Writing and Reading Novels

So I haven't posted in several days but that's because I've head four and five day weekends and have been diving deep into my novel. Finally I have focus. I have stored away art books and supplies, cleaned up my writing desk and computer desk and put poetry aside for the time being.

Looking forward to National Novel Writing Month in November as well as my critique group's twice yearly retreat, I am pumped to get this first draft finished. I will do it this time, no matter what obstacles get in my way. Because they aren't true obstacles to writing a novel, just challenges to writing that test my commitment.

I have 43 pages so far and most of my important scenes sketched out. I have my characters down including images I found online that give me visuals. And not just character visuals but pictures of their homes too. I know my main character's goals and obstacles and the subplots of other characters. This is very exciting. Writing a novel is a journey I'm up for.

I just finished reading Dean Koontz's "The Husband." What a roller coaster ride of a read. Awesome story with surprising turns and suspense on every page. But most of all I read the book as a writer and I noticed the precision of his writing even before I read an interview that stated how Koontz rewrites every page up to a dozen times. No wonder the words sparkle like diamonds. And while one publisher once told him he wouldn't be a commercial success because his vocabulary was too large Koontz proved that prediction to be wrong. He has achieved far more success than any would be hopeful writer like myself could ever achieve.If you want an exciting joyride of a read go get one of his books. I promise you'll be hooked.

For me now it's back to the drawing board--or notebook as it were. I need to figure out the timeline of my story as well as some backstory timelines for my main characters. Otherwise I will continue to plug in question marks for dates, ages and the passage of time and that makes my manuscript a bit messy and confusing.

So back to writing my novel.

And hope you will go back to yours.

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