Starting a new book always intimidates and thrills me in equal portions. There's so much work to be done before the prose ever starts. I'm a bit of a clockwork writer--things have to go in a certain order before the book begins, and at this point, I don't know if that process is necessary or just my way of winding my brain up.

So, in the past couple weeks I have: synopsized the book, written a fake blurb to encapsulate the general feel of the book to be referred to as needed, made an outline in five parts by drawing a giant W and marking the major plot points, created a list of places and things I would need to research and when I should research them, and then wrote up a chapter outline for the first 5 chapters. Sometimes I sketch out 8 chapters, but never more than that--things change so quickly as I write that more is counterproductive. I end up trying to force myself along a narrow path that no longer really matches up with what came before. I have even, randomly, pondered titles, but my brain shied away each and every time with a terrified whimper.

Today I sat down, looked at the blank page--I'm sorry, does that EVER stop being scary?--looked at the big picture outline, the chapter outline, and abruptly decided the story would begin in chapter 4, with everything that comes before either summed up, left out, or in a single flashback. I said "what?" to my brain and it said "just trust me."

All right, brain. Here's hoping you know what you're doing. And here's to chapter four rising in the ranks to become chapter one.

If it doesn't work? Well, it may be the first book in a very long while to have me ADD things to the beginning instead of lopping them off.

Crossed fingers. Here I go.

Currently reading: Mighty Unclean