Writing this novel is a lot like making a fire, which I do every morning now. At first I start with an organized plan, which sometimes lights right up and sometimes fails miserably. Then I let it burn for a while until I have to disorganize the whole thing by throwing more wood on, and reorganize. I just throw pieces in an then if they don’t land where I think they should I use the tongs to place them clumsily where they will burn best.

The whole process of writing seems similar. Right now I am just throwing the wood on, hopefully 50,000 words of wood, and then I will pick up the tongs and painstakingly rearrange the burning mess. This is called editing, but that can wait until December.