I work during the week, so I have to get my word count on my days off. I’m blessed to have a flex schedule that provides me with an extra day off each week, but it moves around. Sometimes my word counts seem high when I write about them, but if you spread it over a whole week they aren’t any more extraordinary than anyone else.
Today was a slow start for me. I slept in, spent some time for social media, and wasn’t generally feeling it. I also wanted to enjoy my coffee and Old What’s Her Face is off today. I decided to wait until she took the dogs for her coffee, then play ball with them.
It was about 9:00 before I got started. This is the middle volume of a trilogy, so my ending needs to have a complete disaster, while preserving that glimmer of hope they can deal with in the final volume. Yeah, it’s kind of formulaic and I own that. If it works, it works.
My writing turned out to be about a chapter and a half of solid action, and I slightly “told” small bits of it to keep the burner on high for the whole thing. If you think about a city being invaded by an enemy, you need to skip some of the running and hiding and stay with the action. I also included multiple points of view, because it’s a geographically large event.
Even after all that, I still haven’t finished the story. I need to write what is called a sequel to deal with all the things that happened. Staci Troilo is writing an excellent series about that process over at Story Empire.
The crew is in another new location right now. A bit of world building fits in with the flavor of the story. If I’m good, I’ll have one of those inspirational speeches that can lead us into the final volume. I know what remains to include in the story, and where it winds up, but I’m still trying to get there. I’m relatively certain I’ll finish it before I go back to work on Tuesday.
My short story critiques are all back, so I have to deal with those, too. This story needs some work, but it exists and that’s the hard part. Tweaks and repairs aren’t so difficult, and it is a short story.
I’m pretty happy with this Lanternfish tale, but Sundays are hard to get much done. I have other things I regularly do on Sundays. That might be the best day to deal with my short story. Monday will provide a great opportunity to wrap up HMS Lanternfish.

Sounds like a lot of fun progress. Good luck getting more done.
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I’ll always take luck. I’m fairly certain I can finish the draft. There will be more work in the weeks to come.
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You made progress. I’ll “tell” a story or section just to ge tht thoughts down, then go back and edit. Whatever it takes to keep the waters flowing.
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I think there is a place for telling. In one instance, I sent James through the burning city, but moved over to Dan who was defending Lanternfish. It was easier to glaze over James’s goals than to spend an extra chapter showing his path.
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I agree. Sometimes we just need to move a story forward.
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It sounds like progress to me.
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It was good progress. I think there’s some good stuff on the page, but it will need some polish.
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Maybe a mauve color.
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Funny you should say that, because it comes up in the short story. It’s a sign! I must edit my short story today.
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Hahaha. Couldn’t help myself when you mentioned ‘polish’
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Sounds intriguing. I love the approach you take of multiple points of view! ❤️🦋🌀
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It doesn’t happen in every tale, but this one has a huge cast, and at the end of two books readers are familiar enough with the characters to pull this off. It keeps the action moving rather than spend pages on running and hiding.
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I prefer telling to “showing” when it’s something that can be blipped over. Even though the showing might be interesting, it slows down the real story, and then telling connects the dots better. But I know the general rule. It sounds like you’re close to wrapping up two projects. Congrats!
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So close. It’s an exciting time right now.
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Sounds like a productive weekend for you.
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So far. I would like to manage the short story fixes today, then finish the novel tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
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Sounds like excellent progress. Hope the rest of the weekend goes to plan.
Nothing wrong with a little telling now and then. Though it’s a good idea to mostly stick to the “show, don’t tell” rule, sometimes telling is what’s best for the story.
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It’s almost gotten unpopular to even say that, but it’s the truth.
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Fantastic, Craig. When you break your word count down to cover the week, you are right, but when you say it, wow, it really seems like a lot. I really enjoyed Staci’s posts on “Sequel and Scene” and picked up some pointers. We can never learn it all. Writing is a fluid craft and always in a state of growing and learning. I cannot wait to read this second Lanternfish book! I’m a fan!
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Thank you. It will take time even after the draft is complete, but I’m hoping for this summer. I’d like a space between it and the Halloween story. It’s the journey of writing for me, not the destination.
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It sounds like you are going full sail ahead with Lanternfish 🙂
Sundays are my day for writing and editing, but—especially as the weather warms—there are always distractions.Today involved opening our pool. I hope I can get back into the swing of word count soon. For now, I’ve had to content myself with polishing existing words.
Wishing you plenty of writing mojo tomorrow as you work on wrapping up Lanternfish!
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I’ll take all the mojo you can send. I’m looking forward to finishing the draft.
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The finish line is in sight! You’re such an inspirtation!
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It’s so close now. I’m excited.
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So you should be 🙂
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I took the weekend to decompress. I’m still compressed, so that didn’t work as planned. Glad you had a lazy start when you needed it. Happy to hear about all the progress you’re making, too.
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And thanks for the shout-out for the SE post.
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Thanks, Staci. Take an extra day if you have to.
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Ah, if only I had the time to take!
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Even when you don’t feel like you make much progress, you still do. Totally get days of not feeling it – everyone needs a break sometimes. And I love that pic.
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I think I’ve decided on a break after I get the 2020 projects finished. There are a bunch of books I want to read, and some other things I want to do for a month or two.
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