Time to make the donuts

So I'm in drafting mode: writing book three (still sans title).  This means I walk around with my head in the sky a lot doing strange things like baking cookies and downloading dance music.  I get crazy urges to move furniture around that JP has to talk me out of (trust me when I tell you there was a very long and detailed conversation about that yesterday when I asked him how upset he'd be if I went ahead and moved the couch in my office to prepare for the new couch we're probably getting in a few weeks).  It's been kind of dismal weather here, so I haven't been able to get out and wander around.

I've hit that point in the book I always hit where I panic and gnash my teeth.  I'm hopefully going to get through it soon.  I totally agree with whoever said that each book you write teaches you how to write THAT book, but I also find that the more I write, the more I find patterns and sometimes patterns can be comforting.  It's nice to know that for my other books I hit this point in the drafting and made it through.  It's nice to know that when all is said and done I have a wonderful agent and fantastic editor and smart beta readers to help me wrangle it into the story I want it to me.

Recently, my critique partner, Diana Peterfreund (of the killer unicorn Peterfreunds) wrote a blog post about her writing process that I thought was absolutely fantastic (go read it here).  She has to get the scene right the first time in order to move forward and I'm just the opposite -- I learn so much about the story during the drafting that I regularly have to go back and rewrite whole chunks of my book.  And now that I think about it, the parts that I tend to rewrite are the parts I'm drafting right now.

I think some people would think "this is the part I'll end up having to rewrite" and get stressed out.  For me it's a relief to know that what I do now doesn't set everything in stone.  I can still fix and change if I go down the wrong path.  You know I've used the analogy before that I think of writing as going down a long series of hallways closing off doors that represent all the possibilities in your book.

Now that I think of it more, I wonder if those rooms I'm closing have more than one entrance.  So maybe I close the door from THIS hallway, but who knows if I'll double back and find another way into that room later.

See, this is what I do when I'm at this stage of writing the book -- I read craft books, I think about my own style, and I write blogs trying to figure it all out :)  Speaking of craft books, anyone have any good ones to recommend?