Finished the first draft of Chapter 4! 🎉

Standing at 84 notebook pages, the first draft of Chapter 4 is done! I actually finished it on the 15th, but I've been without my laptop for the last week, and I dislike writing on mobile 😭

But it's finished, and I couldn't be happier. It took me longer than I wanted (because, of course, it did), but I ended up writing the two Ball variations — whether accepted the invitation or not — which added a dozen more pages. I'm very glad I did it because, as I wrote, one of the scenes ended up completely different than what I'd planned, and I like this version a lot better!

This chapter can be divided into 5 parts — the second being the longest and the one I'm most excited for you all to play. There's a scene in part 3 that I love as well 🤭, but all in all, I think scene 2 is the most important of this update.

The beginning was very hard for me to nail down. I ended up going back to it three times; the last time was right before I finished writing the update. So, I have three different versions of the beginner scene, and I'm still unsure which one I like best. I'll figure it out when I start writing in Word. My guess is that it'll be a mixture of the three variations, or something else entirely different.

But everything else was smooth sailing! I had this chapter in my mind for a while, so it was more about putting the thoughts down on paper than trying to figure out what goes where and what should be disclosed or saved for later.

Starting Monday, now that I have my laptop back, I'll write the second part of the Q&A, and when that's done, I will launch myself into the second draft!!!!!! This chapter is much smaller than the third, so I want to get it over with. The Ball awaits 🙂‍↕️

And that's it! I'm sorry for the silence. I wanted to get this over with before focusing on anything else. I don't know what it is about the first draft, but it never fails to completely engross me. I've been losing sleep because I can't stop thinking about how to write certain scenes, sudden dialogue ideas, or descriptions.

So, it's a balm for my mind that's over too 😊

I hope everyone has been keeping well. Summer is nearing its end, and I, for one, am not sad to see it go. Today, it rained, and as I stood beneath it, the raindrops cooling my heated skin, I realized how much I had missed it.

See you all soon ❤️