I haven’t written a novel process post since 2021. “Ready to query by the end of the year,” I predicted.

It’s terribly un-literary of me to say, but, lol.

It’s 2023, I am on my fifth-or-so draft of “Take My Advice,” and I am using the technique that both Matt Bell and Sandra Newman recommend in their books on revision. I printed out my entire manuscript in a giant binder, and now I’m typing it back in, revising as I go. I’ve been at it for months.

I did the last third of the book. Then the first third. I will soon start the middle. (Similar to how I read dense books: I start with the first third, read backwards from the end, and then if I still have energy, go back and read the middle.)

I couldn’t figure out how to sequence the first third of the book. Now that I’m close to being done with this section, I find myself breaking apart the chapters I already sequenced, and sorting all the scenes and scene fragments into folders. Each folder is labeled with its storyline or the secondary character it features. For instance, Telly develops a friendship with Kim, and there’s a folder for “T and Kim” containing those scenes.

Doing it this way takes a lot of the pressure off. I’m getting everything I want into Scrivener, and writing some new parts I like, and I’ll sequence it all once I have the pieces in place. (Unless this is more “ready to query by the end of the year!” optimism.)

These days, when someone asks, when can I read your novel, I say… one of these years, I hope?