But in some ways it has been a good year for me despite the overarching apocalyptic disaster vibes. My postpartum depression did not go untreated this time around, but still it's taken two years to get back to where I was before baby #2, and also there is no "back". Only onward. Early in 2020, before there was a pandemic, I finished writing the first draft of a novel I had been working on for three years. Yay!
Then I tried to start the rewriting process, but there's truth in the idea that you need to let a manuscript sit for a bit before trying to fix it. And THEN we were in the middle of a pandemic and with two kids in the house I didn't write successfully for months.
In July when the baby went back to daycare, I started writing again and I found a new world with new characters.
In August I started writing a novel about that world. I wrote 25,000 words of it in August. 16,000 words more in September. And now entering October I have the lofty goal of finishing it by the end of the month, which is about another 40,000 words - more than I have ever written on a novel in one month.
But see, there is another goal looming. I always try to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place every year in November. The goal for it is 50,000 words in one month on a new project. And I have a new project waiting in the wings for this year. A new story in another new world with new characters. But to be ready for Nanowrimo, I need to finish my current work in progress while it is still October.
My manuscript is currently 40,315 words heading into October. I will keep writing until I hit somewhere north of 70,000 words and the end of the story. 85,000 words is a standard submission novel manuscript to one of the big publishing houses, but the end of the story is the real goal. Word counts can change considerably in editing anyway.
Onward and upward! To Narnia and the North!
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