by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I have finished a fleshed out second draft outline at last. A lot more changed between the first and second draft outlines than I expected, but at least it’s done. Now, I’m probably going to chill out until at least after Christmas, maybe as late as New Year’s.
I need to do a lot of reading and I also want to go into the second draft with as clear as eyes as possible. I want to be refreshed and ready to go when I actually start writing. It may be that the pull of writing will be too strong and I just start writing as soon as Christmas is over.
I just don’t know yet.
But I am feeling very pleased. The story is intriguing and has a lot of twists and turns to it and even a dollop of speculative fiction. There are still some elements that I am a little bit fuzzy on, but the other 90% is pretty locked down and I’m very pleased.
There continues to be the issue of, well, lulz, me. No one takes me seriously and I continue to be unease that I could write The Bible and because I can come across as a drunk crank that no literary agent will take me seriously. Of course, if I became a success the very drunk crank elements of my personality wouldn’t be seen as a turnoff but rather endearing and interesting.
You just can’t win.
Anyway, I’m just going to pretty much chill out for a few days — at least — while I charge my creative batteries up enough to get back to writing. Then I will spend the rest of winter / spring finishing the second draft.
And THEN I get into the tricky issue of the Beta Reader process where I’m really going to have to get outside of my comfort zone in a big way. I can use the summer of 2023 to get ready for the fall 2023 querying season.
Wish me luck!
