Last night, I sat down to begin Chapter 12 (it's so exciting to say that, honestly), which is Maddy's first chapter since the big dramatic climax of the novel. So I began the chapter, and I figured I'd copy and paste the scenes from draft 2 of the unused Maddy version of Chapter 10, just so I could update them and flow them in more naturally. And I did. Imagine my surprise when two scenes and a couple random lines added up to just over 14 pages. Did I feel excited? You bet. But I also felt like a cheater (semi-ironic since my novel's title is Multiple Choice). I mean, I did the work, but I still felt like it was too easy. How could I have 3/4 of my chapter neatly handed to me? Of course I felt ridiculous, but it just proves how tough I've found the past 11 chapters.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to cleaning up what I copied and adding another five or so pages, then going back and adding another couple pages to Chapter 11. After that, I'll be swamped by moving for the next couple weeks, but I'm pretty confident that I can finish Chapter 13 (and quite possibly Chapter 14) by Labor Day weekend.
What does this mean? Ladies and gentleman, I might actually finish all 18 chapters of my novel before Christmas, just at the two-year mark. I may just be a fan of cheating.
Has anyone else had an awesome shortcut experience?
You are not cheating! Who do you think handed those scenes to you? You did! You served your own platter. I don't think I've ever felt like I was cheating though I've had this sort of experience of cutting and pasting something I already wrote but had to cut or just hadn't gotten around to using yet. Either way, don't forget you did the work!
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