Uphill Battle

The last few weeks, I've been trying to build up my stamina for bicycle riding. The hardest part of the training are the hills. I start off okay, but about halfway or three-quarters of the way up the hill, I run out of energy and have to hop off to push the bike the rest of the way. Part of it is lack of stamina, but the other part is the pain of having to pump the pedals.

I'm feeling the same way about my cyber bully novel. Every time I tackle the hill that is the first draft I keep losing energy, or I feel pain from eking out the lamest sentences in the world. I keep rolling back to the beginning and not wanting to go back up the hill. This is why I despise first drafts... I mean I really loathe them. I know I can get to the top eventually, but it's going to take a lot of work and a lot of concentration.

My latest failure has been the fact that the cyber bully villain means the heroes are spending a lot time reading emails and looking at the computer. Boring! I've gone back to see how I can revamp my original outline to get more action into the story. I think I've figured out how to get a better start to the book. The ironic thing is that I figured out how to rejig the beginning while I was walking up a hill in the river valley. More walks please.

Anyway, I'm back at outline and trying to get up a smaller hill. Hopefully, I'll set up enough milestones by marking what happens in each chapter so that I can get through the first draft easier. I'll see how far I get over the next hour. If I stall out, I'm taking a guilt-ridden two days off to enjoy Canada Day.