4 a.m. not too soon

Yay!!  While 4 a.m. is too soon to get up in these November mornings (unless I really cannot contain myself - in my first NaNoWriMo year I once got up at 2) the hour waiting for the more acceptable 5 a.m. was spent pondering on 'Making good' which I have, over the past few days, been re-reading.   At 120K it needed, as I was well aware, bringing to a close, but up to now I have been unable to see a way, a point at which to do it.

Probably two-thirds through writing 'Damage limitation' I had pencilled in a natural ending - the tenth anniversary celebration.   The whole series was meant to end there, but with the final half of the final chapter already written, something unexpected (to me, at least!) happened at the  beginning of that chapter, which necessitated the writing of 'Making good.'

This, I am (fairly) sure, will be the final one.   I suspect I have already written what needs to be a final chapter but have then run on past it:  something more mildly dramatic was needed to underline it, and in my early morning hour's pondering I think I've found it.

Now I have to write it (that's the relatively easy bit;  the first sentence of the chapter is already in my head) and then re-jig the other chapters so as to take place before not after - a little tricky, but far from impossible.

To work.

Progress report - week 18

Readying my report for Write 1 Sub 1 - and aware that in not actively seeking nor being paid for anything I write I consider myself something of a dilettante - it seemed not a bad idea to note where I am so far with current projects:
'Damage limitation' (113k words/396 pages)  - the fourth in the story of Bridie Burdock and Sean Donovan, is ready to re-publish, having been copiously read, re-read and corrected since last July.
'Not wanted on voyage' (128K words/378 pages) - I am trying to publish as to-be-proofed.
'Making Good' - a follow up to 'Damage limitation', currently 38K but I need the characters to begin talking to me again.
'The longest shadows' - currently the preferred title for what is at the moment filed under 'Susannah Elphinstone', a story spurred into being at the beginning of February by one of Lisa Ricard Claro's Book Blurb Friday photographs, further inspired by the discovery of a photograph of a house from my own past and happily progressing - wordcount currently 31K.
It's also pleasing to note that I am trying harder with this latest one to both think a bit more about the plot in advance and include a little more description.
Finally, as I stated in my previous post,  'The blacksmith's wife'  looks set to continue beyond May 11th and currently stands at 1300 words.

Instilling confidence in the writer

On Sunday my youngest son phoned 'What are your plans for tomorrow?' he asked
'Writing' I tell him then, conscious that that won't actually move the conversation on much, I tell him
'I'm a bit stuck at the moment - not sure what Bridie is going to do next ...'
'Bridie!   You can't have a heroine called 'Bridie' - you'll have to go though the whole lot and change it!'
'Umm ... why?'
'Because you can't - and I bet she's blonde too, isn't she?'
'Umm ... yes as a matter of fact she is ...'
'Well you'll have to change that too ...'
He doesn't seem to have realised that this is book four with her as heroine - and he hasn't asked to read any of the preceding ones either - but of course he knows best ...