On Writing & Storytelling: Woohoo, I Wrote ‘Mind-Blowing’ Stuff for Reunion: Coda Yesterday! (Too Bad I Can’t Share it With You)

Late Morning, Friday, March 1, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi there, dear readers. Well, here we are, on the last day of another workweek and the first day of both a new month and a new season – today, March 1, marks the beginning of meteorological spring (as opposed to the spring equinox, which falls on March 19).

Here in Madison, it is a beautiful, if perhaps chilly, early spring day, Currently, the temperature is 26°F (-3°C) under sunny conditions. With humidity at 28% and the wind blowing from the southwest at 7 MPH (12 Km/H), it feels like 32°F (0°C). Today’s forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 42°F (5°C). Tonight, the skies will be clear. The low will be 22°F (-5°C).

On Writing & Storytelling: Making Progress with Chapter 13’s Scene Six

Yesterday was, in contrast with most other days this week, a truly awesome day as far as working on Reunion: Coda is concerned. Somehow I managed to hit the ground running when I started writing at 1:30 PM. As of late, I rarely start writing that early even if I manage my time well and do all of my other stuff (blogging, going out for short walks or just getting sunshine and fresh air, eating lunch, and just plain relaxing) before I tackle the Almighty Manuscript. I try to shoot for a “start time” of between 1 and 2 PM (depending on when I publish these WordPress posts), but oftentimes my “writer’s brain” doesn’t get going until 2, 2:30, or even 3 PM!

So when I sat down at my desk to add new words to the narrative of Goodbye, Farewell, and Adios after my rest break, I actually had a sharp and clear idea of what I wanted to say in this part of the chapter’s sixth scene, I was overjoyed. Instead of the usual fretting over plot points, characters’ feelings and reactions, and scene beats, I began my working session by writing instead of merely sitting in front of my computer, staring blankly at my monitor, and waiting for Calliope, my Muse, to send me some inspiration from Mount Olympus or wherever else the hell she hangs her shingle.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that I’d ended Wednesday’s novel-writing shift in the middle of the plot twist that I was working on; this made it easy to pick up the story where I’d left off.

Likewise, yesterday was unusual – compared to Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – because not only did I meet my 1,000-word-a-day quota (which I rarely do, at least here in New Hampshire), but I exceeded it!

According to Microsoft Word, yesterday’s word count was 1,547 words, or roughly four pages’ worth of “fresh copy.” I had been producing far less than that over the three previous days; sometimes I had to be content with a word count of 500 words or less, so long as I had at least one complete plot point down “on paper” – or, more correctly, in a  .docx file on Word.

Even better, not only did I write a lot yesterday – I started at 1:30 PM and finished around 6:20 PM – and ended up with a higher-than-average word count, but I also produced some of my best writing for Reunion: Coda.

I won’t share any excerpts from yesterday’s writing output; part of me wants to, of course, because I liked what I read when I finished working yesterday, even before I made some quick and necessary revisions to the rough draft. I felt good when I was checking the four pages’ worth of new material, and I felt even better when I saw the comments from my friend Juan Carlos Hernandez (one of the only two friends that I allow to see the bulk of the manuscript) after he read Scene Six after I sent it to him via email.

Here are some of Juan’s remarks about yesterday’s output:

Dude, that was the best writing I have read so far.

Don’t ask me what lines I liked best because I would have to copy the whole thing.

It was moving, smart, funny as hell: like when you hear her and don’t know if it’s a hallucination; that cracked me up.[1] 

You write her character perfectly.  I love her more than Maddie now.

It was perfect and very classy in language and imagery: how she looked and acted, I could even smell her.

 You blew my fucking mind, no exaggeration.

 You built it up in the past few days and it TOTALLY paid off.

Dude, that was the best writing I have read so far.
Don’t ask me what lines I liked best because I would have to copy the whole thing.

Juan Carlos Hernandez, commenting on yesterday’s new writing for Scene Six

Again, part of me is dying to share at least a brief excerpt from the new bits for Scene Six, but I need to keep that part of Reunion: Coda under wraps and let you all discover what blew Juan’s mind when you read the finished novel.  

Well, folks, it’s almost time for my daily midday break, so I’m going to wrap this up here. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.

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[1] By “you,” of course, Juan meant my narrator/protagonist/”I-guy” Jim Garraty. The Reunion Duology is his story, and like many writers starting out as authors of fiction, I chose many years ago to use the “first person” point of view because it’s (allegedly) easier to tell stories that way