Timing is Everything

In Life & In Writing

Timing is everything. In life. In love. And—yes—in writing, too.

I’ve gotten it wrong more than once. I wanted the bad boy instead of the good one a couple of times (don’t we all?), or maybe for you it was the wrong girl. Luckily, I learned my lesson early enough to recognize the exceptional man when he finally showed up at my door.

Careers aren’t much different. Looking back, I can see the job offers I turned down, not because they weren’t good, but because they came too early or too easily, and I didn’t trust myself enough to take the leap. Sometimes the right opportunity shows up before we think we’re ready. Sometimes we only learn that in hindsight.

And writing? Writing is just another arena where timing quietly rules everything.

How you lay out your hook; where you place your setup, your inciting incident, your pinch point, your midpoint—those moments can make or break a story. They’re the invisible scaffolding the reader doesn’t see but feels all the same.

When I started writing in a different genre, I discovered just how much I’d come to rely on timing without even realizing it. Romance had beat sheets that kept me organized. They whispered, The first kiss goes here. The breakup belongs here. They gave me signposts.

But when I decided to write a mash-up—a kind of sci-fi gothic horror, none of that existed. No tidy roadmap. No “here’s where the ghost should whisper in her ear.” It was creative chaos. It was a bit of Save the Cat and Hero’s Journey, really Heroine’s Journey… until an editor read the book and said, “This happens too late, you need to move this chapter here and this one there,” and that's when the book started to work.

If you write romance, use beat sheets. They’re not constraints; they’re guardrails. They keep you from flying off the road into the weeds and make things easier for you, and make your book work for the reader.

Here are some great ones to guide you:
● Gwen Hayes’ Romancing the Beat (perfect for romance pacing)

● Jami Gold’s Romance & Genre Beat Templates (amazing free resources tailored to multiple genres)

Non-Romance:

● The classic Save the Cat beat sheet

● The Hero’s Journey for fantasy, sci-fi, or cross-genre work

● The Story Grid Foolscap and Beat Breakdown

Use whichever resonates. Mix and match. Customize. The point isn’t to follow rules—it’s to help your story fulfill the promise you made to the reader.

Because timing isn’t just everything, sometimes, it’s the thing that finally makes the whole book fall into place.

Thank you to everyone who sent healing wishes and prayers—it truly meant a lot. As I end week four of Shingles, I’m improving and hopeful I’ll soon feel like myself again.

If you haven’t had the Shingles vaccine, I really encourage you to consider it. I thought Shingles was just a rash, but it wasn’t. The nerve pain was unlike anything I’d experienced, and it led to some longer-lasting effects.

I’m taking things one day at a time, listening to my body, and slowly finding my way back to writing.

Have a great week, peeps!