I have to report that I’ve written myself into something of a roadblock.
Fortunately, I think I know how to get past it, but it was a long, trying week last week, and every time I opened my manuscript, I just couldn’t bring myself to actually write what I needed to to get past the roadblock.
That’s a pain.
Here’s the problem. The first twenty-three chapters of the manuscript cover January 2014. As things stand, the book is due to conclude at the end of the first week of March, and there are some very significant milestones to hit before then.
But… most of February will be “routine.” In practical terms, January sees Paul and the other Westmouth Students get a week of Holiday, a “reading week” during which they have revision sessions ahead of the two-week exam period that rounds off the month.
By contrast, February marks the start of the second semester and the beginning of a new “routine” for Paul—new modules and a new timetable. However, on the first day of the new semester, there is also an event that will be crucial to the end of this book in due course.
So, how do I convey that Paul’s life is returning to a “routine” while documenting not just one significant event but several? My original plan was to start with “Life settled into a routine…”, except that is a phrase you would use to “time skip” a week or so. But I can’t time skip because I have four events across Monday and Wednesday that need to be documented.
I’ve written about fifteen hundred words covering the first of those events, which also introduces a new character (see the featured image!). Still, I think I will need to expand this if she is to be the significant character I need her to be. So, this may end up being a whole chapter by itself. This event is on Monday.
But then I’ve got about five hundred words, pretty much skipping over the third event—which is on Wednesday—and I haven’t even mentioned the second event. Although that second event is relatively low-key, it may be the most important of them.
So my task this week will be to expand the first fifteen hundred words on chapter twenty-three into a chapter on its own and then, either at the end of this chapter or the start of the next, casually mention the second event as if it’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things before going on to describe the third event in detail.
After I’ve covered the fourth event—which is actually the one I’m looking forward to writing most—I can use the “life settled into a routine” line to skip to the weekend and every weekend between then and the end of the book.
At least, that’s the plan.
