I should have known making such a vastly higher word count goal was bad juju, especially right after a holiday.
I know this post is a few days late, so let’s get into the update portion. I was able to write around 3,000 words (I think), meaning I’m at a total of just over 13,000 so far. Honestly, considering how crazy January has been, I’m happy with that amount as is.
Now, let’s get to my excuses. Just a week or two into January, I became pretty sick. It was almost like a really bad cold that just wouldn’t go away. Sore throat, coughing, head cold, exhaustion. I lost my voice and I had absolutely no energy.
Once I was finally starting to feel better, our little family went on a vacation to Hawaii for about a week (which was amazing, especially since it was my first time in Hawaii, the kids had obviously never been, and Carlie hadn’t been since she was little). It was pretty relaxing and very fun, plus I got to tick a box on my bucket list; swim with sharks. That’s right. My oldest son and myself got to snorkel in a shark cage with a horde of Galapagos sharks, and I got some amazing pictures and videos. Maybe I’ll throw something in at the bottom of this post.
Anyway, having to prep my work projects for my actual day job before leaving and then coming back to all new issues to deal with was a bit of a handful. It’s been a little hectic the past three or so weeks, let me tell you. Now you can maybe see why I’m happy with 3,000 words.
As to the story, I’m very close to the end of chapter 3. This chapter is a bit more slower paced (as chapter 1 and 2 are pretty tense), and I always find those harder to write. Obviously I’m still growing as a writer, and it can be a little difficult to make a non-action scene exciting (or at the very least not boring). That usually means it takes me more time to feel my way through the scene, and I’m sure I’ll also be able to punch it up in the subsequent revisions, but I’m still working on my writing skills. I’m sure I’ll get better as I continue to write, and I know I’m already better than I was several years ago when I started this blog, but it can be a little disheartening to see such little progress despite the hours worked.
With all that being said, and considering chapter 4 is also a bit of a slower-paced chapter, I’m going to give myself a conservative goal of 5,000 words this month. I think I’ll be able to carve out time enough to hit that goal, and maybe it will motivate me to beat it.
Until next time!
P.S. – Ok, here’s a cool screenshot of one of the underwater videos I took from the shark cage. So cool, am I right!? They were so close.
