The Juggler's Pledge

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I wish that 2014 will be happy, healthy and hopeful for everyone.

And now I can tell you the truth: I just couldn’t keep me balls in the air (oo-er!).

It seems I’m not that good at juggling various things and keeping them all going; some just fall on the floor regardless. One of the first to splat was the blogging ball – sorry! It’s been about five months since I last checked in for a craft-y post, and three months before that for a proper writing post, and I’d meant to check in more often. Really, I did. Damn balls, eh!

Still, I feel like it’s time to pick them up and try, try again – and this time I have a plan, a pledge:

I pledge to post on the 1^st of every month in 2014.

There, I said it. It’s out in the open now, no going back. Eek. But it’s an easy date to remember, and an achievable one, so I’ll juggling-well keep to it...promise!

As to the balls in the air that I did keep going (oo-er again), there were...maybe...two...! The main one was my second novel, provisionally titled ‘The Dressmaker’s Daughter’ and told from both the mother and the daughter’s points of view. When I spoke to you last, I'd got stuck with one of the mother Lilli's scenes, and it took a good kick-up-the-proverbial before I could admit that I needed to just. Leave. It. Be. And. Start. Something. Else.

It's hard for me to do that, to not battle on and finish a section, then to edit it once done - but this can take ages, and can feel like I'm treading through treacle. I needed to Move On - and I managed to, by changing tack and writing from the daughter Anna's sections...and voila! My mojo came back...and since my last post, I’ve written nine chapters, bringing the total to twelve – whoop whoop!

This year, I've been recording on my calendar how many first draft words I've written, then adding them up to get a monthly amount...which is a great way for me to pat myself on the back and know I'm doing more than just coming home from work and slumping in front of the TV (and, like us all I'll bet, I do a lot of that!). Now that the year has ended, I can reveal the total for 2013 is...(drum-roll, please!):

48,000 words!

Okay, so they are only first draft, which means they will get cut and/or rewritten, but it's a huge achievement for me (particularly as it's been a difficult, treacle-like year), and I'm well-chuffed! In book-form, these words/chapters equate to one-third of the novel, and have brought me to the end of Part One.

Part Two awaits its Parisian beginning (which is also set, spookily enough, in January) - and I'll be back on 1st February to tell you how it's coming along!

~ ttfn ~