In the next day or two, I expect to finish the first draft of a novella that I’ve been struggling with for some time1 Usually, when I finish a piece of short fiction, I move right into the second draft. But the novella is not exactly short. I expect the first draft to come in at 21,000 – 23,000 words. For something that long, I think I need a little distance before moving to the second draft.
But that’s okay because I have an idea of what I want to work on next. I have that itch to write a short story. It just so happens that in early October, I will be in New York for a SFWA gathering. While there, I’m meeting with an editor and, as I’ve learned, it’s always a good idea to have something for an editor when you meet with them. My plan, therefore, is to write the complete short story, and have it ready for submission by the time I meet with my editor in early October.
That is about a month (well, 5 weeks) away. Does it really take that long to write a short story? Well, yes, and no. I’ve written short stories faster, but keep in mind that I also have quite a bit of nonfiction writing to do along with my fiction. If I get the story done sooner, great! If it takes the full month, that’s okay, too.
Once the short story is done and submitted, I’ll return to the second draft of the novella and try to make it into something really cool. Then it goes out to beta-readers. I honestly don’t know when this will be. Second drafts tend to go faster for me, so it could be by the end of October, but more than likely, it will be early-to-mid November.
And with that novella out of the way, I just might feel ready to tackle the second draft of the novel, something with which I have really struggled, but which I am sure that I will eventually get a handle on.
That’s the plan for now, anyway. Check back in November to see how things are going.
- “Strays” for those keeping score. ↩
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