I know I said I wasn’t going to blog at all in July, but I’ve made major headway on my book, and I’d like to share some of the breakthroughs with you, in pseudo-bullet point fashion.

A Title!

Though I will always mentally refer to the book as Colonel Fitzwilliam or #sexyfitzwilliam, the tentative official title is Loving Miss Darcy.  From a marketing standpoint, mentioning the name Darcy in the title is always good practice. From a book standpoint, this sums the whole story up quite nicely, and gives a hint that at least part of the story is told from Richard’s point of view.

A New First Chapter!

I sat down last week and wrote an entire new chapter that sets up several things in the novel, including Richard’s acrimonious relationship with his elder brother. It’s similar in some ways to the opening to His Good Opinion–about the same length, and a conversation between two gentlemen. It was also fun to write, which is a bonus.

The Big Moment!

This morning, I wrote the moment when Richard realizes he loves Georgiana. It was pretty much the only thing I wrote this morning, and I still went to work with a daily net word count of -390, but that paragraph is one of the most important in the whole book, and I love it.

Overall Progress!

Yes, I’m finally making real headway. I wrote about 8000 words this weekend and deleted 4000 for a net gain of about 4000. I have the momentum to finish this draft by mid-week, and then I can move on to the next level of editing. I’m still hoping to be done with my first two-round edit by mid-August, but that might be pushing it.

However, I can’t take much longer because I’m still aiming for a publication date in November. I know I swore I’d never do that again, but now that I’ve been through it once, I don’t think publishing should be as stressful as it was last time. (And for the more experience vets out there, please don’t disabuse me of this notion.)

That’s the rundown!

OH! One more thing: This month, Indiejane.org is celebrating our first anniversary. We’re doing a huge giveaway with a Kindle Fire and 20 Austenesque novels–including His Good Opinion. If you’re interested in entering, the giveaway is open through the end of the month.