Today begins the polished rewrite of my 500,000-word labor of love, my as yet unnamed Magnum Opus (from here on the MO). It sounds absolutely crazy to say, because I wrote the darn thing, but I find the prospect a little daunting. I’m a linear writer. I step into the story and keep walking that line until it tells me to stop. If my last novel taught me anything, it’s that you can’t go back.

Before getting sidetracked by The Witchy Wolf story, I started Enchanted Skye with the idea for a series examining guardian myths around the world. To a person who devours factual info like I do, I find fictional stories based upon facts just taste better. Before that story was even done, the midday news outraged me to the point of writing the social statement that became Loving Leonardo. But four books later when I finally went back to the nearly completed Enchanted Skye, I was shocked at what I’d found. The writer I had been was no more and I couldn’t relate to her work. I was so close to completing it when I got sidetracked. I tried to finish that last bit, really tried. In the end, I scrapped 75% of it and rewrote it. I’m a terribly picky fiction reader so I can confidently say I’d enjoy reading it. You learn a lot from one book to the next. It’s certainly better than what that old Rose Anderson had written, that loquacious hack. lol

I admit to being a stream of consciousness writer (as illustrated by my blog. lol). My thoughts pour from brain to fingertips.  The MO’s story is quite heavy. At the time, I wrote what I saw in my head — every. single. word. of it. Linearly speaking, all the facts fit perfectly as I put them together, but something wasn’t right and I knew it. My son, a horror novelist of note, would read my work when I asked for opinions and say, “For god’s sake mom, write tight.”

Inexperience back then, I hadn’t learned ways of editing that allow a writer to build a scene without extraneous detail. In other words, my facts were swimming in a cloudy sea of superfluous verbosity. He saw it, I saw it, and voila, I became a romance author to learn how to write tight. I still write the stream of consciousness, I just don’t tell you about the wallpaper patterns in the scene.
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Am I ready to tackle the MO this year? While there’s a part of me that’s as sure-footed as a mountain goat reminding me I’ve already made up my mind to do it, there’s another part that whispers –  but Rose, romance is so comfortable. Stay here.

Tomorrow: A sneak peek~

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Another 100 Things Blogging Challenge! For 100 days, I’ll post something from my chosen topic: Words on the Verge of Extinction. There are 98 entries to come.

Here’s one for today:

bumposopher (a noun common from 1834-1886)

One learned in bumps, in other words, a phrenologist.

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Today is Cynthia Arsuaga’s blog day.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

All through January the RB4U authors are doing interviews. The thoughtful questions are a great way to get to know us. Commenting that day gives you a chance to win a collectable t-shirt. Come see!

And..check out the new January contest and meet the RB4U authors! http://www.romancebooks4us.com/