Did you ever feel like no matter how much work you get done, you're just running a treadmill, never actually accomplishing something where you can say "finished"?
After spinning my wheels to make a Merm-8 cover POD book (going through many unnecessary steps for a volume that's marketed towards one person and one person only), I've got to write blog entries, read books, write short stories, get Merm-8 ready for critique, look up all my Internet stuff, work, prepare for Christmas, and then everything else I've forgotten to mention.
This biggest grinch in my goiter is the ending for Z Company (zombie army story). I've already thought of six possible endings, all of them legitimate. And they've all got endless permutations and mixing that could or couldn't work.
The biggest problem is that I've got to A) integrate a plot element that drops off B) make it original, a repeated complaint in its time on Critters and C) make it make sense. I spent all last evening racking my brains, throwing together characters and plot points and settings, trying to come up with something that sticks. It's like a strategy game--you move pieces around a board to get the win that results in the most points with the least loss. And at some point, when nothing works, you start scattering things around in hopes that something random lands.
And then in the shower last night I realized, what I'm trying to do is please everyone. And if I try to please everyone, I'll please no one ("no one" includes publishers). So what I have to do is pick the ending that I like the best. Not that that makes it any easier for me to do, but it's a start. It's a direction.Labels: whining, Z Company, zombies
