Plotting Myself into a Hole

I have my new glasses and I CAN SEE! My vision isn't that bad, but everything has had a slightly blurry feeling for close to a month now. It's nice to finally have that crisp clarity I get with a good pair of glasses. I go tomorrow to learn how to use contacts. We'll see how that goes. I'm not too optimistic, but then I've been proven wrong many times before.

I've finally started to make some progress on the plotting of Book 5... and then I talked to a friend of mine, and I'm just about ready to chuck the progress I made and start from scratch again. You see, this friend of mine helped me in the early days, long before dreams of publication were hatched. We brainstormed on all the great things that I could do with the series assuming that I bothered to write some of the other books.

Well, I have written some of the books, but things that we discussed had to change to fit the new direction of the series. However, many of the things that we discussed remain viable topics that need and can be tackled. Now I'm left scratching my head, wondering which way to turn with this book. Ugh.

I usually don't have this many problems sketching out my books. By comparison, the first four were a cake walk. However, this book is supposed to start a new story arc, new direction, have a somewhat new feel to it. Am I choking under the pressure? Not quite. I just need to stop putting so much pressure on myself and write the damn thing. I wish I could just start writing it. I know how it starts. I even know how it ends. It that whole big middle part that's the problem.

So, my solution? I'm headed back to Panera on Saturday morning. With my coffee and bagel, I've blogged, plotted, edited, and written chapters. With Nine Inch Nails filling my ears and coffee in my tummy, I'll win back my writing mojo and get this thing plotted out this weekend. Furthermore, I'm willing to bet that I'll also have notes for the next few books as well.