Gap goals rule
In which I learn the difference between gain goals and gap goals flies, and I relish being a grammar nerd
Grammar nerds unite!
Twitter can be such a terrible, awful, no-good place some of the time that it's a delight when you find the bright spots. Let me introduce you to Benjamin Dreyer, chief copy editor at Random House and author of Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.
As you can imagine, I adore nuggets such as these. (I might or might own an entire book about how words like "posh" really came into everyday use.)
What I've been up to recently
As I mentioned last month, my focus these days is on the travel guide update for Fodor's, which I am due to hand in on 1 November—a date that seems just around the corner right now.
I've spent the past few weeks working on that, visiting sights, restaurants and hotels in Stockholm. It's hard work but also fun. And this past week, I've been away in Gothenburg, exploring the city for the book.
I hadn't spent too much time there, so it was good to stay there for almost five days, really getting to know the city better.
And, of course, there has also been the novel.
The reshuffling of the whole first part of that is now largely done, the new structure in place, and "all" that's left is to finalise a handful of the last few scenes, and the first draft will be done. Eeek.
With that in mind, I decided to join London Writers' Salon's 100 Days of Writing challenge to finish the year strong. I set the goal of getting those last few scenes completed during the last 100 days of 2022 (23 September to 31 December).
You know me, I do like a good tracker, but I find that I tend to go all in at first and then tail off. But this time, instead of setting a daily "gain" goal, where I would try to reach a certain number by the end of each day, I set myself a weekly "gap" goal—namely, finalising two scenes each week for the remainder of the year.
And it's going swimmingly. Two-and-a-half weeks in, I have completed eight scenes. I know! And this is alongside still cutting some earlier scenes back after rearranging the novel's first half.
I realise now gap goals are what work for me. I mean, I do love a good spreadsheet where I can input my daily word count, but I don't really feel the pressure if I fall short of a target or miss a day. But having a gap goal with a definitive target at the end seems to be much better for my brain.
And now, back to work...
What I've been reading recently
The Mermaid & Mrs Hancock - Imogen Hermes Gowar: I'm not quite sure why I haven't read this novel before, but I am so glad that we picked it for our historical fiction book club. The writing was exquisite, the period details were scattered in to perfection, and the characters were charming enough that you rooted for them in spite of their faults.
The Huntress - Kate Quinn: I run the risk here of making this section of the newsletter a love letter to the novels of Kate Quinn, but I really did like this one, and I think even more than The Rose Code. I am also incredibly grateful to Kate Quinn and her generosity with her Notes at the end of her books, as she thoughtfully shares her research, the small changes she has made, and the decisions that she took while writing. They are fascinating to this budding historical fiction novelist. (Oh, and the novel was set during and post-WW2—but you probably could have guessed that.)
Theatre of Marvels - Lianne Dillsworth: This one was the month's disappointment, which was a shame as I had been excited to read it after hearing an extract at a London Library event. I'm not sure what happened, but the book I read felt like a completely different novel from the one the extract had been from. A case of swingeing changes by the agent or publisher, or both? A book that was hard to market (it seems to have been switched to being YA at the last minute before publication)? I don't know, but this book fell short of its promise for me.
Three very different books this month, but all historical fiction. But I suspect you've now come to that from me, haven't you?
Until the next time,
