Commentary: The End Is Near

It is all very well, when the pen flows, but then there are the dark days when imagination deserts one, and it is an effort to put anything down on paper. – Elizabeth Aston

I had closed out chapter 17 and started work on Chapter 18 when I suddenly realised I had only four chapters to go in the first draft. Actually, it’s five but the chapter which refuses to be written will eventually succumb or the pen, or more precisely, the keyboard. Once that very last chapter is done with, it’s time for me to turn right around and start on the 2^nd draft.

Why so slow?

Before returning to Hopewell, VA in order to, supposedly, spend a week writing, my wife and I sat down for breakfast at the local pancake house. Amongst the subjects discussed – actually, Judi just sat there and let me blether on – was why this book has proceeded so slowly compared to the first. There could be several possible excuses reasons for this tardigrade manuscription.

Excuses, excuses

I cannot claim this story is being written from scratch. When I first envisioned the story now known as Urban Mermaid, the subject matter for the second book was simply an extension of the first. I divided the whole story in to two parts because I had to stop somewhere. Otherwise, the printed version would have been hefty enough to serve as a blunt instrument in an altercation. So, in other words, the story behind Syrena  has been out there almost as long as the one behind Urban Mermaid.

Time on my hands

Some of the delay could have something to do with the employment situation . . . or lack thereof. When I seriously began transcribing Urban Mermaid, I was out of a job . . . again. In order to pass the time whilst waiting for someone, anyone, to respond to the scads of job applications I sent out, I took keyboard in hand and really got down to writing.

This time around, I’m retired and should have ample opportunity to get down and dirty with Syrena. The trouble is, I haven’t done so.

To know others is to know thyself

About the only reason that has any possible validity is that I don’t know the characters, Amy and Billy, as well as I knew Penelope and Peter. They also have a role in Syrena and their scenes have been easier to write than those of Amy and Billy. In fact, it’s been a real struggle to keep Penelope and Peter from completely taking over this second book. The inequity is something I’ll have to address in the second draft.

Meanwhile, I have scenes in the remaining four chapters to plot out.

The End