There's your earworm for the day.
Deadline season is over at the day job. I have survived (can I get another earworm alert?). During busy season, there are some days when I wondered if I would survive, and yet I've lived to tell the tale one more time. So what now?
First on the agenda, get back to EPITAPH 3. While I'm somewhere between a third and a half way through it, I was struggling even when my brain was dialed in to author mode. My protags were arguing with me that they weren't having enough fun. They were just walking through their paces. Clearly, I didn't have enough gray matter to deal with them, but now that I do ... Looks like I'm going to throw out a lot of what I wrote and start over, make sure I get it right. Some books are like that. I'm committed to getting at least the first three EPITAPH books out there (this being the third) and then I can evaluate whether or not to continue with the series. Are you enjoying the EPITAPH books?
But also...
I have another Northwest Suburbs book tapping its foot in the background, waiting its turn. Isn't that always the way? The next book can be so impatient sometimes!
Being able and willing to recognize you've strayed too far along the wrong path is common enough, I think. I know of one Big Name Author who said she realized she had taken the wrong approach when she was almost finished with the book, and it was shortly before deadline. She ripped the book apart (I believe she was on a plane) and rewrote, and made her deadline. I think that's part of being a professional. You do the work.
ReplyDeleteI heard the same from A Big Name Author at a conference. It isn't uncommon. The key is recognizing that it isn't working!
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