Lazy. But not really.

I haven't updated this blog in a while, but I've had some good reasons. Well, maybe not good reasons, but they were reasons. I have been writing constantly, both for myself and for my clients, struggling to meet deadlines. You know, the usual work stuff.

But I've had a lot of excitement. For NaNo, I made a serious effort and finishing my first novel. I made a lot of headway: 40,800 words. About 2/3 of a complete manuscript. But maybe 10K of those words were forced and the story didn't flow right to me. With a week left in November, I gave up on it. It was a cool concept; a mafia/fantasy thriller with a few really unique twists. I like the overall concept a lot, and might use it in the future, but for now it isn't working.

That leads me to my December project. I started outlining a short story at the beginning of the month. Then I realized that this was a really complex suspense novel that I could easily stretch into 20k words. It wasn't going to be a short story, then. It was a novella. But the more I wrote of it, the more I realized that it wasn't a novella, either. I cannibalized a few fragmented ideas and stories I had written, including the main plot of my Annuity novel, and threw them all together. I have a full blown novel on my hands now, I figure this out about 4 days ago and I already have 1/4 of a novel down on paper.

So have I been lazy when it comes to blogging? For sure. But that's about it. I'm really happy with this story and if I keep working at this pace, I will have a completed first draft in a few weeks. Pretty exciting.

I've never actually completed a whole novel. Right after college, I attempted an epic fantasy, and I got it up to about 45k words. It was a good story, actually, but it wasn't a good novel, if that makes sense. It had an exciting plot, but the characters were lifeless and the main character was so unlikable by the end of the book that it disgusted me. There's some stuff in it that I've included in the graphic novel I'm working on, but that story is long gone. It was good  practice, but it wasn't good, if that makes sense.

I've rambled a bit here, but my point is this: writing something good requires a lot of time and a lot of false starts. I'm still working on it, but I'm getting better and learning every day. You can't expect to write a good novel on your first try. It's like training for a race. The only way you can become a better runner is by running. The only way you can become a better writer is by writing. Will you win your first race ever? Probably not. There's always a few freaks with the natural talent to excel on little training, but the vast majority of us need time to develop the skills to be successful.