Hey, all! Sorry this post is late, Saturday was Small Business Saturday (huzzah!) and I had two events to man. I planned on writing about it when I got home that evening, but y’all know how life can be sometimes. I’d only finished unpacking when the call came to take dinner over to my brother’s house, where he and my dad were installing a new water softener. While there, I ran face first into a wall and hadn’t the oomph to begin any new projects. Besides the fact that by then it was getting rather late.
So! That’s why we’re here today on Monday. Happy December, by the way; it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here, what with the snow and the house decorated and evergreen candles burning. Such a warm and cozy feeling, no?
Saturday was the final market day of the season, and it felt much like reaching the final stretch of a race. ‘Just a little bit more and then you’re at the finish line! Pump those legs!’ Or, in my case: ‘Knead that bread!’ I made just about every cookie on my menu, too.
Halfway through that market, I had to skedaddle and head over to my local bookstore for the book signing and jam tasting event I’d scheduled in lieu of Small Business Saturday, setting up in a warm corner where I could surreptitiously eavesdrop on all the conversations hawk my wares (no, I didn’t do any actual hawking). Overall, I can say that the event went better than I had been anticipating. I sold two copies of The Forgotten Hero, which doesn’t seem like a lot (and yeah, it isn’t), but I learned that my anxiety about doing events isn’t as bad as it has been in the past. I felt a little braver, less petrified by the idea of talking with other humans face-to-face. Which means there’s hope for me in the future to be capable of more.
And now the season has come to a close, punctuated here in Arcadia and Beyond with freezingness and ice and snow. Which means it’s time to hunker down! With the finale of NaNo having been Saturday as well, I crossed the finish line with a whopping 21,904 words, and I won’t lie: a good chunk of that is just notes as I’ve been trying to sort out this next stage in the narrative/plot/editing process. I came at NaNo with a hoard of personal gremlins this year.
The market, for one, took up a nice slice of my time and brainpower, providing a distraction and tool for procrastination, which is a thing I often struggle with. Another thing is that I have reached a point in the story where the POV of the main character has come to a close, and now begins the process of adding more from other perspectives and strengthening other characters’ arcs. I wanted to include more detail from the side of the antagonists, to give the reader (you) a more three dimensional picture of the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the story. This means, though, that I have to almost write the books a second time, only from another point of view, which involves more plotting and character development with a completely new cast.
This part of storytelling takes me a long time to sort through, making it a strong opposing power to cranking out 50k in 30 days. Nevertheless, I’ve still made some great progress on the story of Falconsbane as a whole. I’ve learned some things that could make it stronger and deeper. I’ve met a new character who’s looking to be a rather interesting person to work with. I’m still excited about this project and what it’s shaping up to be, amazed at how far it’s come already from where it started three NaNos ago.
Thanks for coming along with me on this journey!
Be First to Comment