I did not make it through a chapter today. This one, as you may remember, was a mess. I had to really sit and talk it out with the Lady Talis to unwind some of the nonsense I’d built up. It is a dark ending. It is darker than I expected, but feels a bit rushed as well. The characters are authentically themselves by the end with all that comes with that. You see both sides of a few characters. It is going to fold neatly into the Coda… when it is done.
I expect that to be tomorrow. I expect I’ll be back at the beach and away from distractions. I had to leave today because the bees were after me. They wouldn’t let up and that made it impossible to focus. I finally gave up and walked home. That presented its own challenges. The internet is here. The kids reaching out and asking for things. Wanting to help the lady do things and solve problems. All of those are distractions to the work. It is why I ran out of time and concentration to get the work done.
Hours later, I am here blogging it out. I am excited to get back to it tomorrow and strip away the slew of distractions. I need it. There are two chapters left in this book. I can knock this out before the first. I expect to do so. I want to try and finish both chapters tomorrow and then spend some time editing spots to get the flow right. What I’ve learned about myself as a writer is that how it sounds matters as much as the story being told. The flow is important. I need to strive for more balance between flow and story (plot and plot structure). This novel is a stepping stone to better ones in the future.