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“Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but bad for the heart.” —Stephen Sondheim
I spent the weekend planning. Most of it was for NaNoWriMo, which is now only 22 days away. I’m still figuring out the plot for Home and the Heartland, which is this year’s story, and the third book in the Henry’s Mills series, contemporary romances set in a fictional small town in Connecticut. Yes, I like Gilmore Girls.
Except…
The way the planning is going, it’s looking more and more as if this book, the third one I’m writing, is actually going to be the first one chronologically. Just the way the story is working out, and while I’m definitely writing each of the books so they can stand alone, there are certain plot elements that arc throughout. Because of that, the book works better earlier rather than later. But if I want to publish it in June, which is where I had planned to publish Only in My Dreams, the first book I wrote, then I definitely need to plan because that date is eight months and three days away.
If doing Surviving 30 Days of Literary Madness did one thing, it taught me that eight months is a heck of a lot shorter time than you think. So this weekend was also spent working on the production calendar, seeing if I could really do this and how it would fall out. Answer is, I can, but I will have to watch the calendar and re-work things if I should fall behind for some reason.
Then there’s my new office, which isn’t actually new but a reworking of space that will let my husband take over our current shared space and set me up what is currently designated as the “living room,” but has only ever been used for guests and holidays ever since my husband and his family moved into the house when he was in middle school. The idea is that it becomes our library, complete with bookshelves along two walls, my desk at one end with a view of the pool (and the small palm tree I’m planning to put in place of the honeysuckle we’ve had removed), and a comfy chair in front of the fireplace. It’s the logistics of not just what goes where, but where we put a few pieces which are already in there, where the books will go while we’re putting up the bookcases and getting those anchored, how we’re dealing with the cords for my computer, etc. Plus, I’ll need to pick out a pouf for the cats to lounge upon. This is high on the list. (Which the cats would swear is is only their due.)
But there’s still the anticipation, the feeling that it’s never going to be done. One thing I have learned this year, though; when you’re working and working and it feels as if the goal line is still forever away, that’s probably when you’re closer than you think. We’re not actually working yet, but it’s coming soon.
Tell me what’s going on in your life that you’re in anticipation for.
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Surviving 30 Days of Literary Madness is a daybook of support, encouragement and the occasional kick in the pants to help make the stress more bearable and keep your eyes focused on your goal.
For each day of this mad sprint, there is a quote and essay designed to help keep you going at the keyboard, along with other pieces about preparation and the novelizing hangover that comes in December. There are also pages for those other moments, the ones when you’ve fallen slightly behind – or you realize this may not be a year you cross the finish line. No matter how your November novel experience is going, this book will be a companion for each day.
Available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Bookstore
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