I’m horribly late on ROW80 progress. I could skip an update altogether and wait to post next week, but that’s what I said last week. I don’t expect most ROW80-ers to read it at this point, but I feel I should at least post something.
I’ve said this before, but for my own peace of mind I want to say it again: I’m not good at making or tracking writing goals. Mostly because in four years of writing, I’ve never done it. One of my good writing friends, Steven Montano (author of the ass-kicking Blood Skies novel) is always aware of his progress. He periodically mentions it on Twitter or in emails. “I’m 2/3 through my next novel!” and “Hit the 50% mark on novel edits!” and “I write faster than you, bitches! HA HA HA HA!”
Okay, he’s never said that last one. I just hear it in my head when he zips past me like the freaking Road Runner of writing.
ROW80 has changed me. These last two weeks in the program have been phenomenal. This post isn’t about whether or not I hit my goals. It’s about how having the goals has forced me to work differently. More efficiently. Faster. Better. I won’t bog you down with details. I will just say that when I write, my work gets done. I wish I could convey just how damn excited I am about this. I have hope for a long-standing and enjoyable career as a writer. I’m now in a position to take a writing career by the horns and, uh, do whatever it is once you’ve got the horns of a 2500-lb. pissed off bull in your hands. Scream like a little girl? I can do that.
Anyhoo. Now for the good news:
My web series is still coming along strong. On Friday, I released Part 4. I’m very excited about where Site 27 is headed because I’m going to give my readers/voters a chance to change the broader story world. Forever.
Should be a good time.
My urban fantasy novel, THE FOURTH CHANNEL, is still in revision stage. This weekend, I officially passed the 50% mark. I want to have this book finished by the end of the month. That means 15k per week for the next 4 weeks. I’m positive I can do it.
The biggest news of all is this: I’ve decided to query this novel.
I don’t expect to actually get an agent, but I should at least try. So I’m going to. I feel strongly about the book and my novel writing partners (Steven & Amber West) have responded positively to what they’ve read. Steven’s been through the first third of the book, and Amber’s been through the first half. If the querying thing doesn’t work out (I really only plan on querying a handful of agents so I’m not expecting much) then I’m going to self-publish.
This weekend I even started penning a sequel. When THE FOURTH CHANNEL is all wrapped up at the end of the month, I’ll start focusing on that. I believe it will also be time for a new Vote Your Adventure.
I love ‘I write faster than you, bitches! HA HA HA!’ Really made me smile and I can relate to hearing something like that in your head when I read the amazing word counts of other ROW80ers!
I am glad that this round is working so well for you and enabling you to get your writing done when you sit down to do it. I look forward to hearing about your query process. Have a great week 5!
Ahem…this weekend, I officially did NOT write faster than anybody, and you also kicked my ass in the editing department. So SUCK IT, ME!!! ;D
(The only downside to zipping through writing sometimes is that you burn yourself out faster. I didn’t even want to look at the keyboard this weekend.)
I’m thrilled for your progress, Jen, that is AWESOME! (As is “The 4th Channel”). Best of luck with your agent query adventure, I know you’ll kick butt! =D
Yay for querying! It really is a good process to go through for the experience, even if you end up self-publishing in the end.
Good luck finishing up The Fourth Channel and on its sequel!
It hit me today that your site wasn’t in my subscribed ones.
I’ve told you already, but I’ll tell you again here, you are rockin’ it. Keep it up!