On a Creative Roll

I must be in a really creative phase because last night I dreamed a plot for the next Rebel Mechanics book. The dream wasn't actually about that world. It was something I was doing in an entirely different setting, but during the dream, Dream Me thought to myself that this would make a really exciting Rebel Mechanics universe plot. Then as I was waking up, remembering the dream, I started seeing it playing out in that universe.

Though I still need to finish revising this book, but at least the latest Shiny New Idea is in the same universe I'm working in now, and it's not adding yet another fictional universe to the collection.

I'm in the really tedious part of the rewriting, where it can take me a couple of hours per chapter as I pick at it and try to remember that I need tension and emotion. I can tell the parts I wrote when I was in a tension-averse phase. Since this part is so tedious, it's also time consuming. I'm doing half-hour on, half-hour off cycles. That seems to be just enough of a break to stop me from going into autopilot or "whatever" mode but not enough of a break that I break the spell and step out of that mindset and world. This is where music is coming in handy. I got the "learn to play harp" book I ordered from Amazon yesterday, and that makes for a perfect break. I'm still doing something creative, it's physical, so it works as a distraction, but I can still be thinking about the story.

So, today's plan will be half an hour writing, half an hour harping, all afternoon and probably into the night, depending on how things are going.

I may sound like I'm griping, but this is one of my favorite phases of writing. It's difficult, but the results are so rewarding.