The Roller Coaster Ride
Hey, kids. Hope everyone is doing well and had a great thanksgiving with friends and family. The end of the year is upon us, and I have to admit this was an incredibly productive one for me. I’ve knocked off so many things from my 2022 goals list and will hit somewhere around 450,000 total words for the year when it’s all said and done. I’m using the last few months of the year to do some of the tedious editing work that has to be done. I’m also getting a lot of great suggestions from my Eyeballers (Beta Readers) as well. At this point I have seven people who are willing to read my stuff and give me some great feedback. Every comment is helpful, and I take them all very seriously. Some have even spawned ideas for things to put in future books.
So, anyway, I’ve also been getting a head start on next year, working on a few other novels so I will be in good shape to finish those three that will be on my 2023 goals list. The problem is, I have a problem. I can’t stop writing. I’ve created a habit and a routine that I couldn’t break now even if I wanted to. At this point I have four novels in the works for next year: Stranglehold is at 51,000 words, Halfway to Nowhere is at 11,000 words, Chopped is sitting at 27,000 words and finally, Witch Hunt (Sequel to Of Scarlet and Sable) sits at 72,000 words. Yay, for me. Mr. Overachiever, right?
Well, as I was driving home from work tonight, I started thinking about the process of my writing. Not the nuts-and-bolts stuff like I’ve talked about before like pantsing or outlining, but the big picture. What is it really like for me. Where am I right now? What I realized is that a novel, for me, is like a rollercoaster. Yeah, I know. Stick with me here. When I start one, I have big ideas and come out of the gate like a rocket ship. The words are flowing like water down a mountain. That’s those initial twists and turns of the roller coaster. Those tunnels and side spins that get your blood pumping. In novel terms, I equate that to the first 30 to 40, 000 words. Then all of a sudden, you’re at the bottom of one of those super duper, sky-high climbs that take forever. Clack. Clack. Clack. You progress slow as molasses running down a wall. Each word is a challenge, and the production slows down. I was turning out 10,000 words a week, but now I’m lucky to hit my goal of 7,000 each week. This is what other authors have termed the swampy or murky middle. Believe me when I tell you, it’s a pain in the ass and there’s no way around it. Everyone hits this wall somewhere in the middle of their tale. Clack. Clack. Cack. Slow but sure, you keep climbing and then, as if the fog lifts and the sun comes out, you’re at the top and you know it’s about to get real up in here.
From my vantage point on the tip top of the highest mountain of the roller coaster, I can see the end. It sits down in the valley, waiting patiently for me to get my ass down there. Then the damn breaks and the words hit me like a tornado. I can’t type fast enough to get them on the page as quick as they come into my brain. We are on the downward slope, now. It’s hands up, feet off the floor as the wind whips through my hair (well, if I had hair). I would scream if I didn’t want to frighten the dogs. I just broke a sweat thinking about it. Exciting stuff!
Anyway, that’s where I’m at on Witch Hunt. That peak usually comes around 70,000 words and it’s exhilarating. So, the fact is, that book will probably be finished by the end of the year, and I will have finished four novels in 2022. If someone would have suggested that eleven months ago, I would have laughed in their face.
So that was my big revelation on my own process. I’m going to keep getting on that roller coaster and screaming like a little girl when it clack, clack, clacks up that steep hill that is the harbinger of the ending. It’s fun for me each and every time and soon, I hope it will be fun for everyone to read.
Happy Holidays Ya’ll!