WRITING MOMENTUM
Posted on March 28, 2012
My writing schedule has typically run in fits and starts. I teach at a year-round school and have nine weeks in the classroom and then three weeks off. I get a lot of writing done in the three weeks off. Probably 30,000 words each of the four track outs. The problem was when I was in school I'd barely manage 5,000 words during those nine weeks. Well, not anymore. This past track-in, I was 12,000 words into GRAHAM 2 and itching to make progress. I didn't want to wait until the next track out to finish the book. If I only wrote 5,000 words, the story would stall and I'd lose all momentum. Instead, I set a goal of writing 3,000 words each week while I taught. How did I do? I managed to go from 12,000 words in January to 33,000 words by the time I left school for my spring break. 21,000 words in nine weeks. I was so pleased. I kept up with all my family and teacher responsibilities and still pulled it off. Truthfully, I took two weeks off toward the end so I managed to do pretty well with my goal. I didn't lose one bit of the story momentum and now I find myself in the thick of a novel that is promising to deliver so much more than the first one.
My students have been poking and prodding at me for years to do a follow-up to GRAHAM and this year's class was particularly caught up in his story. Now that I'm two-thirds done this second book, my plan is to write a new book of GRAHAM each year in the spring. The rest of the year will be spent on another book which I will shop to agents. So readers can count on a new e-book every year that further chronicles the misadventures of Graham and his family. That's right, I said family. The second book has really developed his sister Flenn to share almost equal billing with him. I can't wait for you to see all the trouble the siblings get into. And, of course, it wouldn't be a Cascade novel without an appearance by the Flying Mummy. He plays a much larger role than in the first book. GRAHAM 2: FLENN'S FOLLY looks to be on track for a 60,000 word adventure. I will miss my April 1st deadline, but I'm confident I can finish in time for May 1st. Hoping to debut GRAHAM 2 this August. My class will then be subjected to having it read to them in May and June. They have no choice! Bwah-ha-ha!
Expect to see the next blog entry in a week's time. The blog gets my attention more during track-outs. Haven't found a way around that. I'd rather post twelve good entries a year and write more stories than post forty times a year and eat into my writing time.
Up Next: HOW PLOT OUTLINE AND ME DON'T ALWAYS SEE EYE-TO-EYE
Can't wait for you to hear the book in class. Just wrote a chase scene through the woods that is crucial to introducing the main menace, other than Blord, of course.