VIGILANT UPDATE | March 2017

Hey Everyone!

So I thought I would start doing little updates on what in the world is going on with Vigilant this year. I thought this would be the place to do this since I honestly suck at updating everything lately. I didn't do this the last two months because I was abroad in England, Scotland, and the Netherlands as well as school starting back up. But I'm here! And I'm back! It's really good to be back, I'm not going to lie. Blogging is a lot of fun, and I do enjoy it.

Current Word Count: 107,005
Currently Editing: Chapter 22/38

So, I'm pretty far from where I was the last time I checked in. So far this year, I've done about five or six chapters and it makes me so freaking happy! I love Vigilant with all my heart and working on it constantly has been one of my sole sources of sanity. I've not worked on it in about two weeks because I've had exams and papers, but starting on Friday, I am on spring break. As I'm sure you've guessed, that's what I'll be doing all week. I want to get back on track (or ahead) of my schedule. I'm trying to do at least a chapter per week so I can finish by late June.

I think the hardest thing for me is the fact that I've changed some of the story lines so some chapters take me longer to get through than others. I'm also thinking about where do I cut down in the next draft. If you haven't noticed, I have a HUGE word count, and that sucker needs to be cut down because I'm guessing I will finish this draft with about 125,000 words. Which, for a Young Adult Novel, is a fairly hefty book. I think it's a little less than Casandra Clare's City of Bones. Who knows? Maybe I won't cut that much out. I've already cut out pretty mundane scenes and I feel like the scenes I have are compelling for the story, but maybe I need some fresh eyes to cast on it.

Speaking of eyes, I've only got one beta reader at this moment. She's amazing and super lovely. Brittany has been my beta reader since the summer and she's the only one who stuck around. I don't know how to get beta readers because no matter what I do, they don't seem to stick or no one reaches out to me. I've tried goodreads and I tried the Facebook group, but no one wants to beta read this book. I know it's a hugely important part of the writing process and having no one want to read it is kind of disappointing. It is a book I am so excited for and I want people to be excited to beta it as well. Where do you go to find your beta readers? Because I need all the help I can get.

My goal for March is to get to Chapter 30. This was my original plan for January, but as I was gone most of the month, that didn't happen. With spring break starting up this weekend, I will have a huge chunk of time available. I want to devote that to cranking out as many chapters of this book as I possibly can. I've spent so much time with this book that I'm ready for the next draft.

One thing I love pondering on with this book is how much it's changed. I look at Aurelia and see this strong character who will do anything to save her family and friends. She's become more of herself than she did in November 2013 (when she had the name Lysandra). Aurelia has taken on a new role as this leader and she kind of reminds me of Clarke from The 100 now. I do picture Eliza Taylor as Aurelia, but they're not really the same. I just like how strong Aurelia is now and I can't wait for you to read her (again, if you read the Wattpad edition).

Originally posted by bellsqueen on Tumblr

So that's about it for this month! I can't wait to tell you what's happening next month (don't worry, my life is super boring right now). Hopefully I will hit the 30 chapter marker in the next 30 days, but as always, we'll see what happens.