Going on

*Climbs out of hole*
*Blinks in the brightness of the internet's light*
Hello, again.
I've been pretty much absent for a while. I hit a slump with my book, a huge one that I haven't hurdled past yet, and I'm working on still. Other stuff has happened, like my cousin getting married and my brother leaving for the Navy (he's going to be a doctor!), and my sister coming to visit with her kids.

But mostly, I felt worn out.

Which is weird, because it's summer and I should be all jazz hands about it. But things just got...moody. You know, when it happens for no good reason? When you don't want to do anything? Pretty much, I've been reading. Which is why my only posts here have been for book reviews. Oh, I pretended like I was working. I made a youtube channel to review all of the books I read, since I only do one a week here and don't get a chance to discuss them all. And I read, I've babysat.

But what's really important, I've been slacking on. My book. And for some reason, that just climbed into this blog as well, and I felt uninspired. I didn't want to post just for the sake of posting, which is why all we have are two book reviews since my slump hit.

Upon realizing that I'm leaving for school in a month, I know I have to get my act together and finish this book. Just the first draft of it! So I'm using this blog for accountability. I will be doing my regular post and keeping an update on how I'm doing.

Here's to ending ruts. Cheers.

My kind of adrenaline rush

Getting back to school has been hectic. It's been almost impossible to find time to write, but on top of that, I've been getting blockage.

Ugh. The bane of the writer's world.

But a few days ago my groove came back. Personally, I think that's the best feeling in the world (or at least up there with stuff like love and all that). To be so totally stuck, to be near giving up, and then coming back and having your fingers fly across the keyboard with all of the words coming out of you. It's exhilarating and my kind of adrenaline rush.

So I keep marching on, completing my WIP slowly but surely, with halts and speeding starts and lots of speed bumps. It's a crazy journey for never even leaving my room.

50-page edit

A while ago on K.M. Weiland's blog Wordplay, she has a post up on the 50-page edit. In it she suggests that every 50 pages or 20,000 words to go over and edit what you've written so far. I stored it away as something I might try. About a week ago I came to a big change in my WIP and I was having trouble finding the characters and story again from this big change.

Then I remembered the suggestion of a 50-page edit. I'd gone a bit over the suggested word count with over 30,000 words, but I still buckled down and decided to try an edit-as-I-go strategy. And I think it really helped. Not only do I recognize things I should bring up as I continue writing, but I also felt re-established with my characters. Since I decided to edit on paper, I'm still making the changes onto my computer, but after today I should be rearing and ready to write through again.

This WIP I have going is really tricky, it's like nothing I've ever written before. It's challenging and making me switch strategy of how I write. But I'm loving it. I'm loving the challenge of it and learning new ways and adapting in my writing.

Do you edit as you go? Have you ever needed to switch around how you write?