Day: July 10, 2017

Okay, so I got laid off. And it was kind of traumatic. And after I moped about that for a while, I decided to take as the gift it was and write. Write my little fingers off. I have deadlines. I could get done well before the deadlines. I could make progress! It will be good.

And then I ran into trouble.

At the same time I was looking at the word count in the WIP I was working on, and knowing damn well I didn’t have enough story left to make the minimum, I got edits back on Hearts and Hazelnuts. And in those edits, my editor asked me to look at two specific things and resolve them better. And I was like, wha? Why?

So I turned to my Brubby.

I sat down with him and basically said, “I’ve got a problem. I’ve got TWO problems! And I need help.”

So we discussed the WIP first, and he suggested that I needed to add more of the secondary story line. From what I told him, that was basically the only way I was going to beef up the word count. He talked through some suggestions with me, some ideas that would add to that story line but still be relevant to the greater narrative. But nothing he said really gelled in my head. It didn’t really work. But I knew what he was getting at. I just had to think on it.

So we turned to the second issue, the edits and the resolution that I needed to revise. I whined a little at first, but he wisely and patiently pointed out the reasoning in language I would get. And that made me laugh. There, when he suggested things, I was like “Oh oh oh! What about THIS?!” And he said yes, that works, and here’s how you do it. He talked out my resolution with me, and I knew clearly what I was going to do.

On my way back to my computer later that evening, the thought struck and stuck, and I knew with absolutely clarity what to add to the WIP that would increased the length and also be a vital part of the story. So I threw it at him real quick, just so he could tell me it was the right idea (even though I already knew it was). And then I wrote. I wrote lots of words. And in two days, I finished Lost Souls Found, the sequel to my contracted Dreamspun Beyond title. It stands alone, in that the story is not dependent on the first to make sense. It’s a brand new couple, though we see them in the first. And it’s done, all but the final finessing and tweaking to make it as shiny as possible before I send it in.

And now I need to start on the third book. Which has one MC we’ve seen before and one who is brand new.

(I totally want to write a fourth as well, but I’m putting that on the back burner for a while. Maybe one day.)

So, all in all, I think I’m using the lack of EDJ as a good thing. At least for the moment. 🙂