Designing America Is Done! Kinda… Sorta… Okay, Not Really.

I finished Designing America yesterday afternoon!

Admittedly, that makes it sound like a much bigger accomplishment than it actually is, so let me restate. I finished the first draft of Designing America. And I’m about 40,000 words short on my word count.

I was planning on writing a decent bit more before the “the end” part, but it just didn’t turn out that way. “The end” happened without asking for permission.

My stories are rude like that.

The thing is, normally they’re also a heck of a lot wordier. So I’m not quite sure what happened this time around.

One logical possibility is that I was focusing too much on the historical detail and not enough on the actual story. Because, guess what? I was.

I knew it all along, and I knew I’d have to fix it. There are so many important characters I introduced and then didn’t engage or utilize nearly well enough, all because I was so determined to get as many facts down as possible. At the expense of everything other than the plot.

The other reason why I might not have written as much as expected for this first draft is that – SPOILER ALERT! – the love interest isn’t even there most of the time. He’s in the very beginning and the very end. That’s it.

Without any swoons and sighs and such, it does make for a quicker read (and write).

Yet, regardless, I can’t be all that upset about the additional work I’m going to have to do for the second draft now that the first draft ended so soon. Not when it ended on such a perfect note!

I’m normally horrible about last lines. Like absolutely horrible. I hate them. They always sound so contrived to me. Might as well write “and they lived happily ever after,” as that’s as good as it’s going to get.

This one though? It’s beautiful! It’s perfect! It doesn’t require me to tear my hair out in anguish!

Which is a major relief. So I’m not going to look this mixed-gift horse in the mouth.

Designing America Draft 2? Here I come…

And yes, I promise the final copy will read like a story and not a history text book.

The Perks of Working for People Who Trash Talk You Behind Your Back

I’m writing today’s post on Monday afternoon, mainly because I’m in a meeting that’s about as boring as… ummm… something that’s really boring, okay? Since it’s sucking all creativity out of me, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Far less mind-numbing is what I found out this morning about my direct supervisor and another supposed superior. While I was out of the office last week, they were trash talking me in front of a large room full of my direct coworkers.

In their defense, I had a rather busy four-week period where I wasn’t as reliable as I usually am. 

There was the Friday wedding late last month in New Jersey that I had to take a full day off for… the apartment pest issue on the 4th that had me out all day scrubbing down my apartment… Faeriecon two days later, which meant I took off another Friday… my younger sister going into labor, prompting me to leave work two and a half hours early last Tuesday… my flat tire on Wednesday… and then working from my parents’ house Thursday and Friday in order to give moral support to my exhausted mom.

Like I said, it’s been busy.

In my defense, however, other than those two Fridays, I handled every single task required of me despite some ridiculous deadlines. If my supervisor really has a problem with me, she should say it to my face in a private meeting. I gave her fair warning about everything that was going on, yet she told me it was okay.

Sounds like a horrid work environment, right? Well, it ain’t impressive. That’s for sure. But I’m truly grateful for it nonetheless. It offers something most other occupations don’t… an insane amount of downtime overall.

Because of that, I’ve had ample time to write eight of my now-published books, get through 40,000 words of Faerietales Book 5 and write another 40,000 words of Designing America. And that downtime is especially wonderful now that I’ve reached a tedious point in the latter.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still having a blast! But there’s too much cross-checking and unknowns for me to be able to write 1,000 words per hour like I was averaging before. So some extra story time is definitely appreciated.

Maybe I’ll even put my two “superiors” somewhere into Designing America. Considering how four of the British officers in Maiden America were also based on coworkers, I’m sure I can manage to fit two mean girls in somehow, right?

I’m thinking Americans loyal to King George III named Amanda Mahneck and Rachel Treaghart…

Oh, this is going to be fun!

Editor/Writer/Publisher's Note: Since writing this Monday, I have not only gone ahead and added Amanda Ross (name changed to fit historical facts) and Rachel Mahneck to the official story line; it also looks like they're going to serve as major catalysts!

In other news, I officially reached my NaNoWriMo-dictated goal of 50,000 words! And that was with Faeriecon and my new baby niece vying for my attention. Go me!

In other, other news, so what? I'm not even halfway through the story by my calculations. So it's right back to work... My new goal is to finish the entire first draft by the end of the year. Here goes something!