I finished chapter one. Finally. It was like pulling teeth. And now? Now I hate it.

GAH!

I love the prologue, like the first scene, can’t stand the second. It’s boring. It’s not unique. And now I’m stuck at the beginning of two because the second half of one is such a smelly stinker.

My wonderful CP said, “Just write. First chapters are allowed to stink.” My perfectionist brain is rebelling though. No! No! No! First chapters can’t stink! They have to hook. They have to be special. They’re the only shot you have!

See my issues?

What happens in one sets the stage for two. So I’m back to the drawing board. So much for forward progress. Rewind to chapter one where I’ll be reworking those 12 pgs I cranked out the last two days, praying something wonderful seeps into my brain in the process.

And you know what really stinks (among other things)? After I read this blog post, I now have serious connected story ideas circulating in my head from my last ms. Ideas I’d been keeping locked down tight until yesterday. Shane was happy without his own book (or so I thought). Limbo-land was good for him. But then he went and read that blog, and now he’s getting all sorts of ideas and whispering them to me in the middle of the night when my already-scattered brain is trying to work out plot issues in chapter one of the WIP. (NOT his story.) The man is trying to take over, and I’m fighting him tooth and nail. I am NOT wasting my time on linked books until I know the first one sells. There’s no point!

So this is me – going back to work on stinky chapter one. And trying to keep one overbearing detective on the back burner as long as I can. (And I don’t even like writing about cops. He knows this!)

Wish me luck.