Progress Report

I need more time!!!

I postponed yesterday's Progress Report because I wanted to finish the first draft today, but after a lengthy writing session, I must finally admit to myself that I will not finish today. Nor the next session.

Which I don't mind at all because I am having SO MUCH fun with the end of this incredibly long, varied chapter, but I wanted to have good news for you. 😭

I've been writing like a manic, around 10-12 notebook pages per day. So far, this first draft has 98 pages, and, by my calculations (which aren't always right), it'll take 30 more to finish. Unfortunately, I won't be able to write tomorrow, but Monday will be full steam ahead to finish this!

I'm putting down as many variations as I can so that the second draft is quicker, and while my hand is screaming about this decision, my writing mind is very happy😊.

In my phone's note app, I have 137 documents. The vast majority of them are snippets or plans for the Rose that I write when I'm out in my day-to-day life so as not to forget them. These include dialogues, descriptions, or random things Romanus or another character might do or say. Did you know how many documents I had before starting this draft? Around 190. And I'll still use at least a couple more before the end.

This is to say that some of these conversations and scenarios have been in my head for more than months; some have been there longer than a year. So, I write those scenes very slowly, and I use my rubber a lot and cross out entire sentences, and by God, I've never been to therapy, but I think this is more effective for me than any psychologist will ever be.

Right now, I am mentally drained, and yet, half of my brain is trying to figure out how the next scene will be structured.

The goal for next Friday is to be both done with the first draft and have already started on the second. I'm sorry for getting the deadline so wrong last week — I severely underestimated how much I'd expand certain scenes that were supposed to be "simple."

That's it! After next Friday, I'll start working on the Bonus Content for the month as well. But that's after the draft. I hope your week was fantastic and the weekend is better still. ♡