Is still doesn’t really feel like fall. It’s going to be in the high 80s today. The sky is clear and bright blue, and even the trees seem to be confused, their colors stalled between green and orange and red. I know it’s bad, that the weather shouldn’t be this summerlike in mid-October. This time last year I was on a fall hike with some friends and it was misty, foggy, and FREEZING. I loved every second of it.
Yesterday I wore shorts.
But the light is different. Thinner somehow. The earth’s rotation has put the sun at a different angle, one that says “Autumn.” The weather, and thus nature, just hasn’t caught up.
This time of year is always one of transition. Summers are for revisions remember? Maybe I pump out a short story or two (or four!), but largely I spend the summer months finishing up manuscripts for submission. And the winter months are for drafting. Cold, wet, and unrelenting Oregon winters are a perfect excuse to stay indoors and get words on the page.
So, fall is that time between revision mode and drafting mode. But, it’s even more crucial than that, because it’s also a time to transition between projects. In the spring I’m finishing the rough draft of a book, taking a break, and then returning to it to revise. But in the fall the book is done and I’m transitioning to the next one.
I’m moving into a new project. And with each book, this transition period looks different. Some books require absolute distance from writing in general. I give it up for a month or so and do literally anything else. Some books are patient and undemanding, and I can squeeze in a short story between projects. And some books require research.
That’s where I’m at right now. And like a lot of writers, I love research. Maybe it’s the librarian part of me, but there’s something magical about consuming and collecting information that is almost as transportive as reading fiction. I spent three hours at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland yesterday, wading through documents from 1840s-1860s Oregon.
I thought three hours would be enough, but it turns out I could barely get through a single file folder of documents in that time (shoutout to the Reference Librarian who kept finding juicy historical nuggets for me!). So, I’ll be going back next week to get a bit more detailed in my search. I’ve got some names and areas I want to hone in on and learn more about.
Once I feel good about the research, then it’s time to make the playlist. Every story I write gets a playlist. It’s part of my prewriting, and it helps condition me to lock in to writing mode. Turn the playlist on and suddenly I’m in the story and ready to work. Building the playlist can be quite the process, especially since I don’t know much about the story at this point. Usually I try to find songs that capture the tone or general vibe I’m going for, and then collect more songs as I write and learn more about the book.
Basically, once that’s done I’ll be ready to start drafting. This next book is my Nanowrimo project so I won’t start actually writing until November 1st. In the meantime I’ll start adding research notes and pictures into the Scrivener file, building the structure for the information so I can turn to those “files” while I’m drafting instead of searching the internet. The idea being it will keep me from going on a research spiral mid-writing. Between that structure and the playlist, I’ve got my fingers crossed that I can make substantial progress on this book.
We’ll see how that goes, I guess.
I have a lot of hurdles to writing this November. And while I have a lot of days off (No School November babeyyyy) I also have a lot of commitments. As always, it’s going to be a balancing act, it just might be a bit trickier than usual this year.
And yes, I’m going for the full 50k. Because Goonies never say die or some shit.
I’ll be back on Monday with the usual Goals Summary, and some little updates. Until then, Blogland!
BZ
