As of this writing (I do sometimes manage to get these done ‘ahead’ of schedule), I’m keeping on top of my word count and having fun taking the idea of a scene (from my outline), which is usually one or two sentences long, and translating it into hundreds or a few thousand words. I’m remembering what it is like to inhabit a new MC’s head, when they are frequently surprising you, not only by the things they say and do, but by the little things like gestures, facial expressions, and learning how they interact with the world around them.

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested writing a very high level synopsis of your story—where it begins, where it ends, and a little bit of detail on how your MC gets from point A to point B. Now we’re going to expand upon that, a little or a lot.

Confession time: I’ve done NaNo a few times but only technically ‘won’ it once, and that was after some truly marathon sessions in the last week of November. No joke, I wrote more than 20,000 in that week. 😪 (For those who don’t know, ‘winning’ NaNoWriMo means writing 50,000 words over the course of the month.)

I’m fortunate that my small city apartment means I’ll never be tagged as a Thanksgiving host, not to mention my husband’s business means that everyone expects me to show up with wine and cheese—and I am happy to oblige!

I know there are people who thrive in the heat. I am not one of them—when the temp rockets into the 90s (and with the attendant humidity soup we get here) I wilt like an unwatered plant and it can be hard to squeeze any good words out of my brain.

So I thought it might be useful to share some ways to keep working on your book without actually working on your book, if your creative juices have sizzled away.

Hi friends! It’s been a while hasn’t it? I went on a little vacation that in real life was a wonderful week but in weekly dispatch life has extended itself a wee bit. So it goes.

I think—I know—why I haven’t had much to say.

A couple of months ago, I found out that someone else has written a book about my protagonist. It’s going to be published next year to great fanfare (or so the press release claims). There is an Important Agent involved.

This was a gut punch. There were tears. My husband brought me wine. My coach and friends did their best to rally me. I asked for and received more wine.

Just to be clear, there is nothing hinky going on. I don’t think this other writer somehow ‘stole’ my idea. Except for an occasional suspect email scam, that isn’t really a thing.

In a certain way, it’s validation that my protagonist’s story is interesting and needs to be out in the world. And I wholeheartedly agree that, while our novels are based on the life of the same person, in reality they are two totally different books. She couldn’t write my version; I couldn’t write hers.

Put your best book forward! How to make sure you're ready to query

One of the most common things I have heard (and read) from agents is that a huge percentage of the work that comes across their desk, especially from the slush pile (which is where we all go unless you have some direct line or special introduction), is that the work just isn’t ready.

Let’s back up a second to look at the process:

(If your goal is to self-publish your book, or work with a vanity or hybrid press, or if you’re writing for the sheer pleasure of it, you may think today’s post is not for you but most of this advice is just as valid—it’s just not quite as critical because you have more control over the process.)

I confess, the idea behind this came from a writing class I took with the wonderful Michele Ferrari, and when she shared it with us, it hit me particularly hard (in a good way).

Very broadly, we probably consider our works-in-progress in one of two ways

As work, a project that we have committed ourselves to and are determined to see across the finish line because of that commitment

A hobby, a creative pastime, something that we’re doing for the joy of itMaybe it’s just me, but before Michele shared this idea, I had never thought about the fact that I was in a relationship with my novel. And like any relationship, there would be ups-and-downs. It would need to be cultivated, nurtured. I would love it, I would hate it.

This takes me back, all the way to 2018, when I had what I was sure was the final iteration of my outline. 🤣🤣🤣 To paraphrase Leslie Knope: Kerry, you beautiful tropical fish.

No one gets it 100% right the first time. Writing a novel is a process, not an event.

What I really had, I know now, was a bunch of plot points. Their only connection was that they tracked the events of my protagonist’s life. There was no real meaning, nothing juicy–just the dreaded ‘and then this happened’. And, friends, I wrote 145K words worth of ‘and this this happened’. Blerg.

Writing interesting characters that grab your readers from page 1 and keep them riveted to your story is easier said than done. We all know it’s important and we’ve all probably gotten the feedback that your character ‘just wasn’t connecting’ or ‘felt flat, two dimensional’.

Ugh, right? It could be entirely valid feedback—but what do you do with that? How do you solve it?

Frankly, when I started writing my novel, I figured I was halfway to home from the start. When someone asked me what my book was about, I’d say, “It’s about a female pirate in the 1700s…” and it didn’t really matter what I said after that. “Awesome! That’s so cool!” If I could sell everyone who said that a copy of my (still in progress) book, I’d have a guaranteed best-seller on my hands.