Top Secret Code Name of Current Project: Fedoras and Trust Issues
Current Pitch: Hardboiled fairy tale noir!
Slightly More Detailed Pitch: In an alternate post-WWII America, a cranky, bisexual PI and his ace, teenage Girl Friday try to solve the disappearances and/or murders of three different women.

Number of Times I Had To Go Back And Edit A Previous Chapter: 3
Number of Times I Rewrote The Same Damn Scene: 6
Number of Expletives Spoken: 37, give or take

Song From Current Project Playlist: “Turn the Page” – Bob Seger

Goal Met: Surprisingly, yes

I only had to write one chapter this week, a short chapter even, and let me tell you: it was a monumental pain in the ass. Okay, maybe not monumental, but I was definitely grasping and clawing for every other word. Part of the problem, I’ve discovered, is very typical of my quote-unquote writing process: as I work on new material, I keep realizing how much needs to be added to an earlier section, or how a scene I wrote six chapters ago is completely wrong and needs to be entirely rewritten. In an effort to maintain a sense of forward momentum, I’m trying to curb that impulse by just keeping a list of all the stuff I need to fix so I can work on it after I finish this draft . . . but sometimes I just can’t fight that bone-deep need to rewrite the shit out of my previous work. One would assume, at least, that I’d produce better first drafts than other writers. Let me hasten to assure you this is not the case.

That all being said (or vented), I did get the chapter done. It almost entirely consists of one phone call between friends and sets up a meet that may or may not be a trap. It’s also the kind of chapter you write knowing that it won’t fully pay off until the end of the book, when All is Revealed. So, I can only assume that I’ll be frantically rewriting this scene 20 chapters from now too.

Finally, your Random Line of the Week:

Seemed like a good place to go to ground, if people were after you. Which by the way: why are people after you?