Last Word Count: 7, 272
Current WC + CC (or SC): 11, 550
WIP Issues this week:
I love this story and love my characters, but this story could go one of two ways: the more commercially viable romance route or the more esoteric/weird sci-fi route. I’m not sure where I want to take it so I’ve been stalling.
Also, writing on a train results in motion sickness far quicker than reading does. Alas, I didn’t get much written despite spending 7 hours on a train yesterday 🙁
What I learnt this week in writing:
Sometimes giving a WIP some space isn’t a bad thing. I don’t want to plough ahead on this and end up at 50k with 38, 450 words that I hate. It’s going to take some time to figure this one out and that’s okay. I’ve got no deadline and it’s pointless to rush.
What distracted me this week while writing:
Lack of time. This was my final teaching week and my head space was occupied by grading, organising Christmas concerts with 70-odd 7th graders etc. In all that chaos I sadly didn’t really find the time to write this week.
My YA book released on Thursday so I’ve been busy with blog posts and publicity stuff for that as well. A good distraction!
Last 200 words: The last 200-ish words. This is all first draft stuff and I haven’t edited at all so I’m sure there are missing commas and other errors.
My fingers ghost over a particularly intricate spiral cut along his ribs where they’re mottled blue with bruises. I want to touch, to lick, to kiss. Blood pumps thick as molasses through my veins and my stomach tightens.
“I’ll start here.” To avoid embarrassment as my pants get uncomfortably tight. The detail is amazing, soft pink filigree woven through tan skin. This is high-end stuff, a precision mod performed by a skilled scariphysician.
“You know.” I step around to Crow’s right following the maze of keloid as it wraps around his ribs. “This couldn’t have been done by just anyone.”
“Think we could trace it back to the artist or studio at least?” Crow looks hopeful.
“I’m sure we can. We could post a sample online and see if we get any hits.”
“Thank you.” He inches even closer as his nipple renders digitally onto my phone. He meets my gaze, blue hair trailing across old-leather eyes. “For everything. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be bleeding in the middle of nowhere.”
“You’re welcome.” I clear my throat and put some calming distance between us. With a high-end mod like this, Crow must come from money and with an accent like that he might actually be from Buckingham Palace. On what planet would a guy like that even look sideways at a guy like me?
I’m still hoping to get another 2,5k done before Christmas, if I can. 15k by Monday is the goal because that’s when my sister arrives all the way from South Africa (I haven’t seen her in 3.5 years!). After that, there won’t be much writing time and I have no regrets. I don’t even want to think about writing, I just want to hang with my big sis 🙂
How is your writing going?
