Day Twenty-four-- The plot thickens, congeals, and becomes lumpy

So, as you're approaching the end of a WIP, do you ever think that maybe you've got too much plot? I mean, clearly, you need plot. A story without plot is like gravy without flour or starch of some kind. (When my kids were on the gluten free diet--common among Autistic interventions--I made gravy with potato starch. It thickened so fast. I know it's also common to make it with corn starch--but strangely--I'm allergic to corn.) Anyway, enough about gravy. I have gravy on the mind with Thanksgiving coming. Mmmm. Gravy. I love gravy.

Yes, gravy--I mean, plot is important.

I should have something with gravy on it for breakfast.

Hold that thought. Back in a bit. Gravy.

I love microwave dinners which make it possible to have gravy at 8 a.m.

Anyway, so plot and Scorched. I think I have too much plot. I've got side plots. Main plots. Plotting plots by two separate villains. I think I've over-plotted. Do you ever take out plot points on revisions? Too much plot! Even if I can resolve all this plot... it might make for a lumpy finished product. Too much. Too much. Too much.

In my ill-plotted personal life, the water pump continues to vex the husband. T was a maniac last night from hyper energy. My migraine continues to play hide and seek. I did go see New Moon with my friend yesterday. I liked it, but I know where it goes from here. I've read the fourth book. Why did I read the fourth book? It killed the series. Plus, it felt creepy to watch the movie and think Jacob was so hot. I felt all cougar... and like I needed to shower off the "thirty year old lusting over a teenager" weirdness. I felt the same thing when Harry Potter was doing that theater run including a nude scene. (No, I didn't look at nude pictures of Harry Potter. That's just a whole new level of weird porn.) Even the playbills made me feel all creepy "old woman" stalker, though. Eww. Gross. Wrong! Put some clothes on.

So, I may be able to finish Scorched today--not like "finish" but complete it. Well, that might require me to ignore my house for another day--which I'm not sure that should happen. The poor husband is living in squalor that should cause weeping. I've been sick for so long and then working on NaNo when I'm well. Blech. Seriously. Bad. Bad. Bad.

If I ignore other blogs to do those things, you all won't hate me, right?

Day Eight-- Where your plot suddenly

So, I suspected this yesterday, but yeah... my throat is toast, I feel achy. I've been nailed with something new and exciting. It's probably just T's cold. Still, T is just raining buckets of snot. He thinks it's hilarious and finds particularly ghastly sneezes to be amusing. So, really--with a little boy literally spraying snot, it's not such a huge jump that I'm sick. So, I'll be applying cold medicine liberally to my day.

As for writing, I know a ton of you write with an outline, but I sooooo don't. I start writing and when I get to the end, I stop. So, my current story is going along well, but I don't know how it ends. I'm closing in on the end of the book and I have no idea if there is a monster there or not. This isn't so massively unusual for me to not know twenty steps ahead, but it's a little disconcerting when I'm not dealing with a mystery this time. I have a problem instead of a mystery--I have all these pyrodemons running around that my MCs need to take down, but that will require a big throwdown and I have no idea on the hows or whens of that. I'm not entirely sure how far away that is either.

I'm not sure how to deal with a plot that suddenly stops. I guess I'll just keep writing and hope that chapter by chapter I'll get there.

In the meantime, I have two hormone driven teens that I've got to keep apart. Do any other YA authors have situational cold showers that they use to avoid massive makeout sessions on the couch?

Rare Moment of Writer's Block

This cold is sucking the life out of me.

Like a drain swilling down the last of the soapy water....

Like a moth trapped in a flame....

Like the mud dragging the boot off your foot....

Like the roll absorbing the last of the Thanksgiving gravy....

Like a disposable diaper accidentally washed....

I'm stuck in my book. I just got a wonderful email from LULU promising me 15% off my order if I place it by Friday, and I thought "It's only 10K words left. I can finish it. I can print it out and get it here to proofread." No. I'm stuck. I've written myself into a corner and my characters are there saying, "Uhh... yeah... what now?" I wrote that my hero had come up with a brilliant plan, and normally... that's around the time he does, and I just keep writing. He is really letting me down here.

I'm fairly sure it has nothing to do with the cold medicine.

"THOMAS! Come up with your brilliant plan already! I just said you did."

Wait. It's on the tip of my brain.... I can feel it. OF COURSE! It's brilliant. BAWAHAHA!

Okay... writer's block is over. Please return to your regularly scheduled lives.

Oh... and no reject from DAW today. Woo!