NaNoWriMo is officially over and what have I done with my crappy draft of a half-done manuscript since November 30th?
Well.
After taking the first weekend off, I promised I’d tackle it on the Monday following — which turned into Tuesday. And then I swore I’d begin reorganizing scenes, perhaps begin revisions, and have something to show for that effort on Friday. However, I didn’t. I might be more truthful if I explained that I did, in fact, finish a scene and began one of the final two critical scenes, but found myself happily involved in background research instead of moving forward with the draft. Let me clarify that I was happy for only a portion of my time because some of the research is a bit on the gruesome side.
I’m not writing about zombies or vampires, and there isn’t an impending apocalypse I know of (although I am routinely surprised by what does come up I don’t expect). I simply found myself having to write about something that happens to many people every day and had to wonder about the minutiae of it — details we may never think about in scenes that flash across a screen — gone in a second or two before we realize anything was there. Writing so that someone reading can visualize with even more detail than that split second on a screen provides would be my goal. I struggle to write without that level of detail, so to keep myself sane as I continue my work, I’ve promised myself I will finish the book to the half way point (1-1/2 more scenes), then work on what I’ve accomplished to make sure the sequencing is sound. In January, I’ll tackle the rest of the book — the “what if…” portion I’ve tried not to dwell on as I plan because I want it to be as serendipitous as possible — as in, what would it feel like to be in this person’s shoes and experience everything yourself?
In the meantime, I’m whipping myself into the holiday spirit slowly, beginning with woodsy smelling cinnamon-ish like candles parked around the house, poinsettias (which, with any luck at all, will keep their leaves until after Christmas this year), and a few cozy up for winter tunes here and there for humming along.
Just rolling out the holiday is an excellent excuse to find a reason every day to avoid writing, don’t you think?
Just kidding.
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