After a couple of months off, I'm happy to report that in early June, I resumed work on the book. Despite my time away, I feel like I never really stop working on it. While I was coaching, I'd often catch myself thinking about how to improve scenes or even jotting down snippets of dialogue. I guess after all these years, the story is just ready to come out.
While I’ve only been writing for a couple of weeks, I’ve already made substantial progress. As of this morning, I’ve completed a second draft of the first four chapters in this section, with eight more chapters to go. I’ll still have to finish two or three more drafts before the text is ready to share, but it feels good to be making this much progress right off the bat.
As I’ve said before, I expect the work on Act III to go faster than in previous sections. I’ve known for some time how I wanted to end my story, but the challenge has been getting the rest of the book to fit that ending. It also helps that the writing in this section is much better than in other parts. In fact, my biggest obstacle over the next couple of weeks will not be writing more but cutting enough words to make sure this section is the appropriate length.
One of the more emotionally challenging aspects of working on a long-term project is the amount of time it takes to achieve a "win,” such as completing a draft of the novel or section of the book. You can work for months without making a lot of progress which can feel demoralizing, but one trick I've learned to help alleviate those feelings is to celebrate the small wins.
So today, I would like to celebrate one year of author updates! I've written email newsletters in the past for other projects, but I've never been able to maintain this level of consistency. I’m thrilled that I’ve been able to keep up with this newsletter, and I hope you have gotten something out of it as well.
I look forward to sending out more updates about the book as I get closer to publication!
Over the next month, I will continue to work on Act III. My goal is to finish this section by mid-August so that I can start to share the manuscript in September. I can't tell yet if that's an overly ambitious goal, but based on the past couple of weeks, I might be able to achieve it. I'll have a better idea of where I stand next month, and until then, I'll keep plugging away.
Sincerely,
Nelson/Roberto
I had big plans for this fall, but unfortunately, I've been dealing with some minor health issues. It's nothing serious, but I have decided to take a few months off from the newsletter and content updates to focus on my health.
I forgot to mention in my last update that I was going on vacation in August. As a result, I didn’t have time to write a proper update this month. The newsletter will return in three weeks with another Beyond the Book post.
Over the past month, I queried three literary agents and took the most significant break from the book since I started the project in January 2016. Even though taking a break feels a little weird, it is nice to slow down and give the story (and myself) space to breathe.
