
It’s finally getting warm around here. Of course, “warm” is relative; we’ll be hitting freezing by the end of the weekend–woo-hoo! Time to bring out the light jackets! (and yes, that’s a MN joke; do not try this at home if you are not used to 32 degree F temps). Seriously, though, we have another month and a half or so of winter to go. With the emergence from the deep freeze comes more snow (usually).
Finished the third round of revision on Book 2 and realized there are a few spots that need some work due to the tweaked plot. Sigh. Now, a more adept writer might have redone those scenes on their way through the draft, but I often have to ruminate on what changes to make, or how to reconstruct the scene.
Which is frustrating to me. Come to think of it, if I’m working on a project I have already “built” in my mind, it doesn’t seem to be as tough to revise. However, this story has been challenging from the start. I have a few scenes I need to brainstorm. Walking outside helps me think better (at least creatively-speaking), and I haven’t been able to walk much over the past few weeks because who wants to walk in -10 wind chill?
It is warming up, though (40 degrees F by the end of the week–yippee!), so I’m planning to take advantage (provided we don’t get six inches of snow, because walking 2 miles in my snow boots makes my feet hurt). In any case, it’s time to set Book 2 aside for a couple weeks while my brain digests things and whips up some brilliant solutions to my scene issues.
In the meantime, I’m going back to another project. This one I started out writing in scenes (not that I don’t write in scenes, but I think of them as chapters of scenes, not individual scenes. It’s just a mental reference.). Remember the webinar I mentioned a few weeks ago? The one of Jess Lourey discussing her process? I think that project would be a good practice run for her process before I go back to Book 2. I’ll let you know how it goes!
So why is Book 2 such a PITA (pain in the ass), you ask? Don’t all writers know what the story is before they write it?
Um, nope. Some writers just start writing and building the story as they go, and they wind up with a story that works when they’re finished (I am envious of you!). I like to at least have an idea of the story from beginning to end before I start, then I put together a timeline that works like an outline for me. Correction: I have a mental outline of the story from beginning to end for months before I write it down.
That gives me time to do the “that won’t work, what about this” stuff so by the time I draft it, I know the beginning, middle, and end. Mostly. It won’t stay that way, but at least I have a plan I’ve already monkeyed with for a while.
This book? All that mental fermentation ended up being “on paper”, which resulted in 7 false starts. Ugh. On the bright side, I’ve learned what works better for me as a writer when developing stories. Now, if I could clone my creative self and set her loose with the next plot seed, she could work on that so by the time I finish my current project, I’d have the next project all ready to draft.
Hope everyone is warm and safe. This weekend is seed-starting weekend, so I’ll get to dig in the dirt (potting soil) a bit. A taste of spring!
Keep on writing!