Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

I feel good to be writing after a bit of a drought. The Regency Romance I’m drafting is continuing a pace. I’m past the half way mark. It’s a great feeling when a project gets its legs and you know it is going to work out. I thought this story would be 90 000 to 100 000 words. It might end up being in that range as there is still a bit of story to go and there has been a major blow up and I’m still writing all of the fall out from that.

I have quite a bit of tidy up to do but at this stage I’m just focussing on getting the draft down and being in the mental space where the story is sitting in my head and new ideas are floating to the surface.

I am hoping that this new found energy will last me into the revisions of other MSs I have stacked and waiting for attention. Revision can be hard work, but drafting something you really, really enjoy is fun, hard work but fun hard work. Revisions can seem to take longer and they do if you have structural issues. The trick is to get the structure right beforehand.

Anyway, I’m waiting for some workmen to finish up so I can get to my day job. But we have a writing date planned tonight so I’m so looking forward to writing some more.

PS. If you don’t know what I mean about a writing date. It’s where I get together with my partner and a couple of writing friends and we join together to write for a few hours. When life is busy, sometimes the only time I get to write is on a writing date, and I do that because I’ve committed to the time and made an appointment with others. We meet at each other’s houses, but sometimes  I’ve just had dates with Matthew in a cafe in town.