I write for at least two hours first thing every morning. Then ordinary life kicks in with cooking, housekeeping, appointments, lunches with friends—the days are full. I write in the evening too, as most TV shows don’t interest me.
However, this year, I am experiencing something I haven’t before—the post-NaNoWriMo slump. My creativity levels are low, and my words seem reluctant to join the party. I know many authors who suffer through this, but since I began this journey in 2010, I have never experienced it.
The way I am dealing with this is to keep a notepad handy for writing down ideas that need to be included in the second-half outline for the current novel.
My analytical mind is operating at full force, so this is an excellent time to make revisions. Instead of forcing myself to write scenes I’m not interested in, I go to my files and pull out short stories that need revising. This way, I am moving forward despite my creative levels being a bit low.
My first drafts tend to be ugly. The story emerges from my imagination and falls onto the paper (or keyboard), warts and all. Each first draft I can write “the end” on is a hot mess of repetitions, awkward phrasing, and cut-and-paste errors. I set them aside when they’re complete and often forget I’ve written them.
So now I have plenty of time to look at these stories analytically. Does the story arc flatline? Is the narrative rife with inadvertent repetition of ideas and reliance on crutch words? What is the boredom factor, and how can it be eliminated?
Those who regularly read my blog know I frequently repeat an idea phrased a bit differently further down the post. We all do this in our first drafts, and very few things are more “first draft” than a blog post.
I print out the story or chapter and read it aloud. I use a yellow highlighter to mark each place where I stumble. By reading it aloud myself (instead of using the narrator app), I find passages that need rewording because they don’t make sense.
I find many other things that need addressing as well:
- run-on sentences,
- spell-check errors,
- numerous small mistakes you don’t notice when reading through it on the computer screen,
- Did I mention inadvertent repetitions?
Then, I turn to the last paragraph on the story’s final page and cover the rest of the page with a sheet of paper. I begin reading again, starting with the ending paragraph, working my way forward, and making notes in the margins.
You see things from a different angle when you start reading the chapter from the end and work your way toward the beginning. When I read it aloud the first time, I was going in the direction I always go, the way I know so well. The mind has its own version of autocorrect, so even though we try not to, we read what should be there instead of what is.
This admittedly involved process works for me because we don’t notice wonky grammar and mechanics as much when we see them on a computer screen.
I put the hand-corrected copy on a recipe stand (cheap to buy at Amazon) and set it beside my computer. Then, I open the manuscript and save it with a new file name labeled with the date. The date in the file label tells me which is the most recent version of a manuscript. That is the file I use for all my revisions.
It works the same way for novels. I print out each chapter and go through the steps I described above. Then, I make the revisions in a new file labeled with the date and the word “revised.”
I keep the old files in a folder marked “outtakes” because a story might come along where I can reuse something I’ve already written.
A few things will be embarrassingly conspicuous when I read from the bottom to the top. The second version of repeated ideas are often phrased better than the first, and I go with the one that works best.
Accidental shifts in the spelling of names for people and places will be more visible. I keep a style sheet of how invented names and created words are spelled. I check to see if the word or name is listed and do a global search for each instance, changing it to the one I prefer.
What else do I find when reading forward from the end to the opening?
- Places where I have contradicted myself, such as a town being north of the main character’s location, but they travel south to get there.
- Punctuation errors and missing quotation marks also stand out when I see them printed.
I sometimes forget to make a note of made-up words and usages when I am really into writing. The list can take several forms, but even a simple handwritten page will do. I work in MS Word which makes it easy to copy and paste every invented name, hyphenated word, or placename to a separate document the first time they appear in my manuscript. I use an Excel spreadsheet for this list (called a style sheet) because I was a bookkeeper for a lot of years and like the program.
You can get fancy and use a dedicated writer’s program like Scrivener (too complicated for my squirrel brain) or a simple sheet of paper. The internet is full of software for writers, and here is an article to tell you all about them: Book Writing Software (2023): Top 10 Pieces of Software for Writers (thewritepractice.com)
All that’s needed is a list of how you want invented words spelled so that you can ensure they are consistent.
So, if you’re experiencing a little bit of the doldrums, take a look at work you might have shelved. You might find that it needs some sprucing up to make it ready to submit somewhere, but it will be worth it. January and February will see a surge of open calls for contests and anthologies, and you may have something worth submitting.
