by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
After a number of years of spinning my wheels, of wondering if I would drift in the middle of a creative sea forever, not to ever reach any sort of storytelling land, I finally have landed on something. (Talk about an extended metaphor!)
The point is — I’m now within shouting distance of at least being taken seriously by the gatekeepers.
I know this because I’m getting better at writing “sequels,” or the connector scenes that aren’t as flashy as as a scene. I’m getting pretty good at writing sequels, in fact. But I’m also just getting better in general.
I’m very pleased. But one thing I have to do is get faster. I have four more novels to work on and hope to finish by the time I’m 50. And turning 50 is a lot closer to me than I dare think about. I just have to put the work in. I’m in a very unique situation where I can write a lot and that just can’t continue. All good things must come to an end and this will be no exception.
But ever once in a while I’ll finish writing something with this first novel and I’ll lean back and go to myself, “Uh, not bad.”
Because for way too long, whenever I asked someone to read my work, they gave me the worst insult possible — silence. But I think I’m getting ever so close to writing well enough that people will at least give me an opinion, any opinion about what I’ve written.
I’m trying to chill out for about 24 hours. I need to do something, anything other than obsessing over the first three chapters of the first book in a five novel series. I hope to come back to this first book with fresh eyes in about a day and hopefully, hopefully, both the development and writing will go smoother and faster.
