Currently V: The Solar Queen sits at 56,677 words. I filmed this cozy Autumn writing vlog a couple of weeks ago, the day I got back to the manuscript.
The first week, I drafted 5055 words, and the second week, I drafted 3534 words. Keep in mind that I am balancing this project with a handful of others—so while I haven’t been working on V: The Solar Queen every single day, I have still been creating on a daily basis.
This is working quite well for me right now; in order to reach my goal of 100,000 words by Yule, I only need to write about 4000 words each week. I’ve certainly drafted other books faster in terms of word count, but with this project, having a day away from it helps, as it gives me space to outline the next chapter, allowing me to write the first draft more effectively.
I tell you this with confidence, as last week I read through everything I’ve written thus far and was surprised to be rather pleased with the book! (In the past, my first drafts have been messier than this one.)
Yes, ‘slow drafting’ seems to be the way up this mountain! That said…
This week I am doing a strange experiment: tomorrow, I will attempt to draft 10,000 words in one day! Why? Doesn’t this go against everything I just wrote?
Yes and no. One thing I am learning about my creative process is this: I like to dive deep and stay there a while. What this means practically is that I like to do things less frequently but do them for longer. For example, I would rather spend four hours writing one day and then four hours illustrating the next day, rather than trying to do two hours of each kind of work each day. This is why working on V: The Solar Queen about half the days of my week and working on other projects on the other days has been so effective. When I’m working on V: The Solar Queen, I get to be totally with that project. When I’m drawing, I get to be totally with my illustrations.
But even though this method of work—‘deep work’, as Cal Newport calls it—is so effective, 10,000 words is still an insane amount of words to write in one day. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to make it, and yet I still want to try. Now, I have my reasons for doing this, but alongside attempting to write 10k tomorrow, I will also be vlogging my experience—so instead of sharing my reasons here, be sure you are subscribed to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss the next vlog in the ‘Writing V: The Solar Queen’ series!
Start reading The Sun and Moon Saga today!
Pick up your copy of i: The Misfit Princess!
Sincerely,
MD Luna
