WIP Update

This week has been a bit of a "trust the process" week.

I've been making the last few changes to What Falls to Us based on beta reader feedback.

My beta reader?

My husband.

I hated most of his comments.

The first version of this book I can find on my computer is from 2012! I’ve spent years working on it, so of course my first reaction is:

"No. Absolutely not. You are wrong."

He had to stop telling me his feedback and start writing it down, because it just caused too many arguments. And now, with the notes in front of me I have to admit, annoyingly, he has a point.

When the edits on What Falls to Us became too frustrating, which was often, I switched over to another project: The Drowned Gifts.

This one is a duology, and both books have now reached the zero draft stage.

Book 1: ~60,000 words
Book 2: ~40,000 words

Which sounds like a huge milestone, and it is, but it has also reached the stage where I look at both manuscripts and think, this is terrible. I really embrace the idea that the worst thing you’ve written is still better than the best thing you haven’t written. Which means a lot of the time I’m just trying to get words on the page. And I know a zero draft is not supposed to be beautiful. It is the raw material that you shape later, but right now it feels like the worst thing I’ve ever written.

So they’re going in a drawer for now (metaphorically. I don’t write on paper, I write in Scrivener.)

I sometimes think my writing process is the most inefficient because it means I do so many passes, re read my work so many times. But it’s what works for me.

So for now:

What Falls to Us — final beta reader changes underway
The Drowned Gifts Book 1 — zero draft complete (~60k)
The Drowned Gifts Book 2 — zero draft complete (~40k)