Yikes Moment!

I hate having "yikes!" moments.  I had one yesterday.  I was working on the first draft I had let sit for ages.  I had put each scene on a post it note, had made post it notes for the scenes I knew I still needed to write and then laid them all out.  After about thirty minutes, I had rearranged everything in the order I hope it needed to be in. 

Then I made a list(I like the feeling of checking something of that list).  I was going to start with writing the missing scenes.  I already had a shadow of an idea of what would happen in each scene so I wasn't intimidated. I even wrote the first scene I needed.  And then...

It happened!  My "yikes!" moment.  I had thought I was over 2/3's of the way through this novel.  Which means, with a goal of approximately 55,000 words, I should have had more than 37,000.  I didn't.  I had around 34,000.  Then came the realization that I was most definitely not going to reach 55,000 with the few measly scenes I had thought I had left.

Uggggg!  While I don't regret approaching this novel in a pantser way, I do regret not plotting it!  I know, I know, they are the opposite.  I loved the creative freedom I allowed myself.  I dislike having to come in now to clean up my pantser self's mess. :)   Oh the life of a writer.  When you work by yourself, there is only one person to blame, lol.

Keep on. Don't give up.  Be diverse.  Use what works and don't forget the other stuff, cause it may work next time.