Through. I know this. But I still hit the midpoint of DARLINGTON and came to a screeching halt.

Technically, I knew what came next-ish. I just had to get there. But did I just write the chapter? No. I puttered around with a few false starts, I asked my crit group, I stared at the last few paragraphs I'd written with my hands in my hair. All the usual things.

And then I went backwards. Instead of jumping straight into chapter 24, I revised chapter 23. Found the problem. Or rather, a problem, as I'm sure there are more. And I went from there. Wrote a couple chapters that meander. Refused to let myself be upset at the meandering, because therein was my problem.

I wasn't letting myself meander.

Like I said in my last post, I am an over-writer. But I'd forgotten just how huge a part of my process that over-writing is. I know it's going to make revision a huge pain, but I have to let my brain process the gap between the big things, and the way I process that is by letting my characters do what I do-- think about things. Talk about things. Take a shower. Have a glass of juice. When I go back to revise it, yes, most of these meandering parts will be taken out.

But I have to have them there in the first place or I can't push through.

This NaNo pep talk from Neil Gaiman is also a huge help. If even Neil Gaiman hits the middle(-ish) of a novel and thinks it all sucks, well, I guess I can keep going, too-- cause the only way out is through.

I'm at another part where I know where I'm going, but not quite how to get there. So I'm meandering. My characters are currently sitting on couches and talking out something three out of five of them already talked out. But we're doing it again. I'm calling this scene "once more with feeling*" and I'll cut it down to just the feelings later, but for now, they're rehashing an issue with the antagonist. And maybe I'll throw in some more angst, cause Princey-boy hasn't been angsty enough lately & he needs shaken up.

But until the shaking-up, they're gonna sit & talk as long as I need them to, to get to where I'm going.

Anyone else mid-point-ing it up? Got any tips for beating the third quarter** freak-outs?

*No singing, though. Sorry Buffy fans.

**Yeah, I write in quarters, not three acts.