I’ve been working on this novel for a long time, but I keep needing to put it down. This week I read my current draft (40k) looking for the things I need to finish it.

A friend and I swap recommendations, because we each need to do that. I found a new speed-reading app and she found a read-aloud app, so we’re both playing with these. It’s exciting, because I’m not always good at reading my work out loud, but I listen when it plays. I also can catch the big gaps in my story when I speed-read and see, oh, right, that’s a big gap.

Usually I try to write in order, but I got ahead of myself. It’s understandable because this rewrite was much different than others – I have a highlighted and commented copy by my side to make it both easier and harder. Easier, because I know what this book looks like instead of the last draft (which had a combined book 1 and 2 feel to it), and harder, because sometimes elements of both books are very much entangled together.

It feels like the downhill stretch. Exciting to know what I need to finish and have a plan for how to do that. I’ll probably need to read it aloud, too, so I know I finished this draft. Maybe by month’s end!

I remember that very first novel I tried to write- I was in high school. I had pieces, some good and some not so great, and so many more ideas in my head than I knew how to put onto paper. Classmates knew some of my notebooks held poetry and others held these story notes. In my first high school, they’d pass my poetry notebook around after a few stories in junior high. In my second high school, a few trusted friends would listen to my meanderings. I still have these notebooks in my office.

Description has always been a bit troublesome. That first piece of novel I had a character who changed hair from blonde to red and back again at times, so I found a way to weave that into the storyline. It was easy to get lost in such a huge cast of characters as an epic fantasy might be; at times I did lose my way. The novel (or series, who knows?) never did materialize, but something about that act of creation felt like it was my thing.

On the way, however, I’ve had to get better at descriptions. Yesterday I sought out a description for a character I don’t often see from the outside. I’m not sure he’s got the right coloring for his species. I looked up notes from years ago to figure that out. (I do not recommend dragging projects out for years. They evolve as you do.) It becomes a distraction, and yet I’m still glad I’ve got those original notes on my ideas of what these creatures may be. I’ve similarly been trying to document all my places that are named as well as visited. (Because in a series we’re going to come back to the places where the Important Characters reside.)

I love how it is all taking shape, and I’m excited to get to the end of this draft. Descriptions may never be my ultimate strength, but I’ve improved over the many years I’ve been writing. I should just pretend he’s the cute guy in the picture.

This is something I’ve struggled with a while. It probably leads to the idea that so many of us are novelists or short story writers, because a few of us are always starting with what feels like novel openings.

The real trick, I suppose, is figuring out the difference to make that short story shine. Maybe upping my short game will also improve my novels. I do think I’m improving, though. I included enough world building to make it feel like the beginning, rather than ch 3. Chapter 3 beginnings feel like they’re in the middle of something much bigger but not enough to give the reader the feel for all those beginning definitions to really ground someone in the story.

Still, I appreciate the opportunity to turn over this story and try again. Are you with me on the idea that we always find a few ways to improve a story once we ask someone else to look at it? I often find I do. I’m going to find a placebo reader who will just let it sit three days for me to rewrite it again. It may not be enough. Writers seem to need muses that make everything urgent and life-threatening, or they end up doing housework or something less filled with blank pages.

I’ll admit to my NaNo project, and today I woke up at 5 (accidentally) but I got in a good sprint this morning before going back to bed. The novel is progressing, and my time bomb is still ticking. The main character just got hit with an idea that makes her think uncomfortably about her future.

Finger crossed.

ICON is this weekend, and I’m excited to go. I also got out that long-term novel series project, and I’m excited where this rewrite is taking me. It is something I’ve never quite tried before. More short story ideas come to me, too, and I’m still unsure of what will happen with the project I sent to my Paradise ICON group.

I know I’m always excited when writing season comes, but on my rewrite – I have chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 finished since October 1st. Of course I messed with my timeline and I haven’t gone over (Ch 2 and 4) again except to change obvious number of days in travel. The point is to get the story readable and to only include Book 1. Currently my draft has so many different notes it can be very difficult to read. There’s a heading for every chapter on whether I put it in Book 1 or Book 2 or what part needed to be in which book.

Also loving that I’ve been spending most of the time the kids are at school with my stories. I’ve also been reading some middle-grade speculative fiction lately, as well as adult versions of it. Watching a few space westerns, too, to round it all out well.

A chapter a day keeps me too busy to worry about what I might not be doing. Though I do worry when my son says he dreamed up monsters and he’s afraid he made them real. It sounds like he needs to write things down, too. More to come, I’m certain.

I love WorldCon.Technically it is ChiCon8. It’s also the first Con where I had roommates, and that was a lot of fun, except I like to talk instead of sleep. (Like, we know we’re tired, and yet we still have more to discuss.)

Among the panels and finding old friends, we make new connections, visit the dealer’s room, and find parties. I’m watching and listening to some of those panels that I missed this week, since a friend had the brilliant idea of mostly going to panels that weren’t recorded to get more out of the experience. (Thanks, Athena!)

Lisa became my new breathing buddy – so when you read this sit down and do some diaphragmatic breathing. (Everyone should. It’s really good for you, I promise.)

Doug swears I can talk to anybody, and I find this really difficult to disprove. It can be a bad habit to chat people up in elevators and outside the escalators, but waiting around for my people to get out of their panels and back to the meetup spot can be difficult to keep quiet with all the conversations around me. I hear this is an ADHD trait, but I’m just accustomed to it from a lifetime of friendly conversations…

How do you figure out how to disprove that? Honestly he should bear the burden of proof, but I’m sure he’ll stick to his introvert excuse. Instead, I’ll show you some of my fun moments (because half the time I just forget to take pictures).

I’m excited to get back to writing- but if you’re the fun couple I chatted up by the escalators when the elves and dwarves came down- please comment. I love finding new people who read!