This quote is from one of my favorite whodunit movies, Radioland Murders, which takes place at a radio station opening in 1939, before television, streaming and TikTok. It is said by a character named Johnny Ace, Hardboiled Dick, who’s actor has only one page of script and is expected to draw out the scene, improvising on the fly. “Johnny” proceeds to use more metaphors without actually furthering a plot. There is a cut to the overworked, underpaid writers who are astounded that the actor would try to create something independently. I’m feeling a lot like Johnny Ace right now. Also, I feel like those writers.
When I started working on the third book of the Overlook Trilogy in the middle of last year, I fell upon my previous experience of finishing Our Lady of the Overlook and Quiet Whispers of the Overlook in moderately quick succession. I thought that I would have the whole trilogy released within two years. I did some outlining, I knew where I wanted to go by the end, and I started writing. But then a funny thing happened, I got to NaNoWriMo.
With the goal of 50,000 words in November, I then planned to have the first draft done by December. I fell immensely short of that word count, then found myself in the end of year holiday rush, an extended family vacation, and a story that was getting away from me. I finished to the midpoint sometime in January. That’s where I’ve been stuck ever since.
I’ve tried to do a number of things to jumpstart ideas. First, I attempted to write backwards, starting with the very end of the book and working to the midpoint that direction. I got no traction there. I also created a chart of the myriad characters with boxes to mark arcs over the last book to track where they start and where they end up. That still sits blank. Lastly, I tried to brute force my way through but wound up with second thoughts and self doubt.
So, there are a multitude of excuses I have made. For example, I keep saying “I got important at work and it’s ruining my life.” Yes, my career changed a lot over the last year. I have a lot more responsibility and I’m working regular hours (no more afternoons that afforded me mornings to write). Then, because I’m not working off hours, I have more time with my family, which translates to getting my daughter to her extracurricular activities and sometimes having dinner with my wife. Less time to sit down and write. Then there’s the cabin. Due to unfortunate circumstances, we are now doing a lot of the renovation work ourselves. This has led to long weekends spent cutting trim, fixing floating floors, and planning for the next steps. And lastly, I’m trying to be more healthy and using my mornings to lift weights. Like I said…nothing but excuses.
The other thing is trying to maintain what I already have published. I’m independent and that means I do everything myself. I have to schedule events, do podcasts, think about content for newsletters, social media posts and then execute those ideas. I’m trying to correct all my mistakes with Amazon advertising and have a consultant who is doing her best to coach me along. This also pulls away creative energy and time.
So, what am I doing about it? I am quite literally midway without a parachute. I am frustrated with trying to improvise and just figure it out. And this is one of the most difficult times of the year as spring sports begin. We still have a cabin to prepare for the summer. I want to keep working out. But I also want to finish the trilogy. Here’s the plan:
- Start from scratch (sort of). Go back to what I have written already and tighten it up. The goal is to get some momentum.
- Before that, actually plot out the remainder of the story. Like I said, I know where I want to go, but a lot of the road signs along the way aren’t set.
- Schedule specific time again to work. Dedicate that time and focus for that sprint.
If you’ve gotten this far in this ramble, I appreciate your interest. If you have any advice, please email me at rlcarpentierIII@gmail.com. Continue to follow as I wade through this mire and support me anyway you can by reading the first two books and giving me an honest review.
R.L. Carpentier, writer 