The Book Two Posts: Episode 12: Magic Moments and Changing Characters

Dear Readers,

First, I finally finished the EverMerge Gnome challenge, so here is my "Duck Duck Gnome"!  I felt that the Gnome challenge was very fitting since I'm still writing the Gnome Sweet Gnome series. I realize that not everyone will be impressed. 😸

It has been a strange time since I published my last book. There has been every type of distraction you can think of (a pandemic, for Pete's sake!), and I'm an easily distractible person. I had a lot of things tripping me up about the current work in progress, but I finally determined that I want it finished! Don't get me wrong. I'm actually really enjoying the writing at this point. My brain is really happy with the task and living in this other world. I mean, of course, we could ALL use a vacation from the real world right now, right? So this is the best possible scenario at this point! 

The Book Two Posts: Ep. 9: Over 100,000 Words and Counting

I managed to nail down the beginning of the first chapter. For months, I wasn't entirely thrilled with it. I would take it apart and rewrite it, and still didn't feel like it was right. I started deconstructing again and added another paragraph that I feel is somewhat foreboding and sufficiently sets the tone for the story. I finally had that moment where I felt like this is it.

The Book Two Posts Ep. 7 AND About Writing Ep. 3

Because, sometimes, it's hard to talk about progress without talking about process. 

I spent a good bit of time today rewriting the climax. There are things I forgot to add to it, and there are things I have to go back into the earlier parts of the book to add. I recently removed a chapter that was several pages long, and, even so, it's  over 96K words now. I'm not too worried about the length. I know that I will be polishing in the third draft, and, as long as it makes the best use of the words, I'm happy with it. That's what the third draft will be all about.

The Book Two Posts Ep. 5: Chapter Breaks

In case anyone wondered, the book is definitely a book. The word count is inching its way toward 100K, but I have plans to remove a chapter that may become a standalone short story or novelette, possibly a give-away. That's actually a good thing because, inserted into the book, it seems out of place. I've spent a good while working on the timeline and calendar, rearranging some chapters, and trying to decide if I should put my chapter breaks in different places or merge chapters.

Changes to Websites

To help simplify my life, I'm making a few changes to the websites. My Emily Night and Tara Sharp websites will remain up, but I will only be blogging here on Bunny Rose Books. This way I can keep readers up to date on everything I am working on and not have one blog remain dormant while I'm working on a book for a different blog. It seems like the most logical solution at the moment. :)

So, what have I been doing?

I started Nanowrimo in November, intending to finish my second Gnome novel. Unfortunately, that was about the time the holiday season kicked up and demands on my personal time made it nearly impossible to write. I don't think it's wise for me to attempt to finish any books during a holiday period, so I won't be signing up for Nanowrimo in the future.

I'm over halfway finished with the rough drafts for each of my books, the second book in the Gnome Sweet Gnome Series and a standalone YA novel. Each one has its own set of challenges.

I've been writing mostly on the YA novel this month and working on plotting and moving things around. I am looking forward to finishing the rough draft and starting work on the rewrite.

This book started out life as a short story. I like to write a story for Halloween each year, and that was how this book began. My one issue with writing short stories is fitting everything I want to tell into the parameters of a short story. I eventually discover that my ideas are novel ideas, not short story ideas. The story grew from short story to novelette to novella. I'm pretty certain that it will be novel length before I'm finished.

Also, when I started this story, I had intended that it would be a middle grade story. However, I've since decided to raise the age of my narrator to fifteen, and some of the material in it is scary enough that I think young adult age group is justifiable.

I'll keep you posted on progress on each of the books. I'm hoping that writing goes well and that I can finish these drafts soon!