Awakened – ~57,000 words, approximately 1/2 of first draft
July was a productive month! Still had the chance to go back and edit some things that I had written before, but mostly it was a chance to move forward. On some days, I steamrolled and wrote as much as 3,300 words. That’s a new record for me!! I remember writing only 3,200 words on a day when I wasn’t even working last year. So it’s fun to watch myself grow from then until now.
We’re about halfway through the first draft of Awakened, and things are really picking up. The first half of the book feels like a slow burn, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’ll need to take a closer look at it during the revision stage to get a feel for how things are progressing. I’ll also need feedback from some beta readers to see how they like where the story goes. But once things hit the halfway mark, crap hits the fan and the book is going to be a speeding freight train.
This book might be a divisive one. Some things happen in the story that might break people’s hearts, but that’s life, isn’t it? Sometimes tragedy strikes or people let us down, but we learn from it and we move on. It’s only through our greatest hardships that we’re tested the best. And that goes for the characters in this book.
Stories I’ve been enjoying
The Mitchells vs. The Machines – I would expect nothing less from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, but this movie was a hoot. It’s got all the right ingredients–laughter, danger, warm fuzzies, cold ouchies. It’s an absolute riot that’ll make you feel really nice at the end, with plenty of clever zaniness to fill up an hour and a half. Highly recommended. It’s on Netflix, so go watch it right now.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – The team at Nintendo did an outstanding job of writing the characters for SS. The Zelda series has always had some fairly solid storytelling, but this one features the most colorful and delightful array of characters I’ve seen in the entire series. I love the relationship that Zelda and Link have. Groose is a fan favorite. Even Fi has her own charm. Loving it so far.
What do you think?