Regrouping

Our family enjoyed a wonderful holiday, and I hope you and yours did, too.

This week will be a transition back to sanity for me. While the major hoopla is over and done until next year, we have one more group of guests coming for New Year's.

The lull until they arrive on Thursday will give me a few days to think about my work in progress.

I had planned to finish the first draft by the end of November, before the Holiday Crazies commandeered my life. Didn't happen. I have about 20,000 more words to go. I will finish by the end of January, unless life throws me into the middle of a lake in some way.

During the frenzied days leading up to Christmas, I had bursts of thought about my protagonist, some of which I was smart enough to note on stickies. These are plastered around my desk and calendar.

I'm going to sort through them and attempt to put them into some kind of order. Some of the ideas may not work, others I know will. I'm crossing my fingers that my subconscious comes through with all the things I didn't write down.

Bottom line . . . I hope to have a solid plan for the ending before I start back into my regular writing routine next Monday.

This manuscript is either romantic suspense or a romantic mystery. I have trouble choosing the correct genre. I've always known how it will end, and a few weeks before the frenzy began, I discovered which man the protagonist chooses (which had been a problem). But now I know why she chooses him. And I have a better sense of the order things need to take to reach the ending I envision.

If I take these few days to really think about all this, and translate my notes into a good list, the remaining words should flow like good wine.

I hope.

Say a prayer.

Light a candle.

Ask your muse to call mine.

Comments

Terry Odell said…
Sadly, there is no 'romantic mystery' genre, although there are 'romantic mystery' books (I know because I write them). But the marketing is all done as "romantic suspense" which can really confuse readers expecting suspense and getting a mystery instead. But someone hung that 'romantic suspense' label on the entire continuum, and we're stuck with it.
Carol Kilgore said…
Ahh. Thanks for clearing that up for me, Terry. At least I don't have to worry about what to call it.
I'd have my muse call yours except that mine doesn't seem to be talking to me lately. Maybe once the Holiday season is over, we'll both have words flowing like wine again! Good luck.
Laura Eno said…
Unfortunately, my muse is out playing in tinsel, but I'll have her call yours if she wanders back in.
Helen Ginger said…
My muse would call you, but she forgets very easily, like me. I write things down, too. If I don't, the thought floats away on the breeze, or as is often the case, on the dream, since things tend to come to me in my sleep.

Helen
Straight From Hel
It sounds like you already have a pretty good direction for the rest of your book. Good luck with your regrouping! Sometimes I sketch out several different endings and see which one works best. Time-consuming, but it seems to work for me.

My muse and I aren't speaking to each other. :)

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Kerrie said…
It sounds like everyone's muse is busy, lost or taking a nap. Maybe we can start a muse support group to get them all back on track. :-)
Elspeth Futcher said…
My muse is still consuming mincemeat tarts and shortbread. She's also thinking about champagne ( it's not because of New Year's, it's just her way).

Congrats on being so close to finishing. Sit down. Have a cookie.

Elspeth
Mason Canyon said…
Good luck on remembering what you didn't write down. If I don't write it down the second I think of it, then it's gone forever.
Good luck on your writing.
Happy New Year.
Angela said…
Hi Carol, and thank you for saying hello! Oh sure, I`ll send you my Muse. Mine is always sending me funny and peculiar dreams, really long and amazing ones. So don`t be surprised if you wake up laughing out loud in the middle of the night as I sometimes do!
I have no worry that you will find your perfect ending. I wonder if I can already buy a finished book which you wrote? Can you give me a title?
Did you have that much snow as our news said?
Anonymous said…
Sounds like you have had the ah-ha moment with your characters and that can only be a good thing. Good luck with your writing. Wishing you the best.
Carol Kilgore said…
A muse support group. I like that, Kerrie, since all our muses seem to be on holiday time.

I think I will have that cookie :)
Carol Kilgore said…
Angela - No snow here in San Antonio. Lots in the Midwest and Northeast states, I think. Pretty cold here for Texas.

Cassandra - I did have an ah-ha moment. And I'm happy about it. Now I hope I can pull it off.
Conda Douglas said…
Ah yes, best laid plans and the sticky note program--both are very familiar to me--and the notes always work for me, even if they don't end up in the w.i.p.!
Carol Kilgore said…
I'm hoping they work for me, too, Conda.

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