Weekly writing check-in: Stuck in the middle with me

I may have mentioned that I have a time travel series idea that’s been knocking around inside my head for about … four years now.

I never claimed to be a fast writer.

Or thinker, as the case may be. I pondered season four of Coffee and Ghosts for a good four years before I sat down to (seriously) write it. True, I did do a trial run in 2020, but I jettisoned it because … 2020.

When I tried again this year, it only took me six months to write 100,000 words. That’s not a bad pace, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The entire story includes pondering and note-taking and letting it all simmer.

Instead of being frustrated by this, I’ve decided to embrace it and make it fun. Because it’s not changing. How do I know this? I’ve tried. Oh, how I’ve tried. I have learned that I’m not one of those zippy writers who can write a book a month.

I’ve attempted to adhere to the pithy writing advice of Don’t think, write.

Guess what? It doesn’t work for me. What I get is a mess of a draft or a story that’s anemic.

I also don’t outline. I take lots of notes, create a framework or a roadmap, but I don’t go beyond that, either. And yes, I’ve tried to meticulously outline as well. When I do that, I overcomplicate the story.

So here I am, plotters to the left of me, pantsers to the right, stuck in the middle with me.

Only now, I’m owning it.