This year I am writing a novel.

Way back in the end months of 2020 when I first started really considering this project I was very eager and full of wild expectations. The building blocks for 2021’s writing project where created and put into place. So, I set out writing what I felt certain would be a trilogy and with that in mind I created a working title, the one that you have been following along with these last few months, The Nameless Files.

Now that I have written more than half of the book, or file one, I actually don’t see file two or three playing out anymore. My storyline and characters have shifted so much from my original jumping off point! You might ask, how do I feel about that? Well, I feel okay. No disappointment or anything like that. I feel quite the opposite actually. I am satisfied with the story and happy with the characters.

The reason that I don’t think there will be a file two and three is because my original idea was a bit disjointed and since it was my jumping off point I wasn’t doing any work to see if it could or should fit together. I just jumped in and started writing placing my trust in the process. So, I didn’t stress and I put pen to paper with my tentative plan. As the writing progressed the disjointment (is that a word?) disappeared and file two and three went with it.

I have found it so fabulous to experience the growth of a big writing project. Have you experienced anything similar in your own writing journey?

By Shari Marshall – 2021