In the Mood

I love the weekends, as you all know. The last few days I've been battling a very tired brain, but I think I got enough sleep last night to be a halfway productive person today.

And that means I'm ready to write again.

I didn't write last night, which really bothered me, but at the same time, it didn't. I would rather not write when I know what I'm going to write is complete crap. Saves me time and heartache. I did read a few pages in my "crafting a plot book" (the title escapes me right now) and one sentence in particular jumped out at me:

"If you arrive at your crisis and it seems flat or dull, you probably haven't set it up sufficiently."

This is exactly how I felt with my last manuscript when I wrote my crisis moment - flat and dull. But since I made the changes, it feels so much better. Strange, that you take that long to get to the crisis moment and it's over in a matter of pages - or it should be, anyway. If you drag it out too long, it loses its excitement and momentum. As a writer, you often feel that if you're spending that much time preparing for the crisis moment, you better make it long and worth the reader's time. But that's the opposite of what you should do. It should be satisfying, but not drawn out.

A delicate balance must be achieved, grasshopper!