The end of August is upon us, which means the end of my summer break is looming. It has been a fun summer personally, and a productive ten weeks of writing as well. I’m looking forward to returning to my work routine (which also helps me have a more stable writing routine) though I am sure it will not be long before I start counting the days until the next summer break.
August saw a lot of editing work. I have sorted through the notes I made on my YA novel – the first in a proposed series of five, I hope – and made a great deal of corrections and improvements. It still needs some work, especially in the middle, but it is coming along. I also finished my first round of edits on the high fantasy story I wrote this summer. My wife is almost done with her read-through; once she is done, I will attack that again and hopefully get it down to below the 10k word threshold. My plan is to submit it for consideration in September, well ahead of the November first deadline. I may have a friend give it a look also, just to get fresh eyes on it.
I also wrote my first draft of a story for We Suck at Comics Volume 2. I am still stuck on a title – this should not be a shock to anyone who knows me – and it needs a very thorough re-write, but I like the story. I took a massive swing with this piece; it is in a genre I have never tackled and in a writing style I have never tried, so it will take a considerable amount of effort to get it ready to submit. But I plan on getting this one out in September as well, just to get both stories off my desk! I can share that (unbelievable as it may seem) I finished under the 2,500-word maximum for this piece, which for me is quite an achievement. Once I finish fixing some issues and cleaning up the mess I made of some parts, it will likely be right up against that limit. I won’t give anything away, but it is written in 14 “sections” and it tackles the theme of coloring outside the lines in both a literal and figurative way.
I have a second idea for a story in that anthology – well, it was my original idea – but we’ll see if I can pull that together within the word count limit.
Well, that’s it. September is right around the corner. The first week or two of work tends to dominate my time, but I am hoping to make substantial headway into book 2 of the YA series I have planned, along with submitting those two pieces for consideration.
I hope you had an amazing summer. Before school returns and autumn creeps in, join me in doing something write. And let me know if you do.