Let It Rest?

I'm generally not very busy. That's how I like it. I "did my time" being busy ~ several decades, in fact ~ so I deserve this break. But life doesn't always care about what we deserve, and thus, against my will my recent days have been filled. That, of course, leaves me no time to write, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

For a time, when I was dashing off one novella after another, I fell into the mindset that I had to keep moving; write even when the thought of doing so made me cranky. I forced myself to do it. I don't regret that. How does one get better at writing and plotting? By doing it. And doing it and doing it. I'm a better writer for having driven myself.

Now, though, it's been...I don't know how many days...since I last worked on Second Chance, and letting it rest might just be what it and I need. It could well be a week or more before I even get back to the story, but it'll still be there. In my free time I've done some thinking about it, and I'm having doubts. Nothing I can put my finger on, but a general feeling that the novel won't live up to what I'd envisioned. 

I admit, I tore into the revisions with a vengeance. There's a consensus among reviews for some of my books that my stories are too rushed. I'll hasten to add that those books still garnered four and five-star ratings, but I copped to that criticism. I have tended to lurch ahead and go light on detail. So with Second Chance, I deliberately set out to do the exact opposite. Rather than think the criticism through logically, I said, "Oh, yea? Then how about this?" and so I'm now writing an extra-detailed narrative. 

This may be good for "practice writing", but it's whipping this story into submission. Potential readers will be waiting for the big dramatic scene (or several big dramatic scenes) and I can't even think of one that I've penned thus far. All the main character does is plod along from one scenario to the next, with barely any payoff. Her two biggest actions so far have been quitting the band (in Act 1) and in Act 2, dispatching two hated people in her entourage by handing them Greyhound Bus tickets and pointing them toward the transit station.

When it comes to day-to-day stuff, oh, the writing is quite detailed. When it hardly matters. Her two-day disastrous Iowa episode felt like two years. It's not that the overall effect of that scene doesn't lead her to some important revelations, but, wow, did I really need to describe every little step? 

At this point I don't think it's fixable, but I've traveled too far down the road and I have to play the story out. The "amusing" thing is, I feel like I've written thousands of words, but if I actually counted them I'd be devastated. 

So yes, letting it rest is a blessing. If all Second Chance turns out to be is another lesson learned, there's nothing wrong with that. Plus, I'm in no rush. My fans aren't demanding a new book from me. Well, that's not true ~ I have no fans.

If I find a few minutes to write here and there, shrug. I'm not itching to get to the big scene, because there are no big scenes. 

In the meantime, I keep trying to find topics to write about on this blog, because I have to do something.