Originally, I’d plan to cruise though the Stray Cat, sequel to Shadow Cat, during the month of January. It was going to be another NaNoWriMo for me, only less stressful since I already had 9-10k written. I started off strong, then I received the last bit of the feedback for my Shadow Cat draft. Like magic, I found the motivation to hop back into editing my little baby.
Flash forward to the wee morning hours of January 7. Edits for Shadow Cat were finished, and I was anxious to publish it. I’d planned to publish it a few months after the edits to give myself time to seek reviews. But being the trigger-happy lady I happen to be, I couldn’t wait. Format, submit, fly away Shadow Cat! Fly away!
So Shadow Cat was off; back to Stray Cat again, right? Wrong. The next few days I focused on sending out review requests. The entire time, thoughts such as folks will be too busy. filled my head. No one will take on my beloved novel. The response was actually quite favorable. My husband is probably tired of me saying, XYZ blog said they’d review Shadow Cat! Now I eagerly wait for feedback. Is Shadow Cat a winner? Send some good wishes my way. 🙂
Stray Cat continues to calls to me, Is it my turn yet? Well, yes and no. Here’s the thing, my darling. I can’t concentrate on you. I’m too worked up over Shadow Cat. Stray Cat’s response? I’ll nag until you dote some time on me. And it has been doing that. Every single day, from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, Stray Cat pesters me to add a few words. I comply with minimal response. Here! Take a few hundred words and shut up already.
Part of the problem with Stray Cat is I’m worried about it working. My original concept was great in my head. Putting it down on paper is another story. I’m about 17k into it and I wonder… is this too fantastic? And I don’t mean fantastic as in awesome. I mean fantastic as in unbelievable, unrealistic, far fetched. Doubts such as that slow me down.
What should I do about it? During NaNoWriMo, I came across scenes I just didn’t want to write with Alley Cat (final novel in the Striped Ones series). I found the best way to entice my muse back was to just skip the scenes. That’s what I’m going to do with Stray Cat. Skip ahead. I might even work my way backward.
There are two weeks left in January. Will I finish Stray Cat during that time? Highly doubtful. But starting now, I’m going to make some real progress with it. I’m going to stop letting my doubts slow me down and write where my muse tells me to go. It worked for Alley Cat, hopefully it’ll work for Stray Cat also.