The Fire Swamp Middle of the Fiction Project

It has happened. I have officially hit the middle of my journey to finishing this big work of fiction (big for me since I've not written a full-length manuscript before), and I have as much to go as I have done. This is the official quagmire section of the project, where I must be careful and not lose my way. I also must not give up, although R.U.S.S. fill the forest, including those called "Never Going To Finish," "Too Tired" and especially "Is This Any Good?"

See, up to this point, I could have abandoned the project, telling myself that I just couldn't write that many words, or the story was too thin or perhaps that I was so busy with the non-fiction writing that it got put on the back burner to be stirred another time. But now, no, those options are no longer viable. Honestly, I have to finish this, have to see it through, and most days, I enjoy settling into the world that is taking shape. But the road ahead is excruciating, not for the writing, but for how long is left to go.

It feels like that part of the drive to Key Largo when we get on the Florida Turnpike below Daytona, clicking off toll booth after toll booth and still never getting all the way through Miami to US1 and the first glimpse of blue water. But we do, we do get through it, and usually in enough time to see the sunset over that blue water from the deck at Snook's.

So I trudge on every day, clocking in the word count and advancing the story. And mixing examples from The Princess Bride and my drives through Florida. Hey, it all makes sense to me.