As you all know, I’m writing a novel called, Nerdgasm, of all things. When one nerd meets another, they geek out plenty over all the right things. I’m ‘not’ a nerd. I’m also ‘not’ a geek. ‘Neither’ do I do fantasy. Don’t believe those last three statements unless you don’t know me. I’m what I would consider a… ‘beginner’ nerd. I’m not super versed on the nerdy things that interest me, and I don’t know the science behind… well… much of anything. Basically, I understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. And that’s only thanks to a line in a movie, and I was like… “OH! I get it now!” (For the record, the movie is Deep Blue Sea, and the line is spoken by the character, “Preacher”, who says something to the effect of, “Put your hands on a hot pan and a second can seem like an hour. Put your hands on a hot woman and an hour can seem like seconds. It’s all relative.”)

This story was going to be a short story for the Bowman’s Inn world, and then I realized there was so much more beyond the end of their story, so much more that needed to be told than could be squeezed into a 10,000-word short story. So I decided to use the short story as a teaser to a full length novel.

Events happened, and I’ve skipped out on the short story option, changed worlds, and am now going to publish the full length novel on Black Friday, 2017 (November 24th, for the record) in both digital and print formats. I’m super excited, and crazy nervous about this endeavor. I’m fretting over the cover design I’ve created, I worry I won’t have enough, or maybe it’s too much, I worry that my references aren’t nerdy enough, or even worse, accurate. I’m freaking out over whether or not it’ll be ready by then, and basically every other aspect of the novel. Because oh, my god, I’m writing a novel. With a deadline. Even if that deadline is one I’ve given myself, and even if that deadline is still a year away. It feels like it’s a lot closer than it is.

I started with sixteen scenes, with about thirty more planned for the story by the end of October. Then I got most of the way through NaNo 2016 and looked at my scenes. Something wasn’t right. This one scene had to happen after another, but I had it happening months earlier in the timeline. Okay, fine. Move this scene here, and that one there, and viola! Wait. No. That totally messes this up, but I can move this over… no, because then I’d have to…

I stepped back from the story and realized I needed to do a full re-organize on the timeline of events. No biggie. I went into Excel and each scene got a box. The scenes that had to be in a specific POV got either red (for Judy) or blue (for Max) and anything that could go either way, I left in black. I cut them all out and got the key things in order, then filled in the blanks with what was left.

Late nights, headdesking, blurry vision, headaches, temper tantrums… It’s not a fun process. BUT… I got them in order. And then realized, no, I still need this one somewhere else, but then that throws this whole thing off…

So I tried again. Got it! Nope. I tweaked it a bit more. That’s better! Buuuuuut not quite right. What if I move this one over here, and then this one goes here, and then I need to add a scene here from Max’s POV. And then these two, I need to move, but then this one, and now it goes… Okay, that’s better, but I need another Max scene here, now. I went through the process, and figured out where the POV holes were. Then I obtained the brainstorming help of my pal, Misty Carlisle, to figure out what the heck these new scenes were going to be about. DING-DING-DING!

So now it’s all in order, and I have another 21 new scenes to write, one has changed what it’s about, others have been eliminated or mashed up with others because they’re important. Did I mention there are still probably a good twenty scenes that still need more meat to them, that need to be fleshed out more? *sigh* I’ll get there! And I’ll do it right! And I’ll do it well! And you’re all going to love my book!

Just a recap: Nerdgasm will not be published as a short story as originally anticipated, but it will be available in print and digital on Black Friday (11/24) 2017 as a full-length novel. It’s got a lot of work to do, and has undergone a number of major changes over the last few months, but it will be ready, and I’m super excited about it! Okay. I think that’s enough for now!