What’s Ready. Set. WRITE!, you ask? It’s a summer-long writing intensive that encourages goal setting and accountability, and provides an opportunity for writers to cheer each other on at any point in the process—be it planning, drafting, revising, and/or polishing. The event is hosted by Alison Miller, Jaime Morrow, Erin Funk, and Katy Upperman.
I’ll be checking in weekly to share my progress, and if you’re contemplating joining the fun, there’s still time! Full event details HERE.
How I did on last week’s goals
Turn in VENGEANCE ROAD and take a few days off — Success! The manuscript is in my editor’s hands and I even managed to lie low and avoid ‘work’ for about two days. Go me.
Start reading through SHUTDOWN and take revision notes — Check. I haven’t touched this ms since 2012, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still love it. It’s not perfect, and I now have a game plan of how to smooth out a few issues, but it seems in remarkably good shape. After edits, I’ll have to turn to betas to confirm/deny this.
Finish reading EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU — Yup. And I loved it. This might be my favorite Nina LaCour book yet.
My goals for this week
- Pick away at SHUTDOWN edits. (I’m not making any crazy goals bc this is a crazy week, with tons of personal obligations. Whatever I get done on the ms is a bonus.)
- Finish reading RUIN & RISING (Started this over the weekend. Trying to get through it this week.)
A favorite line from my project OR a word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised
SHUTDOWN is set in a near-future, where citizens can undergo a simulation to see how and when they will die. It’s told in dual POV, alternating between Matty and Lola, two teens with very different opinions on Shutdown predictions. Here’s the opening lines from Matty:
Life is one hundred percent fatal. We are all dying from the moment we are born.
This isn’t depressing. It’s just a fact. A fact that made me both confident and eager to face my own Shutdown prediction the day I turned thirteen. After all, there’s no point being afraid of something inevitable.
The biggest challenge I faced this week
Sadly, forcing myself to take a little time off was hard. I wanted to dive right into the next project. What can I say? I’m happiest when I’m writing. Luckily, I had a friend visiting on Friday and then my parents in town for the weekend. They forced me to relax a little.
Something I love about my WIP
While SHUTDOWN is set in the near future and has some light sci-fi elements, it reads, in my opinion, like a contemporary. And I love this. I’ve written a bunch of action/adventure/fantasy/sci-fi stories over the past few years, but I’ve always loved tales about your everyday teen trying to find their way. It’s a nice change of pace to be writing about characters dealing with friends, family, high-school, and the trials of growing up.
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That’s all I’ve got til next check-in. How was your week of writing/revising?
