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Goal 1) TAP 2

• My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
• Where I planned to be: 42,000 words
• Where I am: 44,543 words
• On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Getting down to the nitty-gritty of the finale here. Sunday, I had to go to my handy-dandy reference books (namely Save the Cat! Strikes Back! by Blake Snyder and Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody… this is where the story beats come from) and read over the description of the “mini-beat” that was coming up next, “Dig Deep Down”. Which, uh, is really fitting that I had to go read up on it because… well, yeah. (Your answer isn’t gonna just fall out of a book and into your lap, Meilo!) Either way, I came up with an idea that’s just crazy enough to work. How they’re going to execute this new plan and how it’s gonna pan out is still up in the air, but I think it’ll come to me as I go.

I also took some time Sunday to modify my spreadsheet a little so it would give me a more accurate ETA and minimum WPD to goal because I’m anal like that. I’m down to a minimum of 552 WPD to finish before December. Woo! Only I’m getting the distinct feeling that I won’t hit 50k before the end. Again.

Yesterday went great. I was right, it did come to me as I went, and I finally got everyone in the same room together. Not actually super important, but I wanted Madison’s past and present to come together to help him form his future (god, that’s so corny, sorry not sorry). It’s incredible how the first random character I wrote in this story has become such an important asset to him. Almost like I planned it that way. (Spoiler alert: I did not.) I just hope I didn’t screw her up like I did Keziah in the first book. Seriously, that was a painful fix.

Today (technically yesterday now but shh) was pretty busy and I wasn’t able to get to my writing until very late. I almost gave up for the night at just under 400 words, mostly because I’m literally flying by the seat of my pants at the moment and I’m having trouble coming up with how they’re supposed to be handling the situation, but I really want to finish this early (nevermind if I actually hit 50k), so I pushed to 587. The end is very near!

Goal 1) TAP 2

• My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
• Where I planned to be: 40,500 words
• Where I am: 42,807 words
• On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Sunday I was still running off the momentum from last Friday. Easy words. Although when I was entering my word count for the day, I realized a small shortcoming of my spreadsheet. Turns out the WPD I need to finish by December 1st is closer to 600 words. But that’s okay, still doable. All I had to do was plunk down a couple more sentences.

Yesterday went really well, despite having to start 4 hours later than usual because I had to have my tires rotated (and 2 of them replaced *facepalm*) and the tire place was packed. Good thing there’s a Barnes and Noble right across the street. One of my favorite places to waste time (but thankfully not money this time). I actually would have sat down and done some writing on my phone, but I’m a dumbass and my phone was dying. Like, when I finally got back in my car I immediately plugged it in because it was on 2%, dying. Regardless, pretty easy words.

Today I was getting close to where my ideas have petered out, but the words still came pretty easily. Definitely need to do some thinking about how to get to my planned ending. It’s stupid close! But I don’t wanna do the thing where I rush everything to where I need it to be because I’m ready for the thing to be done and then end up completely rewriting the end. I mean, if I have to rewrite the end, so be it, but I want to at least have something… idk, cool. Fitting. Surprising. Something I can maybe keep most of. High hopes, yanno.

Goal 1) TAP 2

• My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
• Where I planned to be: 39,000 words
• Where I am: 41,042 words
• On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
Sunday was weird, but I did manage to get my words in, finally. It just took me a while to find my focus. Yesterday kinda had me stumped for a while too, but then I realized the perfect way to twist up the ending (can’t have them getting away with anything too easily, right?) and after that I just started flying.

Today I’ve had the most splitting headache since like 3am, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me. Thanks to yesterday’s little epiphany, I almost doubled my daily goal again.

Truth be told, I’m actually shooting for finishing this by December 1st so I can have my month-long resting period before starting the revision first thing at the beginning of next year. It’s doable, but I have to continue going a little over my daily goal to get there.

Again, WPD to Goal is the minimum number of words I need to write per day in order to hit my due date, and the ETA is based on my total word count currently and assuming I only meet my daily goal. So an extra 27 words a day? Totally not gonna kill me. I just have to commit to it.

Goal 1) TAP 2

• My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
• Where I planned to be: 37,500 words
• Where I am: 39,068 words
• On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
I didn’t want to do jack shit on Sunday, but I at least got my bare minimum in (386 words, which was just a smidge over). Considering I’d already met this week’s goal, I figured it’s the least I could do.

Yesterday went well. I could have kept going, but when I checked and realized I’d put down almost 600 words for the day, I figured I’d save the momentum for today. Sure, 1,000 word days are great and all, but that’s just not sustainable for me. Yet.

Today I was busy, so I got down as many words as I could. And what do you know, still hit next week’s goal.

Goal 1) TAP 2

• My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
• Where I planned to be: 36,000 words
• Where I am: 37,659 words
• On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
It’s an interesting feeling to meet my weekly goal on the first writing day of the week. It’s even more of an interesting feeling to more than double my daily goal and nearly hit my next week’s goal on the second. Ditto when I actually hit my next week’s goal on the third.

Alexithymia is a bitch.

Honestly, I was worried after Sunday because I wasn’t sure where to go next. But I went to my trusty source of writing help (Holly Lisle, of course, her How to Write a Novel class, to be specific) and ran through the appropriate lesson for where I am in the story. And holy shit did I come up with some ideas. One of them was so juicy, the scene I wrote Friday was 1,080 words.

Yes, I wrote over 1,000 words in one day. I’m just as surprised as everyone else.