On Plotcards and Drudgery

I've begun, and I'm determined to continue through to the end.

Plotting my story on index cards, that is. It's truly an exercise in Boredom Survival. That, and tenacity. And I'm not giving up.

Mind you, I'd much rather simply dig into the editing, recraft the scenes that are crackling with potential but mired down by clunky writing or less-than-tight plot propulsion. But I'm smart enough to know that the plotcards are going to lead to more effective editing in the long run.

And so I persevere.

I've got white cards for my protag--he gets a card for every chapter since he's, yanno, in every chapter. And I've got five different colors for five other characters whose arcs are strong enough to merit their own timeline. The remaining characters are including with the MC.

I'm already seeing oopses and uh-ohs. Hate that.

Hate it, but of course I expected it. And it's the whole point behind the plotcards; find the oopses and uh-ohs and what-the-heck-happened-to-this-threads...and fix them.

Gotta love reading things I totally didn't remember writing--things that were meant to be developed and have an important impact on the story. Guess that's what happens when you push through a first draft in order to get the thing down.

It's what I meant to do. And as long as I continue to not take myself too seriously as I go through this process, it'll all lead to good things.

Despite the fact that I utterly loathe what I'm doing right now.

I mean, think about it. I'm writing with a pen. On paper. This is something I just don't do. Really. I don't even journal in bed at night (I must be the only writer I know who doesn't journal). I put off thank you notes and birthday cards until the last possible moment.

I hate writing by hand. Seriously, completely, indisputably hate it.

So I find myself painfully distracted every day when I sit down with my plotcards. For the last two days, I've gotten three chapters done at a sitting. Sound productive? Not really. Because when Mr. A and I went to Starbucks on Sunday for some mutual work time, I got six chapters done, in the same amount of time. Or less. The only thing that distracted me was the display of cool, handle-free coffee mugs on the clearance shelf. I so want a lime green one.

I know, I know. I need to back away from my computer. Slowly and purposefully. It's the only way to get this plotcard thing done without sudden bouts of Twitter, gmail, and Evony.

Still. I'm feeling good about where this is going. I already see the potential for following each arc through to its conclusion, fixing the bumps along the way. I'm still considering looking into Scrivener, as it will give me the Perfect Reason to use Mr. A's iMac while he's a work. But in the meantime, it's just my notecards and me.

And we're doing fine. One tedious, barely legible card at a time.