I’ve handed my novel THE SUITOR over to a trusted reader. I spent most of the past year writing little else. I wrote some posts on this blog. I scribbled a note or two on stray ideas. But the vast majority of my writing time was devoted to THE SUITOR.
Now I’m waiting.
With waiting comes new and unstructured writing time. My first thought is always what novel I’m going to write next. It’s always the novel I think of first. Since 2007, when I started writing STASH, I’ve almost exclusively written novels: CLEAN BREAK (2012), THE FINISH LINE, FLIGHT RISK, THE CULLING. And now, THE SUITOR.
I’ve written two or three short stories across that time. No poems. No scripts. But I have penned a number of love cards to my family, and I’ve written and presented several Pecha Kuchas.
So almost all my writing time is given over novels. Which makes me a novelist, for better and worse.
I don’t have any new ideas at the moment (otherwise I’d be writing them at this moment). But I’m still intrigued by FLIGHT RISK, about a married, successful businessman and father who survives a plane crash only to suffer from a dissociative fugue state and is forced to confront his identity. It has a great first chapter, and a surprise yet meaningful ending, but . . . something still ain’t right, as my agent and I discovered.
Then I have those novels that I’ve started and stopped. The one with the teenagers playing a prank that turns out wrong and messes up a bunch of people’s lives. The one with Sara Montez, NYPD detective from CLEAN BREAK, now a private investigator conflicted over a domestic surveillance case. The Alzheimer’s novel. The friend asking a friend for an alibi novel.
I’ll consider them all to see if there is something fresh to capture my interest. And I’ll get out my notebook and start writing. Maybe I will write a short story. They’re certainly shorter than a novel so I should be able to finish one without investing a year or two of writing time.
Just like my remaining reading time is limited, so too is my writing time.
Choose wisely. Write well.
In a few days, I’ll have all kinds of things to fix in THE SUITOR. I hope I’m up for that writing.
