Midday/Early Afternoon, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Miami, Florida
It’s a cool, mild spring day in Miami, Florida. The sun is shining, the skies are clear, and the temperature is a pleasant 73°F (23°C), though it feels more like 80°F (27°C). Today promises sunny skies and a high of 78°F (26°C).
Yesterday was, of course, a Monday—the dreaded start of a new workweek. I spent most of my afternoon shift working on an outline for the first scene in Chapter 29 of Reunion: Coda, which is the beginning of the denouement. It was a slow and somewhat tedious process because, as I’ve mentioned before, the ending of a story is the hardest part to write, especially in a long narrative that—hopefully—has kept readers eagerly turning the pages to see how the situation is resolved. A good ending is the ultimate payoff for the time spent reading, watching, or listening to your story, so you owe it to your audience to deliver a truly satisfying conclusion.
I eventually drafted a tentative outline of Chapter 29’s Scene 1, but it was late in the afternoon when I finished it, so I decided to call it a day before 6 PM. Otherwise, I would have had to either refine the outline or, barring that, attempt to start writing the scene itself. If I’d finished the outline around 4 PM, I might have rallied and written at least a few paragraphs before quitting at 6.
I’m not 20 or even 30 anymore, so working past dinnertime and even further into the night is too exhausting. I don’t bounce back from “all-nighters” the way I used to, and I don’t drink Red Bull, so I’ll work on Chapter 29 when I come back to my desk between 2:30 and 3 PM.
A Certain Point of View, Too 
Comments
6 responses to “Writer’s Shop Talk: Outlining a Scene Without Pushing Past 6 PM”
It’s good to have boundaries with our writing and try to take care of ourselves as well. If we could, we would write the entire day but we need to remember to eat at meal times and get rest.
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Hi, Pooj!
Taking time out to rest sometimes feels like a “necessary evil.” I don’t mind admitting that I’m tired on a “slow” day (like today, for instance), but I hate it when I’m on a roll, happily creating a scene for the novel, and see that it’s time to grab a snack or go for a walk outside.
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Yup, definitely a “necessary evil.” When we’re in the zone it’s like having to step away from the best feeling. It really sucks.
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All-nighters in college were brutal. I’m almost 52, so I definitely don’t do late nights anymore. I can barely make it to 10:30 most nights.
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I’m usually asleep by 11 PM…except on nights when insomnia pays me an unwelcome visit.
I didn’t have to do too many “all-nighters” in college, but when I did, I’d have one day when I felt crappy, then bounced back 24 hours later (even if it was a school weekday). Now it takes me three days to recover from insomnia bouts.
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Same here. It’s crazy how age affects us.
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