I completed the first draft of my memoir in September and spent the succeeding months revising it. Honestly, I could revise the thing forever, so a few months ago I decided to set it aside while seeking an agent and editor to guide me on the next stage of revision. Nothing to report on that front, but I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, I mean to get back to my neglected novel. I’ve been meaning to do that for several weeks now. As soon as I sit down to write, I thought, it’ll be like riding a bicycle.
The first time I sat down to write, I looked back at the 47,000 or so words already written. Imperfect, yes, but I wasn’t ready to revise those, I needed to get to the end first. I did notice, however, that half of my chapters are in the present tense and half were in the past tense. Had to make a call. Present tense it will be, so I spent some time bringing the past tense chapters into the present.
Sometime during the past week when I wasn’t behind a keyboard, I had the inspiration for the next two scenes of my story. Fantastic. Just gotta sit down and write those.
Let me interject to say that since I set aside my memoir, I’ve felt a little out of sorts. Not full-fledged depressed, just disconnected. I was happiest in the throes of writing that story, and I recognized that I needed to throw myself into another writing project to recapture the confident, content side of myself that I’ve discovered these past couple of years.
Saturday, after the Red Wheelbarrow Happy Hour, I sat down at one of my favorite public writing spots to craft one of these new scenes.
Not really. I intended to put that off further by editing a scene in my memoir, but I forgot the jump drive containing that manuscript. My little laptop would not connect to the wireless. I was forced by circumstance to craft a new scene.
I stared at the blank screen and thought, “You know, maybe I don’t want to be a fiction writer after all.”
I considered packing it in and going home. If I’d been able to connect to the Internet, I surely would have spent the next twenty minutes on Facebook. Possibly I would have put it to good use researching the scenes I meant to write.
Somehow, I found a place to enter the scene and I started to write. When I had about 700 words, I remembered a goal I set back when I was generating new material for my memoir. A thousand words. Write a thousand words a day. Doesn’t matter if it’s for the memoir. I let myself count for-the-day-job writing and blog posts. Just aim to write a thousand words a day.
I finished the memoir that way.
So I wrote another 302 words and closed my laptop for the day.
Kari Neumeyer 
Kari, your description of the processes involved in writing are remarkably similar to my own. I wrote my novel in past tense, then flipped it to present, then back. It was a memoir, then became fiction because that made more sense, and also because I wanted to lie a bit. The shape morphed from chapters to a novel in stories. Holy cow! The main thing is to start fresh each day, do your 1000 words and trust the process. Walking away or down the path of another project of a while, then going back is a real eye-opener, too. You’re on the right track, writer!
Very reassuring to know we’re not alone, isn’t it?
Hey Kari – me again! I ordered the Book Bright as the Sun and devoured it. I am not ashamed to say I cried during the detailing if Bella’s torture. It really helped me to understand why my boy Ca$h exhibits some of the behaviors he does. You can be sure I gave him a big hug and smooches whenever I got to those tough parts. Thanks again for the thoughtful recommendation!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know.
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