The Chicks are so happy to welcome back wonderful author and HFOC (Honored Friend of Chicks) Liz Milliron. What happens when grab an opportunity to write – and then go blank? Read on to find out and also learn about the first book in a brand-new series from Liz! (It sounds awesome!)
What am I going to write?
Thanks to the Chicks, and Ellen, for asking me back. It’s always good to be the “guest Chick” for the week.
When Ellen reached out to me (last week?) to offer me a sudden opening, I jumped at the opportunity. Of course I will! You need the post by Monday? No sweat.
Then I opened my computer, started Word, and stared at the blinking cursor for far too long.
What am I going to write?
Readers my mind was blank. Completely. You wouldn’t think this would be the case. Surely a writer always has something to say.
Nope.
I must confess, I do this a lot. I don’t plot, so I don’t have an outline. Every day is an adventure. No matter what project I’m working on, the question is always “What am I going to write?”
Sometimes, I might have a glimmer of an idea. Maybe I finished yesterday and knew what the next scene or two was going to be about. You know, in a very nebulous kind of way. Like “this is the scene where the guy does the thing.” What guy? What thing?
I don’t quite know.
Even if I do know, I’m not sure what else is going to happen. And something always does.
Of course, quite often the plan goes completely awry. I sit down thinking I know what I’m going to write and I wind up doing something completely different because the story takes an unexpected left turn when I thought it was going to turn right.
Which only sets up the question for the next day: What am I going to write?
It’s a never-ending cycle.
Be a writer, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.
I bet “they” knew what they were going to write.
And, in the end, I figured out what I was going to write for this guest post. But today’s work on the novel in progress?
Yup. No clue. The question remains.
What am I going to write?
Writers, do you know what you’re going to write when you sit down? Readers, do you always know exactly what you’re going to do when you start a project?
Synopsis: NIAGARA FALLS POLICE DETECTIVE JACKSON DAVIS IS LIVING A LIE.
He has the perfect life: married, two children, a home, a promising career.
Underneath, however, he battles self-doubt and guilt over the explosion during the pursuit of a suspect that cost his partner her sight and her career. He denies having PTSD or any trauma related to the event, but those around him know better.
When Jackson returns to active duty and is tapped to lead the investigation into the death of a prominent local business woman, all of this comes to the forefront. He must learn to work with a new partner and deal with his personal demons if he is to catch the killer—or he risks losing it all.
Bio: Liz Milliron is the Shamus award-nominated author of The Homefront Mysteries, The Laurel Highlands Mysteries series, and The Jackson Davis Mysteries. Her short fiction has been published in multiple anthologies. Liz is a member of Pennwriters, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and The Historical Novel Society and is the current Secretary of the Pittsburgh chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Education Liaison for the National SinC board. Liz lives in the Laurel Highlands with her husband and a very spoiled retired-racer greyhound.
Chicks on the Case 
Good to have you back, Liz, and kudos on your book coming out in March.
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Thank you!
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thanks so much for guesting with us today! I don’t know how you pants. It’s miraculous to me. I’m the other end of the spectrum! I always know what I’m going to write and outline all my books. I even sometimes outline blog posts!
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When pantsing goes well it goes very very well, and when goes badly it is horrid. (Ask me how I know, lol.)
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Oh Lisa, ain’t that the truth!
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Ellen, honestly? Sometimes I’m a little jealous. I had a very complete “mind map” outline for the second Jackson book, which I’m writing now. Unfortunately, it zigged instead of zagged and now the entire mind map is worthless. LOL
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Congrats on the new book and series, Liz! I’m like Ellen. I need my outline to keep the wheels turning for my books. Without it, I would be utterly lost.
When it comes to blog posts? Yeah, a lot of the time, I find myself staring at my cursor and a blank screen for way too long. Good times, right?
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Those blog posts always turn out great, JC!
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Thanks, J.C. I’ve tried to outline, I really have. Unfortunately, the story always does what it wants to and, well, I wind up throwing the second half – or more – of the outline away. Why bother?
Blog posts are an entirely different matter.
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I can so relate to this post! And for me the lesson is, if you just start something will come. I’m normally a plotter but sometimes I sit down and just don’t know where to start, so I just … start. And it usually works!
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Marla, yes! It’s kinda like if the mind gets going, the story will come. Eventually.
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Liz, we’re so happy to have you here today! Thanks for this great post–and for being such a good friend of us Chicks. Your new Jackson Davis series sounds amazing–so glad it will launch very soon! As a fellow pantser, I share your daily dilemma. I, too, have that “this is where my sleuth does the thing” idea in my brain when I sit down to write each day, and usually that “thing” I’d vaguely imagined (I jot daily bullet points) takes a turn. It makes things more exciting, but also more stressful, lol.
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Thanks, Lisa. I know exactly what you mean and yes, sometimes I’m sure those plot turns are where a third of my gray hair has come from (the other 2/3s is definitely kids).
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I like starting with a general outline, but I’m happy to follow my characters where they lead during a scene. Liz, I’m so happy for you and your new series! And thank you for being an honored guest today!
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Thanks for having me, Jen. I’ve done the “these are the things that have to happen” type outlines as well – except things still get added and subtracted, sometimes after I’ve written them!
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Hi, Liz! *waving madly* I’m a plotter, but I use my outline for “things that have to happen.” It does make me laugh, though, when I’m “finished” with the story and go back to revise and see things like [insert frustrations noises] or [this, but funny].
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Thanks, Becky. Yeah, I have some of that. But what is even more amusing are the things that got added/cut because something happened to change the trajectory of the story and I start leaving myself notes like “get rid of this storyline.”
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Chiming in here late, as usual, from Hawai’i (though in my defense, it’s not yet 8am here).
But I hear ya, girl. My first few books were plotted out, but I’ve slowly drifted into the pants-world, which with each book makes this normally super organized and planned-out gal very nervous. I truly wanted to have an outline for this current WIP out, but a deadline started calling, and I realized I was taking far too long to to come up with a fully fleshed out plot and that I need to get on it and start writing. So I did. Oy.
Congrats on the new series–it sounds terrific! And thanks so much for jumping in at the last minute to be a guest today. Love the post!
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Thanks, Leslie. You get a pass on the time zone. LOL
Oh, come to the dark side! With a lot of other things in my life, I’m much better organized. Writing? Well…
And glad to visit any time you need me.
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Hi Liz! Greetings from California! Nice to meet you :)) – Emily
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Hi, Emily! Nice to meet you, too!
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Liz, congrats on the new book! I’m a pantser. Sometimes it works. I wish I could successfully outline.
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I hear ya, Vickie. I’ve tried. I really have.
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The first paragraph of my review is usually the hardest. I have some idea what I plan to write for the rest, but the getting going is always the biggest hurdle.
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Yes. Once I get going, I’m (usually) okay. It’s the “getting going” part that’s daunting.
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Congratulations, Liz, on the new series! Looking forward to reading!
Love when the draft goes in a new direction that I didn’t plan…feels like the story is taking on its own momentum. But writing is still hard work!
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