I don’t know how long of a break I took from writing The Step and the Walk–I know that during the winter recess/semester vacation from Zane State that I needed to write as much as possible before school resumed. I know I did some writing during that timeframe, and then suddenly, POOF! I just stopped. And stayed stopped.

I got distracted by NetGalley reviews and The Name and the Key goodies. I ran into a major issue with the book, too, where maybe 30% of the book was written in terms of word count but 70% of the plot was already completed. And I think that’s also what made me stop–being intimidated by this problem.

No matter what happened, the point is, that in some random moment I quit, and didn’t start working on The Step and the Walk again until yesterday, when I had a come-to-Jesus moment.

Readers, I HAVE NO TIME! My goal is to finish The Step and the Walk before March 1st. Why that date? So March 1st I can turn it in to beta readers, who will give me feedback by April 1st. Then by April 30, I’ll have turned the book in to my publishers.

Because I stupidly stopped writing the book, I made catching up very difficult for me. With some help from Pacemaker, I calculated that I would need to write 1543 words daily from yesterday until February 28.

1543 words.

To many writers, this is not a lot of writing. To me, it is. I can usually hammer out 500 words on good days, maybe up to 1,000. 1500 comes easily when I don’t have any major problems in the book (but I do!), and I have done it before, so I know it’s possible. But when I feel stuck, I can’t produce.

This writing plan gives me no room to get stuck. I just have to be a machine and finish my draft.

…I’m pretty nervous about this. I just thought I’d vent about it here, ask for encouragement, and then get back to work.

Please wish me luck! I want to try to get these books on a somewhat rapid-release schedule!