SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

It’s Wednesday, which can only mean it’s time for a wee update on how Running the Asset is going.

Hmm. Things are not quite right in my writery world. Nope, not at all. But it’s not all bad.

Review 20th to 26th January 2022

Okay, last week’s goals were:

1. Re-block Acts I and II (a) for future editing/rewrites
2. Apply lessons on Universal Fantasies from 7 Figure Fiction to the scene level for Acts I and II (a) as I re-block.

How Did It Go?

I’m going to state right here that I’m happy with what I achieved this week. I worked hard, covered a lot of planning ground, and made progress on my overall goal of getting the story done.

But… I did not complete anything on the list.

I misjudged the amount of work and time needed for the above tasks by a lot. In this context, my definition of a lot is somewhere between making a souffle with no oven and attempting to paint the Forth Rail Bridge in a day.

The best way I can describe re-blocking scenes I’ve already written to reflect the new changes is that it’s like a renovation. I don’t know if you’ve ever renovated an old house, but if you have, you’ll be having cold sweats at the memory. And, if you’ve not had the experience, let me tell you it’s a nightmare that will haunt you forever.

As I said, re-blocking is like a renovation. We did our old 1780s house up north about a decade ago. The plan was simple; knock out a few walls, redo the bathroom and kitchen, and decorate. Basically, we planned an update; that’s it.

Once the sledgehammer punched through the first bit of wall, that’s when we realized we had bitten off way more than we’d planned on chewing. We found lathe and plaster and a mix of ancient, semi-modern, and modern wiring. The chimney that had seemed great from the outside… was falling down on the inside. The list of surprising fixes needed kept growing the more we did.

Eventually, we finished the job, and the house was beautiful. But, big but, bulldozing the place may have been faster, easier, and cheaper to have rebuilt from the ground up.

This is a really long way of telling you that, as with all projects–especially refurbs, including the writing kind–the list of fixes grows the more you tinker with it.

Like the sledgehammer on our old house, the first changes revealed a slew of nightmare issues–timeline issues that needed addressing, emotion tracking issues, location changes, and the list goes on. For a few days, I panicked that I’d have to re-plot from the ground up, especially when the coffee ran out. But, on remembering the old house, I took a breath, knowing that even though this is the most time-consuming and frustrating part of the job, this will be worth it.

This Week’s Writing Goals

I’m going to be a bit more realistic this week. If I manage to get more done, then great, but if I don’t, I’m not going to sweat it.

• Block Act I for future editing/rewrites
• Apply lessons on Universal Fantasies from 7 Figure Fiction to the scene level for Acts I and II (a) as I re-block.

That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by, and take care.

Susan