JULY 2020 – First draft of my new book is done! Creative journey for this project is far from over, but it feels amazing to have this early version of the story complete(!!). All of the major pieces are in place, the arc, the character development, the ending, it is all there. A lot of polishing of the events needs to take place and there remains a selection of questions I still need to answer, mainly for the names of things and places in the story, as it takes place in a fictional world not unlike our own. I also want to do a series of cover to cover read-throughs to gauge the flow of the book and how it feels from an audience perspective. As the tempo of the writing changes at times as the action rises and falls within the plot.
Have already begun a second draft of the book that is focused on the structure and making sure that it is saying what I intended. As there are some areas where the language is muddled and confusing. Fixing that, as having everything make sense is kinda important, haha. I had several different ideas of how the book should end, that would drastically change the tone of the story. Went the direction that I thought felt the most authentic. And as I was writing the book from start to finish, I made a deliberate point to make sure that the thinking of all the characters made sense (from their point of view) and that characters weren’t making improbable leaps of logic or acting out of character, just to fuel a plot device or predetermined setup. Which was a little challenging at times as it is so tempting to guide things in a predestined way, but you have to give your story room to breathe, even if you are using a plot outline like I was, that I had written ahead of time.
Very energized by the writing process as you may have guessed, haha. I can’t say enough good things about the sheer force of will and working at something every day and putting in the hours towards your goals. There is no substitute for hard work. It was only by carving out time and writing every single day, that I was able to push this book to where it is now. And I’m going to keep that mentality going as I work on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th drafts. As like this tree, creativity needs room to grow and dedication to flourish. So don’t give up on your art and imagination, even if it feels difficult and hopeless at times. Day by day, you can make cumulative growth, like the rings on a tree, layering more and more depth to your work.
This month I read the book ‘The Good Earth’ by Pearl S. Buck, a classic novel from 1931 about life in a Chinese Village in the early 20th century. Very thought provoking piece about wealth and happiness, is a moving story that reflects on a lot of pain, but also the triumph of being human and persisting. Also to me it sort of highlighted how we often lack perspective of where we are in our lives and would benefit from taking a calm step back at what we are doing, so as to not be doomed to repeat mistakes. An excellent book, I got a lot out of it. And it came along at the right time to help fuel my writing further through the sheer reminder that being tenacious and working hard is the right remedy to reaching your goals.
So keep at it, in all your pursuits, big or small. Good things take time, but are worth it in the end. Stay strong fair readers, until our paths cross again!
~ CS
