Failed ideas, Works-in-process, and The Editing Express

To say my attempt to write a novel this past April during Camp NaNoWriMo fell short would be stating the obvious. As much as I tried to create a world separate from my usual tales of Gary and his crew, the words failed to transition from my brain to the page. Upon reflection, I will attribute this to poor advanced planning.

I had conjured up the idea of The Tundraville Trio within two weeks before I was scheduled to start writing, and by the time April Fool's Day arrived all I had come up with were the names of my three main characters. I had no real plot thought out; just the premise of three 40-somethings banding together to become a small vigilante faction. I had no central conflict planned in advance, and I dove in blindly. Because of my poor planning, the story fell into disrepair, and will need a drastic restructuring before I resume work on it. However, that was not the only iron I've had in the fire recently.

My muse has been, to borrow a lyric from Kid Rock, "jumping around on stage like a bunch of wounded ducks." First, came the idea to create a second persona, and start writing a novel in a different genre than I'm accustomed to. I was able to jot down roughly 1,250 words before I hit the wall; it has since been put on the back burner. The thoughts were soon pushed out of my brain by the idea for a work of fan fiction where I would crossover the worlds of two of my favorite television series. I began work on it, but am currently slowing to a crawl; as I'm attempting to write the scene where the two casts first meet. This is currently sitting at about 1,600 words, and in desperate need of getting shocked by a cattle prod in order for the writing process to be restarted.

Lately, my mind has turned to "my first-born," Scarlet Siege. In less than two months from now, it will be the one-year anniversary of when it was first released. Since then, the novel has been put into my hired editor's Foster Care with the ambition of it being revised and released as a stronger story. Unfortunately, the process has been slower than expected. That being said, I have taken some of the matter into my own hands by utilizing some of the tips and strategies showcased on my editor's blog. As it stands right now, I have completed 35% of the latest round of revisions, with another sixty-five 8.5" x 11" sheets to go through. I must confess it's tough to take the shears to my "infant child," but if I want to make this into a better debut novel I need to do this. The real challenge will be when I have to do the same for Barbadian Backlash, as I feel it will need more rewriting to go with the accompanying hack-and-slash job. The sad thing is, my hired editor has yet to see Rouge Numbered Week, and I haven't even begun the first round of edits on it yet.

It seems like the work of an aspiring writer is never done.