For those of you that haven’t been around as long as others, you might not know I’m kind of known for my binge writing habits, for jumping from one project to another because it feels right.
So, it should come as no surprise to those folks that I did it again…
I should have been doing edits on Reapers 3. I’m actually about halfway through the deep editing process. I’m supposed to be keying in the changes and writing the new scenes.
Instead, I’ve been writing. This book began as a kernel of a short story idea or even as a bonus scene while I was writing AMETHYST DREAMS. The idea was it could be something to offer newsletter subscribers or Patreon content.
Then about two weeks ago, I reread that scene. For no other reason than I saw it in the AD Scrivener file when I was working on the timeline doc. I played with it a little, just for fun, but then before I knew it, I was writing more.
I vlogged the whole process. I don’t think I started seriously vlogging until Day 4, maybe. But it was a lot of fun to talk about the process as it was happening.
I learned a lot about myself and things I’d forgotten about myself in the last few years. It’s interesting, you know, the things that maybe you should remember because it’s such a big part of who you are and yet, you forget. LOL.
First, I’m a binge writer. And that’s okay.
I shouldn’t try to force myself into a schedule. I rebel every time. Writing this book, focusing completely on it for the duration of it, from start to finish was incredible. It was perfect. Yes, it’s messy. Yes, I’m going to curse myself in revisions. But let’s be honest… When do I not curse myself in revisions?
Second, this is my version of an outline.
I am a self-proclaimed pantser, which my autocorrect wants to change to panther and I’m tempted to leave it because it makes me giggle.
Aaaannnyway… I had 2800 words on a random scene I wrote a year ago. It’s been sitting in that Scrivener file for months. Then suddenly, when I read it, I had to do something with it. Those 2800 words turned into 5k and then I was off. I moved it to a new document and this book was officially off to the races.
I don’t fool myself with the idea that this book is in any kind of good shape or form. It’s not even good enough to call a rough draft. It’s barely a zero draft, which for me, means it’s a glorified outline with dialogue and action tags included. It is a 52k brain dump of epic proportions. LOL.
Patrons, if you’re wondering why I’m not serializing this book yet…
That’s because technically, there’s no rough draft to post for you guys. I’m pretty sure “insert fight scene here” and “shenanigans ensue” aren’t that much fun to read… And also I’m still trying to figure out where in the Bloodlines timeline it goes and I don’t want to spoil you guys on the current story arc, because I’m 90% sure it starts close to the end of Emerald Burn but not completely at the end? I probably should figure that out.
I hope this post and the video are helpful for you guys. Let me know if you like this kind of stuff and I can work on doing more for you guys. As always, you can read the books that precede this one. AMETHYST DREAMS is now available on most retailers and EMERALD BURN is currently serializing with a new episode every week over on my Patreon page.
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