I haven’t had much to say lately.

Well, I haven’t had much that I want to share and as a chronic oversharing type person, I suppose that’s a good thing. I do plan to document the journey into publishing my 8th book later this year, but for now there’s not much going on.

I’ve been working on a manuscript since January. I’ve been rewriting and polishing the first Act since May (I literally turned it back in yesterday with very low hopes for a positive outcome, tbh). Anyway, I’ve been keeping a thorough drafting journal this time around and this is how I was feeling the other day:

I keep running into a wall.

I’ve been working on an absurdist/screwball romcom manuscript for months now. I’m in the “polishing the proposal” stage of getting it ready with my agent to send it out on submission. I’ve turned it in twice now. She sent it back twice with notes and the second time really took the wind out of my sails, tbh.

Instead of writing provocatively, or at least to be engaging, I realize that I’ve been writing defensively. I opened chapter one by using the character’s traits to set the scene. I assumed the reader would know what I was doing, but I didn’t take into consideration that they wouldn’t like it. Or that they’d misunderstand its purpose because of impatience.
I did something similar in the marriage narrative. I wrote a specific trope-related section in anticipation of a reader expecting it to be there, thinking that preemptive move would be enough to satisfy critics. But then, my editor kept pointing it out and rightly asking for follow through… which I didn’t want to do. Because while it fit the story, it didn’t fit the characters at all.

These days, I just feel this urge to frontload all the information the reader will need (which turned into info dumping) while establishing characters and their dynamics (which turned into too much bickering) and also have witty prose. I know I’m doing this because attention spans aren’t what they used to be. People aren’t willing to wait for information to be revealed. They want to know everything now. Most stories (books, film, TV) simply don’t work that way. You have to be willing to invest your time.

Trying to find a balance feels impossible these days and my craft is taking a turn for the worse because of it.

But writing defensively serves no one in the end.

-Me, June 2025

I’m officially supposed to return to the internet in July. I’ve been posting a little here and there as required but with very little commitment involved. July 11th will be four months out from pub, though. Time to get started shilling my wares…

Until next time,

Claire ❤