Progress

I only have a couple, or at the most, three writing days a week. Which means I have to make the most of them. Unlike the drudgery of writing a novel, one can make pretty good progress on a novella with only a three to four-hour writing session. (Just one more reason to appreciate novellas.)

I knew I had a ways to go, since I was sitting at only about 17,000 words, so the first thing I did yesterday was reread what I'd already written. I liked it! Sometimes picking up again after the previous session can lead a writer in a whole other direction, but that didn't happen. The story flows cohesively. It's not disjointed. And over time I've learned to not try and fix something that's already working. I think the reason New Kaitlyn turned out as well as it did was because I just wrote without overthinking it. 

Overthinking was what doomed my novels. I hesitate to pound this point into the ground, but it's true that writing toward a predetermined word count can really mess up a writer like me. Instead of focusing on the story, I'm trying to devise ways to elongate it. That just leads to writing hell. After evolving into a novella writer, I can no longer imagine adding a subplot. Why do it when the story itself is so interesting? Hey, I know you like where the main character's arc is leading, but come over here and read about what's going on in her best friend's life! Sorry, but that's just stupid. 

Adding subplots is but one more bad piece of writing advice that reams of unpublished authors try to talk you into doing. The conundrum is, though, that if you don't add a subplot, how the hell do you come up with a 60,000-word novel? Here are the (bad) ways I managed to hit 60,000 words in my first two novels: One, I told three different women's stories. Granted, they were women from the same family, but that's like having three different subplots. Two, lots ~ and I mean lots ~ of flashbacks. The flashbacks went on forever. In my third novel I included a subplot, but it was still about the main character; just another aspect of her life that didn't relate to the main theme. This was probably my most successful attempt, albeit completely unnecessary except for reaching that magic number. And sadly, each of these novels took a year or more to complete. I began dreading writing days.

Back to the project at hand, I found no need to add to what I'd already written, so my plan for the story's end is now taking a backseat to additional narrative. I'm not sure that I'll keep it ~ which is why rereading is crucial. I had plopped in a kind of innocuous detail toward the start of the story that never went anywhere, but it always nagged at me ~ why even write it if it doesn't matter? So I'm adding a scene that ties it in. We'll see if it fits.

I always know when I've reached the point where the end is near, because I start thinking about book covers. You probably know that creating covers is one of my favorite parts of the publishing process. Titling is one of my least favorite. I never come up with decent titles, as my catalog will attest. I almost have to create an outstanding cover just to make up for the lousy title. And trust me, don't ask AI for suggestions. That Mister AI is the dullest man I've ever known. I could use a random word generator and come up with a more intriguing title (hmmm...)

So, there it is ~ the state of the only thing I'm good at ~ putting words together. Yay for me.