While the weather was an uncertain mix of cloud, sun, and “will it rain?” (it didn’t, hooray) my writing was a lot more focused and I’m now confident that the first draft as written so far, at around 66,000 words, is basically where it should be, with inconsistencies smoothed over and scenes that no longer fit removed (but put in safe storage for possible use later). The only major piece still left somewhat unresolved is the whole piece that the novel currently takes its name from, namely the closed road and the mysteries of Miller Woods.
Ultimately I don’t want Miller Woods to seem more important than it really is. It’s where the murder victim was buried and another person dies but beyond that it doesn’t serve much purpose in the story. It’s almost a red herring of sort as it stands now, with Christian and Kevin investigating it, trying to find answers, while also grappling with who or what Wendy is.
On the other hand I currently have Christian receive secondhand information from Wendy urging him to go there to find clues to a “dark past”–what he interprets as a possible clue or clues to her murder. And indeed there may be clues there that help lead him to the killer and ultimately closure for Wendy–should he survive (himself).
Anyway, all good food for thought and I’m comfortable with writing the rest of the novel, wrapping the first draft and then letting it sit for a few weeks before plunging back in again.
As for the actual group, two of us were early, three more arrived and it was a quiet but productive session, with lots of typing to be heard. We only had two hours instead of the usual three, so maybe that egged everyone into doing more with the time we had.
