WiP Wednesday: Seriously, How Many Words?

I haven't exactly had the kind of time I thought I would to work on the wip, but it turned out to be no matter. The time I did have was enough. And the first draft of my wip (4 Letter Word) is done! Yes, that's right. The End. Complete. Done. Finished.

Now comes the hard parts: layers and revisions.

My first draft estimate was around 70,000 words. I was off by a bit there. I'm closer to 62,000. This could be because I'm a bit wordy: I think I talk way too much, so therefore, my characters do too. In case you need a refresher, here's some info dating back to when I started writing (again):

It's Complicated: 135,000 - yes, that's right . . . it gets better

The Lucky One: 156,000 - hahahaha, I laugh at myself when I think about this now, and you're welcome to laugh at me too!

Just Maybe: 85,000 - much more reasonable

4 Letter Word: 61,608 - yeah, I know, right?

All four of these projects are YA contemporary fiction. That's right. Remember? I said I tend to be a bit wordy sometimes. But it's okay. As I kept writing, I figured out that the first 2 (IC and TLO) are actually just backstories to JM and 4LW.

I'm very proud of myself, though, to have been able to come in at such a low word count (for me anyway) and still feel like I've told the story. Again, it is just the first draft, so chances are the word count will shift some, but I don't foresee anything drastic. Unless I decide we need to have gremlins thrown into the mix or something ;)

Now, here's one of my favorite quotes.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" Thank you, Semisonic. It's a line from their song Closing Time.

So with the end of 4LW (sort of), comes a new beginning: my first ever attempt into the Fantasy/Paranormal world. YA, of course, because for whatever reason I can't quite leave teenagerdom behind. Thanks to Michelle McLean for sharing the knowledge of Fantasy, Urban Fantasy & Paranormal genre definitions. It helped me figure out what I was writing, genre-wise anyway.

Grace is the working title of this project and yes, I did start it before now. It's one of those things that has been toying around in my head, throwing out ideas every now and then, making every note I've jotted for a few weeks now only about this world, these characters and their story, but not quite giving me enough to go beyond what I already had down. But I've also made it a point not to completely focus on this while I still had 4LW to finish. Yes, I know, I have writer's A-D-D sometimes. If someone has a cure, I'd love to try it out.

So current status for this week:

Just Maybe - Curing while I work on a query letter

4 Letter Word - 1st Draft complete! Setting aside for a few days to clear my head before I dig back into it

Grace - 9,000 words, basic outline complete

What about you? What have you guys been up to this week?