It's More Like The Dance Of Shame, Actually

So I know I've been a little bit quiet about my writing as of late. That is because, well, there really hasn't been a lot going on. I feel so horrible about how I have been slacking. But not so horrible that I've actually been motivated to do anything. Sigh.

Okay, that sounds bad. I may not have been doing any of the actual writing, revisions, or research, but I have been thinking about the story and the changes/tweaks I want to make to it. A LOT, actually. I just haven't done much more than scribble down notes.

Part of this is because I do need to get that research done that I mentioned earlier this year. I think the reason I have been dragging my feet is because the research is more for my own personal background information and not so much for the actual story itself. Very little of it would show up in the text. That doesn't mean it is not important, not at all, but it does mean I am less excited about it than I am about my ideas for the story.

Every time I think of a tweak I want to make or something I want to add, I realize it will require me to go and research something else (such as weather and climate patterns and their relation to types of flora) and I stall out. It doesn't help that at least one of those "tweaks" is going to require me to completely rewrite the entire last third of the novel, or at least do some serious gymnastics to avoid doing so.

Then, yesterday, I only made matters worse by realizing that the ending of this story (which I have been a little nonplussed about in regards to where we leave the central romance) is actually just fine if I do something specific in the next story. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't help me one bit with writing draft two of Living Legend, now, does it? Grr. Argh.

So, here are the things I think I need to do in order to actually get in gear with writing my second draft:
-Go through my manuscript and type up all of the notes I have made so that I have them in one handy place.
-Do any research required by the notes.
-Make a new outline for the story so that I can figure out where expanded/new scenes need to go, as well as figure out if/how to rearrange the end.
-Fine-tune the world-building so that I know what these people are talking about when I start writing.
-Actually start the rewriting.

It's not that hard. The real challenge is to find/allocate a time during the day to actually go do this. I really can't work on this while my daughter is awake unless I have someone else watching her and I am not at home, and when I have my Baby Girl-free time, as much as I love her, I don't want to do anything that so closely resembles work.*

I know I know, waa, waa, my life is so hard.

Quit whining Cori and just suck it up already, geez.

Sigh.

So  yeah, that's the state of my writing at the moment. I am thinking, thinking, thinking about it (and about my upcoming November challenge as well as my sci-fi story). I just need to move beyond thinking. I will finish this draft this year, dagnabit, I will.

Perhaps today is a good day to type up those notes. Just gotta take the first step and see where I go from there, right?

*Note: I am not in any way trying to blame my lack of writing on my daughter. It is all on me. I am just trying to explain how I have been (mis)managing my time that is actually available for writing.