So much to do, so little time
I finished nearly all of my draft 6 outline refactor, but progress has slowed to a crawl. I’m going to start writing and address the rest as I go. Ironically, mid-month I was champing at the bit to get to drafting. Now that I believe I’m ready, life has left me distracted and unfocused.
Part of this is the fundamental disagreement I have with my developmental editor that strikes at the core of the book. He believes I have a good story that is broken; one simple change will fix it. But if I follow his impassioned advice, then in my eyes, this will no longer be the story I feel compelled to write. There has to be a way to fix the story without killing what I love most about it. But his arguments echo enough of my own worries that I can’t completely discount them.
I still have that arrogant, rebellious “I know what’s best for my story” streak, despite his multiple decades of experience in the industry against my none. But for the moment, especially now that I’m no longer completely steeped in my story for most of the day every day, that nagging voice of doubt is worming its way through me.
Still, the confident me-of-the-past has left the me-of-the-present a clear direction and path to follow. As for proving my editor wrong and myself right, I’ll leave that challenge lying in the dirt for me to pick up when my fire and intensity of vision return. Until then, perseverance and dumb bull-headedness will keep me trudging forward, if slowly :)
Distractions
I’ve spent a good chunk of time futzing with my neovim, obsidian, ish, iVim, etc. environments, the digital equivalent of sharpening my pencils and straightening stacks of paper instead of actually writing. I think my efforts will pay off, as long as I can declare them good enough for now and get to work.
The dogs are adorable and doing well, but for multiple reasons they’ve kept us from having a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep for weeks… perhaps in late September.
And we’re making some exciting, major plans that will be eating the majority of my time and headspace for the coming months. But I’ve had experience carving out time for a secondary project. I’ll need to spend my time more wisely and make slow but steady progress.
Plans for September
Start drafting!!
Stats
I moved the manuscript into my snippets folder, since draft 6 is a major refactor. I’ll move each scene’s file back when I’m ready to revise and/or rewrite it.
I’m calling the draft 6 outline done, but I already know I’ll be editing it significantly as I go.