Midday, Saturday, March 8, 2025, Miami, Florida
Hi, everyone.
It’s a warm, butter-gold day in South Florida on this second weekend of Spring 2025. It’s 81°F (27°C) under sunny skies. With the wind blowing from the southwest at 6 MPH (10 Km/H) and humidity at 51%, it feels like 90°F (32°C). Today is one for the tourists: the forecast calls for continued sunny skies and a high of 85°F (29°C).
Well, folks, that thrilling burst of creativity I experienced throughout the week met an untimely end yesterday, courtesy of a self-inflicted bout of exhaustion. After pulling an all-nighter—no, not the fun kind, alas—where I reworked passages in Reunion: Coda that I had already read, evaluated, and revised, including bits I’d edited back in 2023, I found myself too tired during the day to do any work on the novel.
I made impressive strides between the last week of February and Thursday, writing three scenes for Chapter 26 and one scene for Chapter 27. Honestly, I haven’t been this productive since the early days of my writing journey, which started in Tampa two years ago, took a detour to Madison, New Hampshire, and will wrap up this year in Miami. I’m genuinely proud of this progress because I’m inching closer to finishing Reunion: Coda, and Chapter 26 is pivotal as it’s the emotional climax of both this novel and the entire Reunion Duology.
I had hoped to work on the manuscript yesterday afternoon, but despite several cups of coffee, a decent lunch, and a refreshing trip to the backyard for some sunshine, I was still too tired to conjure up new plot points, character beats, or witty dialogue. Alas, it seems I am no longer in my 20s—or even early 30s—and I don’t bounce back as quickly as I once did from the consequences of burning the midnight oil. Two days later, I’m still mentally drained, and even though I clocked a full night’s sleep, my weary bones are still demanding to know, “What were you thinking, pulling that stunt, you lunkhead?”
Still, on the eve of the second anniversary of the Reunion: Coda project’s start, I am quite content with the progress I’ve made. Today, the manuscript stands at 540 pages and boasts a whopping 131,831 words. Not bad for a guy who used to agonize over five-paragraph essays in 10th grade English class at South Miami Senior High in the early Eighties, right?
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Comments
2 responses to “Writer’s Shop Talk: When Working on a Novel, Avoid Overworking!”
Alex, I would tell you to avoid the all-nighters, but I can’t take my own advice! We both know there is a price to be paid. Take a break when you need it, and all the best with your novel! 😴
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This was a rare occurrence. I usually avoid working past 6 PM. On Thursday…I don’t know…I didn’t want to quit working at 4:30 PM, and I also remembered all the headaches I had because I had rushed to publish Reunion: A Story (the first book in the duology), only to have to fix typos and make small adjustments to the text so I didn’t look like one of those careless “indie” authors who just want to make a fast buck with poorly edited books on Amazon. So, when I spotted a passage in the novel that I thought needed improvement….I decided to fix it…and thus entered into the Twilight Zone of edits and revisions.
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