Welcome to the June State of the Thing!

Wait… what do you mean it’s August already? How… how is that even possible?

Okay, fine. Welcome to the July State of the Thing!

Seriously, though, I didn’t have much to report for June, which ended up being more of a planning/outlining month. July was a lot more productive as far as actual writing, though, as I scrambled my way through another Camp NaNoWriMo.

So where are we?

Word Count: 130,323 (out of a targeted 150,000)

Chapters: 11/(maybe) 14

So as you can see, I’m closing in on the end of the rough draft. I’m just finding the end a little difficult to pin down since I need to bring together Plot A and Plot B. Endings tend to be my Achilles’ Heel, because even though I know what the denouement looks like, the specifics of getting there (and ratcheting up the tension/stakes, guiding the characters through their final phases of growth/revelation, and tying the plot into a nice, neat package) are often a bit complicated.

As I ruminate on how best to weave all my story threads into a pleasing and functional… er, blanket, I guess, I’m also beginning re-writes on Part I. After finishing the draft of Bloodlands, I worked through the revisions and edits mostly in chunks. It makes sense to me that way–I strengthen up the foundation of the story by refining Part I, then develop a solid structure with the middle parts, which positions me to better understand how to draw my ending to a strong close. Of course, if I get to the end and realize that I really need my main character to dream about a cursed goat with knives for legs in Part I  in order for Part IV to work, then I’ll go back and make changes.

…There are no cursed goats with knives for legs in this story, just to be clear.

At least not yet.

No samples this time, but maybe some peeks at the rewritten first chapter soon?