Troubles with Writing

I am having trouble finishing the last chapter of my book. I thought I was done back in May, and so I haven't been doing too much with it. However, after a critique from my sister/editor, she let me know that I am far from done. In this last chapter, I need to tie up every single question that arose from the other chapters.

My problem is that I know this story so well that I am assuming my reader will be able to link their questions to the answer without having to spell it out. My editor tells me that that may be true, but they need confirmation that they have the correct answer.

So after brainstorming how to answer every question using conversations and events, I will be working day and night for the next two weeks to bring it about.  Wish me luck.

I wish my vacation was not already over for the year.

Writing

Back from vacation. I was able to work on polishing the first six chapters while camping. I have Chapter Nineteen at my editors and should hear back from her next weekend.
I'm having difficulty working on the last chapter, and so reading the entire novel should give me the proper perspective to finish strong.

To try and become better in the craft of writing I have been working on an exercise using the five senses.

 Looking at something and then describing by feeling it, looking at it, listening to it, smelling it and lastly describing what it would taste like. It it much harder than you would think. Try it, and let me know what you think.

Writing process and Colorado camping

We are editing the last two chapters. The ending is tricky because it has to answer all the questions and do so quickly and concisely. It may take a couple weeks to get them right. I could not have made it this far without my sister/editor. She changes the wording to make the scenes clearer and has polished every single section she has touched. I think it is finally coming together. And the amazing part about it is that even if no one else reads it but my family, I still feel that she has made it so much better.

I cannot say that it was fun. It was hard work on top of more hard work. After we finish going over the last two chapters, we will reread the entire book and polish it one more time before sending it to a publisher. That will take a few more months. But my hopes are high. Once it is sent off, then I will start on book two. I wrote this book about five years ago and it is the second in the series. I look forward to seeing how that story will transform in the days and weeks to come.

I'm going camping for now in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Writing process

I began sending my sister/editor a chapter a week. When I sent it off, I would feel wonderful, believing that she would be astounded when black ink turned into gold. She would send back favorable reviews. Instead, what I received was. 

This isn't plausible. That could never happen. The way you set up that scene is odd. This part is confusing. What were you trying to say?

Then began the working and reworking of chapter after chapter. In a nine month time period, I was only on chapter 10. To make matters worse, at that point she mentioned 40 chapters needed to be condensed into 20. I had to start over on page one again. 

And so I did.