Starting a new book

My editor, AKA the bow-tied one, asked me to send him plot ideas for my next novel. “They don’t have to be fully developed,” he told me. “Just any ideas that you think are good.”

So I sent him several plot ideas complete with beginnings, middles, and ends.

He didn’t choose any of those. In fact, he chose one that I don’t actually remember writing. It was a one sentence thing that I threw in for some reason (probably to show him I was trying to be versatile)which had no beginning, middle, end, conflict, or story question.

So that’s what I’ve been working on. I wrote the first five thousand words, changed them, and have now thrown them away. I started over again yesterday and am now two thousand words into it.

Moral of the story: Do not send your editor one sentence story premises just to show that you can be versatile. Versatility, it turns out, is way overrated.

He called to talk to me about the new plot, giving me many instructions and I would tell you everything he had to say about it, except that in the middle of the conversation he said, “And I don’t want to see any of these things I’m telling you on your blog.”

“You won’t,” I said, “because you never read my blog.”

He paused then said, “Yeah, but I make my assistant read it, and she flags it for me every time you mention me.”

So now I’m considering randomly inserting the word: Tim into every blog just so he’ll have to read them all. And by the way: Hi Shauna! I hope you like my blogs. Call me later so we can talk about Tim behind his back.

(Note to Tim: Just kidding. Please do not tell any more large crowds that I skip out on paying my parking fees.)

Anyway, I’m supposed to have the new book done by the end of August. The way things are going it may not be done until August 50th or so.

Manuscript update: 4,580 words written. Aproximately 45,000 to go.