Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Milestone Writer

When we write we look for milestones in our story. Maybe its when the hero and heroine first meet. Or the hero is called to his "journey" and realizes what must be done. Perhaps its the moment when the heroine is confronted by the villain. Maybe its when the hero and heroine discover their mutual love. Whatever, you get the picture.

I'm no different, but my milestones are a little different. My first milestone is when I start my book. It is the best thing I've ever written. I just know it is going to hit the bestseller list and HBO is going to turn it into a series. The next is wow, this is a huge pile of camel dung. No one in their right mind is going to read this waste of hard drive space. Then its the "I'm bored" phase. The bridge scenes kill me. And they are only a couple of pages long, but they take forever to write. But they are necessary. And the whole time the voice in my head is whining. I move onto, okay, this isn't so bad and then back to blech. Of course there is the deer-in-the-headlights spot. What is going to happen next? The voice in my head starts screaming "WHAT NOW? YOU DON'T KNOW? BOY, ARE YOU UP A CREEK." By then I'm at the last third of the novel and all those mile stones are behind me.

Well, not really, they just repeat over and over until the book is done. I've realized it isn't the writing I find difficult, its the emotional toll it takes. Its exhausting.

What kind of milestones do you go through in your writing?

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