Hello! We have now passed Midsummer’s Day for this year, so that’s always fun. (I kind of feel like it might be a good time to enjoy some of the antics to be found in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream…)
This past week has been a pretty decent one. Some good writing, some good reading, and a bit of research for the publishing side of things thrown in for good measure.
I managed to get some good writing in, even if it wasn’t quite as much as I’d prefer. I did hit a couple spots where the words were flowing really well. If I can channel that kind of energy over the course of the next ten days, I should be able to mostly finish the draft of Book 9, just in time for Camp NaNo to start. Depending, I might still be working on this draft next month, but I should have a better estimate for completion time during next week’s update. I have also been working on my outline/timeline for the final arc. So far that is going well. I think I should also be able to get a good bit done with that task this week.
I’ve also been reading Stephen King’s On Writing, Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. For all three of those, I’m picking them up to read a chapter or so at a time, depending on what mood I’m in. Sometimes I like focusing on one book, but other times I like the flexibility provided by having multiple current books I’m reading. As it is, the three books listed above are sufficiently different in topic, presentation, and overall vibe, that it works well. I do know that there are times when I am reading more than one book where my mood will line up with one book for a longer period of time (including potentially for the rest of the book). That’s another part of the flexibility that I enjoy. There is only so much you can do when you have to force yourself to focus on a book you aren’t in the mood to read. Sometimes you can’t opt out of that (like when you have to read things for school/work), but I see no reason leisure reading should have to be so rigid.
As far as things on the publishing company side of things, I get the feeling I’m getting closer to finding the information I need to get the ball rolling. I plan to talk with a lawyer to make sure I can get things arranged as far as any state-specific rules, and to see what options I might have for certain things. Another element I’m looking into is different printers and distributors to see what the best plan would be on that front. I am still a little ways off from publishing my first book, but the more things I can figure out now, the smoother things should be once I actually get to that step.
So, my plan for this week is to write as much as I can of Book 9. I also want to plot as much of the final arc of the series as I can. The more I can get done of both of those tasks, the less I’ll have to take care of in the few days remaining prior to the start of July’s session of Camp NaNo. I get the feeling I will also be continuing my reading of On Writing, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Don Quixote. I definitely find it true that reading is at least as necessary to the writing process as writing is, so I am trying to keep that habit going.
That’s about all I have for this update. Thanks for reading!
~ Theresa
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