Progress post: Book 2, draft 3, edits, etc.

I finally set aside some time to work on book 2. Mostly, I typed up my handwritten pages, and finished up the chapter.  It's currently at 24544 words long, and I've just started chapter 8. My writing goal was to type my handwritten pages and get to a certain point in my mental plotting that will happen in chapter 9 or 10, so I'm on track. I can't get any more specific than that, because I never know exactly how it'll go until it's written. Thus is life as a pantster.

I've also been working steadily at the paid editing, and I've been better about reducing distractions and getting down to it. I've just finished the seventh manuscript, and I'm about to start on the eighth. I'm averaging about 75 pages of editing a night, though I'm doing two read-throughs to make sure I catch everything. There's an awful lot of weird spelling I have to check for consistency, and the more tired I get, the more my eyes are willing to read something as correct when it's not. That's why I'm also trying to get more sleep, and that is totally a writing goal.

In the smallest writing change ever, I've been working on not double-spacing after periods. Have you any idea how hard a habit that is to break?

I've also found some ways to check myself when I'm distracted. One of the women in the writing group read my gchat status ("If you see me online, ask why I'm not doing something productive") and did just that, which was very effective. I've found small signals to remind myself to reduce distraction, some of which are going to have my writing group making fun of me during write-ins.

But, if it works, it's worth it. I've been letting distractions get the better of me for too long.