Looking Forward To Writing The 2022 Book
Here’s the plan
I’m using a new technique to kick start the next novel. The suggestion came in a Christmas present at just the right time, and an inspirational post prompted me to write about it. A big part of completing a novel is getting the thing out of the starting blocks. It leaves a lot of work still to do, but it’s a necessary milestone.
Some authors mark the genesis of a new novel in very structured ways. Sci-fi and fantasy novelist Drew Wagar, for example, gives his fans a detailed timetable upfront so they can track the course of the novel as it develops.
I’m impressed because I’ve seen him deliver the goods through several series. I’ve tried the very detailed, very structured end of the spectrum, but it doesn't work for me.
A new diary with a new twist was just the thing I needed.
The Right Present At The Right Time
My new year diary was waiting for me under the old year Christmas tree. It always is. This year it came with best wishes from the Dinos according to the tag. And it had a new angle — a Goals & Mission page. I won’t say I’ve always wanted a Goals & Mission page because I’ve never given it a thought, but I was very taken with the pastel colours and geometric shapes — interlocking hexagons.
Checking off Goals & Mission for the year ahead is the perfect Christmas afternoon activity — not too demanding, requiring only a pen and a glass of wine. Luckily, a new box of my favourite Papermate ballpoints had arrived alongside the diary, neatly gift-wrapped and bearing season's greetings from the dog next door.
So I set about those hexagons and wove in my plan for the new novel.
It’s not an overly complex plan, but I know that overly complex doesn’t work for me. I’m not yet sure which novel I’m going to write. Will I turn to crime or stay on the straight and narrow? Will it be me or the alter-ego writing the thing? At this point, details don’t matter. I have enough completed books under my belt to know that the plan is good enough to get the job done.
The Gift-Givers
The Inspiration
With thanks to Elin Melaas for her inspirational look at the new year:
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