December has been a super slow writing month for me. The holidays always stress me out for no reason, and I had a bunch of other stuff going on this month. Thus, I fell far behind my month’s writing goal of ~35k for “Jaed and Aston”, and about a week before Christmas, I decided that I wouldn’t be able to catch up anyway.

Still, I am very excited to say that I have broken 100,000 total words for my novel, just in time for the New Year. This might be the most effort and time I have put into any single project in my life. (My MA thesis brushed 55k words, I think.) In fact, I know it is, because it took me three years of brainstorming and not writing this story to actually begin writing it in earnest.

Once 2016 hits, I’m going to go through and cut some old sections that don’t really fit anymore. I’ve been planning on doing this for a while, but I used those to pad my word count during NaNo. That should bring the realistic word count closer to 95-97k. I’m aiming to wrap up at 170,000 words or so in the first half of 2016 before going all the way back and revising for my first manuscript.

First major item on the revision list: my first three chapters —  you know, the ones it took me over a year to write. I think they’re too meaty, but I may defer to my alpha readers on that point. Oh, right… alpha readers! I have three of four people in mind, but they happen to be some of my most trustworthy friends. If anyone is legitimately interested in reading my first manuscript, let me know. I’ll put out an official call once I’m actually ready to open my heart to you heathens… I mean, share the blazing flame of creativity burning inside of me… I mean, force you to read an unpolished novel and answer in-depth analytical questions.

Where to Next?

I have begun outlining the rest of the story for reals now, although I still need to figure out some pretty major plot development points. I know where the climax will occur, but I have too many conflicting ideas for the rising action and resolution right now. Most of my focus over the next month or so will be on outlining, but I will also continue writing on my current path, since that tends to help me hammer out the plot a bit better.

I’m also excited because I’ll be introducing some new characters in coming chapters, both POV and non-POV. One character in particular I’ve been dying to get to. I drew him up in my head and even wrote a few introductory bits for him a few months ago, but cannot wait to get to the point where he makes an impact.

Part of me feels like doing a 2015 in Review post, but most of me does not. I may do a 2016 and Beyond! post next week. We’ll see. Happy New Year!

Steve D