Summary:

This week was when the real work started on both novels and I kept to my planned schedule with no problems. I’m not saying the work I did was good, but it got done!

 

Monday:

I finally watched the video of the first Six Month Novel hangout from three weeks ago, which contained lots of sage advice from Amie and Charlie about not freaking out.

I identified some upcoming submission opportunities and found existing pieces of work to send for them.

I also found two old GYWO discussion posts and edited them to fit a couple of calls for articles about writing.

I went through this month’s Writing Magazine (in which one of my competition entries was shortlisted!) and added new submission opportunities to my spreadsheet.

Then I cracked on with the main tasks of revising Chapter Four of Artisan and starting the expansion of Colours with the first two scenes.

 

Wednesday:

I wrote a review for a wonderful show I went to see the night before.

Then I revised Artisan Chapter Five and the next two scenes of Colours.

I typed up the short piece I wrote in last Thursday’s workshop and sent it to the organiser to put up on his website. I wrote a blog post about the ALCS and how amazing it is and also posted about my shortlisted story in this month’s Writing Magazine.

 

Thursday:

I headed to Hounslow several hours early, found a cafe and settled down to work until it was time for my osteopathy appointment.

I polished off Chapter Six of Artisan and another Colours scene. Artisan went well and I felt like I had hit my stride a bit with the editing, but Colours not so much. My outline has a rough plan of 1000 words on average for 100 scenes across the novel and all of them so far have come in way too short. I know there are going to be longer sections later on, that it’s quite good for it to be punchy at the start, that this is only a first draft and that I shouldn’t get hung up on the details at the moment, so I decided to just forge ahead (in Charlie’s patented ‘gloriously craptastic’ style) and figure out if it’s a major problem later.

 

Saturday:

I attended a Just Write Fiction meetup at the British Library. I had my newly minted Reader’s Pass all ready to go, but I prefer refreshments and pens as a staple part of my writing sessions, so (as we were all working independently anyway) I settled myself in the King’s Library Cafe, where it turns out they stock sugar free syrup!

I made a list of all the things I wanted to work on, prioritised them, then started out with Artisan Chapter Seven.

The Australian Writers’ Centre runs a monthly flash fiction competition with a lucrative prize. I signed up for their newsletter a couple of weeks ago and the first prompt came through yesterday. The piece has to be less than 500 words and has to contain the specified elements, both of which are criteria that appeal to me. You have two days to complete and submit an entry so I did a first draft for mine.

I edited the next three scenes of Colours, then did Chapter Eight of Artisan to complete my scheduled work on both novels for the day.

On the way home, I had an epiphany about the climax of Colours so added the new ideas to my outline document.

 

Sunday:

I did some admin, tracking my submissions, identifying pieces to send to upcoming opportunities and selecting a story to send to someone offering free editorial services.

I wrote a review of the play we saw on Friday night, then caught up with my short fanfiction challenges, including this week’s Fandom Weekly entry.