We’re back, baby! 2025 is a-go, and I’m looking forward to what it will bring.
First up, my last post mentioned that I wanted to get through chapter 2 in December. That chapter was surprisingly longer than I remembered… but the good news is that I did it! It was the longest chapter by far in the first draft, and I have a feeling it will stay that way for the second. It went from roughly 7,200 words to nearly 8,000 words (nearly 40 pages) despite the cuts I made, so I’m pretty proud I was able to get that whole chapter finished around the holidays.
As I believe I’ve mentioned in the past, these early chapters typically require more edits, more heavy revisions, more time to tweak. Even with my chapter-by-chapter outline (which I stuck to pretty closely), my writing style still has an element of discovery writing. The pattern I’ve found is that I don’t fully have things solidified until at least halfway through the book, so the first half needs more edits to bring it in line with where the story ends up. It’s mostly small details that add to the lore/worldbuilding that need to be more organically introduced earlier in the story. Even my outlining edit tree (my spreadsheet with important story notes that need to be made per chapter) tapers out halfway through with fewer and fewer changes needed.
All of this is to say that I fully expect my edits to pick up speed the further in I get. I’ve made a new year’s resolution to get draft 2 done (and possibly, if necessary a draft 3) before the end of the year so I can hopefully do something with it. Whether that’s submitting it to publishers/agents or just self publishing on Amazon, I don’t really know yet. It’s exciting, nonetheless.
Oh, and I also plan on having an actual title by then as well. Maybe I’ll reach out to people who want to beta read and ask for suggestions. Keep watching for updates!
Here’s to a productive 2025! Until next time.