Working Writer Wednesday [1]

Working Writer Wednesday is a weekly meme based on the Wannabe Writer meme hosted by Sarah at Confessions of the Un-Published. This meme is what prompted me to start Writer Quirk, so I am thankful to Sarah for creating it and allowing ANYONE (even a quirkster like me) to join up. So go visit her site and the others who participate. Do it.

Where I am in the writing process: I completed my 67,161 word rough draft of my novel Vital during NaNoWriMo last year.  Since then I have changed a bunch of stuff which necessitates the writing of a new rough draft, which is going more like a rewrite than a first draft.  I have completed six chapters for a total of 25,908 words.

My current problem(s):  I feel like the writing is taking an agonizingly long time to accomplish.  I've been working on the rewrite/new draft for almost two months.  While I like where everything is headed, I feel like I need to go NaNo on myself and just write the darn thing.  The process now, though a gazaillion times more productive than before NaNo, feels a little too much like how I "wrote" before.  The difference is I am persevering where before I just gave up after chapter 2.  I'm thinking I am going to attempt to NaNo things up a bit.  My goal is to get finished before Camp NaNoWriMo opens so that I can do that in the summer/fall for the sequel.

Sarah's ???:  Can you write a novel in 4-6 weeks? 

My answer:  Yes!  I did it during National Novel Writing Month.  Of course, this is based on word count, and we aren't talking about a completely finished, publishable novel, either, but a novel nonetheless.  I wrote about 52,000 words in four weeks, then the last portion of 15,000 words in another week to complete my story arc.  So about 5 weeks total.  But be prepared to spend any time not necessary for things like using the bathroom, eating, working, showering, and sleeping for writing.  In fact, I think I did a few of those things while writing.

My ???: Who do you let read your work and how often do they report on what they read?  What do you do if you are getting enough feedback?  Currently my crit partner (who is my friend, Meg, from Myth-illogical), my sister, my fiancé, and five beta readers have access to my novel.  But only Meg has really given any timely, in-depth feedback.  This is probably due to the fact that Meg and I have a system of swapping chapters and such (as she is also a YA writer), so we give and receive on a semi-regular basis.  My other readers, however, are just readers, and casual ones at that, so they are more focused on daily life than reading my novel, which is totally understandable, though frustrating (and makes my AWS flare up - and I apologize for my overuse of commas just then. >.<).  So, is there anything to do?  Should I try to find more readers?

That's it for this time!

Thanks for visiting!