My Weekly Writing Update (35)

Because what's a writing blog without a writing update?

As you have seen, my main focus as of right now is If Only We, a young adult contemporary novel. I am in the process of revising and rewriting this one.

If Only We - current word count total is 58,845
Sent out to beta readers!

*deep breath* Okay.

So I have finished AND sent If Only We out to beta readers. I'm a mixture of anxious and excited at the moment. It's a good thing. ^_^ I've been spending the rest of my time looking up information on formatting and ISBNs and figuring out ideas for a book tour. There is SOOO much to do!

I have ALSO been plotting out my next novel idea! I was able to plan out the first four chapters during moments of downtime at work between phone calls and customers. It made me so happy. I can't wait to get started on writing it. Maybe I'll get to work on it this weekend. I had a thought as I was plotting it that I should change the MC's name and her love interest's name. The original names aren't working for me anymore. So I'll at least be doing THAT. Then maybe next week I can tell you a little bit about the next story... like the title and some basic background and character names.


♥ Jessica Sankiewicz ♥

I may or may not have finished revisions on If Only We

Okay, so I DID finish revisions on If Only We late last night before I went to bed. Talk about a "Woohoo!" kind of moment. I surprised myself with how quickly I've been able to get through the revisions these last couple weeks. I'm not sure why I had such little progress up until then. My only guess is that I let too many other things take priority and didn't take the time to sit down like I kept promising myself to. In any case, I am so grateful that it's done.

When I realized that I finished it, everything started running through my head. Once you finish one big step when it comes to writing/publishing, you realize there's another big step to take right after. And the next big step for me is beta readers.

I was expecting to send it out to them the very beginning of September. Now that I finished almost a week earlier than expected, I'm sort of in a panic. Not that I'm freaking out THAT much. It's more like one of those, "Did I really revise it well enough that the betas will be able to follow and enjoy the story well enough despite any errors/passages that need some tweaking?" So, instead of sending it off tonight, I'm going to go through my notes and double-check a couple scenes (especially one I was thinking about at work to make sure two different scenes tie in together and don't contradict) and send it out tomorrow or Wednesday. Not only that, but I have to copy/paste the whole thing into a Word Pad document so that everyone can open it up.

SO! If you've been chosen to be one of my beta readers, I'll be sending you a quick email tonight to let you know that I've picked you and that you'll be receiving If Only We (and all the beta reading details) in your inbox by Wednesday.

I'm still planning on an October release date, the specifics I'm unsure of yet. It all depends on how quickly everything decides to come together over the next month or so. While I wait on the betas, I'll be putting together a list of people to read/review If Only We. If you would like to be on that list, please send me an email at impulsivities@gmail.com and I will add you to it. I'm hoping to have ARCs available not long after the betas send me their feedback.

Well, that's about it for today! I'm going to spend the rest of tonight getting If Only We ready to send out. Have a great day everybody! :)


♥ Jessica Sankiewicz ♥

My Weekly Writing Update (34)

Because what's a writing blog without a writing update?

As you have seen, my main focus as of right now is If Only We, a young adult contemporary novel. I am in the process of revising and rewriting this one.

If Only We - current word count total is 57,556.
current revision word count is 44,858

Um...

........................................................ZOMG.

8,916 words revised.

HOW IN THE WORLD HAVE I BEEN ABLE TO DO SO MUCH IN ONE WEEK?!

I say it's my strong sense of determination. Part of it is because of my October deadline for publication. Which I'm glad I put in place--it has really helped me stay focused. If I can keep this up for the rest of the month, and then some, I can have it DONE by my personal deadline.

That means, HELLO betas!

That also means, HELLO paranoia!

That ALSO means, HELLO plotting my next novel!

It's all very exciting. I don't know how I'm managing to stay seated at the moment. Maybe it's the exhaustion from all the revising and typing all week.


♥ Jessica Sankiewicz ♥

My Weekly Writing Update (33)

Because what's a writing blog without a writing update?

As you have seen, my main focus as of right now is If Only We, a young adult contemporary novel. I am in the process of revising and rewriting this one.

If Only We - current word count total is 57,556.
current revision word count is 35,942

Definitely not as many words as I wanted to revise this week. I hit a snag with the chapter I took care of. I had to completely rework it and flip the scenes around AND change the day it happens on. So, in other words, it took me awhile to make sure I didn't have the wrong times, days, etc. in the scene to create confusion. But. It's done. And that makes me happy.

Considering the goal I have of publishing in October, I am needing to spend the rest of this month focusing my attention on revising. I cannot keep getting stuck and falling behind like this. It is completely ridiculous. So, I'm working things out so that I can put aside more time for it. Hopefully I can do this!


♥ Jessica Sankiewicz ♥

My Weekly Writing Update (32)

Because what's a writing blog without a writing update?

As you have seen, my main focus as of right now is If Only We, a young adult contemporary novel. I am in the process of revising and rewriting this one.

