Nano Writing Update! // Comment Q&A

Throughout April, I have been super busy with writing! After feeling burned out with Third Chances for a couple months, I decided to give it another try because I truly want to finish a full first draft. I didn't think I would like this story (I thought the plot was too weak), but as I read through what I had written I was surprised by how much the characters were shaping up to be and how I really did LIKE how this story was coming along! It's far from perfect, but this story is special to me on so many levels and I'm so so so excited to see where God leads this WIP of mine.

So today, I am doing a Nano Writing Update and I may just give ya'll some snippets of Third Chances!

I started out with the reasonable goal of 10,000 words. I didn't want to overwhelm myself, and I knew that 10k was definitely realistic. But, within the first week or two, I passed 10k so I decided to up my goal to 15k instead. But then, I passed that too. I upped it a third time to 20k. But with three days left of Nano, I passed my goal AGAIN! So, I decided for my final Nano goal to be 23k. And I'm so extremely happy to get anywhere close to this goal!

Special thanks to my writing buddies and those who encouraged me to write this month! It was a huge help!

~Word Count~

This is my word count log for the month:
Day 1: 1,399
Day 2: 713
Day 3: 1899
Day 6: 1,399
Day 7: 1,263
Day 8: 379
Day 9: 596
Day 10: 770
Day 13: 519
Day 14: 792
Day 15: 525
Day 16: 1,128
Day 17: 1,562
Day 20: 1,004
Day 21: 2, 073
Day 22: 878
Day 23: 905
Day 24: 457
Day 27: 747
Day 28: 1,658
Day 29: 1,564
Day 30: (Tomorrow)

~Snippets~
Here are a few of my favorite snippets. Consider yourself lucky, I almost didn't share these, but I hope you like them! And I hope you enjoy this sneak peak... Also, tell me in the comments which was your favorite snippet!!

Snippet One:

        “Alright, if you insist… but you do know we are way too old for that, don’t you?” Aimee had just turned twenty-five, not necessarily a secret handshake age.
“Hey, you might be too old for a secret handshake, but I’m surely not!” Natty’s single grin could brighten a roomful of frowns.
Aimee shook her head but went ahead and performed the fist bump, high five, fingers snap, twirl, and handshake anyway. Some traditions were too special to break even though they seemed elementary.

Snippet Two:

“Why?” She sobbed aloud, her forehead resting heavily against the steering wheel.

She didn’t know if she was asking God or maybe she had lost her mind and was talking to herself. She assumed it was the latter. Years of unresolved problems came hurtling back in one fell swoop. They pressed in around her like the darkness that surrounded her car. She was suffocating in the pain of her childhood rejection. Oh how the memories came rushing back to her while she sat pulled over on that country road. Did God not care? Was she not good enough for His peace?

Snippet Three:

“Colt! A cow in the road!”

Clara’s alarmed voice snapped Colt out of his earlier thoughts of his dad and he immediately slammed on the brakes. Mere inches from a cow standing in the middle of the road. For Pete's Sake, he had never encountered such a roadblock before in all his 26 years. 

“That was close…” Colt muttered under his breath, a small amount of adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

Snippet Four: 

Exuberant was only one of the many words Aimee would use to describe Zoe’s personality. How can that girl possibly be that happy all the time?

The object of her thoughts bounded down the porch steps of the ranch style house and went straight to the Ford F150 parked in the driveway. 

Snippet Five:

"He laughed and it was obviously a joke. The only thing was, joking didn't soften the blow of reality."

Snippet Six:

Clara helped make the pizza dough with Catrina, the two of them goofing off and pretending that they were great Italian chefs doing a cooking show together. Cory joined the fun by trying--but failing--to do a traditional pizza dough spin above his head. The dough dusted white flour on his dark brown hair before coming dangerously close to hitting the floor.

At his dramatic bow, Carlie giggled until hiccups rendered her speechless.

 

Snippet Seven:

Aimee shrugged, “I’m not sure yet, got any ideas?”

“Hmm, well, you could paint scenery. Like,” she thought for a moment, “what about an ocean scene?”

The ocean made her think of peaceful waters yet crashing waves. Maybe if she painted an ocean scene, it could serve as a reminder every time she looked at it: in order to get to the peaceful waters in life, you have to get past the waves. Only she wasn’t entirely sure that her analogy was correct because she had never felt the peaceful waters, only the crashing waves.

As she slapped blue, white, and sand colored paint onto her canvas, her mind whirled more than the swirling wave she painted. 

When was she ever going to meet the peaceful waters?

~Writing Related Photos in April~ 

^^Just kinda love this pic!

^^Gotta start somewhere...

^^Pic of when I hit 25k in my overall WIP 

^^I got confetti!

^^One time I wrote in the greenhouse! 

^^When I hit 5k!

^^Third Chances!

^^Since I've found that I like to write about food... this was something I had to look up! 

~Songs~
I couldn't figure out how to link to my Spotify playlist, so here is some of the songs on my Third Chances playlist! They are all such great songs if you ever want to look them up! *winks*

Check out the Pinterest board I'm making for Third Chances HERE.

I am also doing a Comment Q&A, so ask me a question in the comments below about Third Chances and I will answer!

Did you like hearing about my Work In Progress? Which was your favorite snippet? Do you have a question for the Q&A in the comments? Let's talk writing books in the comments below! 

Many Blessings,
Brooklyne