Write What Your Heart Wants - Week 10-14 Recap

Well, hello.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.

Since mid-January, I’ve been insanely busy with mentor duties for Author Mentor Match Round 8. While it’s been such a fun experience, it was super time consuming having to read through so many great submissions. Meaning, something had to give, and that something was my weekly blog posts.

But never fear, I’m back now!

As of my last blog post (way back in early Jan), I’d finished my first draft on my 8th manuscript and was all excited to hop onto another project and let my 8th ms (code name: Rainbow’s End) sit.

Yeah…that didn’t happen.

The very next day I tried starting a zero draft of a brand-new project. But I couldn’t find my spark, so I quickly gave that up. Then I switched to another half-finished WIP. I thought it’d be easier getting back into the groove for that one, since I already had 20k words written.

Nope. Wrong again.

Although I do love those projects, it was a slog trying to write them. Because my heart wasn’t in it. My heart was still with Rainbow’s End.

So I did something I’ve never done before. I went right into planning out revisions for draft 2 of Rainbow’s End.

Normally, I like to let a manuscript sit and marinate a bit between drafts. This means I take a breather from writing for a few days (or weeks), dabble in a bunch of other projects, then finally come back to start draft 2 of my main WIP.

Except this time, I couldn’t take a breather because of my Year of Writing Project. I had to work on something, and as much as I wanted to move on to a new project for a bit, my heart was still so attached to Rainbow’s End that it didn’t let me.

I decided to slowly work on my revision plan. Before starting a second draft, I very briefly turn into a plotter. I write out the main plot points of each chapter (to remind myself what I actually wrote in my first draft craziness), dive deeper into character development, draw out maps, plan out my novel’s timeline on a printed-out calendar, etc.

While this process might be fun for some, the true pantser in me typically hates this stage of planning. In the past, it’s been a real struggle getting back into a project after having let it marinate for so long.

Not this time!

Since I decided to follow my heart and go pretty much straight into planning revisions for Rainbow’s End, I am still riding high from all the momentum of completing my first draft.

The story is fresh in my mind, which has made planning revisions easier.

I’m still so in love with these characters, so fleshing them out has been a complete joy.

Ideas for big picture fixes are coming to me quicker than ever before.

I’m actually having fun planning and plotting. (whhhaattt?!)

I think it’s all thanks to me following my heart. My heart is fully in this project, so I am too.

As an experiment, I think I may try this with my 9th novel - finish draft one, then go straight into planning revisions. If I do, I’ll keep you posted on if I have the same positive results. This may become my new routine!

So follow your heart and write what your hearts wants. :)

No stats from the past few weeks. I’ll have to figure out how to do stats once I start my draft 2.

My mood regarding the past week: I see the light at the end of the business tunnel.

My mood for this coming week: Excited to have more free time back so I can dive deeper into planning revisions!

Other insights: In full transparency, there were two days in the past month I didn’t write. Other commitments (and a migraine or two) got in the way, and they were days that I knew pushing through the stress and pain would just not be worth it. Instead of beating myself up about it and letting writer’s guilt take over, I reminded myself that in life, there will be days where you can’t do the things you love. And we should show ourselves kindness and grace in those circumstances. Plus, I’ve still written 96 out of the last 98 days. That’s awesome and definitely something to be proud of!

That's it for now. Til next week!