And Things Toodle Along

The writing is going well. I'm on my second day writing my new novella and I'm already five thousand words into it.

Yeah, I rock.

I'm really content with the opening chapter, and it has gotten thumbs up from my two primary reviewers. Now that I've learned to start off a novella with a hook and a bang, I just have to try and keep the pace up. That's going to be the challenging part.

My first attempt at novellas were not published, but they were fantastic learning experiences. Learning ones weaknesses is the first step to getting better. My problem is that I have this instinctual desire to spend the first 10 pages "setting the stage". I waste valuable opening space going into vivid descriptions of setting, charactors, weather, moods, etc...when I need to be getting on with the story. That really shows in my earlier works. This time I'm working on getting things started, and weaving all that other stuff in as I go along.

One a side note, I have some new (old) books on order. I should be getting a few Ray Bradbury collections in the mail, including Dandelion Wine. He was my favorite author as a teen, and I'm looking forward to rediscovering him.