Plotting

I certainly learned a lesson with my short story.  I knew my characters, my supernatural element, my tone – so I eagerly got started.  I was more then half way through when it was very obvious what I didn’t have was a plot.  Like a lot of writers, I tend to write by the seat of my pants.  I can write thousands of words a day (if no one is bothering me, Ed) with no problem.  Thousands of words that I sometimes don’t need!  I swear, I’m going to stop doing that.  The short story was supposed to be approximately 15,000 words.  No exaggeration, I threw away that many.  It took me four days to come up with a plausible plot AND I’m still not sure it works.  Here’s the lesson: work out your plot before you start writing, it really helps.

Amylynn is always griping about rewrites.  I sent out Night Shift to a few trusted people last evening and so I’m expecting an avalanche of revisions and edits!  I’ll keep everyone in the loop while I revise because I am determined to submit the story by tomorrow.