January 2024 writing update
Hey all, long time writing-update-er, first time writing-update-er in blog form. Let’s see how this new method works out. I complain a bit more in the 2023 tier list post, but the manual updates for the old Recent Activity page were just a huge slog after a while. Hopefully this is better. PS - if anyone knows how to get me to embed an actual video in these posts, I am all ears. I’d much rather you have the ability to just click away on that rather than deal with the dreaded hyperlinks.
Anyways, as for the actual writing, I am still typing away at that novel. Those things are long, man. Who would have thunk the writing form where you have no real limitations is more extensive and labor-intensive than the writing format where roughly 70% of any given page is pure white space?
Most people, I imagine.
But, in terms of progress, we have definitely reached Act Three in the first draft of this novel! Which is exciting! But…in the bad way? Because Act Three, typically, is right around the time where you start to look in the rear-view mirror and think to yourself, “Oh. Oh. What I’m writing is...awful. Isn’t it awful? Does it even make any sense? Do I need to throw this all out and start all over again?”
The answer to all of those questions is a resounding probably not. Or, at least, if you’re this far along, it won’t serve you any better to answer the question now rather than once you actually reach the end of the story you’ve been itching to tell for who-knows-how-long-now. So, plan it out, remember the big moments and impactful emotions from those earlier parts you already put to paper, and keep pushing. Tie it together, wrap it up. Even if it’s sloppy, you just need to do it. The next time around is when you make it pretty and not vomit-inducing to think about. Or, at least, that’s what I’m using this book to tell myself.
Anyway, enough procrastinatory typing. Detective Cortez and the string of murders at the Helm Family Birthday Party demand my attention.
See you next month? I hope?
