Hello 2025! January IWSG
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| Yes, Violet. Grammie's book is a load of hooey right now. |
This month's insecurity is...
Will I ever finish this next book?
This current WIP is kicking my butt. I was feeling a bit of hope prior to the holidays. I was zipping through the first half of the story, daring to say I'd probably be ready to consider publication around March, and then BAM! I opened chapter 29 and there was the wall.
None of it made sense. It didn't even match the beginning of the book.
I moved onto the next chapter and the next...none of them made sense what-so-ever. It's as if every single chapter past #28 was just a hodge podge of whatever bull malarky my brain wanted to spew that day.
(No, I hadn't been drinking. I kinda wish I had been because at least that would've been a good excuse!)
I always tell people to forge on and write crap when they're blocked, but wow. At least make sure the crap makes some sense.
I'm not sure any of it is even usable. It would probably take more time to pick and choose the good stuff rather than trashing it all and starting the end over.
Kill a darling? Hell, this is going to be more like a mass homicide.
January 8 question - Describe someone you admired when you were a child. Did your opinion of that person change when you grew up?
There were a lot of people I respected growing up and I still respect them to this day. Just to make it interesting, I tried to think of someone I admired that I later realized was a train wreck of a human, but I can't really think of a single person. I was always a quiet kid, so I think people often forgot I was there and I'd hear a lot of truths that people still probably don't realize I'm aware of. Also, when I was young, my grandma Mary told me judge a person by how they treated those who could do nothing for them. That was the true judge of their character. That was some sage advice that I always remembered and seems to have served me well.
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| Join the IWSG! Thanks to this month's awesome co-hosts! Rebecca Douglass, Beth Camp, Liza @ Middle Passages, and Natalie @ Literary Rambles! |
Good advice from your Grandma Mary! Violet is so sweet.
ReplyDeleteShe is a sweetie!
DeleteGreat advice from Grandma.
ReplyDeleteSorry your work is a mess. Time to bring out the chainsaw.
And I got a chainsaw for Christmas, so how perfect is that?
DeleteYour granddaughter looks like one tough critic! Good luck, Granny. I have faith that you'll get through this WIP. You've done it before. Here's to a great year of writing.
ReplyDeletehttps://cleemckenziebooks.substack.com/p/short-story-wednesdayagain
Children are brutally honest, right? LOL
DeleteThank you for the support! Here's to a great writing year!
Good advice from your Grandma! And I'm sorry the story is struggling. I am afraid to even look at what I drafted this fall--I, too, may need to commit mass murder to pull the story from the mess.
ReplyDeleteI suppose there are worse things that could happen, like our laptops catching on fire or something...
DeleteI've had the just write crap stuff and then found it to be a mire of muck that made now sense, so I can totally empathies. And the funny thing is that I'm sure it made sense when I first wrote it. 😝
ReplyDeleteI must have had some plan. I just can't see it yet. LOL
Delete"...judge a person by how they treated those who could do nothing for them." That's very good advice.
ReplyDeleteHang in there. You'll figure out the WIP. Try asking 'what if...?' and carry out some plot variations in your mind before sitting back down to the keyboard. Or run it by your trusted CPs.
Trusted CPs are going to be hearing from me, so be prepared.
DeleteI may have asked what if one too many times. I must have been asking a new what if in each chapter.
Your grandmother was very wise.
ReplyDeleteHold on to what you've done and go back a couple chapters, read up until #29, and then see if a new direction doesn't strike you.
I will move the chapters into a planning file...just in case there is something salvageable. Thanks for the reminder.
DeleteUgh on the story! Do you know what the ending is? If so, maybe try writing that then write backwards just to get a groove going again? Or write some of those scenes you know for sure you want in there? Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI do know the ending. And I seem to have a thousand different ideas on getting there.
DeleteJust kidding. You're right. The sensible thing is to work backward from the end.
WIPs kicking butt... I can relate! And stuff just not making sense? That's what I'm currently trying to fix after the mess I made over 10 years ago.
ReplyDelete