My personal deadline for reaching the midpoint of my novel-in-progress was a trip to Toronto for Thanksgiving weekend followed by a week in Montreal and Kitchener. I made the writing deadline so tightly that I’ve only found time to blog about it now, after returning from the trip. 

This first half of this book is a re-write of the “Summer” Paula Savard mystery I started last fall. It involved changes required to turn “Summer” into the second book of the series. The writing followed the original draft fairly closely until the last four chapters, where I had to rearrange, delete and add large chunks of material. 

Now, I’ve moved into new, unwritten territory. It helps that I developed an outline for the next quarter, except that knowing what’s coming up makes me feel the chapters have been drafted – until I face the blank page and realize I have more to do than I’d thought. 

In the past, I’ve enjoyed writing the second half of novels more than the first.  With the stage set, characters developing and events playing out, the work has usually gone faster as the story rollicks to a close. I hope this happens with my current novel-in-progress – Ten Days in Summer – so I can finish the first draft by my next personal deadline – Christmas.