Changing tack and epic finales – 730 x 730 Challenge – week 4

It’s safe to say holidays are in the rear view mirror, I’m in my second week back at the office and the kids are now back to school. I guess this is what’s called the day-to-day grind, so I was happy to hit the word count mark for the fourth time.

But it wasn’t without its problems and I may have somewhat cheated to get there.

As you know, the first draft of War & Quel, is getting to the final showdown. I’ve hit a bit of a speed hump as several story threads are intertwining and I’m getting a little bogged down trying to balance each and keep the pace of the overall story flowing. I’ve found this the biggest block to the challenge I’ve hit so far.

To keep writing momentum, I’ve jumped across to the first draft of Life and Beath, the third book in the Zombie RiZing series. I had a pretty water tight treatment sketched out before I started and it’s really helped me get words down while I plod through the complex part of War & Quel.

Life and Beath has only got 1000-1500 words to go, all the pieces in lined up for the epic finale! Can’t wait to get stuck in as the gang have their work cut out for them against an ever-expanding cast of enemies while trying to stay hidden from danger in the wake of Sonny’s flatulence.

Meanwhile I’m keeping W&Q ticking over, adding little parcels of copy where I can. I figure I’ll allow myself to make some mistakes here for the sake of getting the draft out on time. Once I get into writing the finale I know I’ll rocket to the finish.

Then I’ll let the draft simmer in the background for a couple of weeks before reading it from start to finish. I figure the fresh perspective will make all the timing and subplot issues that seem so large now, seem so easily fixable. It’s probably a far better use of my time to take this approach, it’s just really hard to let go enough to allow myself to do it.

Meanwhile the main edit on A Fate Worse Than Beath: Zombie RiZing 2 is in full swing and due for completion on the weekend… hopefully.

Anyways…  week four stats…

WEEK 4

Total words 6480   |   Target 5110    (+1370)

OVERALL (24 days)

Total words 27651  |   Target  20440   (+7211)