The just-keep-going edition

Some weeks are full of wins, and some you just have to write through…

Wins!

A major recent win is that I’ve reached 50k words on novel #3… which means I’ve flown straight through the midpoint and I’m making my way steadily to the big dramatic climax. I’m excited to write this next bit because it’s the bit of the book that I came up with first, and I really hope it’s going to make future readers go…

“WTAF?!”

Rejections

Not entirely a rejection more… a lack of anything at all. Sadly, I think I’m calling time on novel #2.

Brief pause to remember me way back in April clicking send on all my queries to agents and then freaking out every time Gmail pinged.

The reality? After what I thought was such a strong start (being able to say I’d been shortlisted in a pitch competition and already had a full manuscript request before contacting anyone on my agent list or entering competitions) I now feel quite… ignored.

And I know the advice is to review your strategy, revise the opening, send out more queries, blah blah blah BUT, the thing is I’m now so far into novel #3 and I want that to be the one that makes it, I actually feel quite content putting #2 in a drawer.

After all, it’s a solid book that’ll still be there when I’m ready.

Learnings

Minor revelation this week when I watched one of The Novelry’s workshops on theme… The BIG QUESTION I thought I was asking is actually, erm, something else. Something that’s emerged entirely on its own, but I love it and now that I’ve realised what I’m actually writing about I’m looking forward to figuring out how I can weave it in even more tightly….

Previous theme (and still a big part of the book):

Who will I become as I age?

New theme:

Who can I ask for help?

Readings

Finished: Lillian Fishman’s Acts of Service. This is a very literary book, which is no bad thing, but it was definitely more involved and introspective than I’d expected from the premise (woman posts nudes of herself online, and then gets herself into a weird powerplay threesome). Perhaps that’s why I went entirely rogue for the next read…

Also finished: India-Rose Bower’s We Call Them Witches. My first foray into horror, and it was definitely pretty creepy! There were some absolute moments of gore when the main character, Sara, describes the witches, and some great pacy bits of high tension when Sara was being chased by them, as well as some masterful curiosity-inducing nuggets of information that make you have to read on. All in all, a fun trip into something entirely new.

Currently reading: Rachel Joyce’s The Homemade God. I mean, even the prologue has gripped me so far. I think I’m going to love this one.

Musings

Over recent weeks, I’ve been working on quite a few short stories… and now they’ve all been submitted! It’s exciting to have them out there, and it’s fun to see the lines rack up in my spreadsheet (yes, I have a spreadsheet, it’s a must) but now the terrifying wait begins.

I’ve tried to be more strategic than this time last year when I first started looking at short story competitions. Largely for necessary financial reasons, I’ve decided to just consider free competitions as well as the ones with an interesting theme that sparks something (let’s be honest) weird in my brain. So far, it feels a lot more purposeful than writing something and then trying to find it a home.

Plus, they come with in-built deadlines which is never a bad thing.

Watch this space to see if anything comes of them!

Till next time,

Vicky