The Book That Could Be

You guys, I don't want to jinx anything here - and am in fact knocking on wood at this very moment, please do the same when you read this - but I think I might actually finish this book.

"Which book, Julia?" I hear you drawl whilst casually tapping dirt off your boot.  "I mean, you've told us about several books, none of which ever appear to be finished.  So..." you trail off pointedly.

I'm sure I've talked about this one fairly recently, but I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I have told you already, so let's have a brief pause as I go re-read that blog.

Talk amongst yoursevles.

Ah, yes.  This is the same story about which I posted when I posted the Bruce Vain video.  Go read that if you, too, need a quick recap.

Since that post I have written the entire beginning, a bit of the middle, and most of the end of this book.  I have also done something I have never done before for any book I've ever attempted: write an outline.

I have every story beat written out in order so that I know exactly where this story is headed and every story point it needs to hit along the way.

This has been AMAZINGLY useful.  It helped give me direction and focus, and allowed me to completely unlock a secondary character I had been struggling with.  (As well as discover a new character who is suddenly very important.)

The store has been slow lately and the internet has been out since last Wednesday (it came back on today around 3pm).  I always bring my flashdrive with me so that anytime I'm near a computer and feel the need to write, I can just go for it.

It is amazing what you can accomplish when you have no internet to distract you.

I'm thinking about establishing "no internet" time for myself, just so I can get shit done!

Today, I was working alone in the store, and it was a perfect day for me.  It was cold and rainy, so I had very few customers actually come in the store.  However, the ones that did ended up spending LOTS of money.  This meant that I had long stretches of time where I was alone in the store and able to work on my writing, and then someone would come in and I would break from writing and help them spend their money on our beautiful merchandise, only to return to my writing feeling refreshed and ready to continue.

Perfect.

Selling people things made me feel like I was helping the store, doing my job well and giving me validation in that way, and then I was able to utilize the artistic/introvert side of my brain to be productively creative in another area, thus giving me validation squared!

Getting shit done feels good!  Who knew?

So yeah...I'm going to finish this book and send it out to publishers or just publish it myself on Amazon, because, hey, it is so easy to do that now!

Also, after this book, I have two more books clanking around my brain, technically making this a trilogy, which we all know is where the real money is.  Not that I'm doing this for money.  This is a book (or series of books) that I would like to read.  So even if I'm the only one who ever reads and likes them, that's OK.  At least I will have accomplished something of which I am proud.

Now, just to put all my cards on the table here, I have to be honest and tell you that I'm supposed to be writing my final paper for my Script Analysis class.

Am I using this super productive creative writing as an excuse to not do the writing I should be doing?

Of course I am.

That doesn't take away from the fact that I have never been this close to finishing one of my novels...ever.

And I really believe that I will finish it.

So, I want to give you another snippet, just to wet your whistle.  However, what I really want to give you is the end which is some of the most recent writing I've done and, furthermore, is really good.  But I also don't want to spoil the ending.  (See, if I didn't think I was ever going to finish this, it wouldn't even matter if I spoiled it, but I DO!)

So give me a second to see what I think is good enough to share.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Okay, I hope you had a nice long conversation, because that took a while.

Every time I found a scene I liked I realized just how much I would have to explain to you in order for you to understand what was happening.  The result is this: I'm going to give you a snippet from the end that (A) doesn't actually give any spoilers, (B) is super short, and (C) has some of the best dialogue I have ever written.

This is a scene with Rose, the main character, and her best friend Elodie (whom everyone calls 'Lo' for short.)  Lo calls Rose 'Ro' as a way to personalize their friendship and bond them together.

Rose has been through something rather traumatic, and Lo is trying to cheer her friend up.

So, here it is:

“I’m worried about you, Ro.”

“You don’t have to worry, Lo.  I’m all right.  Really.”

“Then why do you spend all your time wallowing up in that room?”

“I’m not wallowing,” Rose said with a frown.

“Oh yes you are, you’re wallowing like a big ol’ wallower from Wallow Town.”

 “Wallow Town?” she asked with a grin.  Lo was always good at getting her to smile.

“Yes.  It’s one town over from Pityville.”

“You’re making that up.”

“No, I swear, those are real places.”

They both smiled widely at their shared banter, and Rose felt more like herself than she had in months.

“OK, I was wallowing,” she admitted with a sigh.  “I’m done now, I think.  I think I’d like to stop wallowing and get on with my life again.”

“OK, what does that mean exactly?”

“First, I want to see Edgar.”