Works in Progress {sneak peek}

Hello, friends.

Once again, this isn't coming to you on a Monday. So sorry about that.

One reason for the delay is that I've been writing a book. While I'm no longer participating in NaNoWriMo events due to their stepping too far into politics rather than sticking to the writing-community services they offer, I am still writing.

Do you remember a very long while back when you voted on which story I should work on? At the time, I thought I was ready to work on the elderly ladies on a road trip story. Apparently, I wasn't then. But I am now.

In fact, back in June, I worked up a very detailed scene-by-scene outline for the story, which is now going to be a book rather than a screenplay (though I may write that version later, just in case anyone wants to make a movie out of it at some point). This story is now my primary project this month.

Of course I have a couple of other ones I'm chipping away on. I can hardly ever focus solely on one project at a time, thanks to my undiagnosed ADD. Yet, I find that working on multiple projects actually aids my creativity instead of harming it.

Maybe it takes me longer to finish each story that way, but the good news is there may be multiple stories finished up around the same time because of this process.

Some of you might be wondering how I keep the various storylines, character names, and plot points straight if I'm working on multiple books at the same time.

It might be a cop-out to say my brain works that way, but to a large degree, that's exactly how it is. There are other factors, naturally, such as using a vast amount of Post-Its and taking copious notes in notebooks as well as in Microsoft Word documents. It helps that I spend time brainstorming stories and figuring out characters and their backstories long before I actually start writing (usually; there are exceptions to this occasionally). Once they're set in my mind, they're easier to keep separate from others, though I do double-check notes before starting any fresh writing on any particular project.

Back to my current WIPs.

Now that I have a detailed outline for the road trip book, the writing of the chapters is actually a lot easier than if I were writing it off the cuff. I'm really enjoying the family dynamics in this story about a handful of sisters road tripping across America. So much snark and sarcasm and wittiness, vast amounts of quirk, and strangers they might not yet trust... There are so many things to love about this story.

Here's a small snippet from yesterday's words (copyright 2020 by Andrea Cox; all rights reserved):

***

After a few moments of watching him, Emmaline couldn’t help but speak again. “You’re not even going to say you’re welcome?”

“Is that required?”

“No… no.”

He swept a hand toward her, though the motion was abbreviated due to the confined space. Once again, he resumed his work.

“It’s only expected is all.”

“Fine! Fine.” He looked her straight in the eye with a glare. “You’re welcome.”

She was pretty sure he was grinding his teeth as he said it, though, she supposed, that would have to suffice. “Thank you.”

He pointed the pen at her. “Now don’t start that again.”

***

Thank you, friends, for choosing this story for me to work on. Yes, I realize that was so long ago that I don't even recall which blog article that poll was in. Maybe it took forever for me to get to it (though, I did try at the time), but now I'm on it and enjoying it thoroughly. I also feel like my skills have improved since that poll, so I am better prepared to write this story the way I initially imagined it... and perhaps even better.

Y'all, I hope you have a great weekend, because that will be here before we know it.