61k and counting!

Finally reached over 61k today, and I'm feeling better than I did previously. I'll be honest, this month was not my strongest -despite what I had hoped. I wanted to finish Clara and Claire this month, but writing another 24k right after Christmas might be challenging. I am not altogether saying it's impossible and I won't try, but if I can't do it I also won't beat myself up for it. I want this novel to be my best work yet, and in order for it to I can't be rushing myself with deadlines. The deadlines after all are ones I set for myself to stay on track. If I'm a month behind it simply means more thought and time is going into the novel. And even on nights where I can't decide what to write I'm thinking a lot about this novel.

It is very motivating to see myself at 61k now, though. I remember hitting 50k and thinking "oh no, I've fallen so behind with my schedule. Will I ever catch up?" Some nights the chapters have been challenging. It's not that I don't know what to write; it's getting the papers down on paper that can be the real challenge. Sometimes I use music as a muse, other nights I have to sit in complete silence (like tonight). I'm not by any means accepting defeat with what I've accomplished this month, but rather I'm looking at what I accomplished by still pushing forward. So far this novel is the first I've written in years where the narrator has never once changed. I've been working one on one with Clara these last few months. And let me tell you it isn't easy having just finished a series where narration switched from time to time.

One of the other big changes with this novel has been the stronger focus on mystery over magic. The Magicians series was all about the magic. It was what made the characters who they were, but here... it's totally different. I'm dealing with mages who live by rules and use magic all throughout their life. Magic is something that people stop and ask you about, but rather it's a crucial part of life (like breathing). I have a lot of work to do next year when I edit this novel and need to crunch down on the details of the magic system, but for now I'm building a structure.

Structure... that's the word I've been throwing around for months now. So long as I have a structure to build off of I'm golden. That's the whole goal with pushing forward in this novel, no matter how many times I think I can go back and fix something. Unless it's something major it's being saved for the editing process. The book needs to be complete, and then I can look at what I have and what I don't.

This is going to be my fifth published book, and along with that title comes responsibilities. I have a lot of expectations of what this book can be, as I expect you to as well. I want to please my readers and also welcome new ones. Like I said... I still have so much work ahead of me, but I'm willing to put forth the time.

Now with all of that said, I do have a little project I worked on today. One of my favorite past times when not writing is designing mock covers. Today I made a new one for Clara and Claire -three actually because I couldn't decide on my favorite at first. 

This one's my favorite

The primary difference between the first two is just the tagline at the bottom with "author of the Magicians series." The one with this tagline was the one I posted on my social media because I felt like it fit the best. Since I also used my new name on the cover I wanted to remind people how else they might know me.

Lastly there's this final one I did with a blue filter. I couldn't decide if I liked this filter or just the natural lighting of the original photo. But this was also an option I had considered. Again these are just mock cover photos, so it's nothing too serious to waste time worrying about.

Leave a comment below and tell me which cover is your favorite. Or do you prefer the old cover I made a few months ago?

Lindsey Richardson