If Only We - current word count total is 57,556.
current revision word count is 35,060

Okay, definitely not as many words as I wanted. I am going to work on it tonight and tomorrow. I started to glance down the next couple chapters that I'll be doing and thinking about how to make them better. It should be pretty smooth getting through them. This is where some of the conflict really gets going in my story, so it gets interesting. I'm excited to be getting closer to the end. It's like YAY LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. Sort of. I mean, I'm not going to be DONE done when I finish. There's still betas to go.

In case you missed it, my book has a COVER NOW.

And it's gorgeous. <3

I LOVE IT SO MUCH. *huggles cover*

In other news... I'm going to start making this blog prettier over the next month. It's pretty dull at the moment and I want to add some color to it. Now that I have a cover, that will help. ^_^


♥ Jessica Sankiewicz ♥

Cover Reveal For My Debut Novel If Only We!

Welcome my lovely followers to the cover reveal for my debut novel, If Only We! I am so excited to present this to you. The wonderful Marie Landry did an absolutely amazing job at making this cover so gorgeously perfect.

Sooo...

Without further adieu, I am pleased to present the cover for If Only We!

~*~

They say all it takes is one wrong move and you lose the game. One false step and you’re trapped. One slip-up in your choice of words and you ruin a friendship forever. That is what they say. They say I lost.

I do not believe them.

At the end of the summer after graduation, Adrienne wonders what happened to cause her life to be in ruins. She isn’t getting along with her mom, her stepsister isn’t talking to her, and, to top it off, the boy she’s been in love with doesn’t want anything to do with her. She believes the turning point was a choice she made at graduation. When she wakes up the next day, she has been transported back three months to that moment, the one where everything started to fall apart.

Adrienne realizes she has been given a second chance--and this time she doesn’t want to mess anything up. Reliving the entire summer, though, turns out to be a lot harder than she thought. As the same days and weeks go by, she starts to see how simple decisions can make a huge impact on the world around her. Despite knowing some of what lies ahead, there are some things she didn’t anticipate. She thought she knew what mistake led her to where she ended up the first time. She was wrong.

And by the time summer is over, she discovers what was really at stake.

Add IF ONLY WE to your GOODREADS shelf

Find me on:

~Goodreads~ ~Twitter~

~Facebook~ ~Writing Blog~

Interested in Beta Reading or reading and reviewing If Only We for your blog or Goodreads? Please email me at impulsivities@gmail.com and I will put you on the waiting list. Thanks! <3

~*~

Giveaway!

I decided to do a mini giveaway to help spread the word about my new cover. All you have to do is follow me on my writing blog or book review blog and share the news about my cover somewhere. All additional entries are optional.

Here's the official rules/guidelines for the giveaway:

1. You must be a follower.
2. You must be over 15 years old.
3. This is open to international followers.
4. This contest runs from August 5th through August 12th.
5. You can gain extra entries by "liking" my book blog Facebook page, following me on Twitter @Jess_Sankiewicz, "liking" my writer page on Facebook, adding If Only We on Goodreads, following me on Pinterest, and/or repinning If Only We on Pinterest.
6. Winner will be selected at 12:01 a.m. on August 13th via Rafflecopter random selection.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~*~

So, what do you think of it?!

My Weekly Writing Update (31)

Because what's a writing blog without a writing update?

As you have seen, my main focus as of right now is If Only We, a young adult contemporary novel. I am in the process of revising and rewriting this one.

If Only We - current word count total is 57,556.
current revision word count is 33,718

I managed to revise 3538 words this week. It really is slow going. Part of it is because I'm trying to fix the issues between the chapters. Originally I had a lot of chapters, WAY too many chapters to the point where several were only a few paragraphs long. I didn't like that, so I have been changing it. It looks a lot cleaner so far, but when I reach certain sections it feels like a disaster that needs to be dumped on the floor and all the pieces sorted out. Fortunately, most of the scenes I get to are easy to transition between because once I fix that transition, most of the rest of the words in the scene don't need to be changed, at least not much. And BOOM! Another block of words done. The last scene I revised, which is one of my favorite parts of the story by the way, didn't need any changes to the words. I kind of just sat there gazing at the screen, thinking about how much I love that scene.

Anyways, I'm getting down to the last third of the revisions here and it's getting intense! I have the goal of having the book ready for betas by the end of the month. I was HOPING for sooner but I do not want to push myself any more than I already am. It's a reasonable amount of time, considering my tentative "sometime in October" publishing date.

The COVER REVEAL for If Only We is THIS COMING MONDAY. I am so excited. I can't wait to show you guys the cover. If you're interested in participating but haven't signed up yet, I am more than happy to include last minute participants. I'll be sending out an email tonight so that everyone can get their post put together for the big reveal on Monday. So, sign up before I get home from work tonight, and you can be included!


♥ Jessica Sankiewicz ♥