If you don’t try, you’ll never know.
But we’d prefer the snow to stay in the mountains where it belongs. Something about the slightest dusting sends the Pacific Northwest into a panic.
BBC: From memoir and self-care books to comic novels, writing about our flaws and imperfections has never been so popular. But can failing ever be a success? Lindsay Baker explores this question. Read the story here: 
Also from Publishers Weekly: A confident mood prevailed among independent booksellers over this November holiday sales weekend. (…) Sales data from 
Artist: Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526/1530–1569)
But they are indistinct and far away, shown in a fantastic, mountainous landscape, rather than the flat terrain of the Netherlands. It is almost as if they are visions of what winter could be when the harvest had been good, rather than the truth of the lone fox, hounds with empty bellies, a bankrupt tavern, and the rabbit that got away.
That question is a good place to start, but it is only the surface layer of the pond.
It is a conversation scene, driven by the fact that each person in the meeting has knowledge the others need. Conversations are good when they deploy necessary information. Remember, plot points are driven by the characters who have critical knowledge.
Information/Revelation: The Council of Elrond conveys information to both the protagonists and readers. It is a conversation scene, driven by the fact that each person in the meeting has knowledge the others need. Plot points are propelled by the characters who have critical knowledge. Again, limited information creates tension.
The movie portrays this scene differently, with Pip and Merry hiding in the shadows. Also, in the book, the decision about who will accompany Frodo, other than Sam, is not made for several days, while the movie shortens it to one day.
We who write fantasy invent people and give them lives in invented worlds. Their stories involve them doing invented things. Unfortunately, there are times when we realize we have written ourselves into a corner, and there is no graceful way out.
In 2019, I had accomplished many important things with the 3 months of work I had cut from that novel. The world was solidly built, so the first part of the rewrite went quickly. The characters were firmly in my head, so their interactions made sense in the new context.
So, in 2019, I realized the novel I was writing is actually two books worth of story. The first half is the protagonist’s personal quest and is finished. The second half resolves the unfinished thread of what happened to the antagonist. Both halves of the story have finite endings, so the best choice is to break it into two novels.
And a “passel” of short stories and novellas.
I think of 
TITLE: African Violet Skies
When I can’t write anymore, I eat chocolate and read trashy romance novels about vampires.
I need to spend several days visualizing the goal, picturing each event, and mind-wandering on paper until I have concrete scenes. I need to write a few paragraphs that will become the final chapters.
My heroes and villains all see themselves as the stars and winners in this fantasy rumble. They intend to prevail at any cost. What is the final hurdle, and what will they lose in the process? Is the price physical suffering or emotional? Or both?
My mental rambling is accomplishing something. My characters are all getting their acts together. They are finding ways to resolve the conflict and are ready to commence the fourth act, where they will embark on the final battle.
I still had no idea there was a wider community of writers in my area, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have felt worthy of gate-crashing one of their meetings.
The next book I bought was in 2002: 
Finishing off the resources from the official NaNoWriMo store is Grant Falkner’s handbook, 
Damn Fine Story
Many local libraries offer a service where one can submit a question and have it answered by email. If that isn’t an option and we’re feeling ambitious, you can check out eBooks on any subject.
Here is a link to the great Neil Gaiman’s absolutely wonderful, infinitely comforting, yet utterly challenging advice for writers: 
In 2010, I gained a wonderful local group through attending write-ins for NaNoWriMo. Nowadays, we meet weekly via Zoom, as some members are now living far away from Olympia. My fellow writers are a never-ending source of support and information about both the craft and the industry. We write in various genres and gladly help each other bring new books into the world. But more than that, we are good, close friends.
Narrative essays are drawn directly from real life, but they are fictionalized accounts. They detail an incident or event and talk about how the experience affected the author on a personal level.
Wallace went to the fair thinking it would be a boring event featuring farm animals, which might be beneath him. But it was his first official assignment for Harpers, and he didn’t want to screw it up. What he found there, the people he met, their various crafts, and how they loved their lives profoundly affected him, altering his view of himself and his values.
Literary magazines want well-written essays on a wide range of topics and life experiences presented with a fresh point of view. Some publications will pay well for first rights.
Don’t be afraid to write with a wide vocabulary, as people who read these publications have a broad command of language.
If the editor wants changes, they will make clear what they want you to do. Editors know what their intended audience wants. Trust that the editor knows their business.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
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