So here we are in the last day of April and in the end I managed just a third of my ambitious manuscript word count target of 60,000 words. My word count at this point is 20,005 and I will stop here. A breakdown of my month is below. After getting off to a flying start you can see there are a couple of points where I began to plateau.
On April 20th, all participants had to set their final word count goal. I realised that there was no chance of my making 60,000 words but I did think that halving it to 30,000 would still be achievable. At the time it meant I only needed to write just under 1,000 words a day to make the new target. But I knew there were events coming up that would make even that feat tricky. Then, unfortunately for me, illness through the very last week of April also put paid to hopes of reaching the target.
Nonetheless, I know now how much I can write with a bit of discipline and routine, and I have a solid foundation for this new manuscript. My plan now is to work on the first three chapters, redraft and have some beta readers point out any glaring issues. Then, when the time is right, I’ll enter into this year’s Bath Children’s Novel Award, which is open until November.
I think there’s a strong possibility I can have this first draft completed by September particularly if I make good use of holiday time to write. I’m still feeling enthusiastic about the concept and have had some great spur of the moment ideas in this past month. I just need to keep the momentum going.
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