Writer's Block?? Pfft! I laugh at you! Ha ha ha!

So the past week has been dead in terms of my writing. Sure, I could blame the holidays. Well, okay, I DO blame the holidays. Still, there's another, more intimidating reason for the backlog I now face: the BLOCK!

I've sat around and mulled over the "climax" that was coming - trying to work out the transition, deciding what to reveal and how soon, wondering which characters would come into play and how, debating the pros and cons of this setting over that one, considering the pacing of different possibilities as well.

...

Yeah.

Anyway, today I got sick of sitting around and not getting anything productive done on my book. So I sat down with a notebook and pen (still my preferred medium over the keyboard), and talked to myself:

- Okay, so what happens next?
- I don't know. You tell me.
- Well, you're at the climax.
- Yeah, but WHICH climax?? I've thought of too many to choose from.
- Whichever one you want.
- Yeah, that doesn't help me at all. - I don't KNOW which one I want.
- Okay, well what are the things you definitely need to happen?
- I need [lots of stuff that would spoil the ending if I dished it all here].
- Alright, good. Now what are the things you want to happen, if possible?
- [More stuff that may or may not make it to the finished product]... Hey, maybe this could happen: [insert new outline notes].

Bada bing, bada boom! Block is gone! Yay me :D Now where are my fireworks, dang it??

Christmas? Now? I don't know what you're talking about...

Okay, so Christmas is next week and I can't wrap my head around it. Already?? Granted, I missed out on the Christmas bug last year. But the little guy seems even more elusive this time around. Maybe it's still the idea of a hot Christmas. Maybe it's the fact that I'm not working, and so I don't have the days off to look forward to. Whatever it is, next week seems like any other week to me (notwithstanding the fact that the boys finish school today and will kick off their summer break on Monday).

Now for a novel update: I'm right around 63,000 words at the moment, and I'm heading into the climax. That seems just about right on target to me, especially since I have some things I need to add and tweak later on. While I'm not hitting my daily targets nearly as consistently as I did in November, the count seems to be climbing pretty steadily. So I should still be able to edit in February and then shop around to a few different agents in March. Fingers crossed that the story is actually, you know, good!

And now for some good news and shameless plugging. The quarterly mag in which my story is being published is available to purchase. It's only $3.50, and you can read my flash fiction (in the Winter 2009 edition) and shower me with your accolades. Or just ignore me if you hate it... Either way, I love you, too!! So I'll give you the link... go there and shop away. Enjoy!

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