Late Morning, Monday, September 23, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire
It’s another chilly – at least for me – early fall day in what for now is my corner of Madison. It’s mostly cloudy outside my office, though the sun is peeping through openings in the veil of gray clouds. The temperature is 61°F (16°C), although the feels-like temperature outdoors is allegedly 70°F (20°C). It’s not going to be a gorgeous autumn day if the forecast is accurate: we can expect cloudy skies and a high of 64°F (18°C).
Oh, well. At least it’s not going to snow or feel like the ice planet Hoth. That’s something, I suppose.
Weekend Update, Part the Second: How I Spent My Sunday
On Sunday, like the previous Saturday, I took a break from working on Reunion: Coda. I didn’t do any new writing or editing, but I couldn’t help but worry about not making progress on my novel before M-Day on October 17th.
As I noted yesterday, my initial strategy, hatched before realizing in late July that convincing my housemate I hadn’t wronged him with my name on the lease was futile, was to complete Reunion: Coda by late August or early September. This would have set me up for a mid-September release at the earliest, and mid-October at the latest. Perhaps this plan was overly ambitious; as I near the novel’s conclusion, crafting scenes swiftly and excellently has become increasingly challenging.
Although my initial timeline for completing the novel was optimistic, I believe that if I hadn’t been forced to defend my need to be on the lease – a necessity for applying for government assistance like Medicaid or SNAP benefits – and if I weren’t disenchanted by other aspects of my life in eastern New Hampshire, I would have made more progress in the story by now. Maybe not finished with Jim, Maddie, Mark, and Marty’s story, but close to it.
I have to admit, I’m feeling really exhausted. As I’ve mentioned before, if you don’t work as a writer or enjoy reading, you can’t understand how challenging it is to spend at least four hours every day, five days a week, creating believable and captivating characters and scenarios. It’s incredibly draining, both physically and mentally. As each year goes by, coming up with high-quality writing, sharp dialogue, and gripping plot twists becomes more and more difficult.
Although I’m not thrilled about postponing the release of Reunion: Coda until the festive season due to my impending relocation, I’ve decided to heed Stephen King’s advice from On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and reserve my weekends for rest.
Accordingly, I didn’t do much of anything except:
- Watch documentaries on Amazon Prime Video
- Lurk on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads)
- Prepare and eat breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner
- Read e-books on my Kindle Fire (not something I do regularly)
- Listen to music on Amazon Music. Classical, mostly, although I did enjoy a few pop songs (The Windmills of Your Mind, All the Things You Are)
- Played Regiments and Cold Waters, both of which are Cold War-turned-hot computer games
Naturally, I reflected on the sales of my book Reunion: A Story (sadly disappointing), remembered my late mother (I miss her dearly), and longed for the days when I could enjoy a movie theatre – the last time being December 2019 to watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Riverview, Florida. I also pondered ways to persuade my friends who love reading to pick up a copy of Reunion, besides simply mailing them one myself.
Writing and Storytelling: Action This Day
Mondays are workdays for me, even on holidays like Labor Day, and today is no exception. My midday break doesn’t begin until I’ve churned out my daily blog post, which means my schedule isn’t set in stone; all I know is I must take a two-hour break. Depending on when I start, I’m back at my desk between two and three in the afternoon, working diligently for another four hours.
As for today’s novel writing shift, my plans are still up in the air. I’m hoping that by the time I dive into my afternoon stint, I’ll have some solid footing for the start of Chapter 20, which has a vibe somewhat reminiscent of Law & Order. Since I wrapped up the revisions for Chapter 19 just this past Friday, I haven’t had much chance to marinate on the next segment, aside from knowing that Jim needs to head to the police following an ambush by a vengeful student—a plot thread that definitely needs closure.
Will I get around to crafting “new material” today and kick off Chapter 20? Probably not; as I edge closer to the novel’s conclusion, I find myself needing detailed outlines for each chapter, broken down scene by scene. This wasn’t necessary at the beginning or middle of the book since much of it flowed naturally from Reunion: A Story, allowing me to write more spontaneously, especially when exploring Jim’s high school years and his feelings for Marty. But now, delving into 35-year-old Jim’s life in the spring of 2000, I feel less confident about where things are headed and find myself needing a more meticulous approach to plot and character development.
No matter what else I dive into, I will focus on the novel—whether it’s revisiting the manuscript or refining it further.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
You must be logged in to post a comment.