February Update

We’re halfway through Q1! A couple of days ago. And with the posting of this update, I’m halfway through my quarterly goals. 

I’m claiming that as a positive; finishing the last three chapters of Immortal Rose has been going at an absolute crawl, but it is going. I did finish the third last chapter and get a few paragraphs of epilogue down while I was thinking about it. It’s been very educational in some ways, for instance, I’ve learned I’m going to need to build a personal reference doc with more structure than my ‘scratch sheet’ style plot document, because I can’t remember anyone’s names or what any landmarks are called. 

I’ve also learned that I’ve been using “who’s” instead of “whose” for what seems to be my entire time writing and posting online. (Emphasis on “seems”. I’m not going back to my 2011 fanfiction.net account to check.)

Exciting discoveries about needed grammar refreshers aside, it’s easy to feel disheartened by how slowly I’m moving in corners so it’s good to lay down that I am actually on track with what I want to complete by the end of March. I’ve finally managed to serve myself a realistic bite on the fork. Unfortunately I did get seized by a great idea for a new general fiction novel, and I am going to try and ride that initial excitement wave into a partial draft. 

If that means I need to push some of Phisherman’s word count goals back, then so be it, I’m trying to be less fussy about unfinished projects that haven’t even left the station yet. Phisherman also needs an absolute chunk of research and referencing in some places, which I’d somehow managed to forget since December. Going back over the plot outline I’ve been stymied by some of my initial pacing choices as well, so I want to get the bones out and do a developmental review rather than push in hard on the word-to-word writing process. 

Functionally this means my goals for Q2 are going to adapt a little, which I’m pleased with—I gave myself room in the 2025 plan to have ‘evolving’ goals and identify where I can and will drop certain projects. 

A more “here’s what I’ve started” update than a concrete “look what I’ve written” one, but I’ve managed to add some stars to my checklist/goals chart, so I’m happy. (And I do mean physical star stickers. They’re metallic.🙂)