Hey everybody!

Don't you feel blessed to have another month to grow as writers? I do. And I'm thankful for last month. Here are a list of blessings God gave me last month

1. Submitted two short stories and, have a novelette very close, as well as a 1,000 word 1st draft.

2. Was selected for one of Port Yonder Press's Writing Groups - a huge blessing, as it will be a year of writing within a small group and experienced mentor, as well as the managing editor of PYP looking at our end of quarter work before we submit it. We will start at 1,000 word stories, then move up to 5k as the year goes on. I'll then be eligible for next year where they tackle novelettes, novellas and novels. This is a huge opportunity, and I'm so thankful.

3. I've gone through 200 notebook pages in editing/note taking for my sci-fi novel, and only have 43 pages left. My Novel Goals thread goal was to have it ready by the Aug. 13 writing conference w/Ted Dekker. I'm making good progress, making sure to get at least 4 chapters a week, but I don't know how long it will take to rewrite and polish. I can only take it one step at a time, and reflect how awesome it is that I'm this far already. My notes are around 60,000 words on my computer.

So, my goals for July are:

1) Work on my PYP writing group duties, including polishing a 1,000 word story and researching the right market for it before the end of the month critique session.

2) Polish my novelette and submit it.

3) Note take for the final 10 chapters in two weeks, then move on to next step (maybe note taking major edits needed)

4) If I can, submit to July 15th deadline for The Memory Eater Anthology.

5) Podcast and read...as always

1. I want to finish my Camp NaNo novel with 50,000+ words.
2. I want to prepare for my other Camp NaNo novel.

Wow, Tim. You were busy last month, and looks like you plan on being busy this month too!

Okay, my goals for this month. They are a little up in the air at this point, due to waiting and seeing all the responses that come back from test readers. However, I think I have decided to start trying to finalize the first draft of my second book. I have 2 test readers who would like to help me look over the draft after the first stage is complete, so I need to get that up and running. Hopefully by next month, I can finalize the first book, and have one more run through its content.

The short response is that I want to get the final draft of my second book done.

Is Camp Nano this month? Have you done a nanowrimo before? I find they are great motivators, but my problem has been not having time to take notes as I write, and with everything coming off the cuff, I get confused about my original plans and things change. Part of that is being an organic writer, but I wonder if I had more time to write the first 50k, if I would be better organized for the last 50k. Anyway, I hope that goes well for you, Elly!

Air,
Yes, I am a very busy guy, though sometimes to a fault. I should say that I also implemented Friday nights as date nights with my wife. Before I could easily lose the time that night editing podcasts or whatnot, and I've realized I need to block out time for her.

I'm excited about your progress. Are you planning to self-publish?

I'll let you know after my test readers and I finish. I plan on going through lots of the Herald Hall, which I have ignored in an effort to try and focus on this aspect of my book first. I figure that lovely HW resource you worked so hard to give us; will be an invaluable starting off point for me. I'm also interested in researching Splashdown, after listening to the Podcast you did with Grace. We shall see, I guess.

I think blocking out a space of time for Rachel is good. My Pastor ended up having to do that too. In the end, I think it will make your writing stronger.

Last month I successfully rewrote the ending to Of Dragons, Wizards, and Fluffy Pink Bunnies. Hopefully it has been improved.


So for this month, I want to get back to working on a couple of other stories (no serious plans for either at the moment; just want to finish more drafts that weren't written during NaNo) and work on rewriting a short story.

I simply cannot focus on one thing for too long or we both get so disgusted with each other nothing gets done... I was just getting more and more behind on my progress with City of Lies and I couldn't figure out why, and finally decided it needed its shelf time. So I took my other Scifi novel down, and it's going really well... The Third Earth. So theoretically my goal for this month is to finish the third draft and send it out to test readers. I'm half done with the second draft, which is a massive amount of rewriting. The third draft will be polishing up the rewrites. I have a lot of characterization that needs to be solidified since I changed the age of my secondary MC three times.

