5 year writing goal: October Update

5 Year Writing Goal: October update

I’m taking part in Misha and Beth’s Five Year Project and my five-year goal is to write a novel and get it published.

It’s two years since I joined the project. My first task was to finish the manuscript for my historical novel, The Reluctant Scribe, and lick it into shape through several rounds of editing. This I’ve done.

Now, I’m supposed to be looking for an agent . But, after several standard rejection emails, with no requests for the whole manuscript, I’m finding it hard to keep motivated

Rewriting the beginning of the novel

A couple of months ago I decided to revamp the beginning of my novel, starting the action earlier, and introducing the villain at an earlier stage in the story.

• Well, I did revamp the beginning. Several times. It’s now pretty exciting. I think so, anyway.
• I changed my mind about introducing the villain early in the novel. It would have meant a pretty massive rewrite and I am in danger of becoming bored with the whole project. So the story structure remains the same.

But I’ve not been sitting around doing nothing. No.

I’ve been writing non-fiction.

Currently I’m working on a booklet about blisters with the provisional title of Bursting Blisters. (A better – and more descriptive title – might be: ‘How to Treat Blisters: a handbook for walkers.’

And spent the month walking and blogging about walking…

I’ve walked 95 miles in total during October, and much of this  along the Welsh coast enjoying amazing sunshine, in the company of dolphins and seals.

• Added 13 posts to my coastalwalker.co.uk blog.
• Written another guest post for a another holiday company, which is published here: Explore Poldark Country
• And had a good rant about  my footpath diversions on my Ruthless Ramblings site. Footpath diversions. Time to get militant?

BUT: none of this frenetic activity has brought me nearer to my 5 year goal, which is to have a novel published.

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Writing Goals for November

1. I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo again. My plan is to finish a science fiction novel I started during my final year at Birkbeck. Today, I’m mapping out a detailed synopsis, in order to create a writing plan.
2. My second goal is to continue sending out The Reluctant Scribe to one new agent a week. I won’t give up until I hit 20 rejections.

Are you doing NaNo too? Drop your NaNo name in the comments box below and let’s buddy up.

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