Friday Framework

Another week has flown by, which means it's time for some public accountability. This week was a trial with some different things going on in my life. I certainly could have let those things bog me down. Instead, I found getting into my work was a way to escape for a few hours from the stresses of life. I'm not advocating hiding from what ails you, but there's something to be said for forcing your brain to stop worrying about things you can't control.

Here's what I had on the to-do list this week:

1. Review WIP1 story structure
2. 5K words on WIP3
3. Catch up on my critiques

Here's how I did:

1. Story structure is reviewed. I wrote out all my scenes on note cards and plugged them in to see where I was heavy and were I'm lacking. As I suspected, my story is front heavy. My first act takes up almost half the book. That's a long time for a reader to wait for a payoff. So a snipping I will go to fix it...later. Now that I know what's wrong I finally feel like I can set it aside for a while.

2. As of this post I have a little over 1K written on WIP3. This was the story I started in June but realized was a mess. I tried to keep going, but this week I realized it wasn't salvageable. I'll probably pull in a few things in order to keep unique details, but those words have been kicked to the curb. I'm a little disappointed I didn't get more words in, but I'm cutting myself some slack. For the first time ever, I made a storyboard for this MS. It still makes me a little giggly looking at it. Hopefully this thing will keep me from making the same mistakes I made with WIP1.

I can't get it to flip. Just tilt your head to the right and ignore the small hole in the third act.

 3. I am completely caught up on my critiques! Yeah! I love giving other writers feedback because I know how helpful it is to me.

Here's what I've got lined up for next week.

1. My SIL and her best friend are coming to visit so this week I need to do round two of cleaning for the in-laws. She's worth it so I don't mind.
2. Figure out what goes in those two blank spots on my storyboard. It will be a while before I get there in the draft, but it will make me feel better if they aren't there.
3. I have some more craft books coming so I want to dig in to at least one of them this week.
4. Showing my guests a good time in rural TX will take up a lot of time this week so I'm not counting on a lot of writing. Still, if I can get 5K words out before they get here, I'd be tickled pink.

Now's your turn. How did you do this week? Do you have big plans for next week?  Also, I'm still looking for a name for this post. I stink at titles. :)