July: Camp Nanowrimo and Critique

Hello again, everyone!!

I hope you're staying safe out there, because the crazy isn't over yet, unfortunately. The Covid cases have started rising again, like I mentioned last time, but we're all still managing, I think. Instead of going back to shelter in place like we were all afraid of, it looks like the plan right now is to just stay at things being halfway-open and hope things fix themselves. I'm still working full-time, and I'm still trying to use my free time productively, but I'm ready for it to be over now. I'm grateful to have my job and to be living in a house instead of an apartment where I would be much more exposed, but I'd like to be able to see my friends at some point in the near future. And I need things to open back up so the businesses I like don't go under. I have about five bookstores that I love that I'm trying to single-handedly keep open and I'm actually running out of books to buy. (And space to put them. But technically I was out of that a while ago.)

Again, however, not having a social life is helping my writing, so I had another successful month! I did Camp Nanowrimo, which is always fun, and I made lots of amazing progress on Runeless and my miscellaneous stories. I also got critique on a couple things that I'm going to put to good use, and it put me in the mood to edit, which I think is going to be my focus this month. It works well after Nanowrimo anyways. I write so much that I feel like I need to recharge for about a week before anything new makes any sense lol.

Numbers:

Words Written: 50,250

Days Worked: 31/31

Progress:

The House on the Rocks- I took a break from it, and now I'm ready to go back to it with fresh eyes! I felt like I had a last draft a couple months ago, but I want to be completely sure. I got really good feedback from Jane Friedman on my first few pages, and I'm going to use it to see if I can tighten it up any more so I have the best possible chance when I start submitting to agents. I also need to work on my query letter, which is a new thing for me. By the end of the month, I hope to have a good one I can send out!

Runeless- I hit another milestone this month: I finished Runeless through Act III, Chapter Ten! It's so exciting. That means I only have five chapters left to do. Guessing from the last five chapters I did- which took me about four months- it'll probably be another fifty thousand words before it's complete. Which I guess means I could get it done next Nanowrimo in November, but I want to make sure I finish, so I'm going to be working on it in between, too. I just really want to reach the end of this draft so I can start editing. I have SO MANY IDEAS.

Resources:

This month I actually worked on short stories, which I'm still learning, and a place that I recommend submitting to is The Masters Review. It takes short story submissions, including a really cool format that I've been liking called flash fiction, which is less than a thousand words. They have a contest every couple of months with a prize of $3000- that's getting paid $3 a word for your writing, which is a freaking amazing rate. They also have an option where you can pay extra to ask for feedback on your story that I did, so even if you don't win you get something out of it. It's a little pricey, but well worth it if you want to improve. The critique I got back was several pages long and had very specific changes I could make, and it took a while but it was definitely worth the wait, too.

Stay safe, and see you next month!! :)