If you’re interested, you can check out my NaNo 2019 post and my Update #1 posts to catch up! You can also meet the Sims versions of my MCs here.

I feel like I don’t have that much to share. I’m still writing, still getting words down.

I am starting to feel a little uninspired, and it doesn’t help that my reading slump ended and now all I want to do is read.

I think part of the reason – well, two reasons I guess – I’m feeling uninspired is that we’re at the two-week mark and burnout is happening, AND the story really hasn’t progressed since I’m still trying to redirect the beginning of this book. I’m close to catching up to where I need to be to actually continue the story, so I’m hoping that sparks the inspiration and words will flow.

Even though I’m feeling a bit uninspired, words are still flowing. The plot up until this point is kind of a stagnant mess.

I know it’s a first draft, so I’m being very forgiving, and I know that I went into this book with a very barebones idea inspired by true events and was just going to wing it. I did basically no planning and I think it needed some. I’m traditionally a pantser when it comes to writing, but I’m starting to think that with contemporary I need to have a plan. In contemporary you can’t really have some magic to explain things away. (Okay, I guess you could, but this isn’t that story). This is also my first attempt at contemporary and there are very real rules for the world, and it’s based on real life, basically current day.

I want to tell this story, and I love these characters, but it’s proving hard to stick within the confines of reality. After NaNo is over, I’m going to have to seriously sit down and think about the plot for this book. I’m starting to think that the inciting incident that inspired this story needs to actually happen within in, versus happening to the character before the story starts. I think that will help to add some action that isn’t just characters being angry and sad with each other. Right now, it’s very character driven, and I can write dialogue until my hands bleed and while it might be entertaining, it doesn’t progress the plot.

I also realized that I haven’t told you all about the redirecting I’m doing to this book. I mentioned it before, but checking out last week’s update, I’ve realized that I didn’t mention it. Probably because I didn’t start doing so until this week.

I basically felt stuck and I knew that this one emotion packed scene was in the wrong place. I knew it needed to happen in the 75-80% mark, and not the 15-20% where it was currently sitting. Because of the wrong placement, I didn’t know how to progress past that point. My entire cast of characters were all sad and angry and not acting like I needed them to (not that they’re acting like I needed them to, but in some ways now it’s better) I tried and tried and it just didn’t work and it started to annoy me. So, I went back to the beginning and started to rework and redirect scenes.

So far, it’s working, but its still very much character driven, and I need more plot to be happening and passing. My characters are on a three-week vacation at the beach and I’m almost 27k into the story and they’re on Day 2…

Know if that bothers you, it very much bothers me.

Again, I know it’s a first draft and just getting words on the page is a good thing. I know this and I keep reminding myself to be forgiving and I know on some level that what I spew out during NaNo isn’t going to be stellar and that this is really my first introduction to these characters. I’m still getting to know them. I can’t say I’m thrilled with this WIP, but I have written a few scenes I’ve really loved. Like this one:

It’s between Cassie and Chase. Chase has had a crush on Cassie for years, and she has no idea. Most times, Cassie can’t stand Chase, but she’s starting to realize that maybe he isn’t so bad. She’s been a bit flirty, but she is a little confused because her best friend since birth – Ryan is the guy she actually likes, but he has a girlfriend – Layne – who hates Cassie. Layne brings out the worst in Ryan, so Cassie isn’t sure she likes him anymore, and even though Ryan is dating Layne, he’s jealous that Chase and Cassie seem to be getting along…

Basically, they’re all giant messes.

A little context for this scene – Cassie had a bad encounter with Ryan and Layne, so she and Chase go for a walk on the beach at night, the stars are out and you can see part of the Milky Way over the water. They’re swinging their joined hands between them, just enjoying each other’s company.

I just want to add, that I’ve just about thrown proper tense to the wind in this first draft. I keep switching between First/Present and First/Past and I just kind of gave up trying to fix and correct. That’s a second draft headache I can deal with. I’m legit just trying to get words on the page and I haven’t quite decided in what tense I really want to tell this story, so I keep telling myself that this is the best of both worlds and I can test both at the same time.

I will regret this active choice that I keep making, so if you see tense errors in any sneak peeks I share, you know why. Sorry if it bothers you, but it just goes with draft 1 craziness.

Okay…so I guess I had a lot to share? I’ve been crap at updating on Instagram Stories with writing updates, I just keep forgetting. So, there’s that. But (shameless plug) I have been updating my Instagram Feed with tons of Autumn/Autumn feeling pictures and current reads and that’s been a fun little past time! You know, doing all the things other than writing words.

I hope all your NaNo-ing is going well, we’re halfway there, only 15 more days! We can do it!

*ALSO as a final note, I’m still highly annoyed at the NaNo site. I’m SO annoyed at the fact that I forgot to update one day (I was a day ahead) and it wrecked my stats and there is no way to go back and edit a past day. Bring that freaking feature back. I will die on this freaking hill. This new site annoys the crap out of me and I’m so tired of it.