Progress Enough
I don’t think anyone will disagree that getting published is a Herculean effort.
But the best fix for that is simply writing the next book, often enough. Though, in my case, that has come with its own set of challenges.
My Next Project: S2
I’ve had a few false starts with this one. But I suppose that is to be expected. With this book, I deliberately set out to make it hard to write. Like so many artists who are still trying to establish themselves, I find seeking out challenges to be the most rewarding thing.
But, naturally, I have been hesitant to share these struggles publicly. For so long, I could barely tell myself what the problem was, much less other people.
It go so bad, at one point, that I ended up writing an entire other book just to avoid writing the one I was supposed to write. Yet this is apparently a common occurrence with writers.
I still need to do a once-through of TF-TP before I start submitting that project for publication, though. It will be crazy to have two books on submission. But that’s still in the future.
In the here and now, I have the smallest bit of good news.
I had a Breakthrough
I’m finally making headway on project S2. Specifically, I’ve finally found the piece’s narrative voice, which largely meant finding a way to write an omniscient narrator without the story falling completely apart.
By the way, it feels good to have unlocked the achievement of writing a good omniscient narrator. I can see why so many writers avoid it, but when you finally nail it, there is a powerful endorphin rush.
Because writing omniscient narrators is a professional specialty. It’s like being a cook who, aside from knowing how to prepare a satisfying meal, has also mastered a particular tradition of cooking—French, Japanese, Italian, etc.
Few cooks bother to learn every specialty, but a good cook will dabble in at least one or two. Being able to handle the notoriously difficult specialty of writing in an omniscient voice is now something I can put on my writer resumé. It’s not necessarily the most valuable skill to have, but it does set me apart just that much.
So now it’s full steam ahead with project S2. It’s not the biggest step, but it is progress enough.
I will get it done, just for you.
