how to write a book (outline) in 30 days

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This is a public service announcement that some of you may hopefully find useful :)

You know I never update my journal, but due to the fact that yours truly is stuck at a tiny railway station in the middle of... not much, save for some Greek temples she has already seen before missing her train and settling down for a 2+ hour wait, I figured I'd

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as I am nearing the end of the story

;'''(

I am a bit tempted by the idea/challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in a month

I've now done it with Boxes (not complete, but I *have* written 60+ K in a month). It takes a case of getting completely obsessed with a plot, and, I readily admit, the absence of inviolable demands on my time from family members... and a major reduction of sleeping hours ;)

As for the next chapter and eagerness, the irony is, I am now in need of someone to stand over me with a loaded weapon to get me back to it ;) ...for two reasons.

First, the point I was frantically working toward is the point it is now at. Everything else, from my point of view, is not as tense or exciting or significant as this past chapter; hence my desperate impatience is no longer there.

And second, as of last Friday, another reader successfully tipped me over into plotting a second (short, 25-30K) sequel - which I did not expect to the tune of having written (and now having to ditch) a long endnote explaining why I *wouldn't* write one ;) - so I am now "living" in that one already, plotting and imagining and polishing my outline, and view typing up the last four chapters of Boxes, which are already exhaustively outlined in my notes, as something of a chore. But I do need to get them out there, and they have some highlights that will hopefully make typing them up enjoyable.

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The blackberry wouldn't let me respond yesterday, but the next chapter is all done as of this mrning and will be posted shortly.

It was almost too easy to talk me into writing first Boxes post-Catching Up, and now the next one, Plus ça Change, post-Boxes, which I suppose is a measure of how much I still want to stay in this universe. Then again, it does bring a welcome symmetry; rather than having a mismatched short fic + long fic pair, I'll have a Nolanesque trilogy, with two shorter bookends at either end and a long middle part :)

Thing is, my notes for the rest of it are so detailed by now, it takes the creative element out. I've lived in this story for a month and jumped at a chance to delve into a new one (to the point of having finished the first chapter on top of drafting the outline) once I was past its subjective high point. But I'll get on with it. I have decided to go to Lugano for the four-day long weekend we have next week, and I hope to be done with Boxes by the time I get to the real life sites of the Carona villa and the San Salvatore restaurant ;) (and yes, I *am* staying at the Principe Leopoldo, if only for one night as it was fully booked for the next one!)

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It is a function of our approach and of where each of us has the most fun: the bulk of my fun is in constructing and thinking through and playing with the plot, the writing being the bonus; whereas you enjoy the writing process in full as such.

And thanks! I hope the weather holds up, but am determined to enjoy it regardless.

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:D I wouldn't have guessed it was you, but you totally saw through my cunning wording games there ;)

No hurry, it'll be there when you are back. I had no idea how long it would end up being - sometimes plot outlines *are* confusing that way, I write two sentences and they end up being two pages!