We're about halfway through July now, which means we are WAY closer to the beginning of the school year than I care to think about. So let's all agree to just not think about it....
The first half of July has been unusually busy for me. I've spent a lot of time with my unusually close extended family, which has been great. Almost every person in my circle of close friends has something going on this summer, ranging from small projects to major life-altering events, and I've found myself at least peripherally involved in many of them, which has also been great in different ways and different definitions. I have regular workouts going on, a lot of reading, some binge TV watching, occasional movies to see, and let's face it: Those naps don't take themselves. I've even started getting caught up in a game that I've been anxious to play since it was released in March, and yet as engaging as that game it is, it hasn't come close to taking over my life like so many games of summers past have. This can be attributed to a mostly welcome return to a strong, regular and productive writing habit.
I started the summer with big ambitions, as I always do, and I knew from the onset that not all of those goals would be reached. But if you read my last momentum post at the end of June, you might remember that I set a July goal to finish revising the manuscript that was my top priority for the summer. I'm mostly happy to say that project feels like it's going extremely well so far. The revisions I'm doing are making a world of difference in characterization, story depth, continuity, subtext and just overall quality. This one (Following Infinity, for anyone who knows it) was divided up into three parts, and I'm now within spitting distance of finishing the work on Part 1, which is the longest part of the three -- or at least it used to be. If the other two parts come together as well as the first one has so far, I see myself desperately hoping to recruit volunteer readers by summer's end in the hopes of collecting a variety of opinions.
But as well as the work is flowing right now, it is not coming easy. If you don't know this story... I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who might read it someday soon, but I think I can safely say the story has a certain emotional weight to it, and many of the people who've read it have had strong reactions. Without giving it away, I can say that my main character is a thirteen-year-old girl who has just experienced some major upheaval in her life and is caught up in a depressive spiral as she tries to cope with what's happened. Since the story is told in the first person, that means I have to write it by channeling her depression. I can assure you that while this hopefully will produce a much-improved story by the time I'm done, it's no ride around the lake in the meantime. It's been a good thing that I've been kept so busy this July and have seen my family as much as I have these past few weeks, because without those interruptions I would not be the happiest of campers right now. But hey - suffering for the art and all. If it means I wind up with a manuscript that gets a shot at representation or even publication someday, I'll muddle through the self-generated grey skies for a bit. Which kind of explains why I'm taking time to write what now feels like a fairly unnecessary post tonight -- just giving myself a little time to pull back and regain perspective.
So half of July to go. I'm predicting right now that I will NOT be done with the work by the end of the month, but I will have made some significant progress, and I'll be really, really close. And if you're one of my usual first round of readers -- get ready. The day is coming soon.
