Short Hold

Doleful Creatures, as much as I love the book, is going on hold for now. 

I don’t want to ruin it, and in my present mindset I’m pretty close to doing that.

Part of my problem is that I refuse to outline. I refuse to plan for the future, aside from some vague end goal – the animals are not going to save the farms, but at least some of them will find peace, one will find redemption, and a few of them will find, well, we’ll have to see. I also refuse to outline. When I start a chapter, I have no idea where it’s going to end up. I kind of like that, it gives my writing an organic feel. But it’s hell for finishing anything. 

I have a PDF of the draft on my Kindle right now. As I read it going to and from work, I can tell it’s rough. I have achieved enough distance from the beginning of the book at least to see where my style needs some polish, and where my style needs to be flushed down the toilet. That’s a good sign. I am also seeing some stuff that is absolute gold. That’s a better sign. 

 

 

I want Doleful Creatures to be a good book. Rushing to finish it seems foolish.

Yes, I've said this before. But I broke that promise and started writing again. What came out was just awful. So I need some distance before the rot pervades the entire story. It's not going on hold for long, however. Maybe a few weeks, long enough for me to get to that break between semesters when I've got a few weeks off of teaching. Then I'll hit it again. May also hit it hard this weekend. We'll see.