Writing Update #2: Unexpected Progress

Happy Easter!

I am back today with another writing update! Remember last week’s writing update when I rambled on for far too long about being in a bit of static place with my Rapunzel retelling and how I wasn’t sure I would be able to meet my deadline of 12^th April… Well, I finished the first draft of the Rapunzel retelling on the 31^st March! I wrote a book!

This is the first book I have ever drafted in its entirety and I am so proud of myself. Previously I have tried drafting over long periods of time or have been relaxed about finishing it and thus never finishing it entirely. With this one though, I knew I wanted to fast draft it and I knew I wanted to complete it by a certain date.

I thought as it is the first weekend of the month, I would do a little monthly wrap up too. So, in March I wrote 43,015 words towards the Rapunzel retelling and 305 words towards the preparation for my Camp NaNo project. As you can see, I was clearly focusing on the Rapunzel retelling and just trying to get as far into that book as I possibly could. I think it also shows that I am not a planner though sometimes I wish I were! I think it is also interesting to note that the majority of my writing was done at the beginning of March. I always think it is interesting to see people’s weekly word counts, so:

• 1^st – 6^th March: 17,256
• 7^th – 13^th March: 15,016
• 14^th – 20^th March: 3,991
• 21^st – 27^th March: 215
• 28^th – 31^st: March: 6,537

As you can see, I am not a consistent writer! I definitely had a bit of a burn out in the middle of the month, which just makes me happier that I did manage to finish my draft by the end of the month! I am so happy I got it done before my deadline because it means that I can take a full month away from the project before diving back into it in May.

Now onto the first few days in April, I took the 1^st April off writing because I needed a little break after finishing the Rapunzel retelling, but on the 2^nd April, I dived fresh into the new project and got 1,122 words which is just a satisfying number for me. On the 3^rd April I got 711 words and I am actually writing this up on the 4^th April before I have started my writing for the day.

One thing I didn’t think I was going to struggle with was the transition between projects. I discuss more about my Camp NaNo April project: here, but if you’re not caught up my NaNo project is a young adult contemporary. So, it is completely different to my fantasy, Rapunzel retelling. I thought because they are so different, I wouldn’t feel too bothered about switching between the two; I’ve always written in both genres and love them both.

However, starting this project has been much slower than I anticipated. I’m sure I will speed up once I get into the plot more and get to know the characters better the further I get into the novel. It was just an interesting point that I didn’t consider. Has anyone else experienced this before?

So that was my week! Quite an exciting, milestone week for me personally. Now I need to crack on with Camp NaNo and hopefully get some words in today!

And again, Happy Easter everybody!

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