I always find that I have a boatload of energy to write when I get to the exciting part of the manuscript, the part where it all comes together. In this book, the fourth in the series, something clicked in Morgan’s mind, and it led her to piece together the last bit of the puzzle, which led them to discover … the thing they didn’t even realize was there. (I’m not about to spoil the story!)
I’m a part-time author, part-time publisher, and full-time mom, so having the time to write an entire book in three or four months and then spend a few months reviewing, cleaning, and polishing is a luxury I don’t have. It feels strange, just the same, to finally be at the exciting part after about six months of writing.
This year has been hard for me medically. I found out that all the health problems that have been compounding over several decades, especially since having children, are probably all due to mold toxicity (mold growing in my body). I don’t know where I picked it up, but it was likely when I was little, and the mold has caused nearly every system in my body to glitch horribly. Because of this and my attempts to heal this year, the brain fog was horrible in the first quarter. I barely remembered anything, which meant that I would write a chapter and completely forget it. So I spent a lot of time this year re-reading.
Though the brain fog improved a lot in the second quarter, we moved into allergy season, which led to exhaustion. For the past three months, I’ve been super tired most of the day, sometimes longing for a nap after being awake just a couple hours. Because of my schedule, I pushed through, but I’m sure that wasn’t the best decision for my health.
I also took on a part in a theatrical production, Forbidden Broadway, in July, which took up a lot of time but also let me be creative. It was a ton of fun, and I hope to do more in the future. Fitting in writing in July was challenging, but I made it work.
Finally, down to the last three chapters of this book, I believe that the path I took got me to where I needed to be with my writing, and I know I have a really solid manuscript. And possibly a title. We will see what people think when I’m ready to share it. 🙂
When I visited a friend over the weekend, we did so coworking at coffee shops near her house, and I knocked out so much of the “exciting” chapter that I am nearly done. The discoveries are almost all out there. But then what?
When I get to this point in a novel, sometimes, I find myself retracing my steps to make sure I’m giving the book the best ending I can, the one the readers would want, and that includes jumping ahead in time for an epilogue because I LOVE seeing a little piece of the future of their lives. Do you like epilogues? How far into the future is too far? What’s a good length of time for those?