Well, I'm pleased to say that Seeking is nearly ready for publication. I'm giving it one last read-through (or, rather, listen-through) to catch errors I might otherwise miss (I'm only on chapter five and have already caught three things). I'm really liking the way the book turned out, but I'm not gonna lie: the thing's kind of been an albatross. There have been many a time I felt like I wasn't ever going to finish the first draft! But I finally did, and it feels good to have worked out the kinks and turned it into something I'll be proud to publish.
And when will I be publishing it? Well, I haven't set a firm date, but I think it'll be next week! The hard copy, unfortunately, will be out a little later.
Now, I'm in the sticky position of plotting out the final book in the trilogy, Becoming. This book, for some reason, is proving to be the most nebulous. I mean, I know many of the things I want to happen. Still, there are some things that aren't clear to me yet. There are some things that need to be cleared up but that I'm not sure how I'll handle.
About a month ago, I got a new laptop. My old one still works, but it causes me to turn green and yell, "Hulk SMASH!" on a regular basis, so my husband and I decided it would be in everyone's best interest for me to get a new one. Well, one of my first orders of business was to purchase Scrivener, a software that helps to organize a document.
It's funny. I really, really like Scrivener, and I know it'll help me stay on track, but there's something to be said for my old standby way of plotting--stream of consciousness writing. It's the way I usually begin a novel (or, in most cases, an idea which will never become a novel). I open up a document for ideas about the story, and I basically start typing. Sometimes I ask questions, sometimes I describe characters, sometimes I lay out a basic plot. Most of the time, I do all these things. And, actually, I've done it (sort of) for Becoming. But--wouldn't you know it?--some of the things I wrote don't necessarily fit anymore. And other things are completely not addressed. So, tonight, my plan is to just start typing. I've already learned a couple things I didn't know, and I've already made some decisions that'll affect tiny smidgens of what I've already written in the draft of Becoming. And it's good.
My goal is that next time I chisel out some time to write, my vision is more clear. It should make the rest of the writing much more smooth. And, with any luck, the first draft of Becoming won't take almost a year to write.
