The sun is out today, the temperature is a balmy 35 degrees Fahrenheit, and I’m going to keep this short and venture outside. People are (or will be) out walking, so I’m going to freshen my Little Free Library with some new books, maybe take the dogs on a sniff walk around the yard, and otherwise enjoy being outside without the air hurting my face.
Hope everyone is having an equally lovely Sunday.
So, we have a cold front coming this week, a brutal one. I always hope February will be kinder, maybe because it’s sitting next to March, which is (almost) spring. Okay, here in Minnesota, March is absolutely not spring. Still, I expect February to be more compassionate.
Sadly, my expectations are often dashed.
Luckily, I do not need to leave the house until next Saturday. I have all meals planned, plenty of coffee and tea, a new series to binge (Paradise on Hulu—two episodes in, and I’m enjoying it), and plenty to read.
In writing progress, I’ve made it all the way through the manuscript (y’all, it’s 103,000 words) with Pansy’s plotline. Now, I plan to do a first-cut revision and weave in the second plotline, which deals with the character of Marigold in The Marigold Miracle. So, at least I have writing to distract me from the cold as well.
If you’re dealing with any kind (or not-so-kind) weather this week, take care!
This week, an errand took me across town. And since I was across town, I decided to visit The Museum of Russian Art. It was a great way to get out of the house, offline, and into the world. The visit was the perfect antidote for a week of fire-hose news blasts.
The crowds were light enough that you could take your time at each work of art, but there were enough people that it felt companionable.
Plus, if you’ve never seen a display of 1,000 nesting dolls, I highly recommend it (my iPhone 8 doesn’t do any of the art justice). In writing, I’m heading into the last part of book 2 (The Marigold Miracle). I won’t be officially done when I reach the end because I have a second plotline that I need to weave into the story. Parts are there, but it needs to be more robust. Still, getting (closer) to the end is pretty exciting.
Last week, Anno asked what I was working on and whether it was the series about Pansy (she of the sentient umbrella).
And yes, yes, it is. I’m writing the entire series. Or rather, I believe it’s the entire series, three books with a companion novella. I’m writing the whole series first before publishing any of it.
I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. First, I simply want the joy of writing it without any external expectations. If I publish the first book and it’s nothing but crickets and tumbleweeds, that can make the subsequent books more difficult to write.
If the first lands and finds its readership? Well, that could make the subsequent books even harder to write.
Right now, I’m in my writing bubble and having an immense amount of fun, and I don’t want to give that up.
Second, I think the series will be better for it. I’ve already refined the world-building by writing book two. I’m keeping notes of what I want to change in book one. Small things, a sentence here or there, backstory that needs a slight rephrasing. I could probably get away with not doing this, but I really enjoy doing this sort of work. To borrow a word I used a few blog posts ago, it feels like a luxury.
Last but not least, I believe that, in the long run, it will take less time to publish the entire series. There was a three-year gap between Coffee and Ghosts books three and four. Part of that was circumstances (oh, hi, pandemic). Part of it was I had to figure out how to bring back (spoiler) the entity. The entity is Katy’s foil. The series doesn’t work without the entity sticking its nose into things—not that the entity has an actual nose.
I will start publishing once book three is drafted and I feel secure about the content. Not all at once, but readers will know the series is complete.
So, during this first month of full-time writing, I reached ~91,000 words in book two (yes, these are long fantasy books). I’ve written close to 20,000 words this month. Considering I’m still recovering from burnout, I feel that’s significant. It feels like a win.
Also, one month in?
No regrets.
Writing Wrongs 