Art Saves Lives

Hi friend. My name is Jo and I write novels. Queer and more chaotic than I look.

[jocohenwrites]

The fear of success is just the fear of more expectations.

Whether its a request on your time, effort, energy, or talent its a fear of the expectation to continue in that new level of being.

I have always held the belief that fear and anger are not truly emotions but instead our minds and bodies warning us of our boundaries.

That said the fear of success still takes root in my chest. It holds me in place. I lie to myself and tell myself that I am stuck when really its my own inaction, driven by fear, that holds here.

[jocohenwrites]

Day ?? of ??!!!!! of writing a hole a$$ book

After having to recover my ENTIRE MANUSCRIPT this morning I had a minor meltdown and finally sent out my first round of query letters. Send help.

[jocohenwrites]

Day ?? of ??? of manuscript nonsense

All I need to do is write my query letter and actually send this out to agents but I can't bring my self to do it. I don't know why. I just know that it isn't a fear of rejection but something else I cant quite put my finger on. Silly I know...

About half way through this novel I thought up a companion piece. I have decided to start that today. It feels right. So I guess we will see where it goes and hopefully I will find myself able to send out Project Survival soon.

[nondelphic]

writing isn’t hard it’s just emotionally devastating and time-consuming and requires full body possession by an idea

[jocohenwrites]

So my manuscript is at about 61K and I am worried that is going to hurt my chances of getting it published. I'm struggling to see how I would extend the novel and maintain the tone without adding 'fluff'. I'm confident in my work and in the story but that hasn't done much for my anxiety on the issue unfortunately.

I guess time will tell.

[jocohenwrites]

Day *&#$% of @$& of writing this damn book

I'm so close to being able to query but you guys.... I don't have a fucking title?! What do I do?

I went to test compile my manuscript and realized it shows the title in the upper right hand side of the page (obviously) and I realized I never gave this thing a title. It's save as "The Novel" and I have been referring to it as "Project Survival" but those mean nothing.

WHAT DO I CALL THIS THING?!

[jocohenwrites]

Day ?? of ?!?! of Editing

I am considering myself finished with character and continuity edits. I have been bolstering some more thematic plot points to make sure they shine through. Next is doing my own line edit behind my partners line edits. More eyes and all that. We are getting close!

[jocohenwrites]

Edits Continue

I have two beta readers on their first read and have officially finished my first edit. This round was mostly checking that everything that I wanted in the story was actually there and checked for continuity errors since I have 4 perspectives. I found surprisingly few inconsistencies so thats good! I did find one chapter I want to rework but that should be easy.

I'm waiting on feedback from beta readers to do my second edit. Once I finish that second edit my lovely partner is going to start line editing for me then I will be ready to query!

I will note I technically did an edit as I wrote by having my partner read chapters as I went and taking details notes which is why I had very few inconsistencies. So this will see at least 3 edits before it gets sent anywhere.

[jocohenwrites]

Day ? of ? of editing my manuscript

I am having a decent time editing. Plot and characters seem sound. Continuity has been mostly fine. Just a few tweaks. I am however becoming more and more petrified of having to query my book.

Ever time I turn around there is some new video of an agent giving some weird detail or tid bit of advice. "Authors, please stop saying 'I'm seeking representation.'" Like ok but I am an why is that bad? The industry feels entrenched in secret "should" and "shouldn't" weirdness.

[jocohenwrites]

Day 31 of 30 of finishing my manuscript

DRAFT ONE IS FINISHED!!!!

I have a few things I know I want to rewrite but fuck it that's technically an edit. Draft one is done and only a day past the original goal. Final word count is a little over 61K!!

The next few days i will be packing and travelling back home then I will be setting a new challenge. Someone call my beta readers and tell them its go time!

[jocohenwrites]

Day 30 of 30 of finishing my manuscript

It got weird in here but today is a good day! Not only did I make it to the end of this challenge of writing ever day for 30 days minus some mental rest days but today in particular was a huge success!

Now to be clear I did not finish the manuscript HOWEVER I am only 3 chapters away from doing so and I'd say that is close e-damn-nough!

I spent the last few days unravelling the exact details of how this ending would play out, rereading, and making small edits to make everything cohesive. So I'm not totally sure what my word count is today but what I do know is I cracked 59,000 words!!!!!!

Stay tuned as I finish this over the next few days and set some new goals to edit etc.

[jocohenwrites]

Day 29 of 30 of finishing my manuscript

I am not finishing this on time but that is ok. I have made a lot of progress on non word count related things yesterday and today. I still suspect I'll be done within the week.

[jocohenwrites]

Day 28 of 30 of finishing my manuscript

Lots of edits today trying to make these last few intertangled pieces fit together just right. -400 words today. We will get there one way or another.

[writingwithrxd]

I love other writers so much because every writer I've ever met is genuinely and utterly deranged on a level only writers can achieve

[skeletomez]

You get an em dash!

And you get an em dash!

And YOU get an em dash!

EVERYBODY GETS AN EM DASH!!!

(Except you ChatGPT. Fuck off.)

[jocohenwrites]

Day 27 of 30 of finishing my manuscript

I wrote around 1000 words bringing the total word count to just under 56K.

I will say I had two directions to take this scene and I don't think I like how it turned out so i will probably write it the other way tomorrow and see which one I like more. So I might lose some work but such is the nature of art.

Only 3 days left! I dont think I'm going to finish this is in the 30 days but I will be close and this has been fun so I consider it a win!

[jocohenwrites]

Day 26 of 30 of finishing my manuscript

I am falling behind but honestly this has already been a wild success!

I got just over 700 words today however I did some editing that lost me about 200 putting the total word count just under 55K.

I think I am just going to work every day until this is done and then take about 4 or 5 days off before I start on the first edit where I will be focused on expositional edits. I think I am going to give myself until the end of August to get all that done.

I have beta readers already started on the first half of the book and a friend who will be doing my line editing once that is all done!