Keep moving forward

For me, the hardest part of writing a book is getting starting. Thinking about cranking out over 50,000 golden words of terrific prose is daunting. There’s the fear of “How can I top my last book?” and “Can I come up with an original idea?”

The trick is to break down the novel to pieces. Start with one word, then two, then three . . . Work on one chapter at a time before worrying about the next.

I start with an outline. I tried writing one book as “pantster” and by page 50, I was in trouble. The story didn’t interest me and, I’m sure, would bore the reader as well. I threw out of what I’d written and started over—with an outline.

The outline is flexible. I add to it and shift elements around as I progress. But, like a road trip, I have a destination in mind and can plan the most direct route with a minute of delays. As a “pantster,” I’d be taking too many scenic detours and ending up miles away from my goal.

An advantage of outline is that once that’s in place, the actual writing is easy. With an outline, I don’t have to think hard about what should be in the scene. Once I start writing, it begins to flow and gets easier. When I start building the characters and watching how the scene plays out and adding comic bits, I’m motivated to keep going. Like swimming, the initial plunge into the pool takes the most effort.

I’ve heard the phrase that a writer needs to “show up at the page.” That is, the author must sit, pick up the pen or turn on the computer, and actually write. Simply thinking or talking about writing, or saying “it’s all in my head,” or going to endless meetings or conferences or classes without writing will never produce a book.

The first months of this year, for me, had many distractions, including house repairs and cat health and working on a big teaching project. Now that’s all out of the way—for now—and I have no more excuses. I finally picked up the clipboard (my first drafts are in longhand) and began the second book in the Psychedelic Spy retro-cozy series. After all, one can’t have a series with only one book.

The first night I only wrote four pages. But that’s four more pages than I had the night before. If an author only composes one page a day, by the end of the year she’ll have a 365-page novel.

Now that I’ve started one project, I’m ending another. This is my last regular post on Ladies of Mystery. I’ve enjoyed being part of the blog, but my writing time is limited. Along with my day job and housework, I also write a newspaper column and contribute to my parish. I need more time to focus on my books. After the new book is finished I want to write another Sandy Fairfax book along with a non-mystery novel that’s been kicking around in my head for years. So many ideas, so little time.

I hope to return periodically to LOM with guest posts whenever I have a new book to share. In the meantime, you can keep in touch with me on Facebook or contact me at sallyc@earthlink.net. Stay tuned . . .