The temptation to go back and begin editing is unbearable... but I'm resisting. I want everything down to The End before I do that. Since that was the goal I set myself, a complete rough draft, then that is what I'm stuck with. I find myself pondering twists and turns for the end while sitting in staff meetings or driving around town. I still have several options open and I'm trying to decide the path to take.
Of course, when I do go back and edit, I'll have to do some gardening. Plant a few seeds early on; cultivate, a tad of manure – not too much. Don't want to burn the poor plot. Or make it stink. I know I have more research to do. So far I've resisted the urge and just winged it. Haven't even allowed myself to go back, except for a quick read through of the previous day's material to jump start me.
Following the outline was easier than I thought. Now I'm suspicious. It can't work that well. The other side of my brain scolds me for resisting extensive outlining for so long. Now I'm unsure what to do with my half finished novel I set aside for NaNo. Go back and outline from the midpoint onward, or just plunge in and go for it? Either way, I'm going to have to tinker a bit. I would hate for the two halves to seem disconnected.
With Godhunter, I figured out how to punch up my bad guys, and how to make little cliffhanger endings for chapters. For that alone, it was worth doing. Also for giving myself the freedom to write pages of basically, "Did not", Did so"... A little more eloquently than that, but now I know I can go in and take the 2000 words of dialogue and prune them down to something more exciting.
Basically, when NaNo comes to a close tomorrow night, there will be no, "Stick a fork in it, its done" for me. I'm going to soldier on to the end, another 40,000 words or so, then stick it away for a while. My poetry has been neglected. Not too terribly, I still made all my November and December submissions, but I have big ones coming up I'd like to be able to concentrate on. Maybe an essay or two for good measure. Should be easier to get back into, when I jokingly told my boss I wanted to do some of my case notes in iambic pentameter or at least as a villanelle, she said...
"Go for it."
How does my writing garden grow? With help from friends, bosses, and a CD of Billy Collins poems that showed me you can have fun with your work, and still be serious. Well, as serious as I get.
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