I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

I probably shouldn’t say anything for fear of jinxing myself, but things are going well for me, at least in terms of my writing. My last book has been finished, edited and by a twist of good fortune, has hit the mail and vanished into editorial oblivion. What happens to it now is out of my control, so I've followed by own advice and moved onto a new project to keep my mind occupied.

My current book, although I haven’t written a single word, is chugging along nicely in terms of plotting and research. The synopsis is almost written and once that’s done, I’ll develop a chapter by chapter outline to help me stay on track. That proved invaluable during the last book, so I’m going with that again. Things seem to be grooving. The characters are talking to me and they're just oozing characterization. They have goals and motivation and conflict (oh my!). They have crazy, kinky sex. All is well and I hope once I do start writing, the process will be even smoother than last time.

I have to say that I struggled with a single title for over a year. At once point, I was pretty sure that the timing was wrong, but I was determined to keep on, no matter what. I had so much faith in the book (I still do, but I know now isn't the right time either.) When it was finished and agents weren't beating down my door, I decided I was sick of looking at it and needed to do something else. I did some short stories, then a short novella. Then I finished my last book. Now, writing a category length book seems far less complicated than it was when I first tried. I won’t say it's easy, it's not, but I’m more confident in what I’m writing, I think. I'm not swimming upstream, at least today. Don't ask me Monday.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes, when you stop fighting the current and go with the flow that things somehow seem easier? How a undesirable situation can sometimes manage to put you in a better position than you were before? (And I don't mean giving up your dream because its too much work. Anything worth having is worth working for.)

For example, my mom and I used to share a car in Las Vegas and carpooled to work. I'll admit it - it was a Chevy Metro. One day, we got rear-ended and the almost new car was destroyed. I was distraught. We could barely afford the one we had much less get a new one and pay off the difference between the value and what we owed after insurance totalled out the car. It was a mess, but in the end, we ended up with a way better car for not that much more money and I'm still driving it to this day. No way the Metro would still be kicking, even if I hadn't been in an accident. It was a rough few weeks, but everything turned out better in the end. When things like that happen it makes me wonder if I've finally found the path I was meant to take. I don't know if I believe 100% in fate, but I'm certain that some things are meant to happen for a reason.

Has something like this ever happened to you? Is life flowing for you right now, too?

SP

PS. Don't forget to join us next week. We have a blog-tastic guest schedule lined up. Monday is guest blogger Karen Rose Smith and Tuesday is Nicola Marsh. Be sure to drop by and say hi to them both!