Guys.

Someday I will finish this book in a way that makes sense. I SWEAR!

Last weekend I was slogging through another scene that was just not feeling right and I googled something and started bouncing around and then somehow landed on Libbie Hawker‘s Take Off Your Pants!

I giggled at the title, read the blurb and the reviews and bought the book. I read it in one sitting and dove into the exercise of plotting my book her way.

Guys.

I think it worked. It took me 3 days to write a full, cohesive, end to end plot. WITH A THEME! Which in hindsight was probably what was eluding me, but Libbie’s explanation just made it click.

Next, is looking at Beats and Chapters and fleshing this thing out.

Guys.

I am so in love with this book in concept and I really think it can work. I really, really do! I just needed a way to make what was in my head come out in what I was writing.

So, it’s kind of like a from scratch start. In fact, I think it will be just that. Because when I applied Libbie’s plan to the story, the story kind of… changed. A lot.

But, if this fresh new story is one that is good and can actually sell, then it’s all been worth it.

Bonus: Her plotting instructions immediately firmed up the story for the next six books. I now have a working framework for the whole series. And loose plot ideas for each of the books.

Guys.

If you struggle to get a cohesive story going…

If you are planning on writing a book for Camp Nano…

If you are already thinking about NaNoWriMo…

If you plan to write a book just because…

Go. Go now and buy Take Off Your Pants!

P.S. Libbie Hawker doesn’t know me. I seriously did buy her book Take Off Your Pants! Then because I write historical fiction, I also bought Making It In Historical Fiction. It was also top-notch and made me feel much better about where I was already going. I also came away from that one with some action items that I may share in a future post.