Hello Dear Readers,
Progress! I have been working through the storyboard for APEX with Inkshares, which has taken several iterations, but we’re getting very close to a final version. Then, I’ll get the green light to proceed with rewriting the manuscript.
It’s been an interesting and enlightening journey. I started this novel about nine years ago, then abandoned it at about one third done when my personal life became a chaotic mess for a while. When I tried to pick up the story again a few years later, I found that I couldn’t, that I’d lost my motivation and discipline to write daily, so I applied to the Stanford Online Writing Certificate program. It’s a two year, intensive program on fiction novel writing, which taught me a ton about the craft of writing. In the process of taking these classes, however, my book was heavily influenced by what I was learning and the opinions of my instructors and peers and thus changed dramatically (including POV characters, backstory, and motivations).
Now, with the help of Inkshares, all of that influence has been stripped away and I’m back to a version that is strikingly similar to my original story. I don’t regret a single tangent that I went on, as each taught me something valuable, and the overall quality of my book has improved from everything I’ve learned, but it does make me laugh to realize, "Huh, this is what I intended to write back in 2009!" Being in Stanford’s program is what allowed me to finish my manuscript and improved me as a writer overall, but I now know my own instincts for storytelling are what I should follow when I write.
When I’m given the go ahead, I’ll be excited to dive in and get this story written in its new, old version!
Cheers, Debbie
