Yesterday, I was able to take down the notes stuck around my writing station, tick them off a list in my notebook, transfer the facts/details to the main ‘bible’ notebook for my current series, and say, ‘That’s the first draft done.’ I then spent the rest of the day with my head inside the book, trying to put my imaginary finger on what’s missing, or perhaps, what’s not quite exactly as it should be… While wondering if there aren’t too many distractions to the main mystery plot, and knowing something isn’t quite right but I’m not sure what… Until it finally fell into place as I was drifting off to sleep last night.
So, today, I shall begin again, this time, reading through with a great big note (and only the one) right in front of me reminding me what to cut out and what to highlight. I know what the problem is. The protagonist isn’t sure whether he is going to do A or B, and that’s misleading the reader. It’s actually me, while writing, who didn’t know if the protagonist was going to do A or B, and leaving my options open, but like an open gate to a field of cattle, it’s let everything wander into the lane and get muddled up while causing a traffic jam. So, time to make a decision, close the gate, stick to the one idea, and rewrite the draft with that in mind.
Meanwhile…
Back in the real world, the chillies are doing well, bar one plant that has suddenly decided to wither and die while full of fruit. Very odd. It was planted at the same time as others, in the same soil (different pot), has been treated the same and was doing as well as them until recently. We’ve tried all kinds of things to keep it going but to no avail. The rest of the courtyard is doing fine, as we learn which plants want what levels of sunlight, and discover the best places to put them. There’s always one.
Beyond the courtyard walls, the Symi-September world revolves, with more regulars arriving, the same number of day trippers tripping, and yachts and gin palaces calling in. Temperatures are cooling by not mightily, so it’s still good beach weather, and as far as I can see, the season is behaving as ‘normal’, though, after the last few years, it’s hard to know what normal is. Still, upwards and onwards…
