Short daily updates between now and the release date of Book 2.
December 9, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 20,940 in total, 2,191 since last update
Words have been written!
Including the post on Using Claude AI’s projects for revisions as promised.
December 8, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 17,759 in total, 3201 since last update
Life happened. It did not include much writing until this weekend, but now I am back with Chapter 5 polished to a shine.
“Dusty beams of light fell through high windows, gathering in an empty pool in the centre of a round hall. Painted tiles clung to the walls and floors, the grout between them dark with age, their blue-green hues faded beneath decades of dust and abandonment. Water stains marked where pipes had leaked through the vaulted ceiling, bleaching colour from a painted summer sky. Archways rimmed with cracked marble revealed smaller chambers with tiered wooden benches, their teak slats warped but mostly intact. The faint scent of minerals seemed to seep from wood, stone, and metal—a memory of the steam that must once have filled the hall, as if the building still remembered its purpose, conjuring the ghosts of long-gone patrons, lounging on the soft-edged stone benches circling the hall, resting or waiting for their turn in the pool or steam.”
Sound bite
November 27 and 28, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 1108 (14,558 total)
How much tinkering on a manuscript is too much? I don’t know and tinker on!
Bear this me—I got this!
November 26, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 1100 (13,650 total)
Taking on more scenes in Chapter 4! My workflow with Claude improved after I took the time to set up a project for the revisions. I’ll share more about this in a new post in my series to show how writers can use Claude as a line editor and copywriter, as well as a critique group. I also brought ProWritingAid back into the mix—the UX is still obnoxious, but it can be helpful if used together with Claude.
I got this!
November 25, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 882 (12,550 total)
I returned to Chapter 2 to tie up loose ends in the transitions between Chapters 2 and 4—both written from Tayl’s POV—and still managed to start Chapter 4’s opening!
Hurray!
Interlude
I went down another rabbit hole with elevenlabs.io this weekend. I ran into issues with text length in my tier and the more challenging names—a common issue in the speculative genre fiction. I followed the instructions and changed spellings to get closer to the pronunciation I had in mind. Some instances are perfect, but the voice reads the names differently each time. There are other options, including using phonemes, but that requires quite a bit of mark up. So I’ll look into this further over the summer break.
For the visual representation of the audio narration, I decided on a very simple, reusable format—a static background (Photoshop) with the cover and an audio visualisation in the front. I promptly got lost in the labyrinth of available tools. The final audio visualisation is via veed.com—a nice app, but too expensive for adding a bit of movement.
Let me know what you think or if you are, or have been, trying something similar!
November 22 and 23, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 605 (11,568 total)
Chapter 3 is done!
Hurray!
November 21, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 898 (10,963 total)
So close to wrapping up Chapter 3!
Yay!
November 20, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 681 (10,065 total)
Yay!
Interlude
I sold a book today. From my locally printed edition, on my locally made and hosted website, with my hand-crafted cover and illustrations, my blood and heart in it.
And the amazing person paid a extra for a signature and a hand-drawn bookmark.
I am going away to have a little cry now.
(づ ᴗ _ᴗ)づ♡
November 18, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 606 (9,384 total)
Notes to myself: Not every single sentence you write needs to be perfect.
Only most of them.
November 17, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 2,066 (8,778 total)
After re-surfacing from the rabbit hole, I actually got some revisions done and Chapter 2 is done… just 100K more words to polish… why am I doing this again?
For my brownie points: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I got this.
November 15 and 16, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 700 (6,712 total)
More progress on Chapter 2! I played with elevenlabs.io to research options for a machine-generated audiobook today and went down a rabbit hole. I didn’t expect much, so I was surprised to find the perfect voice in their default set called “Daniel.”
I added the result to the sample chapter page “The House, Prologue 1—A Visitation” and my YouTube Channel as well as below
Let me know what you think! 🙂
November 14, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 1,261 (6,012 total)
I am a third through Chapter 2.
Yay.
These are all the words I have to spare today.
November 13, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 1,050 (4,571 total)
Prologues 1 and 2 are in final draft, as is Chapter 1—and drum roll—Prologue 1 is now available to read online!
This is still very slow going. It takes me more than an hour to revise a page (around 450 words). At this pace, it will take me 250+ hours to get the manuscript into its final draft. And I have only an hour a day for revision…
That is scary.
Very scary.
November 12, 2024
Status: ‘Final’ revision | Word count: 1,000 (3,521 total)
I’ve started on the final line edits and copy editing. Every paragraph, sentence, and word is being scrutinized and judged.
And it takes ages.
And I love it.
I got this. Right?
New here? I am New Zealand-based writer, artist and maker Minu Freitag. I have published my first book—The Fragments, an inventive mix of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Dystopian fiction—in 2022 and am currently working on the second book in The Spheres Series—The House—due for release in the first half of 2025.
