Making Space

It felt really good to get writing done last week, both in the form of new words and the revision of existing ones. It felt equally good to swipe my calendar for August clean and make space for all of the non-writing things to come during that month.

Last week I was able to revise a few chapters and bring my main character right to the brink of the dark night of her soul. She and the other characters have traveled, settled, and met the last obstacle that’s going to throw them for a major loop. What I haven’t started figuring out yet is how all of the action leading up to this will change how the antagonist reacts to this event that’s about to happen. I know his attitude and reaction will be more visceral because of the feelings he’s had to deal with in this new revision of the manuscript. Since those feelings have been layered into the action of the story and affected how he’s circled around my main character, they will absolutely change his reaction to her dark night of the soul. Once we get through that, then I need to go through the scenes where he and my main character face off. All of the new things that have come out of the story and have happened between them are going to make those scenes SO intense. I cannot emphasize enough how much this revision has added to the story. The relationships have developed so much more than I thought they would. The pacing of the story is SO much better than it was. The revision of this manuscript is so much richer than I had hoped it would be and I’m so ready to see the end come together.

Next week will be full of preparations in some form or another for August. August is the last month of summer vacation for my girls and it has shaped up to be much different than I anticipated. We will be able to do some of the events that were delayed due to the pandemic in a physically distanced/safe way, we’ll be enjoying our last summer days before school begins, and, of course, be doing back to school preparations. Knowing that all of that is coming, I swiped my calendar clear of all “expected revisions to happen” and am leaving the month open for “where revisions could happen in the available pockets of time I’m able to make them happen in.” I want to move the needle closer to finishing this revision, but not at the expense of the story, so the whole month will be about actively balancing what needs to happen when the time is available for it to happen.

In case you haven’t been told today, you are more than enough.

Happy Writing!