If you heard any cursing this afternoon, I nagged begged That Man into putting up some corkboards for me in my office. I bought some cool new animal print ones at Target the last time I picked up some Caribou Coffee, and I had a larger corkboard I bought months ago and he never put up. The old one had itty bitty screws. He only dropped them twice in the carpet. The tiger print board is a little crooked, but it’s up, and I’m already putting them to use.
The vision is starting to come together, and it’s so big, I really needed a wall so I could see the connections. These stories all started out as individual ideas, but with some give and take, and new inspiration, I think they’re all in the same connected world: the science fiction Regency spoof, Seven Crows, and a really old untitled idea that keeps rearing its ugly head. This time I think I finally found the right world and characters for it.
I’m still worldbuilding and figuring out the themes, main conflict, overall story arc, etc. so I don’t know what to “write” right now while I build this other world. Oh, I have a story I could work on. I’m just scared of it.
It’s the Fast Draft story from 2007. I’ve done as much research for that story as the Maya one, if not more. I’ve replotted it with three spreadsheets and have filled a three-inch binder with notes. Yet I still haven’t been able to write it. It’s going to be WORK. Hard, gut-wrenching work. Harder than Revision Xibalba. Harder than anything I’ve done before.
I know what needs to be done. It’s just getting my mind in the right place to tackle the work. It would be so much easier and more fun to tackle a bright shiny new idea…
But you know me. I’ve never much cared for the easy path.
The first shitty draft of a short synopsis for the Maya story is done. Copyedits on Dear Sir, I’m Yours are sent back to Angie. Storybuilding is chugging along on a new world (or rather, galaxy). So I guess all that remains is to drag out my binders and spreadsheets and come up with a plan for RHP.
Let RHP Revision Hell begin.