February is over and thus it’s time for my monthly writing update. The month had brought some change in my life which had some impact on my writing – more on that soon.

I’ve been hinting a coming change in past but I generally don’t like to talk about things before they’re official and, in general, not too much about the non-hobby parts of my life. So, I’ll keep it short: I’ve been finally hired in a full-time job (and I say it now: no further details on that are likely to be given).

Which also means a drop in the amount of free time I had – and which I was organizing very poorly. Okay, I haven’t been organizing it at all. Anyway, it means I can’t really write on a whim anymore and my writing sessions will most likely be bonked to weekends – but they were, for a great deal of the month, suspended.

That was not as much because of starting a new job – one of my betas had finished the story and I was analyzing the feedback without yet acting on it (I want to get some distane first, then make a second pass, and see what I’ll decide to do). The swap I started in January is also on hold for now as the person is busy in her life. On the other hand, I’ve started a swap I’ve been ‘negotiating’ since December – and received feedback on the first two batches, which I’ve also noted down – while giving my feedback as well.

Thus, I have some notes made but no idea yet how and when I’ll act on them – I’ve made some edits in the last three days, to roughly three or four chapters. I have a pretty specific idea for edits in two more scenes but I’m yet to figure out the rest. In general, it seems the story is in decent shape story-wise but needs better execution in descriptions, dialogue flow, emotions (especially the last ~40%) and some other kinds of polishing.

I think I might be able to stay on track and start looking for a cover artist by mid-spring in preparations for finishing the book for late autumn – by which time I’d like to have #2 beta-ready – but it’s hard to guess what the future will bring.

So, that’s all I can share for my February progress. See you next time.