Hey, friends! So, it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted an update about my writing. I looked back through my posts and found one about revising YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED from October, and then there was one about how I tried pantsing a book last summer. (That sounds really strange if you aren’t a writer, but the writers DO know what I mean 😉.)

Anyway, that book I was writing last summer? I ended up setting it aside because I just couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I do intend to go back to it, but sometimes you just need some distance. What this means is that for the first time in quite a while, I went more than a year without finishing a draft. In fact, the last time I finished a first draft was May 2018, when I finished writing YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED. Of course, I have done a lot of revising on that in the meantime 😀.

Last September, while I was still trying to figure out that other project, I had an idea for a new one and jotted down a few thoughts. Over the next couple of months, I added more ideas for it, and in December, I decided to sit down and draft for real. For me, this means setting an end deadline in Scrivener that gives me daily word count goals. Generally, I set my deadline so that I’m writing about 1,800 words per day.

I know many people find it hard to create in an anxious or stressful environment. For me, the best way to cope with anxiety and stress is to have goals. As much as I hate drafting, it gives me focus, and I’ve needed that for the past several months. As I already shared here on the blog, in early December, my best friend suffered a massive brain bleed while on vacation. Her family has shared her story and updates on a GoFundMe page here. At the end of December, she was transported back to Missouri, and I was able to start visiting her at the hospital. I wrote a significant portion of this book sitting in her hospital room, sometimes brainstorming ideas with family members or talking aloud to her, even when she was sleeping. With COVID-19, I can’t visit her right now (she moved to a rehab hospital a few weeks ago), but she’s still on my mind constantly.

And then there’s COVID-19 itself. Everyone in my family has stayed healthy so far. My kids have been home from school since March 13, and my husband started working from home a week ago. It’s a change for all of us to be here together, but we’ve gotten into a pretty good routine. It’s definitely a blessing that my kids are old enough to manage most of their school on their own. But I’d be lying if I didn’t think initially about how having everyone here might affect my drafting momentum. I had decided at the beginning of March to step it up to 2,000 words per day, despite what Scrivener was telling me, and I was able to stick to that, even with everyone here, plus overseeing eLearning and general anxiety about what’s happening in the world.

So, here I am on April 1 with a finished draft. It’s my longest draft ever at 90,983 words. It’s also messy, as all first drafts are. I’m going to let it sit for a few days, and then I will get back to the part I love most–REVISING!

To celebrate, today we’re going to make cupcakes. Usually I treat myself to a gourmet cupcake as a reward for finishing a draft, but making them ourselves has the added bonus of a family activity 😍.

How are you all doing with your writing? Have you drafted anything new lately? How do you celebrate milestones?