On Writing & Storytelling: As the Month Ends, a New Workweek Begins…and Chapter 11 Beckons in the Wings

Late Morning, Monday, July 31, 2023, Lithia, Florida

“Then came July like three o’clock in the afternoon, hot and listless and miserable.” ― Allie Ray, Holler

Another Monday – and another workweek – begins. And another month – July – comes to an end.

Still ongoing: the long, hot Summer of 2023, with its record high temperatures here in Florida and other parts of the world.

As I write this, the temperature – outside, of course – is 86°F/30°C under sunny skies. Thanks to a 2 MPH/2 KMH southerly breeze and 82% humidity, the heat index is 96°F/36°C. And since noon is still several hours away, it’s going to be another Florida summer day with a mix of high temperatures (the high is expected to reach 92°F/33°C) and rain.

Not my kind of weather…. but I live in Florida, so….

Action This Day

Since I did not work on Reunion: Coda at all this weekend – even first-time novelists must have time off – my plan for today is, obviously, to work on the manuscript. And since I finished Chapter 10 last week, the logical next step is to start writing Chapter 11.

I have not yet taken my rest break – obviously, because I’m writing this post – and I’m still a bit sleepy even though I woke up a bit later than usual this morning. My brain, therefore, is still trying to “boot up” and start getting into Creative Writing mode…which usually takes several hours depending on how well I slept and my oft-variable mood.

I do have a general idea of what Chapter 11 is going to be about – the narrative structure I chose back in March determined that part of the process – and how it is supposed to end, so plot points and characters are not going to be a problem. Neither, for that matter, is the tone for that chapter; this chapter is inextricably linked to Reunion: A Story’s Scenes from a Long Goodbye, so what happens and who is affected by the events in Chapter 11 aren’t a mystery to me.

How to tell what happens in this chapter, though…I have not quite figured out that part. We’ll see what happens after the rest break.

I am confident that, in time, I will figure things out and come up with good content. Wish me luck, though.

I’m going to need it.

Kudos for Reunion: A Story

Yesterday afternoon – close to evening, actually – I was surprised when I noticed I had a Direct Message waiting for me on Facebook.

I rarely get DMs on Facebook (though to be fair, I don’t send them all that frequently, either), hence my surprise.

And, happily, this DM, which was from one of my friends from my days as a reviewer in Epinions, was about my novella, Reunion: A Story.

It wasn’t a long DM. It just said, “I read your book on Kindle Unlimited. I liked it. Well written.”

That made my day!