I’ve had a difficult few weeks for a variety of reasons and have suddenly realised I forgot to post my final accountability post! So here it is. There’s not much to say really. Yes, by the 22nd November I had completed the first draft of Project C. Yay!! The numbers are below.

On the 1st December I started the editing and I intend on having that finished by the 16th January. I love the editing bit so I’m getting stuck into that. I’m also looking forward to sending it off to my editor and distributing it among my beta-readers.

I also spent some time the other evening setting out my writing plan for the next year. It is ambitious 😀 well, it would probably be doable if I didn’t also have the day job, but hey, you have to push yourself in life, don’t you!

The narrator has finished the recording of the audio version of Parallel Lies and I shall be uploading that very soon. I have listened to the whole book now and I’m delighted with it. I shall do a post about it once it is available and introduce you to the narrator, Henri Merriam. She has done an amazing job 😀

There is also a new paperback giveaway starting today so if you fancy winning a copy of one of my paperbacks you can do so here.

I’m sure there is more but I can’t remember that now and as you know I should be editing! So, thank you for all your support as I’ve made myself accountable to you over the last few months. I shall give this blog post series a rest for a while now, or perhaps forever, we shall see how it goes.

Project B – Hill of Beans – previously 5532 words – still 5532 words.

Project C – Parallel Lies sequel – previously 66,146 words – now 72,025 words.

I will be starting Project B on the 1st January 2019 😀 That’s in the next year’s writing plan 😉

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12 Responses to Accountability Post #25 ~ To Reach that Goal ~ #amwriting #selfpublishing
  1. Good to see someone who is really getting to grips with all the necessary organisation!
    The more I try, the less seems to happen. Maybe the New Year will work the oracle!

    • Well I can plan as much as I like about what I want to do, actually finding the time to do it is a very different thing. All we can do is put one foot in front of another 😀

  2. Congratulations on finishing the first draft! Bet that’s a relief, huh?

    I am most impressed that you can do all the rewrites in 6 weeks – HOW??!! It always takes me nearly as long as it took to write the first draft! I give myself a 2 month deadline, and 6 weeks in I’m usually only on the 3rd one and go ‘eek, stop mucking around’, start putting in 8 hour days and doing even less housework than I normally do (if you can do less than none, that is)!!! Perhaps I should start writing shorter books??!! 72K is a nice length – manageable, and not too scary long for new readers. I’m trying to keep the new one under 90. That’ll be a first, anyway.

    I have to say, though, that when I go back to the beginning for draft 2, I’m always faced with notes in the MS saying things like ‘needs para about blah blah’ or ‘this convo needs expanding to emphasis X’, so there is quite a lot of rewriting to be done – it helps if Draft 1 is already on its way to being publishable, as I know some people’s are.

    • Ahh, now. I think we are talking about different levels of editing/rewrites, T. I am doing a quick edit through, adding in all the missing bits of convo etc (hopefully!) as I too have those notes waiting for me, but at that stage (which I know horrifies you) I send it to my editor and betas for feedback on if the story works, if there are plot holes or if they spot something really major that has to change. I don’t want to spend hundreds more hours crafting something that doesn’t work in the first place. That level of rewrite comes after the feedback.

      But thank you, I am mightily relieved to have reached the end of the first draft and finally have something to edit!

      • Ah, gotcha, different kettle of fish entirely – I see what you mean.

        You’re darn right it horrifies me!!!! I am still convinced my books are total crap at around rewrite 4, or possibly later; I am certainly not letting anyone see them until they’re something approaching publishable! I would fully expect them to email me and say, “Terry. No. Please.”

        • I think my first drafts are probably a little more advanced than yours are in the first place, T. It’s why I’m so slow at getting them done in the first place 😀 Doesn’t stop me thinking they are total crap, just like you though – haha.

          • Mine are fully written novels, give or take the odd ‘add another exchange here’ note, with all necessary research done and the whole plot worked out properly (and in some cases talked through with husband until he wishes he’d never pretended to be interested), and I always read through and alter whatever I wrote the day before, when I open the document – it just takes me several drafts before I stop looking at sentences and thinking, ‘how do I manage to write such crap?’. And I’ve been known to miss a minor plot hole until as late as draft 5. Or, here’s the best one – 7 drafts of Patient Zero, and I didn’t notice that someone burning money in the year 2024 would be unable to do so, because by then all £20 notes will no doubt be the plastic ones. Julia didn’t spot it, either. Took Mr Picky to say ‘The last page of this story doesn’t work, because….’ 😉

            • Wow, on the money thing! That could so easily slip through. I had a similar, although completely different thing happen on a dog walk once when at the one minute to midnight moment of hitting the publish button I realised someone’s arms couldn’t hang the way I had described them, because they were tied behind their back… phew!

              Mine are a full story with characters fully formed and settings in place. They are completely readable but once I get the feedback the finessing begins 😉

  3. Well done, G, you are an inspiration!

    • Aww, thanks, E. Not sure about that, I just keep plodding along. 🙂 The editing is looking like a bit more of a challenge than I was expecting so that deadline may not be made. 🙂

  4. I have truly delighted in reading the Grayson Trilogy, The Joker and Parallel Lies. Incredible characters, story lines. Lots of suspense.


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