When I reach Chapter 17, my favorite chapter in all of my books, I think I am about half finished with the book. It's time to start revving up and pouring on the thick of the book's plots, twists, and outcomes. I've got an idea of where I've been, where I've come from, and where I'm going, and I'm making my way through the hoops and the rocky stream to see how it all ends.
Like most writers, I have the end in my head before I start the book, so the actual end was never in question. It's getting to the middle that takes most of my energy. The first eight to nine chapters of any book I write tend to drag on for me to write because they're just setting up the storyline or giving background information so that the readers are not caught off guard when the rollercoaster reaches the top of the track ready to make it's first big dig before swinging to the sides, and possibly riding through a pretzel of turns before landing smoothly; you just have to set it up first -- it's the same way with knocking over dominoes. No one likes to see the setup, but the setup is vastly and incredibly important.
Today, I wrote three chapters; yesterday, I think I skipped out and didn't write, but on my birthday, I did. I'm at Chapter 17, and over the next two days, I'll likely sit out on the writing because I'm off for the Thanksgiving holiday from Wednesday through Sunday. That will be a good writing time. I've written Chapter 17 now and will be at Chapter 20 by the end of Wednesday (in three days) and at Chapter 22 or 23 by the end of the day on Thanksgiving. Friday will be a good writing day, so up through Chapters 24 and 25. I can finish or get close to the end of the book by the weekend, but I don't need to. I'm not on any deadline. This is just me writing.
The meatier it gets, the faster I write. I take three full weeks to write the first few chapters and another two to get to where I am now; then, once it starts to spin, I can sit here and try to make my fingers keep up with my brain as it spews out the words to create the havoc and mayhem of the book until I reach a point that I can breathe and maybe eat something. It is not uncommon for me to go a day without eating if I'm pounding away at the keyboard. It happens.
I think I'll finish the writing of the book by the first weekend in December, then take a week to read it, make corrections, fluff and stuff it, make more corrections, and then read it again to finalize it somewhere around December 8. It may be up for grabs around the ides of December, but if it takes 2 weeks to print and ship, I won't look for it to be in your hands before the first of the year. I'll have the EPUB or Kindle edition created at the time that I know there are no mistakes, so that's another week or two following the first print because after it's a printed book, I order one, go through it again, making even still more changes, and then when I know I've eliminated all I can, I re-release it, and ask Ingram Spark to publish it in EPUB form too; so think the end of January for that. (maybe in time for the inauguration.)
Woot!! Exciting times for Posh and MacRae now...they'd just found a dead body in the outhouse. No, I'm not kidding. It happened.
Photo Credit: Folkswaynotebook.com
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