Moving forward...

Tinker Mountain was a blast!  I learned so much in such a short amount of time, that I am still reeling from the information that was shoved into my brain.  I don't want to wait too long before going over all my notes, but for now, I need a moment to just sit an reflect.  I have pages of notes, even more pages of handouts, and a suggested reading list that is frightening.  My break won't even last an entire day, as I plan on getting started on something this afternoon, but at this point, I'm still overwhelmed.

So, my novel didn't go over very well when it was work-shopped.  Fred told me that I write beautifully.  He then proceeded to tell me that writing beautifully is similar to breathing beautifully, and that it alone won't get me anywhere.  *sigh*  He told me many nice things about my writing, that I have developed a constant, believable character (which is a huge feat considering the character he was speaking about is the physical embodiment of Death) who has a unique and believable voice.  He said that I have a tremendous ability to create urgency on every page.

I believe the biggest thing I got out of the work-shopping process is that there are certain elements of my novel that I thought were working that just aren't.  I need to establish a few things earlier than I have; I need to change the pacing between the scenes; and I need to establish a plausible element of possible change in my character.  That is going to be huge and challenging.  I mean, Death hasn't really changed over the course of the world, and now I'm going to propose that he does.

So, here is my current state... Firstly, I realized that I have written new parts that I have promptly lost.  I believe they were done in long hand, but I'm not sure where they were done, and I sure haven't typed them in.  Secondly, I know that I need to finish the novel before I go back and edit.  I know this in my heart, but I've also realized that there are some problems in what I have written that aren't authentic, that make it darn near impossible for me to go forth from here, without contradicting what I've already written.  Should I go back and change/cut/delete the parts that I've realized aren't right, or do I plow forward knowing that I can fix contradictions when I edit, and just focus on being true to my characters and my story?  Or do I set this novel aside (ugh, I know....but I am going to AWW at the end of summer, and will be work-shopping this novel there as well), and work on something new.  Perhaps, my YA novel and a new short story.

Something will be started today, preferably during nap-time, though I feel dishes and laundry will probably take precedence then.