Words/Time: 53 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Half of the time today was spent reading the next chapter, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 16 (out of 29). The rest of the time was spent going back over some of the notes my mom gave me, ones that would take more than a quick fix. They were still pretty simple fixes, but I didn’t want to take the time to make them yesterday, so we didn’t slow down on the progress we did make.

Words/Time: 2.5 hours working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” I finished the chapter I started last night, but that was only about 15 minutes of today’s work.

My mom read through the current draft of “Pithea” recently and made some notes in her Kindle along the way. Today she came over to my house while my husband, my dad, and my son went to see the Star Wars movie together. While they were gone, she and I went through about half of her notes. At some point soon, we’ll have to meet to go over the rest of them.

She brings to me some typos that have been missed by all who’ve read before her, as well as some bigger issues. Scenes that she’s having a hard time following because she’s not in my head (silly her) or concerns about how long it would take for part of history to fade from common knowledge. Things like that.

The first thing she said when we started today, after I told her that she’d read through the draft faster than I had (she started it recently, after I started my current read-through) was, “That’s because I couldn’t put it down!” High praise indeed!

Words/Time: 7 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Mostly just reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I didn’t even reach my preferred minimum working time of 20 minutes, but I tried. I’m just so sleepy. I’ve been tired for days now, trying to get over this strep throat.

I did skip working on any writing on the 24th, because I had to cram 4 days worth of Christmas prep into 1. And of course yesterday being Christmas…I was busy all day. So today I wanted to get back to it. Seven minutes is something, I guess.

Maybe tomorrow night will work out better for me.

Words/Time: 21 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Mostly just reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 14 (out of 29).

I’ve been in bed for almost three days. I don’t get sick often, and when I do, it’s usually pretty mild. So the expectation of being able to keep going, both on revision work, and on Christmas preparations, wasn’t unrealistic. However, what I hadn’t expected was to get strep throat less than a week before Christmas.

It was pretty bad there for a while. I’ve got some medicine now, so hopefully things will only get better from here. However, during this draft, it has been important to me to be able to read it out loud and listen for things not sounding right. My throat is still going to be sore for a few days (not to mention the minor cough), so that will slow things down a bit.

I have 4 days worth of Christmas prep to squeeze into one day, but hopefully I’ll be able to find some time tomorrow (and on Christmas day itself) to keep working on my book. Normally I would’ve been happy to take those days off, but now…I have lost time to make up for!

Words/Time: 24 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Mostly just reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 13 (out of 29).

Almost 10 pm, and I’m past ready for bed. That’s very unusual for me. This cold has me in a lot of joint pain, and I took some NyQuil to help me sleep better tonight. Fortunately, I got a chapter read before it kicked in. Hopefully I’ll sleep a lot tonight and will already be feeling better tomorrow. Or at least no worse.

Words/Time: 26 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Mostly just reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 12 (out of 29).

I seem to be coming down with a cold, similar to one my husband’s been trying to get over for the past 5-6 days. Sore throat and just tired so far. I’m not happy about this, given the upcoming holiday. I don’t get sick often, and when I do, it’s often pretty mild; I’m hoping I can rest a lot in the next few days anyway, to try to be back to normal by the 24th. I still plan to do some work on this story every day, even if I’m sick, but how long I can work may dwindle. We’ll see.

Words/Time: 1.25 hours working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Mostly just reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 11 (out of 29).

My dad, who’s been listening to a converted audio format of the book, finished it yesterday. He sent me an email last night with the following subject header:  “WHAT!!!” The body was one line, referring to an event near the end of the book that had surprised him. I can’t help but be pleased with the reaction, because it means he was caught up in the story enough to react strongly to the end. That’s good!

Words/Time: 40 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” Mostly just reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 8 (out of 29). Given my current pace, I should be able to have this draft finished by the end of the month.