January 25, 2008
Waiting for the Attic to Warm Up
Well, it’s Friday. Yay! I’m currently writing this as I wait for my electric wood stove to heat up the attic a bit before I start. It’s minus twenty out and that room doesn’t feel much warmer than outside.
This week I managed to get a fair amount done. WIP continues to move nicely. It’s funny, this is the paranormal I put aside in July so I could really concentrate on fixing Witch. (More on that in a minute.) When I did set it aside, I was hating everything about it and really didn’t think I would finish. Then last month I started reading through and found my myself liking it again. I could see where I’d kind of written myself into predictability, probably why I felt my interest in the tale start to wan. I also had 200 pages invested. So after a little tinkering and adding a few twists (means making some changes to earlier chapters on the rewrite, but there always is) I managed to push past the hump and now I’m charging full force toward the end. Perhaps taking some time away from the project gave me the space I needed to be able to see what the problem was.
Witch is frustrating me a little more. I’m three chapters away from finally having this completely finished–again. The tricky part is having to double check all the little facts with my research. Checking for continuity errors like, when I introduced the Frasiers in chapter 6 I spelled their name with s, but in chapter 27 I spelled it with z. Grr.
On the upside, when I rewrote this story the first time, I’d organized all my character, plot notes and research into a binder with tabs and everything. This is making my life so much easier. I must admit, I’m not usually this organized. Ordinarily, each story gets its own file folder–blue for romantic suspense and red for paranormal–and all my notes get shoved in with a couple of elastic bands to keep it all together. I’m not sure why I did it differently with Witch. Maybe I needed to feel more organized while I was tying legend to the present day murders in the story. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I did it. And starting right now, every book I write will have a corresponding binder.
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Three chapters away? Lucky woman. I’m six chapters away…can you spell furstration. I want this book done so I can go back to my YA paranormal. Better get back to work.
Bella
January 29th, 2008 at 5:03 amOh, I hear ya! On the weekend, I had a flash for my next book–fully formed hero and all. Instead of working on the wip, I made plot and character notes until the wee hours of the morning. Bad Dawn. But I can hardly wait to start.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:54 pm