Newsletter September 2024 - Hump Day!

Hey everyone,

This week, I passed the halfway point of my draft! The big exciting midpoint scene came and went, and now the peril for the main characters has ratcheted up a few notches. I'd have given a spoiler warning, but that's what usually happens in books, so not really a surprise. The details are the surprise, and you'll have to wait for those. Word count-wise, I'm at around 47,000, which is about half of what I had planned on for the first draft, so I'm on track there too.

Writing-wise, I've slowed down a bit. Part of that is because I had only loosely planned the middle section of the plot. I knew what the outcomes had to be in each scene, but I had no real idea about how the characters were going to get from A to Z. That meant that I had to figure out a lot of details as I wrote. Still, I wrote every day, though some days were only 200 words or so. It's all about the momentum.

I also had some big projects at work that involved a lot of writing this past month. There were many days when I just didn't have the energy to do more creating and typing.

On another note, this endeavor has been a lot more typing than I've done in a while, and my hands have been feeling some pain. I'm doing my best to be ergonomic, but words = typing. The slower pace may be more sustainable.

I've tried dictation in the past, and while it sort of works, I noticed that I have a real hard time dictating while composing. Or, as my friends can attest, I can't think and talk at the same time. I guess both activities use the same part of my brain, because I have to think about what I want to say, then say it, then think about the next thing, and so on. I have a hard time getting into a flow, and the words that end up on the page don't really capture what I'm seeing in my mind.

When I compose while typing, I can get into a flow state where I think of what's coming next while typing what's just happened. It a joy when it happens, and I lose track of time as the story flows onto the page as fast as I can think of it.

If you are looking for recommendations, here are some thing I enjoyed this month:

• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• The Batman Film Directed by Matt Reeves

Enjoy! And while you're at it, consider forwarding this message to a someone who might enjoy my creative work. I always appreciate connecting with new folks.

Todd