My writing is going surprisingly well. Last Monday night I just decided to start properly, and haven’t yet stopped. Part of the process will be knowing that I’ll have an off day eventually, but even then it has to be about keeping up with things and pushing through till then end of it (again).
I won’t be in time for the Ampersand Project (but I don’t think that submitting part 1 of a definite series really suits them anyway), but I could be there for the Text Prize again (though will they like a total rewrite of a previous finalist? Hard to say.) But there are plenty of options with it anyway — more now with digital.
So I keep on going — already 10,000 words down in a week (this is an amazing number considering my lack of progress in recent times before this). What I’m particularly enjoying is the new directions the story is taking. While I haven’t changed the story wholesale, the decisions I’ve made in the rewrite are opening up new ideas and new ways of telling the story that I didn’t see before.
For a long time I was intimidated by the idea of “starting again” with Youth Bytes. But it feels right now. Maybe enough time elapsed? Or maybe I just really want it to happen this time.