This week, I set Truby aside and started writing. I know what you’re thinking. “Whoa! You have outlined only 10 scenes. What the heck are you doing?” Good question.

I joined a writer’s critique group in 2010 while I was working on Muffin Man (Wunderfool Press April 1, 2012). From 2010, when I joined, to 2016, I published six novels, all of which the group critiqued. Then, for reasons I explained in Shaking It Up, Part 2, I quit writing novels. My last 25-page submission to the critique group was in August 2015. It was for the sequel to Endless Vacation, working title Aimless Vacation, ultimately titled The Reluctant Saint.

Five years. One hundred meetings. Given the turnover, there are many people in the group who have never seen a submission from me. To them, I’m just the guy who critiques everybody else but never submits anything.

Then came last week. As I was outlining the scenes for the first two days of the new novel, I realized I had enough material to throw together a 25-page submission. So I decided to put the scene weave on the back burner and get back in front of the firing squad.

I’m 2,000 words in with a 6,000 word target and three weeks to get there. With all the day job madness and deadlines, we’ll see how far I get in one week.