Accountability Post 2021 Week 41

Introduction to the Accountability Post 2021 Week 41

This is a week of doom. Across the Atlantic Ocean, a developmental editor began reading my manuscript. While that’s going on, I’m gong to pretend I still know what I’m doing, and I’m pushing forward on Book 2: Epsilon Eridani. While I’m writing, I can forget what’s at stake.

I’m overly dramatic, aren’t I? Manuscripts get edited every day! So for a few paragraphs here, I’m going to pretend this is no big deal and bring you up to speed on my progress for the week!

Accountability Post 2021 Week 41 By the Numbers

The week before, I wrote 9,545 words to take the total to 122,776. Here’s how I did this week:

I’m happy that I’ve been able to write 5 out of 7 days.

To me, it felt like I wrote less last week. The final two writing sessions in particular felt like a struggle. That’s because the chapters were about Dek Conrad, and of all the characters, his personality is probably the closest to mine. I have to force him into the Jaws of Defeat, and that’s uncomfortable. So, that must mean I’m on the right track!

In spite of that, I wrote 10,259 words, and the total is now 133,035 words. I suspect this book is going to be about 25% longer than the previous. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I want the first three books to give a similar experience. At least, I think I do. Maybe it’s okay for the second to be longer? I guess I’ll have to finish it and see.

The Developmental Edit Looms

Even as I write this, there’s an editor recovering from his first day reading the manuscript of Evolution’s Hand, Book 1: 61 Cygni. Will I see a claim on my liability insurance soon? Probably not, because I believe he works in the UK. As a civilized nation, they have universal health care. Still, if he ends up in the hospital because he read my book, I’ll feel terrible.

I’m partly joking, but it’s to cover how worried I am about what he’ll find. Assuming I’m not spending the time rebuilding my ego, I’ll probably focus next week’s Accountability Post on the developmental editing process, including how much it helped or didn’t.

All joking aside, I should just adopt my professional persona and look forward to his feedback. Even if he guts the manuscript, the edit should provide insights to make it better. If it improves my future readers’ experience, it’s worth it. And if it bruises my ego, well, I need to work harder on being an adult.

Scorecard: Goals for Accountability Post 2021 Week 41

Previous Week’s Goals

Here are the goals I laid out for myself for this week:

• Finish Helmine Stein’s Pinch 2: Done!
• Finish Jack Booth’s Pinch 2: Done!
• Start Dek Conrad’s Pinch 2: Done!

I really wasn’t sure I could finish Booth’s Pinch 2, but for whatever reason, it fell together. Even Conrad’s Pinch 2 wasn’t quite as hard as I anticipated, though it’s much more a challenge than the other five Arcs. And he’s supposed to be the main character!

All that said, I can’t complain about my progress this week.

Next Week’s Goals

Here’s what I hope to accomplish in the coming week:

• Finish Ira Malhotra’s Plot Turn 2
• Finish Liam Martin’s Plot Turn 2
• Start Dek Conrad’s Plot Turn 2

I might mix the order a little, including substituting other arcs. The Jaws of Defeat/Pinch 2 chapters took place on about the same day, and some of the event might take longer to play out. Still, I plan to continue the pattern of finish/finish/start.

What Do You Think?

Do you feel apprehensive about edits? Do you have any tips to techniques that help you make the most of those events? Please feel free to share in the comments!