I was going to pick up the third book in the Lyall series this morning, but realized I desperately need to update my blog. Ah, crap.
Currently, I’m done with all of my edits and revisions. That clears the way for me to work on the third book. The downside is I can’t immediately resume work on it because I stopped a hundred and something pages into it. I need to reread everything I wrote. I could more than likely pick up and go into the next scene without rereading, but that’s not how I write. I need the memory of previous things to be fresh.
Didn’t I plot this book out? Well, yes. I plot books out, but plot is part of the foundation. Writing can sometimes be a nearly intuitive thing for me. I’ll lay the basic foundation for the plot down and build off of it, but I don't plot every minor detail. I can't, because there have been times when I’ve thought a character would act a certain way or a scene would play out a certain way and they don't always do that once they hit the page. I’m pretty sure I’ve said that before. A lot of writers know what I’m talking about. Some of us spend hours trying to bend our imaginary friends to our will. Others just let them go and see what happens. Depending on the situation, I do both. I am both plotter and pantser and not ashamed. (Brief explanation for those of you wondering what the hell I’m talking about. A pantser is a writer who flies through a book by the “seat of their pants.” A plotter is someone who plots and is generally a stickler about following that plot).
In order to pick up where I left off I need to revisit the story. It gives me a chance to edit the pages I’ve already written. I had planned on working on the book yesterday, but due to the incessant sounds of hammering, it wasn’t happening. We have people working on the roof again today. Hopefully, they’ll try to keep as quiet as they’re being (of course, I type that sentence out and the banging intensifies – neat trick, that is).
Methinks utter determination will come in handy today. Yes, me do.
Blessings,
Winter
