The weekend yielded good wordage, but I didn’t finish the story as I hoped. I’m sitting just under 8.5K, so I made decent progress. I also outlined the rest of the story. All along, I knew how I wanted to end, and I knew roughly what happened in the middle, but I didn’t have all the details explicitly listed in my mind. Seeing them on paper, I’m worried. I think I’m only about half way through this story. Ack!
It’s going to be at least 15K. I’m just now getting ready to send the protagonist on a rescue and the resulting “capture” of the heart (yes, I seem to be writing a romance yet again, but this one is “sweet” and not erotic). Then there’s a bit of a lull that leads up to the humdinger of a climax.
So the good news: I know exactly where I’m going and how to get there. Bad news: I have way too many words left, and another (even longer) story to write post haste.
I did get some work done on my workshop planning for LB&LI but I won’t be ready to post until Wednesday. I’ve been talking with my accountability partner and writing buddy, Jenna Reynolds, aka Anna Black, and I think we’re going to do a workshop “in concert,” both talking about how to write emotional, transformative sex scenes. She has a very interesting take on the writer’s journey with respect to sex scenes, which I can’t wait to read more about. Even though we’re loosely going to talk about the same things, we’ll be coming at them from different angles, with different perspectives, so I’m hoping you’ll find our discussion very interesting!
Meanwhile, I’ll be pushing hard to finish this story. “Storms as She Walks” needs to be done by Friday, and I need to have all my character work and plotting done for “Gifted,” so I can slam through it the following week. Gah, it’s going to be very tight indeed. I really need the last week of July for edits. I’m trying to write pretty clean, but a first draft is still just a first draft. I’ve left several [notes to myself] and one needs some research on colleges that might have taught Northern black doctors in the 1850s leading up to the Civil War. Anybody know? I’ll be forever in your debt!
*cracks knuckles* Hold on to your butts for a crazy ride the last two weeks of July!
Re: you might look up some of the schools on this list that were in operation prior to the Civil War to see if their admissions allowed blacks at that time. http://www.braceface.com/medical/Civil_War_Articles/Medical_schools_before_during_Civil_War.htm
Here’s a Wikipedia link to James McCune Smith, who was the first African-American to become a doctor in the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McCune_Smith
He got his medical degree prior to the Civil War but looks like he obtained it in Glasgow, Scotland in 1837.
Thanks, guys! Your links led me to find Rush Medical College, chartered in 1837, from which the first American-trained doctor graduated (David Peck, 1846) in Chicago. Perfect!
Great, Joely! I’m glad you got the info you needed. 🙂