The Muddle in the Middle
I haven’t posted in a while. I gave myself a deadline for finishing the second draft of my novel, and then life happened. Nothing serious, but my life is pretty full. Still, I’ve been doing my best to slog through the middle of the rewrite. I’m narrowing it down from four viewpoints to two. I’m bringing in foreshadowing for events that I didn’t know about in the first writing. The hardest part of doing this is getting started, it takes at least a half hour of dithering to really get into it. If I’m not careful, I get sucked into the internet and lose the time I have. I’ve started turning off my wi-fi before writing time.
I have developed a new behavior system with my son. He has twenty points, which are represented by pennies in a cup. When he has all twenty points, he has all privileges. Misbehavior means taking away points. We emphasize adding points for any small good deed or kindness. I should do this myself. When I’m slogging away in the middle and it feels like I will never be able to untangle and smooth out my writing in time, I should give myself points for every effort instead of focusing on feeling bad for not doing more.
Boy do I hear you about life happening! I have no idea how you’ve managed to write at all the past 14 years.