The projected total word count at this point is 120k words, but I’m not so sure about that anymore.\u00a0 I’m in the middle of Part II, at about 52k words, and while I’ve got a pretty good idea of what happens in the next three chapters, there’s a lot in the middle that I don’t know about.\u00a0 I know how the book is supposed to end, but how to get there is the question, and I’m not sure if it will take me 120k words or 90k words, or upward of 150k words (though I doubt it).\u00a0 I’ll probably have to discovery write most of it.<\/p>\n
I’m looking forward to that, though.\u00a0 Some of the best stuff pops out of my head when I have no idea what’s supposed to happen next.\u00a0 Characters take on a life of their own, and reveal some really surprising things about themselves that end up becoming central to the rest of the story.\u00a0 But to do it well, I need to spend some time just thinking about things in a loosely structured way, allowing myself to get immersed in this world.\u00a0 That’s why I haven’t been pushing myself too much.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I’ve picked up work on another Star Wanderers<\/strong> story, mostly as a way to keep putting words on the page when I just don’t feel up to working on The Sword Bearer.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is either going to be Part IX or Part X, and frankly I’m really worried about botching it up.\u00a0 A lot of you have really enjoyed the Star Wanderers<\/strong> stories so far, and I’m pretty sure you’ll like this one too once I’m done with it, but I’m going some places in this book that really make me uncomfortable, and I’m not sure how to do it without crossing the line that makes me never want to make it available for the world to read.<\/p>\n I dunno.\u00a0 I’m probably angsting about it too much, and should just write the thing and see how it turns out.\u00a0 But for now, that’s a background project to keep things fresh while I work on The Sword Bearer.<\/strong>\u00a0 And really, I should probably work exclusively on the novel for the next week or so, just to get some momentum going.\u00a0 One day, I’ll be really excited to work on it, while the next, I can barely bring myself to open the manuscript.\u00a0 That’s how I tend to be when I haven’t yet latched onto a project, which seems to be most of the time.<\/p>\n This is another one I’ve angsted a lot over, so I’m not sure when it will be ready but I know it will be before the end of the year.\u00a0 Part VIII, on the other hand … Part VIII is probably on the verge of being ready right now, and I really want to get that one out soon, so all the more reason to publish Reproach!<\/strong><\/p>\n That’s about it for now.\u00a0 I’m heading on the train back to Massachusetts on Tuesday, where I’ll be for most of the rest of the month.\u00a0 I might put together that A to Z blogging challenge thing as an ebook, just to publish something while I’m on vacation.\u00a0 That would be a good diversionary project, something to do while on vacation.\u00a0 Though I certainly plan to write as well–at least 2k words a day, hopefully.\u00a0 Gotta build up that momentum.<\/p>\n Speaking of which, it’s 2am and I should get some sleep.\u00a0 Gnight!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I haven’t been writing too much these past few days, or revising much either, but I have been rereading a lot of stuff and getting myself back into the fantasy world of my next big novel. I’ve made a few changes, but decided to keep most of the stuff that I wrote while in Georgia,… Continue reading Writing at a stroll<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Just a quick update. Next STAR WANDERERS story should hopefully be out by September!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[650],"tags":[192,158,42,46,147,842,142],"class_list":["post-8806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sk","tag-discovery-writing","tag-first-readers","tag-frustrations","tag-goals-and-plans","tag-momentum","tag-sw-ix","tag-summer-plans","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-2i2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8806"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8808,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8806\/revisions\/8808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"SW-VII](\"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/SW-VII-thumb.jpg\")
Star Wanderers: Reproach (Part VII)<\/strong> is in the alpha reading stage right now, though if you would like to give it a read, feel free to shoot me an email.\u00a0 I only let people I know in real life read my unpublished stuff, though, and even then only if we’re close friends.\u00a0 Depending on the feedback, it could come out anywhere between the end of August (unlikely) to the end of September (more likely).<\/p>\n