I’ve known it all along. I’m a novel writer. Not a short story writer.
I can write essays and nonfiction articles just fine. I attempt to write short stories, but then the idea takes off in my brain and I want to add too much detail, too much complexity. I can’t force myself into a couple thousand words without things getting a bit choppy and leaving the reader wondering about everything I don’t mention.
So I should stick to novels, with a few essays and articles mixed in.
I started back on actually writing Band Geeks yesterday and got 1685 words. That’s the first writing I’ve done on it since August. I’ve outlined the final scenes that I still need and know what I need to do to finish this thing. I like this book, but it still doesn’t hold my interest like Emma’s and Libby’s books do. Maybe some time away once it’s done will let me figure out what needs to be changed.