Happy Monday! It’s a great day to write! Here’s a view of my writing nest today.

We spent the day weekend working on the house (of course). This is my husband’s current masterpiece—the in-floor heating system for our house.

It took a while to figure out.

A few starts and stops, where he had to unsolder his pipes, then resolder.

A couple drips. More unsoldering…more soldering…

But after two full weekends, we now have warm floors.

And we took some time to do this. (yay Vikes!) (Like my cool blackout curtain? #100usesformovingblankets)

And to put me in the mood to finish my novel this week, I watched this: (can you name this movie?)

The middle of my book often feels like this mess. It’s a tangle of story threads, starts and stops and tweaks as I get it right. The one thing that helps is to ask, at the beginning of every chapter:

• What does my character want, right now?
• What will stand in her/her way?
• What problem is solved, and what new one arises by the end of the chapter.
• And, after I’ve figure out that—I ask the question that gets my scene going:What is my character FEELING right now?

Listen, I know it can feel overwhelming to get to the middle, or even to the end of your book. Just write the next scene. You’ll get there.

Your story matters. Go, write something brilliant!

P.S. If you need help putting your story together, we have a short course available for only $7.00! Check it out here.