Life settled down a little this past summer…at least as much as it ever settles down for us. 😉 Between my husband’s ministry, children, and pregnancy fatigue, there just wasn’t enough time to do everything I wanted to, but I’m learning to give myself a little more grace. I am not Wonder Woman, unfortunately. 😛
Going into July, I found myself running into brick walls with Freedom’s Children’s storyline. Things had been flowing really well and all of a sudden they just stopped dead. I’ve learned over the years, however, that this is the creative side of my brain’s way of telling me I need to back up because there’s a problem somewhere.
So, I went back to the beginning of Freedom’s Children and started cycling through it as a second draft. I cut a few things, added a few things, and fixed the problematic areas I’d been putting off thinking about. It took me until the beginning of September, but I got the storyline and everything else smoothed out. Turned out I’d dropped a couple of plot threads, and I ended up cutting another because I realized it belongs to Book 5.
The result was a book that is 85% finished. I just needed to write the end.
My husband and I took the children to California for a week in the middle of September to visit some friends of his. They live in the San Bernadino area, and, boy, was that an experience! We’d never been to California before, and if I had to describe what I saw of the state in a color, I’d say shades of brown. The mountains were amazing.
I read a LOT of westerns when I was growing up and looking at those mountains made me think about what it must have been like for cowboys, ranchers, and everybody involved in the Gold Rush era. Pretty amazing.
Needless to say, didn’t plan for any writing that week. We just had fun and enjoyed our adventure, which included getting to see the Pacific Ocean. Our son, who just turned one and started walking, did remarkably well with both the plane trips and the time difference. (The hard part was getting him back on a normal schedule after we got home!)
Since then, I’ve made a lot of progress. I’m estimating I need another 5-10 chapters and Freedom’s Children will be finished. 😀 I’ve reached the grand finale; it’s just a function of writing everything and wrapping the story up.
The crazy part is that FC has blown past Treason’s Edge in terms of length. I wasn’t expecting that at all…but there’s been a lot of story to tell! Depending on how everything goes, it may finish out around the 200,000 word mark, which knocks TE down to second place for longest novel I’ve ever written. 🙂
My plan since July has been to finish FC by the end of November, get it to my beta readers, make any necessary changes, and have it published by Christmas.
My baby is due Dec. 4th (another little boy!)…but if he takes after his big brother, he could come anytime after Thanksgiving. My husband and I have also had something else crop up that might serve to delay things. There’s a possibility I won’t make it, but I’m going to do my best. I want this book finished. It’s time, and I’m really excited. (Also ambitious, but that’s nothing new. 😛 )
Besides, NaNoWriMo 2017 is about to start, and that’s always fun, even on the years I’m not able to finish the challenge.
By the grace of God, things will work out and I’ll get the end of FC written and edited before I go into labor. LOL!