Good question.

I thought, I should write a longer book because it’ll be fun for everyone involved. People who like to read (you) seem to like words and the reading of said words. People who like to write (me) seem to like to write excruciatingly detailed scenes with lots of talking and other stuff happening.

So that’s what I’m doing. My current book (which doesn’t have a title yet) is now at 80,000 words, which is almost twice as long as my longest book. Will I ever finish it? I hope.

Advice for Future Kylie:

• After writing tens of thousands of words, don’t decide to rewrite everything from past tense to present tense. I’m still fixing past tense text, and I keep finding past tense text. This is the gift that keeps on giving.
• Stop changing the name of the main character. First was Paul, then a few names I can’t remember, now Brian. And I’m thinking of changing his name again. Stop this right now, Kylie. Almost all of the other characters have new names too.
• Don’t just randomly write scenes because they seem “fun.” Try to write scenes that actually go in the book you’re writing.
• Stop writing sex scenes that don’t belong in this book. No, don’t write a sex scene involving characters who hate each other just because it’d be “interesting.”
• Stop overthinking everything. Stop making lists of various conflicts and motivations in this or that section of the book. It’s exhausting. At least I didn’t get out my timeline program and start graphing all of the plot points. Actually, that’s a good idea. Not.

If you could actually watch me writing this book, you’d give up reading forever. It’s the writing equivalent of sausage making. It’s really awful. If I were writing before the invention of computers, I’d be using scissors and glue and building a book out of fragments of paper.

I keep expecting the Writing Police to arrest me for being so slow and disorganized.

So that’s where I am in my current book.