In today’s Journal
* Yesterday
* Topic: Another Brief Lesson on Trust
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Yesterday I had a less-than-stellar day and finally stopped struggling and let myself drown at around 2700 words (see Day 20 below). As I wrote earlier, typical for me as I near the end-game of a novel.
Topic: Another Brief Lesson on Trust
Wow. A lot going on in the novel. Even as I approach the end, a little voice has been nagging me throughout about a “fatal flaw” way back in the basic premise of the story. I recognized the little voice as my creative mind (my characters) reminding me something went a little wrong early.
Of course, I knew that. But I also sensed that even though the basic premise is flawed, I didn’t need to change it. I knew it needed something, but the flawed premise is one of the things that makes the story so unique.
So I relaxed and continued to write the story as it came, and it’s been a fun ride thus far. I trusted that eventually how to render the flaw less than fatal would come to me.
Only it didn’t. And it didn’t. And it didn’t.
And then this morning, on either the last day of this novel or the next to the last day, the solution appeared as I was heating coffee to sip with my breakfast.
I wasn’t even thinking about the story. I was concentrating on not burning my eggs and sausage and buttering my marble rye toast and hoping I could cut off the microwave before it reached zero time left and made that annoying dinging sound.
The solution seeped through all that noise. And when it came, it was almost a slap-my-forehead moment. I literally laughed out loud.
It was so simple, which is probably why I overlooked it in the first place.
So now that breakfast is over and I’m back in the Hovel (having added just over 1000 words to the story in the first session earlier), I’ll cycle back and allow the alien spokesman to add a few sentences to what he’s saying to the assembled UN. (That starts at about 1600 words into the novel—did I say the flaw occurred early? (grin))
Then I’ll go back to the blank space at the end of the manuscript and write toward the ending. Of course, like all good endings, that will also be the transition to a new stage of life, AKA Book 2. (grin)
I’ve mentioned many times that every book writes differently. I’m constantly amazed at all the helpful ways being able to Trust reveals itself. I Trust in the characters and I Trust in the creative subconscious and everything works out.
Even as little as six years ago, faced with the same problem, I would have either abandoned this story (yes, even 50,000 words in) or I would have “forced” a “fix” on the story with my conscious mind. And ruined it.
As Joe Kenda would say, “My my my. Look what happens when you just follow the leads.”
Today, as I mentioned above, I’m closing in on the end though I still can’t quite see it. Searching for a good analogy… let’s see… say I’ve been adrift on a raft for the past 20 days. This morning I still can’t see dry land, but a few doves have flown over my raft, so…. (grin)
Talk with you again soon. I’ll report the fiction numbers for today later.
Of Interest
See “Time (A Coronavirus Stay-At-Home Special Reprint #4)” at https://kriswrites.com/2020/03/29/time-a-coronavirus-stay-at-home-special-reprint-4/.
See “Card Sharp Silver… Day 11” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/card-sharp-silver-day-11/.
For those who haven’t seen it yet, view “Attitude of a Fiction Author” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Q8aw5jzrE&feature=youtu.be.
See “How To Write The Perfect Story, For Unruly Writers” at https://prowriterswriting.com/how-to-write-the-perfect-story-for-unruly-writers/.
See “How To Get Your Book Into Libraries And Bookstores With Mark Leslie Lefebvre” at https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2020/03/30/get-your-book-into-libraries-and-bookstores/.
See “7 reasons why ebooks are better than printed books” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/7-reasons-why-ebooks-are-better-than-printed-books/.
See “How to Rescue an Endangered Book and Find your Author Mojo” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-to-rescue-an-endangered-book-and-find-your-author-mojo/. FWIW.
See “The Bakers and the Pot of Gold” at https://blog.smashwords.com/2020/03/the-bakers-and-pot-of-gold.html.
See “Emergency Funds for Writers” at https://www.authorspublish.com/emergency-funds-for-writers/. FWIW.
The Numbers
Fiction words today…………………… XXXX
Nonfiction words today…………… 670 (Journal)
Writing of The Othgygnrkthers (tentative title, novel)
Day 19… 3399 words. Total words to date…… 45522
Day 20… 2766 words. Total words to date…… 48288
Day 21… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 63957
Total fiction words for the year………… 200652
Total nonfiction words for the month… 26390
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 80870
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 281522
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 48
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31