Novel timeline

I have a confession to make. Since I discovered what a pain in the butt it was to subscribe to this blog, I kinda lost steam on it. I would like a blog where a person can put their e-mail, and get a notice when I post. But this place isn't so user friendly.

Oh well, I'll try to keep with it until I find something better.

So, What have I done lately on my novel?

Well, I re-wrote my time line.
I originally wanted to set the story up with day stamps. Like each chapter would be started like: Day 1, day 3, then 1 month 3 days, 3 years 2 months... etc. I had made a list of scenes and put them in the timeline for the first 13 days, then just listed the rest of the scenes that I would place later when I decided WHEN they would happen.

But then I realized how much of a pain that would be and how distracting it would be from the story. It doesn't need to be that painfully exact.
It was also becoming a mess. I was moving scenes all over, changing days and thinking of more filler scenes that needed to be there... this scene MUST be before that one, but here is another one that can't be on the same day... etc. I was ready to pull my hair out!

So I decided to abandon that idea.

Instead, I went through and organized the scenes I listed them all in order, and put a comment on why the scene was important. So even thought I haven't yet decided WHEN each should happen, I know what order they will appear. I can be a bit more ambiguous on the When.
Then I went back and started marking the chapter breaks. I haven't finished that last part yet, but I am SO GLAD that it looks more organized and I can tell where I am. I placed a check mark at the end of the line for the scenes that are complete. And now I can look down the list and see where I still need to write a scene.

Maybe I should take a picture of both and place them side by side for you to see. My list is 6 pages long, whereas the mess was only 3, but it makes a big difference.

OK, thanks for reading!