So here it is. I confess, I totally hit a wall with Heart on Fire, the new book, and out of a moment of desperation, I sent it to my critique partner for a quick read to see if where I thought the book was heading was going to be remotely satisfying to her, and she did agree that yes, she could quite possibly fathom this idea working. Only problem is that I’m still stuck. I’ve spent all morning looking at the spot I left off in and I have NO idea how to save it from there.
I just deleted like six pages. Now I’m trying to breathe deep and convince myself it’s okay.
The story is doing that morphing thing that I hate where it’s trying to develop layers I never intended it to develop. Where I meant for it to be a straightforward 300-350 page novel, it’s threatening to take on subplots and detours that will easily stretch it past that. And I. Don’t. Want. It.
It can be really hard to stay the course. To stick with the original vision you had of a book. But I already know from experience that following all these tangents just ends up with a scattered book that you can’t sell (or finish) because it’s so far from what you meant it to be that you don’t even know what the hell it is anymore. So…. delete, delete, delete. Back to the drawing board.
