Progress has been made!

While I’m still a fan of just winging it for a story, I think with something as complicated as a mystery story there should be more of a plan in place.  I am pretty sure that I’m not being as detailed as I could be, or should be, for the exercises, but what I have done so far has shown me a lot.

For example, I had decided my main character lived with his parents in the beginning but as I began to flesh the character out a bit more I realized he needed to be on his own. This is something that might have come out while writing, but at that point I’d have already spent time with the original idea which would mean needing to go back and edit and hope I didn’t miss a detail somewhere. (Like I have done before.)

It’s such a change for me, planning so much out ahead of time, but it is proving very worth it.

I’m becoming more anxious to write this character’s story, whereas before I just wanted to write ‘a mystery story.’ I’ve been jotting down conversations and like how the voices are turning out. Progress!

One of the exercises I’m going to do this week is watch an episode of NCIS and pick out the suspects and see how their lives and secrets make them appear guilty. It’s more about creating the red herrings than figuring out the real villain at this point.

While April isn’t over yet, I’m thinking I can say that this challenge is a successful one. I might not be finished with the exercises, but I have learned enough so far to know that I will finish them, and that’s more than good enough in my book.

I need to slow down and stop thinking that I have to start and finish a novel right now because that’s ridiculous. I have a life, which includes a mentally and physically demanding job that, some days, can leave me done with thinking after I clock out or unable to stay up late or wake up early to write.

Writing every day is my dream, sometimes I can make it happen and sometimes I can’t…and that’s okay as long as I feel like I am making progress on my writing. Same goes for reading and for language learning.

I expect to be able to do everything all at once and I get angry with myself when I can’t. Or get overwhelmed and stop doing anything. But these challenges are doing exactly what I had hoped for: showing me that a little can go a long way.

I am figuring out when to push myself and get results and when I should just take a break. 

And when I should stop writing in order to get to work on time! 

I need more hours in the day!