March Recap

The second half of March was awesome! Spring officially happened, my allergies went away, I won FOUR free books through Goodreads giveaways, and I finished my manuscript!

First, if you’re on Goodreads, check out their giveaway section and make sure to scan through the Kindle Giveaways if you have a kindle (Browse>Giveaways> [dropdown box] Filter by>Kindle Giveaways). All four of the books I won are e-books. Paper copies have tougher odds to beat, I’ve noticed.

I finally finished my manuscript, tentatively entitled Manipulation. I’ve been working on it since mid-January. It’s a young adult modern fantasy with mages, magic, and surfing. My first draft came in at 91,940 words, with 53 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters got much shorter at the end than they were at the beginning, averaging 3k words in the first 1/4 of the draft, and 1,200 words per chapter by the end. I also know I want to cut abut 20k words from the beginning because I’m positive they are boring. Well maybe not boring but not nearly as fun or exciting as other parts.

Manipulation is my first attempt at writing in first person. Writing that way turned out to be a lot easier than I expected it to. I didn’t find it limiting in the storytelling, which was my main concern with using it. Some books written in first person, like The Hunger Games, tend to lose part of the bigger picture because of the limited world view (I mainly think this about The Hunger Games because of how much better the movies did with showing what was happening in the capitol and the other districts than the books).

What should I do with myself now?

I’m not entirely set on how to fill my time in April. I had planned to read several books and start outlining my next novel. I’ve shared Manipulation with two alpha readers though, and I feel the pull to edit it. I also want to spend more time outside since the weather is nice. 😀