Step Away from the Keyboard

Going through a bit of post-NaNoWriMo withdrawal, here...

For nearly a month, I thrashed around, figuring out characters and world info and plotlines.  I wound up with 58,000+ words that I didn't completely despise, arranged in a manner that could be called storylike.  At least half of it will require extensive rewriting to achieve any consistency.  As for the ending, I admit I already had to fix that. I did that Turkey Day morning, actually, the day after I technically "won" NaNoWriMo 2009.  No, the characters wouldn't leave me alone long enough to go to the family get-together until I'd straightened out their final moments.  Unfortunately, though I like the new ending much better, it still begs a sequel, which I don't even have the vaguest notion of a plot for.  I can't even begin to work on it until I establish a more consistent framework to work in: character histories, the world geography, a quick-sketch history of nations and races... In short, I need to get this story edited into a more cohesive second draft before I can begin the rough draft of Book 2 (of what danged well better be a two-part series.) And editing will take some time.  Significant amounts of time.

December is staring me in the face, with a host of Xmas shopping I haven't done yet and ornaments I haven't finished (or, in some cases, started) and various holiday things that need organizing and deciding and doing.  I also have a nagging feeling that I'll be able to do a much better editing job if I don't have other projects breathing down my proverbial neck... and if I let the story settle for a while after the vigorous stirring and boiling it underwent in the greater part of November.

I've tried distracting myself.  I immersed myself in ornament work most of today.  I've played Solitaire and poked at Sacred.  I weeded old e-mails.  I messed with my blog layout.  Anything to keep me from committing to a premature rewrite, one I just cannot spare the time and energy for until the holidays are over with and I get some creative breathing space back.

Of course, it couldn't hurt just to go back and tweak the dragon's description a bit.... or maybe rework that one scene... rename a town or two... or figure out a less awkward way to fill in backstory on the main character, one that wasn't created to keep my nightly page count quota intact...

I'll just tweak a word or two.  Honest.

I think I'd better step away from the keyboard...