.
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Total words: 0
Oh man, so much work done today! My lack of word count doesn’t reflect the reality of 3,000 words of deep outline. The Finale is completely outlined and I just have to do the Final Image. Then fill them out with actual prose.
6 days left.
I am hoping to get the rest of the outline done tomorrow, but I do need to go to the dentist so I don’t know how the pain will affect me. I should be able to finish the draft in time just.
Damn this is taking way longer than I estimated though! Literally laughing at how naive I was on the 2nd September thinking there was only 7-10 days of work left! I should know better from when I was a technical writer. However long you think it will take, double it, and then add an extra 50% as a buffer, just in case.
Thursday, 25 September 2025
Total words: 62
No, that’s not a typo. 62 words. Nor is it because of a bad writing day. Quite the opposite actually because… I finished my deep outlining! I was so hyped for getting the roughest of rough drafts complete that I started trying to turn it into prose, but I only got 64 words in before I realised I was just too tired.
I also added like a gazillion scenes, but they are short I’m hoping they don’t add too much. I really need to consider what to cut, though. Maybe there will be left overs from Daniil’s abandoned subplot, but if not, it’s nearly time to get critical.
5 days left to turn this outline into prose. The end is so close I can almost taste it!
Friday, 26 September 2025
Total words: 5,076
And that is not a typo either! I felt so energised by having completed the deep outline that I have spent most of today writing! I only have 3 1/2 major scenes left to write: Mik’s exhibition skate (which has been living rent free in my brain for literally years), the actual duet, the grant results, and the epilogue. That’s it!
Of course, then I have the mammoth task of editing and cutting down the expected 110,000 words. But I will have finished the first draft. For the first time for an original fiction of this length! I’m already happy and proud of myself, and I haven’t even gotten there yet. This has been my dream for literally my whole life (literally, literally, literally, what am I, 12?) and now I’m actually doing it! I’m one step closer!
Saturday, 27 September 2025
Total words: 3,260
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, my draft is complete!
I’m honestly so excited and relieved and happy and proud! And terrified, haha!
Now the real work begins in shaping it into something worth while. I mean, the good thing is I’ve always been good at editing, at least that’s what my technical writing manager said (while I was under performance review after getting caught up in company politics, but let’s not get into that).
I really wish I could afford a developmental editor, it would be so beneficial, but I just don’t have the funds. Hopefully the various AI tools can help. I know they are nothing compared to a human editor, but hopefully it will be enough to get me started. Maybe I will be able to afford one for my next book.
Sunday, 28 September 2025
Scenes edited: 2 today (2/65 complete)
I’m changing it up now that adding words is no longer my main goal. I decided I’m going to track the scenes I’ve edited. There are currently a total of 65 scenes.
Today I moved all of my scenes into one ‘chapter’, ready to break into proper chapters based on pacing needs rather than each ‘chapter’ being a Save the Cat story beat the way I had it set up for writing. I then changed all the scenes to Revision 2, utilising Lore Forge’s revision system so I can easily go back to an old version if need be.
I then rewrote the opening and closing paragraphs in the pairs practice scene, as I had a note to myself saying that it was far too much telling (it was), so now it’s much better.
I also went through all the crits from Critique Circle and the report from a manuscript assessment I had on the first scene and edited it accordingly. I still want to tweak it a bit, but it’s getting there.
Finally, I went through the notes and made the easy changes (like changing Dhanyel to Daniil and Dimitri to Dmitri) and deleted the notes I no longer agree with.
Oh, I also backed up this version of the story and saved a copy locally and to the cloud. Always back up your work, kids!
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