My first draft of my next thriller, COLD STORAGE, is due tomorrow. I’m going to be late. But it’s for the right reasons.

Well, some of them are valid.

COVID has played a part. Getting laid off and then starting a new job has played a part. Lightning hockey has played a part. Bucs football has played a part. Rays baseball has played a part.

I know, I know, I should be more disciplined. And, you’re right.

But, distraction has been at a premium when the world feels like it’s on the brink of implosion.

All that being said, after all the above delays have been worked into my schedule, the reason I’m late is a valid one.

I have a really cool idea that I can’t yet figure out how to unfold in the story. The third act has so much potential and, I’ll admit, when I think of a cool idea but not a way to execute it, I feel a bit of panic.

I don’t want to let the idea down.

So, I’m trying to figure out how to do what I want to do, but, if I can’t, at some point I’ll just have to write anyway because, sometimes, despite my wishes, good ideas come while actually putting words on the page. The process of having to move from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, can illuminate what should happen and how. But, for me, it’s nerve wracking, like driving slowly through a thick fog, hands clenched on the wheel, unsure of what was coming next.

I’d rather have my story GPS guiding me each mile of the journey.

Another reason I’m not writing COLD STORAGE? Because I’m procrastinating by writing this post. LOL

Don’t ask me. A writer’s mind doesn’t make a lot of sense.

So, my goal is to have the first draft done by October 15th. Two more weeks to push through one way or another.

After that, they’ll be rewrites, editing, rewrites and so on. However, if I stay on schedule… which, as I’ve established, is iffy at best, I should have a new novel by the end of the year.

I can’t go through 2020 without having finished a book. That would be more devastating than releasing a bad book… which I promise not to do, but you get my point.

So, there we have it. What I’m trying to do, what I’m not doing, why I’m not doing it and how I plan to eventually do it.

🙂