@Seer- Oh yes, I have done NaNoWriMo in November twice before. I've won both times. The first time I wrote 23,000 words and last year I actually wrote 50,000 words. I'm going for the full 50,000 words for the Camp NaNo. . . in both July and August. Needless to say, I shall be busy.

Tim, can I say again that your reports of God's blessing and the progress in your writing life are always so edifying to read?

Airianna... that is so exciting.

I'm happily busy myself. I'd like to run "Faded" through Camp NaNo in August, Lord willing, so this month I'd like to finish most of my world-building, plot-planning, and character development.

So that I'll have time to draft Faded, I want to finish revising and line-editing my sci-fi novella "Red Rain" by early August. What way I just need to format and such before the September release.

I'll remain officially employed by my producer for the feature script until the end of July as well, so I'll need to keep pace with that project.

Yes. You may.

*huge grin*

Timotheus: You're on Team PYP too? Which team?

I'm working on a challenge from the League of Extraordinary Scribes on Facebook which involves writing something with someone else's character (The contest ended almost 6 months ago) and writing a 1k short for aforementioned Team PYP.

EDIT: I'm also going to be writing a blog post titled something like "Casey Anthony Case: A Change of Perspective" really, really soon.

I finished the second draft of my novel already, or I will have if I can ever finish my epilogue. (I've been thinking about it for hours now, and I have some problems...) the third draft will take some more time but so far I'm running way ahead of my monthly goal!

*is so thrilled and delighted about that*

Yes, Varon. I'm on team VeldtRunners, and am signed up over on the gray man forum. That's awesome that you are in the groups as well. It will be fun working with you on that, and representing Holy Worlds. Let's see how often we can place in the contests for best stories.

Vanya, is there anything we can do to help on the epilogue problem?

As for myself, I am so excited because I've been an editing maniac. I only have one more chapter and have done 8 already this week! That's double my weekly average in three days! I am really excited about my ending and see the edits as pretty manageable as far as structure. The writing overall isn't spectacular, but hopefully not bad enough for beta readers. Right now I'm wondering if I should line edit before sending it to beta readers or just make sure everything makes sense and then send it out. It will make it a little less enjoyable to read, but I need outside eyes to see what parts to cut and it wouldn't make too much sense to polish those sections if they should be cut, right? I'm 50-50 on this question. Thoughts?

I've heard of people doing spell check and form edit before sending it out, and that's what I'd be doing. As I form edit, there might be places that shout out for polish, but it might not be a full polish.

Tim, my policy is - don't line-edit it if you're going to delete it later. Line-editing takes a lot of time, and it's time better spent elsewhere if you're going to significantly rewrite a section. So my preference is to lightly polish a piece and then send it out with a disclaimer. Line edits can come later.

I'm Arete and am using my real name on GrayMan Writes. Let the competition begin.

I'll also work on a fractal for the short story's MC for the HWSF monthly challenge.

*perks up at the mention*

I'm not surprised.

Well, I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?

My goal for July is to finish rewriting chapters 5 through 11 of my book.

It's only the 9th! The month isn't even halfway over! You're not late.

So, a little report about my Camp NaNo novel. I've been writing quite a bit, accomplishing over 22,000 words. I'm planning on writing about 60,000 words. How are you all doing with your July goals?

Keep at it, Elly!

I finished with 42,435 words.

*hugs Elly and congratulates her with cupcakes*

Well, I exceeded my goal for July! I completed up to halfway through chapter fourteen!

How did the rest of you do?

I... did tons of work on the feature script, world-built, and random little things.

*is happy for Raven*

Congratulations, Elly and Raven of the Wood.


Sounds good.

I don't remember what my goal was.
But I probably made much progress, falling short of the actual goal.

Niiiice! Good job, y'all!

Good, Evening.

Well, my beta readers have finally finished my first book. Well, all of them except my "fluff" cutter, but she is very busy, so I have to wait for her.

As to my goal of getting the second draft of my second book done... that didn't happen. Too many things conflicted, including becoming very ill.

I think I was too ambitious last month, so my August goals will be a bit different. I am not cast down, though. I will rise above failure, and pursue victory.

I'm glad that you're not cast down. Keep writing and pursuing victory.

I shall.