Some Writing Lessons Learned

Lesson 1: If you're on a roll, don't stop for anything!
Lesson 2: A stalled book can make be the back story for another book.

I've been reading Tolkien and he seems to have gotten lost in his back story. Actually it may be that the back story was the story and the "Lord of the Rings" was the side story. This gave me the idea of taking my stalled book and using it as the back story for a new book, a continuing tale, if you will.

I haven't entirely given up on the first book, but it just wasn't moving. It may be the approach that I had to the thing. I wrote a fast first draft and kept going over and over the book fleshing out as I went in subsequent drafts. It started to drive me crazy to be back in the same spot I was in months before. I just didn't want to do it anymore.

I've also decided that I will take longer on the first drafts of the book. Not much longer, though. I think that I will still run through the chapters rather quickly, letting them be loose and changeable. I just will be more careful in the construction of the scenes and sentences. I want better sentences to work with in the future drafts. Let's see how this new approach works out.