Thanks to Jo Knowles and Steven Tyler

I’m a scene and a half into the second draft of my historical WIP. The last few days, with writing time, have been wonderful–just letting myself relax back into the happiness of putting words on the page. And, yes, with all my words about research, I’m still leaving placeholders for specifics. I hunt for a while and, if I really can’t find the details I need, I add them to a list I’m calling RESEARCH I NEED HELP WITH. And when the list has a few important items on it, I’ll take myself down to San Jose Library and prostrate myself at the feet of the research librarians there. But the pull to write is there, and I am listening.

The words are flowing, my fingers are doing slow jigs on the keyboard. And, yet, as I write, I marvel at the way I can feel so good and still be telling myself that maybe it’s not fast enough, maybe the tension isn’t high enough, maybe I’m not getting enough conflict in, am I seeding enough of the problems early…

Bottom line, I am wondering whether it’s going to be anywhere good enough to catch an agent or an editor and make them say, “Want!”

I’ve been nudging the questions away, because–for pete’s sake–it’s only the second draft. It took a blog post from Jo Knowles this morning, though, to really wake me up and remind me to write. Just write. As if, Jo says by way of Steven Tyler, “there’s no one in the room.”

That’s what I’ll be doing this morning.

Thanks, Jo.