DevinHarnois.com

I haven’t done anything with it the past few days, but ‘Bayou Girl’ got unstuck earlier this week. I’ve realized I just have to let it be what it wants to be, and not try to turn it into something else. It’s on the sweet side. So be it.

‘Marked For Life’ has become my priority, which is kinda bad since it’s clearly going to be on the long side – upwards of 20k, probably. And with how slow I write, that’s going to take a while.

After I get those two done and tackle some of the massive amount of editing I need to do, I might try to come up with some shorter pieces so I can get a few things done and start circulating them.

Sometimes the little things make a difference. I got a scene to turn the way I wanted to by the inclusion of a sugar packet. It certainly wasn’t a major plot revelation, but it was just what I needed.

Sometimes writing is just hard; a bad day or distractions getting in the way or whatever. And sometimes the writing is hard because a scene is just going nowhere. I was struggling yesterday, sighing over the computer screen. I stopped and asked myself “wait, what’s the point of this scene? Do I really need it?” The answer was no. I kept what I had in case I wanted to use bits of it later and moved on to the next scene. Things picked up.

This is a lesson I have to remind myself of now and then.

I’ve been avoiding editing, mostly due to wanting to get work done on my new stories first. And the going has been a bit slow in April. Now that I have a story as well as two novels that need editing, it’s time for a little ejumacashun (isn’t that a lovely word?) I don’t really know how to edit, beyond “this looks wrong/clumsy/horrible and I need to fix it”. Thankfully, I have the internet at my fingertips  and a few helpful friends to teach me all about passive voice, tying down POV, and avoiding big chunks of telling.

Again, I get that feeling that I’m far behind where I should be as a writer.

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