A WIP is a “Work In Progress”.
Some of us have one on the go while others have many. I fall into the ‘many’ category. It’s always been that way for me, ever since I first started writing almost forty years ago. I find that having more than one project keeps me from getting bogged down. I can come back to a WIP with fresh eyes after leaving it for a while, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop writing while I let one manuscript percolate.
This has been a useful strategy whether I apply it to novels, plays, or blog posts. Letting a piece sit and then coming at it with fresh eyes allows me to see its shortcomings but also its potential.
This seemed like an especially serendipitous use of the letter W since the month of November is also Nanowrimo—or “National Novel Writing Month”—something I participate in every year. One signs up to write 50,00 words during the month of November, which is the size of a short novel. I must admit I am a bit behind this year, at least at the time of this writing, but I am ever optimistic that I’ll finish on time.
This year, I started out with a mystery idea called The Test, but I’ve actually been writing quite a lot of short memoir pieces as well, possibly inspired by Connie Inglis’s workshop at Fall Conference. They’re all anecdotal stories about the various places I’ve lived over the years. (I’ve moved a lot.) I plan to use them as future blog posts.
Other current WIPs include a homeschooling memoir, a memoir about my years teaching Drama called “Drama In the Boondocks”, a split-time novel about a hockey player who defects from the Czech Republic when it was still called Czechoslovakia (working title “Czech Out”), and a Sci-fi/paranormal piece which is still untitled.
Like I said, I like to have options!
What are you working on?
And now I best get back to trying to fulfill my 50,000 words before the deadline!
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Looking for gritty, thought-provoking faith-based fiction? Tracy Krauss’s novels combine romance with a twist of suspense and a touch of humour. It’s ‘fiction on the edge, without crossing the line.’ Also check out her many stage-plays at https://tracykrauss.com
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