Yeah … truth.
Where have I gone? Head down in story world. Would you believe that one night last week I was dreaming in narrative? Holy moley. Bellingwood has consumed me. The last three months of the year become a bit overwhelming as a book and a short story loom over me.
The worst thing? About three hundred gajillion other stories decide that now is the moment I should pay attention to them. Hello! Where were you when I wandered through dusty nooks and crannies in my mind looking for something interesting to write? Sheesh.
Book 24 still needs a title and a book cover, but if you saw photos from Max’s trip to New Hampshire, you have to know there’s a cover image or several in there. I have two weeks before the next newsletter to get that ironed out. Deadlines are good for me. At least I think they are. Right now … looming. I used that word already. It fits.
Tonight, I will write Chapter Nineteen in Book 24. It’s funny. Well, odd is a better term. I write twenty-six / twenty-seven chapters in book. Generally twenty-six. I write between 3500 – 4000 words per chapter. My goal is a minimum of 90,000 words per book. Because I’m a little … uhhh … organized about life, those numbers hit pretty close every book. In the beginning I was a bit more loosey-goosey about things, but as I grew comfortable with my schedule, I fell into this routine. It is a good place for me to be since I know at any given moment what needs to happen in order to complete a book on time. Consistency is something I strive for.
If math is your thing, you’ll realize that either tonight or tomorrow night (depending on how wordy I get tonight), I’ll hit the three-quarters mark of the book. You’ll also see that if I stay on target (and I will), I should finish writing next Sunday. That gives me a few days of editing before I skitter over to my sister’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. I’ll dash back, finish editing, get the book sent off to my editors / proofreaders for a first round of not-Diane editing and haul myself into the Christmas story.
The first chapter of the holiday story is written. I need to anchor some storylines at the end of Book 24 before I go much further. Are you ready for my short story stats? My goal is twelve chapters at a minimum of 2000 words / chapter. That gives me a nice, hefty short story. If I can, I’ll get at least one or two more chapters written in that story this week which will give me a leg up on my end-goal.
Because, yikes, it’s the holiday season and I want to be thinking of crafts and family and gifts and … sigh. So many things.
On November 25th, you will receive (if you’ve signed up) this month’s newsletter. In it you’ll see the cover and title, notification about this year’s Christmas card signup (wait for it, I want nothing now), and a new vignette.
Every night before I go to bed, I have several things that I do for myself. One of those is that I take a few minutes to reflect on the day in my journal. During this month, I carve out a space on the page for words gratitude. While I spend a great deal of time being thankful, this specific task reminds me to think about it, no matter where my brain has been.
I am always thankful for you and the community you’ve embraced. Even when I don’t show up in here every day to blather little bits and pieces of whatever is going on out there, please remember how grateful I am that you love Bellingwood. That’s what makes it worth it.
Back to it. Pretty sure Polly will be in tears before the end of the night. Happy tears, you know. Poor Polly. She runs into tears because if I’m crying, she’s crying.
Have a good week!
