The (another) is because I have actually already finished one, The Ferry, which started as a long short story then got turned into a novel one NaNoWriMo1The complete and utter self-destruction of that organization still boggles my mind to this day (2009, I believe). It really needed to a rewrite or two, but I never got around to it and I feel if I’m going to try completing another novel, I should pick one of my many unfinished ones that has more good stuff already in it, thus requiring less good stuff be added.
And that novel is Road Closed, which I’ve talked about here before. A lot.
The last time I mentioned it was November 17, 2024–about two years ago, and I said this:
The unfinished novel is my own, Road Closed (the title will almost certainly be changed to something else, should the novel ever be finished). The prologue outlines the tragic summer and drink-to-forget beginnings of young Christian Warren, setting the stage for the five-year jump ahead as the story begins proper.
But the rest of the book–which is currently sitting at around 70,000+ words, is a bit of a mess. And it’s not the mess where you can just keep writing, then go back and fix the messy bits later. It needs serious surgery. But I kind of want to try, because that prologue still delights me today.
It actually sits at just under 84,000 words, but otherwise the quote is accurate. It needs serious surgery, but so did I this year, and I came through OK, so why can’t my story? A couple of cool scars will look even better on it.
So here’s my commitment in public. I’ll report back, possibly in tears, at some point.