Honestly, I didn’t even realize that this quarter of my writing goals was coming to a close with the arrival of September. I’ve been so deep in life things these past three months that my writing has taken a spot in the backseat and has, more or less, waited quietly for me to invite it forward again. Looking back I realize that my goals turned out the way they always do. Some were accomplished while others were worked on and only a few were left behind.
My biggest accomplishment from the last quarter was finishing (manuscript key explanation) MS:L. I loved that manuscript and still feel so good about the way that the story turned out. The characters were fully formed on the page, their relationships were more complex than I hoped they would be and the story was complete. It’s in that resting stage where I haven’t looked at it since I completed it and won’t for some time yet. When I go back to it, I want to go back to it with fresh eyes. The biggest goal that was worked on after completing MS:L was diving into the revision of MS:D, which I am still working through. I’ve written about 16,000 new words which leaves the novel sitting at about 43,000 words. I want to write about 27,000 more new words to get the complete new draft at about 70,000 words. It’s a lot to pack into the last part of the story, but it’s what it needs right now. The goal I didn’t work on at all was revising MS:TS. That manuscript needs a lot of love as it has yet to be revised at all. I have that on the list for my goals next quarter as this quarter is dedicated completely to finishing this current revision of MS:D and writing the first draft of MS:SOS for NaNoWriMo this year.
I’m ready for this quarter and the goals to come. I checked my word count on MS:D and am set to finish the manuscript by the end of the month. I also rewrote the query letter for MS:D, which was, as always, an interesting way of defining the core of my story. I used to do an assignment called pithy quotes with my students when I was teaching, where I would ask students to find three quotes from a book that we’d read that they thought represented the essence of the story. Writing a query letter is really the same assignment, where I take my 70,000 word novel and condense all of what it is, what it means, and the magic that it contains into one paragraph. I’m glad I have it and I can work it over again until it’s ready to be sent out once the manuscript is set. This month will be for finishing that manuscript, next month for prepping to write MS:SOS, and then in November to finally write the first draft of MS:SOS for NaNoWriMo. As life settles down into the new pattern of my girl’s school schedules, their dance, and everything else this fall, I’ll be able to settle into those pockets of time to get these next goals accomplished.
In case you haven’t been told lately, you are more than enough.
Happy Writing!
Nikole Breault 
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