As always, I’d like to begin this week’s progress report by thanking all of you awesome people who’ve followed, liked and/or commented on my blog!

Here are this week’s stats:

Words Written This Week: 6,818

Words Written For Book So Far:  58,101

Last Chapter of Rough Draft Completed: Chapter 17 (about halfway through Chapter 18)

Chapters To Go (subject to change): 7

Days Until October 11th Goal Date: 40

Thoughts:

First, I have slightly changed the progress report above. Namely, I decided to remove the confusing second word count in the “Words Written For Book So Far” section. Now, the only “Words Written…So Far” count is the words I’ve written in order. I did this for 2 reasons.

1. It was confusing as hell to try and figure out all of those numbers, especially if I was using old words from later, or I was in between chapters. See, it’s confusing just trying to explain it. It had to go.
2. I went back through my draft and removed everything that wasn’t in order. I made separate documents for each scene and organized them so I could find them for later use.

I’m beginning to realize how valuable this blog has been in writing this book. It’s definitely played a key role in keeping me motivated and accountable. But I’m also more aware of patterns in my writing and writing process that I wasn’t aware of before.

For instance, I hit a pretty hard block on Monday of this week. A lot of that block can be attributed to hangry-ness, as my beloved Facebook friends watched me realize in real time. But when I thought back to the last time I was blocked that badly, it was because I was so moved by another piece of art (I’d just finished Captive Prince) that I couldn’t think about anything else…or so I thought. This time, it was the song Praying by Kesha. I couldn’t stop listening to it, analyzing it, singing it. But then, just like last time, something clicked. The art wasn’t truly blocking me, not permanently anyway. Ultimately, it made me see something in my story in a different light and facilitated a deepening of the plot, adding a richness, a tightness that I hadn’t previously planned for.

Last week, I wrote of holding Character-A back from his full potential. I vowed to stop. And this week, he surprised the hell out of me. I could not have even planned for the way he stood up and finally took back the power, finally reclaimed his voice. I saw him do it, I heard the words he said, and I am still floored. If I gain absolutely nothing else from this experience, I’ve at least learned what it is to be brave in the face of the thing that scares you the most.

My goal for next week is to finish up Chapter 18 and write Chapter 19. I’m embarrassed to admit, I never actually read that final writing book I rented from my library. Not gonna lie, I’m a little burned out on writing advice at the moment, especially coming from somewhat dated books. I binge-bought/rented several books last weekend and really just want to lose myself in those when I’m not writing. At least for now.

Note to self: Don’t panic over a block. It may actually be the calm before a downpour of writing so potent, it’ll make you wonder why you ever worried at all. And also, once in a while, GET UP AND EAT SOMETHING. STUBBORN ASS.