Lanie helped. She’s my sweet writer friend who’s done this a few times. She said I need a plot line! Hmmm, never thought about THAT! So I sat down and wrote some scene locations, descriptions, and even worked on the overall plot. That was my problem. I was just drifting, kind of thinking about what I wanted to do, but nothing concrete or cohesive. Then a thought strikes me - is this how I am in ‘real’ life? NOOOOOO! I want to scream. I’ve done a really GOOD job living a really productive, sweet life, haven’t I? I think probably not so much. I’m pretty sure I’d approach my novel writing with whatever experience I have for my real life. Just jump in without a solid plan and swim. I intuitively still think that’s a sound idea, because we don’t want to over-prepare and miss the spontaneity, but when I feel the energy of my novel, it feels like I’m in a boat with no driver. Wherever, the boat says, wherever, as it merrily swirls and turns. It’s kind of scary if you think about it that way, so I’m going to keep working with the outline of the novel, see where it takes me, and continue to see if I can apply that to my life, as well. I’ll never say this is an easy proposition, writing 50,000 words, even if I WAS voted Miss Vociferous of 1967…
