Denise Schuh

486 words today on edits for Book 1 (this is Book 2)

My mother-in-law passed at the beginning of November. Grief isn't great for creativity, but today I was finally able to break through a little and write quality words. Small victories, right?

I had double-logged some words the other day, so actual count today is 225 + 201 on the short.

I am writing a short origin story for a character in the series as a reader magnet, so 709 words on that this morning.

Replying to a lot of emails this morning...

Words flowed today.

Same as yesterday...

Same as yesterday...

I had to finish up some business (checking out new book cover!) and rework some parts of the story. New words are from some revisions. I usually stop mid-book and do some of the editing so I finish strong.

This fall, I set a dedicated time for writing before work. It has proved to be the single most valuable thing I could’ve done for my writing career. With a full-time job and a family who needs me, it is imperative that I set a consistent time before the kids wake up, and the craziness of the day starts. I set a goal this month: 15,000 words. It was the most realistic goal I could set with the time I have available, averaging 500 words a day. Today, I hit that goal with a few hundred left over. But it wasn’t easy. My mother-in-law passed away at the beginning of the month, and as anybody who has dealt with grief knows, everything else falls away in the wake of that wave. I was asked to write her obituary, and those were the toughest words I’ve ever written. How do you sum up a well-lived life in a few hundred words? How do you capture the essence of a human experience and boil it down to a few paragraphs? I know as fiction writers, we do this in every story, but there’s something raw about doing it for somebody you love who’s passed beyond the veil. All you have is what actually happened, and the unchangeable truth of her, and the terrifying responsibility not to shrink it.

So, I wrote 15k words this month on a story that will entertain (and helped me keep my sanity) and 400 words that honored a woman who truly made a difference in her tiny part of the world. I hope each will land where they’re meant to.

Majorly reworked a scene, so only 537 new words today. But now the story is a lot clearer in my head!

Getting caught up over this four-day weekend. Not too far from my goal!

Missed the last two days, but will catch up on the three-day weekend after Thanksgiving.

The last couple of days, I've had to use my very limited writing time to get ready for a local author celebration where I'm selling books and on a panel for dark fiction (for my other pen name). It means fewer words on the WIP, but worth it in the long run. Happy writing, everyone!

I had to work on another, non-story-related writing project this morning. Will try to get in more word count later today...