6:56am
For the last hour I have scooted around the house, my fuzzy socks whispering across the wood floors while I try not to wake anyone up. Three days ago I entered the Speedbo 2014 writing challenge on a whim. I rarely have time to read emails from the writing blogs I subscribe to, but for a rare moment I decided to open a random one since I was ahead of my morning routine. The Speedbo challenge is to write an entire novel in the month of March. A tall order for sure, given my busy life, but possible.
About a month ago, I submitted Part 1 of No Eye Has Seen to an interested publisher. I am not sure if it’s taboo to mention the name of the publisher at this point in the game, but I had the privilege of meeting her and personally pitching my story to her at a writer’s conference this past summer. She asked to see the first ten chapters, knowing I only had Part 1 complete. Then, she asked to see the entire manuscript once I completed final revisions for Part 1.
At this point, I am not sure if I will have a series or a standard novel with two parts. Part 1 is currently 53,000 words. Part 2 (and this is where Speedbo comes in) is mostly all in my head at this point (I have been researching in order to have historical elements understood before I flesh out the story itself) but should equal at least the additional 22,000 words needed for NEHS to be a full-length novel.
So, while I wait for the publisher to get back to me on her decision to accept the project and move forward, having a rough draft of Part 2 ready to go will be essential no matter what.
7:12am
Well, before the household fully wakes up, I better get to the actual task of writing. My goal is to write 800 or more words per day.
8:52am
Just as I began that last part, my laptop shut down due to overheating, then my niece and nephew woke up and I had to get them set up watching a movie on another laptop in hopes they didn’t wake up anybody else. (Of course, this weekend my sister is moving and I had committed to taking her kids for the night while they moved, prior to learning of Speedbo.) By the time I got my second cup of coffee and found an appropriate movie for a 5 and 3-year-old, my laptop had cooled off enough and I attempted to begin the first chapter in Part 2.
519 words later, everyone is now awake. Cousins are running through the house in their PJs, Nerf guns in hand while my mom (also visiting from San Francisco for the weekend)assists my 15-year-old in making breakfast.
Regardless of the many excuses I had not to write this morning, I am happy to have written anything at all. Hopefully tomorrow I will be better prepared and have fewer distractions.