I'm back

It so didn't happen Saturday. And then Sunday and Monday I was pretty sick and miserable.

But I'm back tonight and determined to finish the scene list. Anything I can't finish by the end of the month (meaning by Weds night), I'll just have to skip for the now. The characters will have to tell me when we get to that scene. I'm set to have a good December!!

Going to show up today!!

Ok, so here I am at work and I'd really like to make some progress with my scene list today.

Going to grab some tea and I'll be back to update with every little step...

Stuck-lette

It's not going well so far.

I am paralyzed that the scene list needs to be perfect and interesting and in the right direction. But I don't know what the correct direction is so I don't make any decisions at all. Paralysis is not a productive use of time.

I need to brainstorm for awhile.

I don't need to produce anything. I just need to sit here doing nothing until 8pm (maybe it was 8:30). Sometimes in utter boredom, my muse starts to cooperate.

I'm not interested in any of the last scenes. Why is that?

Nobody's actions/motives make sense. It's all a murky haze.

So throw out what I thought was supposed to happen and just write out what happens to get me to the end, at a very, very high level.

Right now, writing is reminding me alot of evolutionary theory: throw enough millenia [notecards] at the enhancement [story] and it becomes plausible.

Got one new scene which showed that I need at least 8 more scenes (about 2 chapters). Not sure what happens in them, I just know they are there.

Back To It

Can't believe it's Friday already- Thanksgiving week came and swallowed me whole.

Summary of my not-writing:

• Tues- worked until 8pm, crashed in front of the evil box
• Weds- normal day, crashed in front of the evil box
• Thurs- got up early to make the pies, day at the SILs with hubby's family. Home by 8pm. Crashed in bed. Slept until 7am (oops, what happened to the alarm clock?)

Made it to work on time today (no day off for me). I really wanted to work on the remaining scene list but I couldn't focus at work. But I'm here tonight. It's 6:30 so I'll set the timer for a couple hours.

Everything that's left are biggie, black holes. If I can even get a few that will be a major victory. Plus I've already figured out that there are many in-between scenes that are missing (like the whole process of getting to the final scene with the villain, and which character is actually my book 1 villain). Yah, minor things like that. :D

Here goes, time to find my focus, get into my character's head and dive into the scene list.

Finishing up tonight's work

Ok, last post was getting too long. I need a fresh place to compose my thoughts.

I have about 9 scenes left to note-card. UPDATE: Cheating but two other scenes were easily combined. ...8 scenes left to note-card.

I really need to finish the book this year. It's been so many years.

Good news is I am a lot further than this morning.

How hard is it to note-card this scene- pick up the phone and call people. Why is this so difficult to write? ...Ugh, it's not difficult to write- it's BORING. I don't want to include boring scenes. What happens that's actually INTERESTING???

Looks like this is a task for tomorrow.

I made up notes for the 8 scenes that are left. Need to figure out the twist/conflict/interesting thing about each one.

There is NO reason to be overwhelmed. Just deal with this one scene at a time.

One scene at a time, one scene at a time...

Feeling stuck so I must come on here and re-center.

A.) Completed the epilogue cards. 2 scenes, should be nice. Going for a quiet, introspective feeling.

B.) Added a 3rd epilogue card that closes out my 2 MCs storylines.

C.) Completed the big confrontation at the end between MCs and monster.

D.) Setup my clandestine meeting between the 2 MCs.

E.) Got my DUH going and combined 2 scene cards into one [HELLO/THE STORY IS LONG ENOUGH ALREADY!!]. Scene is now note-carded.

F.) Note-carded the scene where my 2 MCs continue to diverge on separate paths. 7 scenes done.

Stuck again. There is NO conflict in this scene. Unless I add in yet another whispered meeting??

How much clandestine stuff is too much? Although it needs to trigger this other scene...

OK, moving on, maybe something will come to me. Leaving it in To Do status

Currently I have 10 scenes setup in Scrivener which need to be note-carded. Not sure how many more are needed to fill gaping holes.

G.) Finished the intro scene between my MC and the mega-antagonist. 8 scenes note-carded.

H.) Combined two scene cards. 8 to go. (at least it's only 3pm)

Taking a break for cooking... blah... blah... blah...

[Interlude: I should not be stuck. The point of playing in note cards is that nothing matters. It's maybe 50-100 words each of scene overview info. I can always redo the 8 remaining cards over and over until the flow feels right.]

I'm back. 4:23. Takes forever to cook and dishes. And hubby wants to watch movie- not sure what kind of time I have left.

Yup, I'm fried. Hopefully I can write up the remaining scene list tomorrow- it's primarily two subplots now.

Note Cards to the end- Due Dec 1st

I had lots of fun yesterday- downloaded the trial version of Scrivener for Windows.

Yesterday I had time to create note cards for the scenes I know about (starting with the last scene which is started but blocked). The stuff that's already written is just going to be in the back of my mind instead of cluttering up the app.

Today I need to start working on each card to figure out the conflict and outcome and next step. I'm using The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing (it's similar to Holly Lisle's sentence lites but I like that I don't have to worry about putting it into a 30 word sentence). I just have to figure out each piece.

Now I've tried this before and been overwhelmed. I'm hoping things go better this time. My due date for this is Dec 1st.

Also I am starting from the end of the story and working backwards. I know how the story ends. Maybe if I move backwards I can figure out how MC gets there from where she is now.

Step 1- Rough draft. Due Jan 1st

Write the story in rough draft/skeletal format. Keep going until I reach the end. Due Jan 1st

Breaking this out:
30 scene cards
Write out each scene- ROUGH draft

Path to Freedom- take two

When I was trying to create my own "Path to Freedom", I got overwhelmed and dropped it. Time to come back to it.

I am inspired to just finish the story already. (I am no longer working on the new one).
The story is at 87000 words (around). I think it will take at least 30 more scenes (~1500 words/scene) to finish this up. 45,000 words + 87000 = 132,000 words [!!] My inner editor needs to go on a vacation until I reach The End (it is what it is). There's no reason to worry about how the story is too long. It doesn't matter right now, I am in first draft.

I finally have a scene next that fits. Have no idea what interesting thing will happen during it but at least Muse and I are curious about it.

Path to Freedom:
* Write the story in rough draft/skeletal format. Keep going until I reach the end. - Due Jan 1st
* Brainstorm book 2/scene list
* Write book 2 in rough draft
* Brainstorm book 3/scene list
* Write book 3 in rough draft
* Revise book 1
* Revise book 2
* Revise book 3
* Critique book 1 (send it out for outsider opinion)
* Critique book 2
* Critique book 3
* Send out cover letter and partials, etc. (or self-pub)