When Will I Learn?

Blog No. 198

While it may not seem obvious, I’ve been working away on Pilot all year. I would agree with people commenting that it’s been taking too long and nine months to complete 45 000 words is sad. Yup. I’m right there with you. Still, it’s the longest story I’ve written (longer every time I plug away at it) and it’s only the third novel I’ve ever attempted to write. Again, having tried and failed twice before isn’t something I’m super proud to share, but it’s a fact, and I know I’m not the only person who’s been in that boat. The first try was just not a goo enough story to be a novel I made it to a forced fifth chapter, coming up with new things to add every day (padding out the lack of plot). Eventually I came to term with the faulty concept and moved on. The second one was much better. I was a huge idea and I managed to get to 35 000 words before floundering.

Original Goals

Blog No. 191

I’m tired today—unbelievably tired. I haven’t felt this exhausted in a long time. I can’t even remember when I was this wiped out. It’s not like I did anything extraordinary. I have had a few nights that went later than usual (some my fault, a few definitely not) thought that’s not terribly unusual. Perhaps the number of night in a row has become abnormal, but they really weren’t so late. The heat has affected my sleeping, and I have been sleeping poorly on top of that (for reasons I’m not allowed to know apparently). There seems to be no end in sight (for either the lack of sleep, or today, which is dragging like one of those dredges, or maybe an anchor). I’m not sure what that has to do with anything other than it’s the most prominent thing in my life today. When you’re tired, everything else seems to fade a bit. The amount of red squiggly lines I’ve had to go back and correct is absurd.

Little Books

Blog No 156

Each week I sit down and write one of these blog posts. When I’m done (and it’s posted) I spend the time before the next one furiously brainstorming what to write about. Last week, due to the book I was given by my mother, I decided to write about book lengths. Instead I wrote about audio books, my mother, and a little about my brief time in another city. I don’t know how I got so far off track, but it happens, and I am happy with how that post turned out. Now I want to try again (this time more focused) and explore the topic of book lengths. I can only hope I manage to stay on track. You may need to check out the last post Thoughts about Books for this to make sense.

Currently I am working on the final layout issues of the short story collection that Christian and I are publishing. I’m also a third of the way through writing my first novel and picking away at a novella that I’m rewriting, hoping it will be the start of a series that has been on my mind for my years. They are all writing, but the lengths are very different and therefore they are written in different way. The story structure, the detail, and the plot vary greatly based on the length of each publication.