Weekly Writing Intentions: Finish the First Draft

Daily Diary: June 4, 2022, Day 643:

Last week was my best sustained writing effort yet, which is what often happens when I get towards the end of a first draft. I wrote a total of 5,956 words (average of 850 words a day) and the manuscript was at 31, 999 words when I started writing this morning.

My goal is simple for this week. Finish the first draft. I only have two chapters more to write, so barring some unforeseen occurrence, I should be able to get them written in the seven days. This means I will also reach out to a few selected beta readers (people who have been giving me feedback pretty much throughout the whole time I have been writing) to give them a heads up that I will be sending them a draft in a few weeks. I ask for very quick responses from this group (so that if there is any major rewriting I need to do, I can get to this right away.)

As for my other writing and marketing tasks, this week I am going to keep them down to a minimum. I will occasionally mention that the StoryBundle, which includes Between Mountain and Sea, is still going on (see how I cleverly slipped that in…smile.) I will wrap up the Novellas free promotion on Monday, which will take a little work going in and changing prices, etc. I will chip away at the Indie Journey post on categories, but I will continue to make this a lower priority than working on the Mrs. Stein Solves a Crime Novella.

As for my on-going goal to keep maintaining a well-balanced body, mind, and home, I will continue to try to get my walking back up to an hour a day (with the added benefit of listening to an audiobook). I will carve out time each day to read some short stories I just downloaded (which may have some relevance to my next writing project), and in addition to my usual cleaning, I will add some small straightening tasks to ready the house for the family visit at the end of the month (so as not to feel over-whelmed closer to the visit.)

In short, I am not going to let the fact that I can finally see the light at the end of this particular tunnel distract me from the day-to-day requirements of staying healthy—something that the years have taught me is important.

I would love to hear what your intentions for the next week as well!