What if the first day of your relationship was the only day you had?

Seventeen-year-old Sara is a seeker. She’s always on the lookout for the perfect moment to capture with her ever-present, point-and-shoot camera, especially on her first trip to New York City. Sam is a finder. He has a knack for finding what other people can’t—a first-edition book or the last two tickets to a sold-out Broadway show. In New York, there is always something interesting to find. But when Sara sees Sam coming out of a bookstore, a wrapped package under his arm, a gray hoodie emblazoned with the name of her favorite, no-one’s-ever-heard-of band, Sara can’t help herself. She snaps a picture and then follows just as Sam disappears into the crowd.

When Sam and Sara’s paths cross again, neither one of them is prepared for what they will find out about each other—and about themselves when they form an unlikely partnership in search of a seemingly elusive work of art. They have one day to find the impossible. Fate brought their talents together, but what happens when time runs out? Will love last? Or will their last words be good-bye?

Title options:

After Hello

Everything after Hello

What Comes after Hello

But the good news is that my draft of Hello, Good-bye is DONE! I finished the last chapter around 1:30 Wednesday morning. Whew!

I’m really happy with how the story turned out, and while it still needs some polishing and a few revisions, I think all the bones are there. I hope my early readers/reviewers agree.

The nice thing is that since I’m done writing before the holidays, I can sit back and enjoy the season without the stress of a deadline hanging over me. (Now, if I can just get all my Christmas presents wrapped in time…)

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Final word count: 65,800/70,000 (70K was my target, but the story ended up needing only 65K)

Favorite sentence(s) so far:

“I believe that happiness is always there,” Sam continued, looking up and away at the dim stars. “That’s why we have to keep looking for it. Because we can’t always see it.”

And I do feel the need to write. Since I’d been away from the story for a few days, I took some time this afternoon to reread what I had written so far. And you know what? It’s pretty good. Yes, there are bits that need fleshing out, and bits that are a bit rushed, but I think the voices are strong and the action is moving along at a pace I like. Sometimes it’s good to take a step back (whether that step is voluntary or not is debatable) and see how far you’ve come and the bright points that still make you smile.

And adding a few words to my count–even just a handful–makes me smile too.

Word count: 13,946/70,000

Favorite sentence(s) so far: He unzipped his hoodie. Zipped it again. The tiny teeth clacked as they met and separated, met and separated. The sound of being devoured was oddly comforting.

One of my favorite classes was at the Heart of the West conference about writing romance. Lani Rich had so much amazing information and advice on building strong romantic leads and making your plot engaging and interesting. One of my favorite things she talked about was the idea of vulnerability. She said that while it’s important to give your characters flaws and weaknesses, you should also allow them moments of vulnerability. It was one of those aha moments, where I felt like something I knew but hadn’t articulated had been presented in a clear and concise manner. I immediately thought about Sam and Sara and took another look at my story to make sure I had enough moments of vulnerability from both characters. It was a great chance to change my perspective and look at my story in a new way.

Word count: 13,890/70,000

Favorite Sentence(s) so far:

She shook her head. “You help strangers with impossible tasks?”

“I help friends with adventurers.”

But what? I can’t say no to my work; I can’t say no to my writing. I can’t say no to my family or my church responsibilities. And a girl’s gotta sleep and eat, right? So what can I say “no” to? I don’t know, so instead I’m going to find places to say “yes.” I will say yes to the 20 minutes of  time I have on the train every morning and every night as I commute to work: 20 minutes of time to write or edit or read. I will say yes to doing laundry right after work instead of on Saturday so I can consolidate my weekend time more effectively. I will say yes to offers for help.

And before I know it, it’ll be November, right?

Word count: 12,935/70,000

Favorite sentence this week: “Lettuce has no taste. It’s like a bad stage magician of the food world. No style, less substance.”

Not the ending of Hello, Good-bye–not yet, but endings in general.

Saturday afternoon I went to see the musical Next to Normal at Pioneer Theater Company. It was flat-out amazing; who knew you could write a musical about mental illness? And even though I loved the play, I had mixed feelings about the ending. There was a glimmer of hope, but I worried about the future of some of the characters. I couldn’t help but think that they weren’t going to have such a happy ending after all.

But after I thought about it for a while, I realized that the ending was perfect for those characters. And that is such an important distinction in writing. An ending doesn’t always have to be happy–or even perfect. Just as long as it’s perfect for your characters.

Sunday night I watched Breaking Bad, which is a clinic on character development, pacing, and writing. Best show on TV–seriously. Sunday’s episode was as intense an hour as I’ve seen in a long time. And here’s the thing–it wasn’t even the season finale. There are still two more episodes to go. I have no idea where the story can go or how it will end. (I suspect it will be bad, whatever it is.) And that’s the thing I’ve been thinking about endings–you want to keep your audience (or your readers) guessing. That’s what will keep them coming back for another episode–or reading another chapter.

