by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
So. I spent all morning fleshing out an outline AGAIN. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — having an obsessive personality sure does help whenever you want to be creative. Roughly 10 days after my deadline of January 1st, 2023, I find myself pretty much at ground zero with the second draft of this novel.
Having said that, things continue to improve with this novel in leaps and bounds. I’m growing in confidence on a structural and character development basis. My two concerns at the moment are how long the first act is scene wise and how long it’s going to take me to finish this second draft.
The first act is a little bit too long at the moment, at least from a scene count point of view. But the third act is a little bit short, so I’m hoping that won’t be that big a deal. Also, I’m determined to save up for an editor after the beta reader process is completed so that might be how I figure out how to get closer to the 100,000 word sweetspot for a first novel.
As for how long all of this is taking — I’ve resigned myself to querying not in fall 2023, but early 2024. I hope to start a few other novels between now and then so when the potentially long process of querying begins I’ll have something to while I wait.
To do all of that, however, I’m going to have to give my life a lot more structure than it currently has. I can’t just keep drifting through life forever. I need to give myself some self-imposed metrics that I have to meet on a daily basis so I can actually squeeze out a first novel before I drop dead — or am so old that it’s just silly.
Because age isn’t just a number. Being old sucks and the sooner I come to grips with how being old limits my ability to do what I always though I could do, the better. As such, I really, really need to be querying my first novel no later than around a year from now.
