In the spirit of thanksgiving and the holidays, I'd like to talk about breathing room. In preparation of eating a huge (and delicious) holiday meal, it is always wise to wear pants that will give you some extra space.
That is what I've been needing to do with my writing. I keep writing children's books with large word counts, only to find out that bigger isn't always better. I guess overly large word counts can scare agents and publishers away (at least when you are a non-published author trying to break your way into the business)!
My goal was to give myself some novel breathing room. Children's novels should clock in around 50,000 words. The hardest part of writing my nano novel was to try and come in under that amount with a finished novel. Why under? Because when I go back to edit, I'll need to fill in plot holes, I'll get new ideas, and I'll most likely want to add a lot more! Ending my novel at 35,000 words gives me some space to work with, so that when my edited novel is ready, hopefully it will be at the right word count!
That is what I did this week! I finished my very first detective novel for kids and came in under the 50,000 word count. It is printed and set aside for January for editing, and I still have room to go. I got a good start on the second novel of the series which was inspired by a mountain dew grocery shopping accident (another story for another time)! My goal will be the same with that one too- keep it short and simple!
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