Several of my classmates in a 2004-05 writing class used to say that they didn't like their friends and family members to know they're writing a novel because then those friends and family members will harass them all the time with questions about how the book's coming along. I've never had a huge problem with that. I mean, I get the questions, too, but since I love talking about my writing, I'm usually glad when people ask rather than annoyed. But right now, I'm dreading talking about it.
You see, I've been counting down the scenes until I finish. I was so sure I'd be done before mid-February. But, with only three scenes to go to the end(!!!!!), I have discovered a huge flaw in my story timeline. It has to be fixed. There is no other way. Fixing it requires going backward and changing something in a previous scene, of course. Which requires changing something else. Which requires changing something else. Etc. Because everything that happens in the last forty percent of the story is dependent on what comes before. It has to work like clockwork. I have to unravel things all the way back to page 170 (I'm on 241 right now) in order to make everything flow.
I've kind of been beating myself up over this. Why didn't I see it before? I could have saved myself all this work! The thing is, in outline form, what I have works just fine. It was only when I actually wrote the scenes that I was able to see that it doesn't feel right.
So, now I have to go backward and make the changes before I can finish the final scenes. The last time I had to make changes like this, it took me two weeks. This will take at least two weeks. Maybe even four weeks. Now I've gone from having ONLY THREE SCENES LEFT to having those scenes plus 70 pages to revise again.
For probably the first time ever, I'm completely dreading the "How's the novel coming?" questions. I was so close to finishing! And, in my excitement, I told everyone. But now I'm not.
I know my story will benefit tremendously from making these changes, but at the moment, this sure is a let down.