A Work in Progress

I began reading my novel today. I only tackled a few chapters before I had to put it down and I came to the decision that I need to wait until after the holidays before I continue. There are a few things I can work on between now and then including a continuity chart for this piece of work and the series of short sci-fi pieces that I began in October that will be inter-locking works in much the same way I, Robot is. I always have plans to start submitting at least one off those stories as a stand alone piece. I really need to start building a publishing resume. But the big novel lives too close to my soul to tackle right now with the holidays coming up and work to be done to make our anticipated relocation back to the States this spring a smoother move than it would be without some pre-planning and a bit of elbow grease.

Today I read Stephen King's chaptering on editing in On Writing. He provides a first draft of the story 1408 and the edited version. It follows the Strunk rule of "omit needless words" quite well. I am a needless word person myself but I can be just as ruthless an omitter. I am certain that I can edit my novel but I am equally certain I am not quite up to the task emotionally. It would be a bit like cutting myself literally. That can wait. For a while anyway. But, some stories need to be told and mine has waited, not always patiently, and will only wait a while longer.