The Selling of Suzee Delight: The Captain’s Dinner

Turns out there has been treachery and evil aboard the Longview, with the spy revealed today. I’m happy with what I got—have written more than four thousand words since my last check-in.  I’m at 14,452 words out of a planned 20,000, but the story is once again running a bit long on me.

I’ll definitely be able to finish both the first draft and the cover art between now and July 31st, the deadline I set for myself.

However, the revision and formatting are going to take longer. I’ll have to do them as I work on HTWAS.

Still, as long as I have the first draft finished, I’ll be ready to pick back up with the How To Write A Series Expansion on schedule, finish up the first HotSeat and Q&A, and start in on Module Two.

A reminder on the HTWAS Expansion if you’re following along or know a fellow writer who want’s to join—the day I start into Module Two, the price of the class goes up. If you have friends who want to take this, let them know now is the time to get the course.

image_pdfDownload as PDFimage_printPrint Page

By Holly

Novelist, writing teacher, on a mission to reprint my out-of-print books and indie-publish my new ones.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

16 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Claudette
8 years ago

Looks like everyone is marching along with their projects. Holly, I understand long. I’ll have to cut about three chaps worth of text to get things down to novella length. I’ll have the first draft done my Thursday and some of the revision done, too. I have one additional chapter to write, with a twist I didn’t see coming.

Kristen
8 years ago

I’ve just got the first episode of The Voyage of the Miscreation back from my editor, so I’m very nearly there. I plan to have final edits and formatting done so I can publish this Friday, July 25th. I’m sending episode 2 to the editor now, and I’m about two-thirds of the way done with episode 3. I’ll be staggering their release out one a month, but I’m writing ahead so I won’t stall when I go on vacation in September.

After I finish the third episode, I want to revisit my plot and make sure that my larger story arcs are on target for the whole serial. But so far, so good!

Carol Soloway
8 years ago

I love the face–It’s interesting and beautiful–two great combinations for intrigue.
Hope this helps.

Irina
Irina
8 years ago

I write steadily, though not as much as I’d like to, but I replotted the middle, and now I like the story much better. I won’t have it revised until 31th of July, but at least finished, and researched the legal stuff. And the cover art is planned and may be finished on time

connie cockrell
8 years ago

I have finished the 1st draft of my 1st episode at 21K and have a cover done as well. I’ve started the 2nd episode, only 6 scenes short of completion. I suspect I’ll be close to 20K on the 2nd episode. I have been revising other books and stories but those are about done and I can begin the revision of episode 1 in a couple of days. So Episode 1 won’t be published by July 31st but it can be pubbed in August or even September.

Kyralae
Kyralae
8 years ago

I had to back up and revisit the octopus as my story just wasn’t flowing like I had planned. I ran out of story long before my word count, let it rest a week and then reread it. My finger hovered over the delete button a long while before saving it to a thumbdrive and pulling out the basics and revisiting. I won’t make the deadline but I’m determined.

C.M. Walker
8 years ago

So very behind. Even though I’ve been part of the HTWAS Expansion since the beginning, I had other projects to finish up before I could start working on this. I’ve only just this week started on the worksheets and am working on my octopus map. I’m hoping to be caught up by Aug 1 (minus the writing) but I don’t want to rush it either, so we’ll see.

Megan Daggett
8 years ago

My goal was to get all of the planning finished by the end of July and write the first story (planned length 15-20K) in August. I’m almost done with my Series Matrix (I just need to pick my best conflicts), so I think that’s still a reachable goal.

Joanie Raisovich
8 years ago

I, too, am running behind. I know my conflict,questions, etc. for the first two episodes and am working on plot cards for episode one. Will start writing tonight or tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll make the end of July deadline for the rough draft of episode one, but I shouldn’t be too far off if I don’t.

Anneliese
Anneliese
8 years ago

I finished the first and second draft of the first episode in my Star Mage novella series. 14,000 words in 14 days, not counting days of revision. I’ll be waiting to publish until early August, when I return from a writing workshop and can dedicate some time to figuring out the publishing process. I had originally hoped to also rewrite the first episode in another series, but that didn’t happen, so I’ll be working on it next month.

Torrie
8 years ago

I’ve nearly completed the first draft of my first novelette in a series set around a good-natured tough guy with a weakness for damsels in distress. I’m a lot further along than I expected, with job difficulties and the loss of a close family member, and I expect to have it published by early next month.

Katharina Gerlach
8 years ago

I’m making progress; 1/3 of the second volume of my MG time travel series is written (planned length 30-35K). I got sidetracked by the 3d volume in my fairy tales retelling series which is also 1/3 finished (planned length 15K). At the moment, I’m having Felica as a visitor, so I’m not doing any writing at all, but I should be able to catch up on it on Thursday.

Meranda
Meranda
8 years ago

My plan was to have the first draft of my first short finished by the deadline that you set, Holly. I’m still working on my series matrix, so I don’t see that happening, alas. I’ve been struggling with some financial stress and a sick cat.

Anna Payne
Anna Payne
8 years ago

Hi. I’ve been very encouraged on finishing my first novel in the series. My writing has had to go in between 50+ hours of work and summer family time, but I’ve managed to get a third of the way done in just 3 sessions. Last time I wrote over 3000 words in two hours. I am out of town twice in the next 3 weeks but I’m hanging in there. I love how easy it is to write and how confident I feel in each scene because I have previously checked that scene with my conflicts/characters/series goals. Thank you!

Misty
8 years ago

Well, I’m not as far along as I had hoped to be. As usual, it’s slow going, in spite of putting in a good 2-6 hours per day of work. I’m just now working on the plot cards for episode 1, but I’ve finished the series planning, and as long as I’m making regular progress, I’ll just keep on trucking with what seems to be working. 🙂

I still have high hopes that the actual writing will go faster than the planning has, but we shall see!

kate
8 years ago

my final revision is with my proof reader now.

16
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x