Anyone paying attention to the dates in my Anna Bowman Thrillers series has noticed how far in the past my heroes already are, even though I started writing this story over nine years ago.
That’s just what’s published. In fact, Anna and her cohorts are currently clowning around in 2023, but only on my computer.
I see a lot of libertarian hype about abolishing the FBI. While no part of me believes that’s likely to happen, I still worry about it sometimes. I do not want to have to start including forewords in my novels about what this “FBI” was, and what happened to it. But that’s neither here nor there.
I got way, way ahead of myself with Anna’s story and found myself written so tightly into a corner that I couldn’t even turn around. The year was 2024, my heroine had moved to Montana with me, and so much had happened that felt like it had really happened; they weren’t just experimental words on a page, they were Anna’s story.
I tried backing up one chapter. No good.
I tried backing up three chapters. Still stuck.
I gave up for months and finally did what I didn’t want to admit I’d have to do: I backed up 25,000+ words.
I deleted* so much that it nearly broke my heart, at least until I started writing again and felt the rush of joy and adrenaline that comes with getting back into my stride, writing for fun, acting as a channel for a story that seems to exist entirely outside of me.
If you are a writer with writer’s block and are feeling a little nauseated as you read this, because you think you might have to do the same thing, don’t be scared. Those 25,000+ words are still mine, and I can Frankenstein them into my new story – or an entirely different story – easily enough. They’re not lost to me.
Now I’m caught up on blog posts, and I’m actually excited about getting back to Anna’s story. Almost as excited as I was to fire two Glocks with 30-round magazines at the same time.
– AK
* You know damn well I just moved it to scraps(3)FINAL_usethisone.docx. There is no delete.