A Possible Solution

I'm going to try starting 'Only You' right at the main action--the car accident in which a character dies due to the actions of another. I'm hoping this will work. Before I was starting totally from scratch with Cassie's developing relationship with Joel, but that was going so slowly. Now I can start with them already having discovered their feelings for each other. I'm still not sure if Joel will be newly to town or a childhood friend of Derek's. Both scenarios have potential subplots to move the plot along, but I think having Joel well known to both Cassie and her family will work best.

I will not be presenting 'Only You' to my writing group; I won't let the girls read it either. I need some privacy to make this work. I can't do the story justice if I have to worry about the language and/or actions of my characters. Yes, yes, I know, one shouldn't worry about such things as a writer, but I still do.

The main thing is to get the story down, start to finish, and then worry about making sense and having all ends tied up, etc. Gotta tie up that internal editor and throw him in the basement. That is difficult sometimes. I read once about an author who writes and rewrites the same 500-600 words until they are perfect before moving on. I dont' think that is something I could do. Okay, I do it a little bit, you know, go back and edit something, but I try not to. It's detrimental to getting the story down. That has to be my main focus, to get the bare bones down and into some sort of cohesive and comprehensible story.