... because I've actually been writing.
When I finished my NaNoWriMo novel at the end of November it had 50, 411 words. Skimming it last November, I had added and corrected some words but hadn't done any real editing. Last year was the first time I went into NaNoWriMo with a real plan, including a chapter outline. I didn't really look at the outline as I wrote but just writing it down before let my brain know where I saw the novel going. I finished the novel suddenly, and a few days early, because I decided to omit one major event I had planned for the novel. It no longer seemed to fit. Last week I reread the whole novel from beginning to end - only took two days - and realized that the major event needed to be in it. I tried to figure out where exactly in the story it now fit and started writing new chapters. Since last Thursday I have added over 12,000 words to the novel. Several times I wrote over 3,000 words in one day. I know there will be some heavy editing needed for the chapters before the new chapters and especially the ones after, but the new material has me very excited to be working on this again. I was even going to give myself the day off from writing today but somehow I've already added another 700 words. I guess when I'm in the groove I better write!
My writing plans for 2015 are to focus on what I've already written and not start another novel until November. The first four months will be spent on editing/ rewriting last year's NaNoWriMo novel, tentatively titled "Stronger with Time". I don't like the title, so that will need to change, but it needed to be called something. When it gets to a point that I am happy with it or just so sick of it that I need another pair of eyes or two, I'll give it to some readers for feedback. And after receiving that feedback and revising again, I plan on sending it out to agents. I am going to be researching literary agents this spring and trying to find several that I think would be a good fit for me. I have thought about trying to be my own agent and submitting to publishers but I'm not sure if I'm ready to do that.
Once I am done editing that novel, or need a break from it, I'm going to finish the rewrite of "Lucy" that I had started last year. I need to sit down with that work again and make some changes as something about it is not right, but I don't know what. And if there's time this year, I hope to finish writing my first NaNoWriMo novel from 2011. It currently has over 70,000 words and several chapters still need to be written. I'd like to finish it, as I still love it. Especially since writing it, is what convinced me that I am what I always said I wanted to be when I was growing up, a writer.
And when I need a break from writing/ editing novels? I plan to start sending out poetry to magazines/literary journals. I have always enjoyed writing poetry and it's a nice change from novel writing. I am currently going through old poems and deciding which ones might be good enough to publish after a little work. And of course, I'm enjoying The Little Poem Project that I publish on the blog every Saturday.
I have a good feeling about this year and am looking forward to all the joy and frustration my writing will bring me.
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