Words/Time: 3:10 hours finishing the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” (WOOHOO!!!) The work consisted mostly of reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I got through the last 3 chapters after midnight, and then went on to work on the brief synopsis that I need for the first submission I plan to make.

The synopsis was oddly both harder and easier than I expected it to be. As soon as I realized that even a brief listing of all the plot points would be too long for the space I was given (2-3 pages double-spaced, which is basically 1.5 pages of text), I gave up on a traditional synopsis. Because the book is 4 parts, each with its own sub-conflict and resolution, but tied together by a couple of main plot threads, I gave up on the sub-plots completely and just made sure to explain the main plot lines well. Add to that the space taken up by giving a brief introduction to my story world (no technology, magic-like Power substance, and Madness), and that was the bulk of my 2-3 pages.

The reason I said it was also easier than I expected is because, overall, it didn’t take me as long to write it as I thought it would. Now I’m waiting on feedback from the main 5 people who already know the story, so I can make sure it’s as good as it can be. I anticipate my first submission by the end of the week!

Words/Time: 1:50 hours working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” The work consisted mostly of reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 26 (out of 29), which leaves 3 chapters.

I’m going right ahead with the rest of them tonight. It’ll take me less than 2 hours to finish and fix up a few more minor issues my mom had pointed out to me. Then I’ll start outlining the important parts to include in the synopsis.

Words/Time: 1.25 hours working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” My family was getting together to play games tonight, so I went a few hours before the rest were planning to arrive. My mom and I had just enough time to get through the rest of her notes. There were a lot fewer in the second half, and only a couple that will require a bit more attention from me afterward.

Words/Time: 1.5 hours working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” The work consisted mostly of reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 22 (out of 29), which means I got through 4 chapters today!

I have plans to go to my parents’ house tomorrow for a NYE game night with some of my family. If all goes well, I’ll have a few hours before others arrive to go over the second half of my mom’s notes with her.

I have until the end of January to submit the first few chapters and a 2-3 page synopsis to a publishing company that’s having an open door submission period right now. I’ve been working toward that since finding out about it several months ago, and I should be able to make it.

Words/Time: 55 minutes working on the next (and hopefully last) draft of “Pithea.” The work consisted mostly of reading, making sure everything flows, and making a few small edits along the way. I’ve just finished chapter 18 (out of 29).

I really thought I’d be done by the end of the month, but being sick pushed that back a bit. Hopefully I’ll be finished by the beginning of next week though.

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!