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Recorded 2026-08-24

In this episode we dive right into progress (relatively speaking, less than a minute of chat). I edited 32 pages, two over my minimum goal, and just ten pages short of finishing this pass (my real goal). We had a discussion about the "start on second draft stretch goal" Michael added to my list in the last episode. I didn't get where I wanted because it took an entire week to revise one single scene, so if I break down my progress it was just one page in the first week, and thirty-one in the second. The upside is that resolving the problems with that scene have pointed me in the right direction for solving some other issues.

Michael joined a peer-reviewed writing battle without fully realizing that he was one of the peers. We digress into a discussion about the challenges in doing critiques, and people who are skilled in one form of writing and less good in others. Then we return to Michael's progress report. Although he didn't hit his five chapter goal, he did take another pass at seven others.

On to goals: Michael wants to finish his edit by the end of the month (six chapters). For me, finish the edit and start filling in missing scenes. We chat a bit about book series versus book serials, and how you carry characters across books.

Then we get onto this episode's topic: Staying on Track. Do we get bored with writing or need a break, and how do we deal with that. Some of this is the difference between writing as a dream and writing as a job, and how it takes real effort to get through the aspects of the work that we're less fond of or less skilled at.

Next episode: reviews, critiques, and scammers.