Writing Tuesday - An Update

So as you may (or may not) know, I'm currently in school this Spring semester at BYU, but I am taking work off (my lovely wife is providing funds for us this summer) to write more. Because of this, I have no school Tuesdays or Thursdays, which led me and my writing group to coin "Writing Tuesdays." This is a day where they come over and write (though they usually get distracted) all day, in an attempt to, you know, bump the whole word count thing.

I wrote over 5k today is where I'm getting, which is more than usual for Paradise Seekers. Also, after a brief walk (remember, that's my cheat to write more), I realized exactly how close I am to the end of this story. I very literally have four chapters and an epilogue left (if I decide to write an epilogue; still up in the air).

The idea is to finish tomorrow. It would probably be around 6-8k, minimum, assuming I don't write the epilogue. If not, I can split it up into two parts. In either case, I'm still sitting at writing a full-length YA novel (rough draft, of course) in about three and a half weeks. I'm perfectly fine with that.

Also, the final word count estimate has dropped, which is a nice relief after Where Gods and Mortals Dance just kept getting longer and longer (I meant it to be 150k tops, and it ended at 185k. It's going to need some tightening). Paradise Seekers will probably be around 70-75k, which I think is a great length for a YA novel, so no complaints there.

I'm curious to see how I feel about this. When WGMD finished, I was genuinely depressed a few days after. It isn't ever intended to have a sequel, and if it did, only one character would carry over. Paradise Seekers is a stand-alone as well, only there is no way on earth I could write anything past it. At any rate, it usually takes me a while to get fully invested in a novel emotionally, and I'm not certain if I've done that with Paradise Seekers at this point. I've done some pretty devastating things to them (almost as bad as what happens in WGMD), but I don't feel as...attached. I'm wondering if my writing isn't as good (Bec swears it is just fine), or maybe a time thing? I don't know. This whole "writing" thing is weird.

Also, I apologize for not putting a "Ramblings on Writing" last week. You got exciting CONduit stuff instead, written by people a lot smarter than I am. I'll be sure and put something up come this Thursday.

For those interested, I am willing to share the rough draft of Paradise Seekers with whomever wants it, once it's done. Those who opt to hold out for the second draft be warned: I have another, 185k novel to edit and another one to start before I'm getting to revising Paradise Seekers. That's just the way things are gonna be.

Have a great week, and happy writing! We should have three-day weekends every week.

Also: Review of Mr. Monster tomorrow, I swear. That book was really good.