Ok. Not really. But this is the day of green everything (I will never understand green beer, but ok). I need to dig up a shirt somewhere to keep HP (husband person) from pinching me every ten minutes- No wait. He pinches me anyway.
There goes that idea.
ANYHOO, Happy St. Patricks Day! I need to go get ready for my day, but I can’t. I’m glued to Iditarod news, waiting for Sarah Stokey, Blair Braverman, and the last of the other mushers to make it in to Nome. Poor HP is wondering when I’ll detach my phone from my hand. The dogs are confused because I keep chanting ‘Go dogs, go!’ at random. So close! They’re so close! So, very very close!
In other news, I made it past one of the pivotal chapters in the next Devour the Stars book. I have this happen of sputtering out about three quarters of the way through my first draft, where everything has been set up and the players are on the field and then I have to kick the last stone over the edge of the cliff and let it all run downhill to the payoff. At this point I have a tendency to forget what happened where, who said this throwaway line in chapter 5 that becomes really important in chapter 25, and in this case, does Syrus have the wrench he may/may not need to keep the ship from blowing up. I think he dropped it two chapters ago, but I’m not sure.
So what I did this time around was decide to stop trying to plow blindly ahead (so much writing advice says to just keep going) and go back to the beginning and make a retroactive outline. (I have a very loose planner style, where I know where I’m going, and I have the next four or five chapter planned, but the characters tend to make detours so I pants that part)
That was in December.
DECEMBER
I had to make a choice. Kill myself finishing the first draft, doing Christmas (I made two fruitcakes, that was it. It was a pitiful baking year), and getting Devour the Stars ready for publishing? Or drop something for a little and focus on the other two.
So Book Two went into early revisions/outlining/refresher. And then HP tore his Achilles and life got REALLY interesting. Between surgery for him, recovery, and suddenly having to worry about getting him in to work (3 am is not when you want to be waking up folks. Just…no) progress on the book has been slow. But there HAS been progress. As I said, I came up to a pivotal chapter in the reread/summary process. I found the wrench! Now I know! Now I have it written down! Now I just have a few more chapters (up to the ‘where’s my wrench’ moment) and I can start adding fresh words! And hopefully, this will make the final edits that much easier when the book is done!
But for now, I’m going to go stuff my face with corned beef and cabbage, eat the cake I made with Guinness, and get a baby blanket done before I burn the thing out of sheer frustration!