On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 3rd, revisions for my next biblical novel (tentatively titled Star of Wonder) landed in my inbox. Although the revisions weren’t extensive, the editors wanted a change in the opening part of the book that then had to be followed through the entire book. The change required me to cut all of Chapter Two.
I’m actually kind of excited about that cut because I never have eliminated chapters to share with readers. This time I do, and it’s going to make a great blog post when the time comes. I’ll probably share it around Christmas because it has to do with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Stay tuned!
Anyway, I got right to work on the revisions. I had no plans for the Fourth of July, so I just kept my head down and worked every day except Sunday until they were done. I sent the completed revisions to my editors on Friday evening, July 12th. Whew! Done and done.
But, as you no doubt know if you are a regular visitor to this blog, I couldn’t take a lot of time to celebrate because I have another deadline racing toward me. Thus, on Monday of this week, I threw myself back into writing my contemporary Christmas romance, Wishing for Mistletoe.
It just so happens I had signed up in advance to take part in daily writing sprints this week. Although I know a number of authors who do this (meeting via Zoom with other writers, setting a timer, everybody writing for 20 to 25 minutes, followed by a five minute rest and letting others know how you did, then repeat the process two to three times), I’d never done any sprints myself. I’m delighted to say this experiment with sprinting couldn’t have come at a better time. I have been able to beat my daily word goal every day so far. I hope that in my next blog post, I’ll be able to tell you Wishing for Mistletoe is finished, polished, and in the hands of my sainted editor so that she can work her particular magic with it.
In August, I’ll attend the annual brainstorming retreat in northern Idaho with my very special sisters in Christ. Which means when I get back, I’ll be working on the next The British Are Coming novel, To Capture a Mountain Man. I’m so eager to return to Idaho in the 1890s.
What’s keeping you busy this summer? Family? Vacations? Lots of reading? Please share!
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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You are one busy lady, Robin! I’m in the process of writing two books at the same time at the moment. Not my preference, but it’s an experiement to see if I can handle writing indie projects that are longer than a novella between my full-length projects for my traditional publisher. We’ll see how it goes. One thing is for sure . . . I’m looking forward to retiring from the day job so I can have more time to write during the week and maybe be free to not write over the weekends. That would be tremendous! I miss my weekends. 🙂
Karen, it’s been 30+ years since I quit my day job to write full time.At first, I found it was easy to let so much other stuff crowd in that I still wasn’t writing more than I did with the day job. I had to really be diligent about setting up boundaries (for others and for myself). As for writing two books at once, I’ve done it, but I don’t love it. I tried writing on one book in the morning and the second book in the afternoon. I also tried working on one book Monday thru Wednesday and the second book Thursday thru Saturday. That worked a little better for me, but it did mean writing on one day of the weekend. Best wishes on your own experiment. I know you’ll do great.
Family, keeping my gardens watered with all this heat, and reading.
All of these sound so good, Robin. What a writing whirlwind you’ve been on!
Cheering for you.
Betty, keeping the gardens watered is a BIG deal right now. We’re headed for 106 today and 109 in a day or two. Ugh. Thank You, Father, for AC.
I love seeing your character pics—especially Scruffy! What a cutie.
We are on our way home from a 3-week trip and what will keep me busy the rest of the summer is finishing my new novel. I didn’t get as much written on the road as I’d hoped so I have my work cut out for me.
I had some company on Wednesday night, a couple who has been living in a large motorhome the last three years (with two dogs and a cat), just traveling around. I thought about you and Ken as we visited, although I prefer the way you do it. Fun trips, then come home. Cheering you on as you finish the book.
Busy but such good stuff, Robin! I haven’t tried writing sprints, but I’m thinking I might soon, so it’s good to hear your experience with that. Family is keeping us busy, as is travel. Thankfully I’m in research reading phase right now so that’s more conducive to those things that actually getting word counts in!