On Writing & Storytelling: Early to Rise, Early to Work? Musings on a Gray, Cold New England Morning

Mid-to-Late Morning, Wednesday, January 10, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone. It’s already midway through the workweek, and this 10^th day of the new year is off to a chilly and soggy start here in New England. As I write this, the temperature in Madison is 38°F/3°C under a mixture of light snow and rain. Schools are closed for the day, and it does not look like I’ll be venturing outside today, not even for my daily dose of sunlight and fresh air. Today’s forecast calls for continued rain and light snow throughout the area, and the high will be 47°F/8°C. Tonight, skies should be mostly cloudy. The low will be 30°F/-1°C.

I woke up close to the time that I used to “rise and shine” back in Florida. Partly because I could hear the noise of a snowblower out front – it sounded remarkably like a lawn mower, and my first thoughts were “Who would be out mowing the lawn at this hour?” (This was around 6:45 AM or so, it’s almost 9 AM as I write this.) Mostly, though, I woke up because despite the heater running and me being under the covers of my futon, it was a wee bit nippy in my bedroom.

On Writing & Storytelling: Rethinking My Work Schedule

Also, I think that the dismally low productivity I’ve experienced this week while working on the novel has caused me to rethink my daily schedule, specifically the part where I write my blog later in the morning (close to noon), break for lunch, then return to my desk and work on Reunion: Coda until it gets dark.

Now, that scheme worked well for me in Florida, but I think that the combination of climate, the length of the day – which, thankfully, increases gradually as time goes on and spring gets nearer – and the emotional upset that I still feel over the move here has screwed up my ability to think creatively. Especially in the late afternoon hours, when the sun begins to dip below the horizon and the last light of the day begins to fade in my office.

Don’t get me wrong – I have gotten some work done on Reunion: Coda this week. It’s just not the sort of work I want to do on the manuscript. Instead of writing, say, new emails for the transatlantic correspondence between my narrator/protagonist, Prof. Jim Garraty, and his new love, Maddie, I find myself going over the previous 11 chapters, looking for typos, grammatical errors, and other “bloopers” I don’t want to see in the published version.

Most seasoned writers, including Stephen King, write their first rough drafts without pausing as long as I do to fix issues that inevitably appear in the first phase of the writing process. I have not learned how to do that, so I try to do as much copy editing as possible while I write the first draft of Reunion: Coda.

I have, of course, thought about just trying to bull through the first draft and write it without fear so I can then edit it without mercy. I am not “wired that way.” I have always edited as I go along when I write…and – unless I rush through the process as I did with Reunion: A Story back in the day – it usually works out.

Anyway…my point is that during the first two days of this workweek, I have had to focus more on fixing what already exists in the Reunion: Coda file in Word instead of writing new material to move the story forward. I know that I’m at least halfway through the book’s 12^th chapter – as it is structured now, Reunion: Coda’s narrative consists of the prologue and 10 completed – and unnumbered – chapters, plus maybe half or two thirds of an 11^th chapter. (I say I have 12 chapters, and I do, but I think of the Prologue as the connecting tissue between the first and second books in the Reunion Duology. You know, like in episodic TV….“Previously, in Reunion: A Story…”)

As you know, I wanted to finish Reunion: Coda in time for a Christmas 2023 release, but unfortunately, I had to deal with an interstate move that coincided with the holiday season – the packing process was ongoing when I celebrated my last Thanksgiving in Florida, and of course, I couldn’t focus on both the novel and the move. So I was forced to go on hiatus…and getting back into the work rhythm I had established last year has been difficult.

I still hope to release Reunion: Coda sometime this spring, perhaps between late March and early May 2024. To do so, though, I will rejigger my work schedule so that I’ll write blog posts earlier in the morning, take a shorter lunch/rest break, and then work as much as possible during the afternoon.

Anyway, that’s the plan I envisioned today while I drank a cup of cocoa at breakfast. I will do my best to stick to it. And, who knows? Maybe this first novel of mine will be something worth reading.

We’ll see.