I do have an excuse. I was wiped out for an entire week by a horrible bug. On the upside I lost 10lbs in a week and have spent the last two weeks trying to eat my way back to happiness.
On the downside I lost valuable writing time. And valuable reading time. Honestly I couldn't even read a book in the week that I was sick. I spent the week sleeping with a haze of Diagnosis Murder playing in the background. A girls gotta love Dick Van Dyke.
So that means my cruise ship story has suffered somewhat. The not-so shiny partial has skipped its way off to my editor, along with a note saying "chapter three is rubbish, isn't it?"
And I've almost reached the midway point in my story. Trouble is, I keep going back and looking at what I've written. I don't normally do that. I normally write my way to the end and then go back. Changing things, bringing scenes forward, pushing scenes back.
What I always discover (or more importantly what my critique partners always discover) is that things that are in my head haven't translated their way on to my page.
I'm very guilty of this. I expect everyone reading my stories - critique partners and editors alike - to switch on and fully engage their telepathic powers.
Because I know it should be on the page. I know how this story is going to pan out. The fact it hasn't appeared on the page - to clarify it to everyone else - is just a minor discrepancy.
So I often get a little comment inserted by a critique partner saying "What??????"
Ooops.
I feel as if the cruise ship story is kind of in this place right now. I think I've taken until Chapter Five to reveal my hero's deep dark awful secret conflict. And yes, I do know it should be obvious from Chapter One. Or at least the seeds should be planted there......and right now, they're not!
Oh dear. So I'm stuck in the middle. Because there is no point going on until I go back and sort all this.
So everyone singalong with me
"Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you."
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you."
