The Writer’s Diary: The Silence of the Judges, Reworking the Veil, and a Piece of My Past

Patience is ...

​If you are reading this and hoping for a massive, triumphant update regarding the Open Novella Contest, I have to ask you to hold your breath for just a little longer. It has been a testing fortnight in the pond, mostly spent staring at an unchanged notifications screen.

​The ONC Silence

​There has been absolutely no update from the ONC judges for a full month now, and I’ll admit, it’s starting to become a bit of a concern. Rationally, I know what’s happening behind the scenes. They have hundreds of qualifying manuscripts to read, re-read, score, and debate. I realise that the process takes an immense amount of time and care. However, knowing that logically doesn’t do a single thing to quiet the writer’s nerves.

​So, while Memory Letters sits in judging limbo, I have been doing everything I can to keep my mind occupied and my fingers moving.

​Keeping Distracted: Reading and Reworking the Veil

​My main weapon against the waiting-room jitters has been the keyboard. I’ve been throwing myself into some heavy editing sessions for Sanctorum’s Veil, tightening the plot hooks and expanding the world-building to ensure it's in the best shape possible for when I fully resume the project.

​When I haven't been editing, I've been doing a lot of reading, escaping into other authors' worlds to give my own brain a bit of a rest from the constant data-tracking and plotting.

​From the Vault: "My Brother, My Nephew"

​Aside from the novels, I have also been working on a small digital preservation project. I’ve gone into my personal archives and created a publicly downloadable version of a seminal, autobiographical piece of writing for me called My Brother, My Nephew.

​This is a short story I wrote all the way back in 2000 for an assignment in a creative writing class I was taking. The brief we were given was simple: write about a 'childhood memory'. Ideally it was meant to be a 'happy' memory. However, due to a severe accident, which is what my story refers to, I actually don't have many childhood memories at all. Good or bad.

​It’s a deeply personal piece that marks a very specific moment in my life. It was very nearly three end of my life. In my journey as a writer, I’ve shared many things and a copy of this is available on Wattpad too, but I know not everyone is on Wattpad, or wants to be (for their own reasons). Therefore, I've decided it’s time to share it a little wider. 

If you’d like to read it, you can grab a copy directly from my Google Drive right here: Download "My Brother, My Nephew".

Fair warning: This refers to a traumatic event in my life, agreements even I am still emotionally affected whenever I read it. 

The Writer’s Diary: Round Three Success, Custom Code, and the Longlist Waiting Game

Distraction needed

​It has been an anxious but incredibly rewarding couple of weeks in the pond. When you are entirely at the mercy of contest judging panels, time seems to stretch out like an endless horizon. The only real cure for those waiting-room jitters, of course, is to keep your head down and let your fingers fly over the keyboard.

​Memory Letters Ploughs Ahead

​The headline news for this update is that Memory Letters has officially made it through the Round 3 qualifiers! I've recently learned that there are 672 stories in total that made the cut for this round. To know that Jane's claustrophobic journey is standing tall in a field of nearly seven hundred incredible pieces of work is a brilliant feeling, and it makes every late-night editing session worth the effort.

​We are currently in a bit of a scheduling limbo regarding the next official stages, however. The ONC Longlist announcement was originally expected around the 20th of May, followed swiftly by the Shortlist at the end of May. Given that the judges have the monumental task of evaluating all 672 qualifying manuscripts, it's no wonder things have shifted behind the scenes. So, I am still playing the waiting game for those final lists to drop. My fingers are firmly crossed!

​Crafting the Code: My Custom Writing Dashboard

​While the ONC judges do their work, I’ve been channeling that nervous creative energy right back into Sanctorum’s Veil. The total refresh and expansion of the original draft is progressing beautifully, and it's being guided by a brand-new tool I've built.

​Putting my techie skills to use, I have written a custom script for Google Docs that acts as my personal manuscript progress dashboard. 

I created a similar one for Memory Letters, but now I've refined it and improved its features to allow me to use it with any manuscript. 

It does a lot more than just look at a simple number; it allows me to set a minimum and a target/maximum word count for each individual chapter, giving me real-time insights into exactly how each scene sits within those parameters. I can also plug in an overall total word count target, and the script instantly tells me where the manuscript stands in respect to the grand finish line.

​It’s been an absolute game-changer for my workflow, so much so that I mentioned it in a Discord writing group I’m part of. There has been quite a bit of genuine interest from the community over there about seeing it released for others to use! 

Now I’m seriously considering polishing up the user interface so I can share it with the wider indie author world.

​Data-Driven Editing: Sanctorum's Veil

​Thanks to that very script, I can see the data shifting in the right direction for the Veil. I’ve currently pushed the edited manuscript to almost 17,000 words, which means I have officially achieved 21% of my ultimate word count goal for the novel.

​There is something incredibly satisfying about watching those percentages tick upward on the dashboard. The prose is feeling much sharper, the stakes are higher, and the world-building is becoming far more immersive with every single chapter I rework.

Being a techie through and through, these numbers help me to stay the course. 

​Between waiting for contest notifications and watching the word counts rise, the daily grind continues to bear fruit.