I'm still more used to whipping out essays or term papers in one draft than working with these big complex unwieldy things that take months to write and more months to polish and even dismantle and reassemble.

No shit. I'm peeved right now because I wrote two chapters of a proposal for one of Harlequin's new lines, and I *knew* the conflict wasn't right. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't change it -- if I were going to try and sell it as straight fiction, in other words. And the idea of changing everything, even just shifting things here and there and refocusing, makes me tired.

I can be a lazy writer.

SusanW: I feel this with you.The feeling that it is all just typing from here to the end.

It is a good sign, though. It signifies that the thing is done. Now, shock yourself. Turn all of your resolutions back against themselves.

Hmm. I wonder if my problem isn't that I'm trying to tie things up in too neat of a bow. Maybe all I need to do is make it clear that they will solve all the obstacles they're facing, having decided they'd rather have a difficult life together than simple ones apart. And here the dreaded epilogue (I know some readers and writers hate 'em) may work in my favor, because I can show that several months or a year on, they're happy and satisfied with the life they're building together, even if it's in some ways still a work-in-progress.

Maybe all I need to do is make it clear that they will solve all the obstacles they're facing...

Gah! Romance ending alert.

Do they feel connected, in that moment? Good enough. Future obstacles are for ... the sequel.

I like having a little bit of messy at the end, Susan. It's more reflective of real life and I can always use my own imagination to fill in the blanks after the story has ended. If it's wrapped up too neatly, I feel cheated.

Future obstacles are for ... the sequel.

Well, except that I don't see them breaking up and getting back together or anything like that--they're in it for the long haul. But I can certainly see them showing up as important secondary characters in future stories. The only problem will be not letting them take over.

Susan, I'm with Sail: I'm fairly fond of the messy at the end, myself. I tend to want to smack writers who tie everything up; much rather have something, anything at all, left to my imagination. As to the writing side (rather than the reader side), I have yet to feel the "going through the motions" at the end, but I do get it quite often in mid-book.

That said, I didn't get it at all in either of the Kinkaid books, which isd one reason I think they're what I ought to be writing.

Amy! Pet me! I did nearly 2,000 words on Cruel Sister today and the damned advance cheque hasn't even arrived. I wanna biscuit.

British or American? Biscuits. Because I like both and need to know whether to bust out the butter or the chocolate.

I'm not feeling so going through the motions anymore, but I can't explain why the thing that fixed it worked. Basically, while I was out running errands today, I was thinking about the next story chronologically in this trilogy I've got going (though I'm planning to rewrite the first story next). Jack and Anna play a fairly important role in it as secondary characters/plot catalysts, and Jack and I had been having a bit of an argument about something he wanted to do. (He's very opinionated for a figment of my imagination.) I finally realized that what he wanted to do would work for the story and was very important to his character arc, though I'll have to be careful and remember that he's not the lead of the new story.

So I think it really was about convincing myself that this isn't really the end of the story.

I made meself a little site.

[link]

Should I include my representation?