Starting Something New

     I'm five-thousand words into my next novel and it is not good. So far it is a mess of loosely tied together ideas and poorly defined characters. But the thing is I believe I can make it good. Hell, I think I can make it great. But first I have to write it bad.

    I don't believe authors who say that they have one draft with very few alterations before publication. It would take a real, actual genius to be able attain such a feat. I know I'm not a genius but I am smarter than the average bear and it took me two drafts on my last book before I was comfortable letting anyone read word one. I think this one will take at least that much. 

    There is simply too much to do. Too much to hold in one's head for the first draft to be anything other than a mess. The definition of a work in progress. There are too many loose ends to be tied up or snipped and neatly tucked back into the rope that is the story. 

    So here I sit, both discouraged and excited by the work that remains. The mountain I must climb until I succeed in writing it and the boulder falls back to the bottom of the mountain and I have to, get to, start all over again. That is at least a year (but probably longer) away.

    All that I can say is that I'll be back to work tomorrow, writing my bad first draft. 

    JK