I have spent more time over the last few years writing than I ever did before.
Unfortunately, I haven't published very much.
My latest project is a reimagination of my Tickets series. I have written the basic story, and then rewrote it twice. In almost all the cases, I found an issue with something near the start of the story that needs to be changed. Of course, such changes cascade, and I end up almost rewriting it again from scratch. I want to avoid the biggest issue I have with the Tickets series: Do Not Leave Plot Holes Unfilled. That means that the story needs to leave no dangling questions. That also means no cliff-hangers.
The other issue with the Tickets series is that while I wrote a lot of scenes for a third installment, I never attempted to put them together. Why? I loved the characters. Ending the story would be akin to killing them off. How could I do that? Can any parent kill their own child?
So, as I mentioned, for the past year, I have been writing quite a lot. I know that I'll face the same issue about "killing them off" with the new story, but I guess that's the issue with writing a story that has "realistic" people within it. To quote Professor Harold Hill: "I always think there's a band, kid." If you don't get the context, the people in my stories are real to me.
Anyway, I thought I'd have something back in June, and it turned out to be my second attempt. I'm determined that my latest attempt will be the one that works. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
Meanwhile, I had a story that I wrote about ten years ago. It was a similar story to the Tickets saga, which is mostly why it was never published. Whenever I get an idea, I spend a few hours writing scenes, and then fleshing them out. Most of the time, the results end up in my "slush pile" (stuff you'll never want to read of mine!). This one stayed out of that pile. It showed promise. However, I now know that I'll never conclude that story. Instead, I'm writing an "Afterword" to the two major scenes I wrote. It explains the direction I wanted the plot to go. I will be publishing it on this site within the next few weeks, after I read it and re-edit it a few times.
At the same time, I'm still working on my latest chapter story, and hope to be able to publish it soon. It's early in its third rewrite, and it might take some time, but I hope the effort I made in getting it finished will be appreciated by my readers.
Peace!
JiMC