Multi-tasking double time...

It is currently the ninth of February, and I have been to school once.  Snow, snow, snow.  Don't get me wrong, I love snow days as much as the next teacher or student, but really...I have things that need to be accomplished at my job.  Not to mention, I'm not really cut out for the whole stay-at-home mom thing.  That's just not my style, and the kids know it.  I'm ready to go back to school (at least for a couple of days).

With that said, I can say that I have accomplished quite a bit on my novel and feel good about where I am.  I received some very constructive criticism from a good writing friend about my novel so far.  She was able to both confirm some of my suspicions on what was and wasn't working as well as bring to the light some themes I hadn't even realized I was including.  Between her comments and my recent lack of sleep episode, I'm back on track towards accomplishing a complete first draft.

I made a short sentence style outline of everything that has happened so far and moved several things around.  It worries me a bit that I moved my major conflict farther into the novel, but I have my reasons for this.  Since my character isn't exactly human, I need to spend some time introducing him, his way of life, and his unusual circumstances.  The great part of this outline is that it enabled me to finally get past the place where I have been since December.

I've not been writing anything new yet, I'm restructuring what I have so far.  While this could have been done in a quick cut and paste format, instead I am going back and retyping it all from the beginning and moving the parts as I go.  I hate to say that I am doing a little revision in the process, but it is peripheral, typos mostly.  I will soon be to the place where I initially got stuck, and I feel confident that when I get there, I will be able to just continuing writing.  That is a good feeling.

As per the snow, while I am writing I am also being attacked by a dinosaur and helping a fairy princess pirouette.  Earlier, I worked on my outline while playing fetch and answering a million questions about the finer points of Thumbelina.  I cooked lunch, thawed dinner, and reworked a section of dialogue yesterday.  I switched out the laundry and read a chapter on incorporating surprises into a novel.

So, I'm working on the simple outline and restructuring at the same time.  Soon I will be working on the simple outline and writing at the same time.  I believe as long as I keep the outline ahead of my work I will be fine.

Tentative goal:  Have a complete first draft by April 1.