My cyberpunk hobbit.

I think Freedy Filkins has come as fast and easy as any story I've ever written.  It's also being done at about the "novel a month" pace so far.  Then again, I've been putting a lot of time per day into it.

I had the story kind of figured out up until Freedy's finding of the "Key."  After that, I'm not so sure, so I might be slowing down.  I want to be satisfied with where the story goes and not push it out of shape.

I've been staying up later and sleeping later with this writing life.  I was going to say it's disruptive of my life -- but then I realized it IS my life, so how can it be disruptive?

I have the "Key" encrusted with precious jewels, therefore hopefully pulling the "international jewel thief" part back into the story.  Freedy still has the "burglar" duties he was originally hired to perform, though.

Funny thing is, I'm almost afraid to check my email, because I know a rejection will derail me.  Pretty silly, because I really, really want to know and I really, really don't want to  know.  Best antidote to rejection is to be in the middle of writing something, actually.

I've kind of figured out some of the last part of the book, and some of the next few chapters, but I'm a little hazy about the space between.

What this story has taught me is that there is a story arc -- a story architecture to be exact -- which The Reluctant Wizard also has.  Nearly Human is kind of missing that -- I mean, all the elements were there, but it had to be reconstructed so much it became a Franken-story. 

The story has also taught me that I should just write, write, write.  Get that first draft down, and then worry about it later.  But get that story architecture right in the first place -- it doesn't require an entire plot outline, but a general sense of the shape.

I can't be too sorry about pushing Nearly Human to a conclusion -- otherwise I was once again sitting on a story that I'd gotten 50 pages into, and stalled.  (I've probably done that a dozen times since I quit writing in the mid-80's.

A writer FINISHES.  That's what separates the men from the boys.  A writer also sends his material off to be judged, which separates the professional from the amateur.  (I would say, sending it off to be an ebook counts -- getting the finished product out there.)