So how will Hello, Good-bye end? At the moment, I think only Sam and Sara know–and they’re not telling me yet. But as long as it’s a blend of perfection and unpredictability, I think I’ll be on the right track.

Favorite Sentence This Week: Hamburger, fries, soda. The holy trinity of lunch.

Word Count: 12,257/70,000

So even though my word count isn’t as high as it should be this week, I did a lot of other book-related things, and that makes me happy.

One thing I’ve been trying to do while writing Hello, Good-bye is to make sure I didn’t beat myself up about the deadline. Yes, I’ve set myself a goal, and yes, I’m working to meet it, but I also don’t want to end every week in tears berating myself for missing my word count. I want the writing process to be fun and enjoyable–a party where my new characters can come and play and we can discover the story together. If I tell myself, “Well, you missed a day–you better write 1400 words tomorrow. Wait, you missed two days, then you better write 2100 words today” then I fear I’ll focus too much on the numbers of the book and not the emotion of the book.

And after looking at my calendar and looking at my deadline, I think I can revise my goal to write 1000 words a day and still make my end-of-November goal. And what’s 300 words between friends?

Word count: 9,458/70,000

Favorite sentence as far: My heart quivered, shot through with an arrow of fear.

I’m going to Disneyland!

It is my favorite place to visit after all. And last weekend, my husband and I spent a couple of days at Disney and then spent Saturday at the Utah v. USC game. (So close, but my Utes didn’t quite get the win.)

And even though I had some vacation days, I also had some work days on Hello, Good-bye. And even while I was on vacation, I was still working–thinking of character motivations, shifting and sorting ideas, reviewing my favorite bits and feeling my excitement grow about the story. And perhaps that’s my lesson for this week: all work counts. The words you commit to paper. The scenes you revise and rewrite. And even the musing and thinking that you do while waiting in line to ride Star Tours for the fifth time. It all helps with the story, and in the end, it all counts.

Word count: 8,656/70,000

Favorite sentence so far: “You don’t know me well enough to know when I’m lying,” Sam said.

But, I’m still committed to tracking my progress, so even though I’m a day late (and a few hundred words short), here it is. Confession time: I fell short of my weekly word count due to a couple long-distance book signings and library appearances this week. (And going to the Utah v. Montana St. game on Thursday didn’t leave me a lot of time for writing. Go Utes!) But I’m still working and still writing and my word count is still going up–and that’s what counts.

I encountered an  interesting challenge with the story this past week. I’m alternating chapters between Sara’s and Sam’s POV when I realized that the story was going to separate the two characters for a chapter and while I wanted to follow Sara–because that’s where the action was going–my pattern demanded a Sam chapter. For a moment, I considered breaking the pattern and just saying, “I’m the author, I can do what I want,” but then I thought, “No, let’s stick to it and see what happens.” And what happened was a pretty nice Sam chapter with a little more insight into his character and history. I’m glad I trusted my gut and gave Sam a chance to shine.

Lesson learned: Sometimes our best work comes when we place restrictions on our work. It forces us to be more creative in order to work around the obstacles.

Favorite Sentence: Paul rolled his eyes. “Apparently Bootsie likes valium almost as much as her owner does.”

Word Count: 7953/70,000

I’m happy to report that so far, so good. I missed writing for a couple of days due to some book signings that ran late this week, but luckily my Saturday was mostly free of commitments. I was able to catch up for both my missed days and still stay on track. I think that’s actually a good bit of advice: have a goal, do your best to reach it, but still give yourself some flexibility. For example, I had a book signing on Thursday night in Orem from 6 to 8 and then I had a dinner date with my good friends Ally and Becca. I didn’t get home until after 11 p.m. I was exhausted, but if I had forced myself to stay up for another hour or so and write, I’d be willing to bet that none of those words would even be worth preserving. It was better for the book–and for me–to wait until Saturday when I was rested to dive back into the story. Remember: Don’t kill yourself off too early in the process; your characters need you alive to tell their story.

And the story is coming along pretty well. Sam and Sara are talking a lot, so I don’t have much written in the way of description yet. That’s okay. I can always go back and flesh it out a little more later. Right now I’m just trying to keep up with the conversation.

And in more good news, my plan to switch from first-person POV to third-person POV in alternating chapters seems to be working out. At least so far. We’ll see if I can sustain it in the long-term.

Favorite sentence this week: He tried to ignore the warmth of her skin against his, but not very hard.

Total word count: 5,226 / 70,000