Hello. It's been awhile. Not quite a year. Not quite a good year. In fact, the past 12 months have been pretty awful. But I'm still here, and for that (and many other things) I am grateful.

Plus over the last 3 weeks, I've gotten back into writing my next novel. Yay!

This particular novel is one that I've attempted to write two previous times. The first time, I wrote about 120 pages. I had been excited about it at first, and I liked my main character, but for some reason, she just wouldn't DO anything. She — meaning me — was stuck. And there was no saving her.

So I tried again, this time from the first person, and this time with that character demoted to a supporting role and about 10 years younger. That draft resonated more in terms of story, but the characters still felt weak.

Now I am 91 pages into my third first draft. I've kept the first person point of view and developed the characters more fully. And I've even (gasp!) written an outline. (Thank you Erika Mailman, teacher of my MediaBistro Novel Writing class!)

I'm not one for outlining. I like to free-write. I like to let my characters be free to do whatever it is they do and to let their lives unfold in my made-up world. But I also know that I actually want this book to get written and if I keep waiting around for my characters to get busy doing interesting things, I might still be here, working on my umpteenth draft 5 years from now.

The outline has been great because, on days when I am pressed for time, I can just sit down and crank out a scene. When I do that every day, guess what? The book is in my head all the time. Everything is connected. So the outline is constantly morphing in my head.

In fact, its time for a complete outline revamp to really hit the high points and define the climax since the next 100 pages I write need to get me there. The entire process of outlining and writing daily has helped me see the big missing links in my story idea — those things that I hadn't worked out and that I thought I could maybe get away with avoiding but that really are so foundational that the story is nothing without it. You know what I mean.

Oh! And I came up with a new rule to help me make sure I write. Every. Day. I write before I run. And I still do run or hit the gym 6 days a week, religiously. So now I write every day — even on my rest days — because now that I've started, I don't want to stop.