For over two years now I’ve been working on a historical fiction – tentatively titled ‘On Demon’s Shores’ (It’s a play on words for ‘Van Diemen’s Land’).
A couple of months ago I opened it up again, after putting it aside for 3-4 months, and began to read through the drivel… and there was plenty! I took out approximately 1/3 of the scenes, leaving just over 40,000 words at the end of May. That’s when I started rewriting. I have a wedding to go to next weekend, out of town, and so I set that as my due date. I want this novel to be at least 80,000 words, and so that was my word goal. Homeschooling 2 children means no time for writing during the day, so I did it at night. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been up late getting these words down. I tried not to stay up past midnight (it’s not really conducive with an 11 month old who wakes during the night, or those aforementioned homeschooled children), but there were the odd couple of nights I crawled into bed at 1am or just after.
I’ve made it to 80k, just ahead of schedule, though I still there are several scenes to write to complete the story, so I’m not quite done.
I’m feeling good about this draft. It aligns with what’s in my head much better than any of the previous five. It feels better. There’s some good writing in there, much less drivel. 😉
I’m looking forward to getting it all tidied up, and sent out to my early-readers for some feedback! 🙂
Heather Ewings 