That doesn’t make any sense

After finishing the first draft, I started in on making HORNED OWL HOLLOW readable. And ran into something startling.

They say when you don’t know what to write, just write. The words will come to you. I agree with that sentiment for the most part, and oftentimes that means I’m writing “notes” such as “…and then this happens, and then that happens.” Get the ideas down even if they aren’t proper prose. The theory is that even if you write garbage, you can always clean it up later.

As I was reviewing and “cleaning  the mess” that is the second draft, I confused myself. Wait. That doesn’t make sense. How can “that” happen before “this” happens? And here’s the thing. I know what needs to happen in the story, but I got it in the wrong sequence. The good news? The story is there, it just needs to be fixed. 

Write. Even when you don’t know what to write. You can clean it up later.

This week, I’m cleaning up. This is the first time I’ve made such a tangle of threads in a book, but hey, I like a puzzle. I’m moving chapters around, identifying which threads got lost in the tangle, and cutting those threads that don’t belong in the mess. 

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful to all of you who have been on this writing journey with me. Without you, there would be no road to travel.