So, I got a little lost.
Where?
In my manuscript. Yes, I’ve been writing. Revising. Editing. Deleting. Adding. Ignoring my family and workouts. Pretty much losing my mind. No worries. It happens.
My ms Doors crawls closer and closer to being ready to query. And I am READY! Until I get rejections … then I’ll rethink that. I can’t remember when I wrote the first draft. I do remember the idea popping in my head and scribbling it on a piece of paper. So long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I had a couple of first drafts in my computer … the beginning of what will be a series. Way back then, the common thought was that first-time authors would have less luck trying to query a series, so I searched the world for a stand alone idea. And it hit me … what if you could go anywhere in the universe.
What if there was a door?
Piece by piece, I uncovered the rest of the story. I exist in the belief that stories linger out in the grand space of everywhere, waiting to be found. If you are quiet, they will talk to you. If you force them into places you what them to go, they will rebel. If you open your mind all will be revealed.
So, I wrote it. Then I left it. I like to let first drafts sit in all their problems, marinate in all the plots holes and lost description. I go back, after I forget what I wrote, when the story calls to me, and its easier to find all the problems.
When I joined a writers’ group, The Summit City Scribes in Fort Wayne, IN., I bravely volunteered to read and brought the first chapter of Doors. Weeeellllll, it confused everyone. I had started it in the wrong place, I didn’t have enough world building …
RED ALERT! STEP AWAY FROM THE MS!
So I set it aside. It wasn’t ready and I had no idea what to do with it. But I didn’t fret. It would tell me what to do, eventually, so I moved on and wrote another ms.
Eventually, Doors tugged me back. I knew where to start it … I thought. Years later, I brought it back to the Scribes … no go, people.
BUT!
The comments from that critique, sent my mind spinning. After a few days, I knew where I needed to start it.
Magic has happened! Finally, I believe in it. I have done a few read-throughs and it now sits with some VERY KIND AND GENEROUS people who volunteered to read it and TELL ME ALL THE THINGS! Thank you all my Twitter friends! Seriously, if you’re a writer and haven’t found the marvelous support on Twitter … GO NOW AND FIND IT!
So, I wait. And I am not buried in words … wait … what? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW? The panic lasted for a moment, but I decided to give my brain a break. I will not think of Doors. Instead I shall run off on an exciting adventure of drawing and short stories, of critiquing for others, which is the best thing EVER.
How do you take a break? Anyone else climbing out of a sea of words?
Cupcake, anyone?
