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May
10
2010

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

My stone is getting mossy…

We’ve had company for the last month and the hubby and I went on vacation for a week as well. So needless to say, getting writing done on my novel has been a challenge.  We don’t get company very often, so while we do, I like to spend my time visiting and not plugging away on my laptop.  I have managed to find an hour here and there to write, but it’s definitely not my usual schedule of twice a week for two hours each time.  But I’m doing the best I can.  The best I can do, seems to be one chapter finished in the last month.  Yikes!  My stone that was once rolling like a rock in a landslide, has now slowed to a pebble being kicked along a meandering hiking trail.

I’m used to writing about one chapter every two weeks or so depending on the length of the chapter and difficulty of the scenes within it.  Having written, proofread, and rewritten this last chapter for the last four weeks, I’m about at my limits of patience.  I like to be happy with each chapter before I move on to the next so that I know the story is going where I want it.  I also like to make sure the story carries the reader through the chapter and leaves them wanting to read more.

I’ve finally decided that after four weeks, it’s as good as it’s going to get right now and I probably need to leave it be so that I can keep up the momentum on the story.  The last thing I want to happen is to get so hung up on one little section that I loose momentum on the rest of the story and end up with writer’s block.  If I see moss, I’m screwed.

So the story moves forward.  I constantly think about my characters even when I’m not working on my book.  I examine their story and try to decide if I need to add in scenes or delete scene.  I think about where I am in the story and how I want to write it when I finally get the chance to work on it again.  And I try to constantly look ahead to what I am going to be working on when I finish my current scene.  I guess it’s my way of nudging my stone forward just a little at a time so that it doesn’t get mossy.  There’s nothing worse than a mossy stone.

During my last peek at my outline, I realized that I probably only have five or so chapters left to write before I’m done my first novel.  I’m gearing up to make the ending of the book great, I just hope I can keep the momentum going long enough to finish strong.  In my heart I know I will because my characters deserve a great ending after their long journey.  So here’s to hoping that with that last chapter behind me and a new chapter just starting, my stone picks up it’s pace once again and streaks to the end without an ounce of moss to be seen.

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