Challenge: Finish the First Draft

The last time I blogged about my writing goals I wrote about my decision to scrap Book 0.

That was a very difficult choice because I’d worked on that book for a few years. That book taught me that I could write and edit a book. Book 0 also showed me that I knew when it was time to walk away from a project.


Lamesha Junior working on #LameshaJuniorNovel

I added several scenes from Novel 0 to my new untitled novel. Let’s refer to this book as #LameshaJuniorNovel. I outlined the book and was on a good pace to finish drafting before the summer. Then the pandemic happened and I had to home school my son. Since we’ve been quarantining, I have not had consistent writing days. Some days I write one sentence. Others I’m able to write a few pages. And then there are consecutive days when I don’t open my laptop.

It has been a struggle finding time to write. I spend most of my time trying to make sure my son has a good summer. I know there are memes about all the ambitious things that people should accomplish while quarantining, but my main goal is to keep my family healthy and shower them with love.

Acknowledging that I am behind schedule on some of my goals, prompted me to challenge myself to finish my first draft in one week. I was scared to declare this challenge publicly because I have seen more success when I keep my goals private.

As I write this blog, I have written 95,000 words on #LameshaJuniorNovel. Based on my outline, I need to write eight additional chapters. According to Writer’s Digest, a novel over 110,000 words is too long. I will probably be over that word count, but it’s a first draft. I will work on getting the word count down in the second draft.

Fun Facts About My Draft

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Point of View: 1st Person

Questions

Writers: Would you like to join me in writing daily for seven days?
I’ll update you when I finish my draft!


xoxo

Lamesha


Posted

in

,

by