Ah, yes! My most beloved day of the week has returned with a vengeance. I wonder if Mondays suck for retired people too? I'm just wondering if it's the day itself or the fact that I have to return to work after a very cool weekend?
Well, the camping was abso-frikkin-lutely fantabulously filled with wonderment! (Come on, you gotta be impressed: nobody can fracture language like a writer!)To translate that back to something approaching English: we had a great time. The weather was mid-60's without a cloud to be seen. Friday night I threw my sleeping bag down on the shore of the lake and fell asleep gazing up at brilliant white stars. Saturday morning, I woke to the sound of woodpeckers and wild turkeys just as the sun crested the top of the trees on the other side of the lake and the water looked like it was catching fire. It was stunning. If you don't camp regularly you should (perhaps) reconsider your life. You're missing out on the wonder that (deity of choice) created for us.
AsI figured, I returned from the weekend ready to write and I started tackling "Fish" today (You remember: the novel that scares the crap out of me?) I'm mostly just reading through what I have of the 1st draft and making spelling/grammar corrections at this point but I need to re-familiarize myself with the story. I haven't touched it since October. Gotta say, I'm really liking what I've gone through so far. It has a lot of powerful imagery in it. Tonight the wife is working late again so I'll have time to get in some healthy editing on GS. I still want to try and hit the April 15th markup deadline I set for myself so I plan (suddenly I'm thinking of Steinbeck!) to do a good bit of work each night this week. I also have a pretty solid idea of what my agent query letter is going to look like (what I was thinking of as I watched those lovely, dancing, stars!) and I'll start actually writing it up when I start the type-ins for GS.
Didn't do my exercise routine while camping (Didn't need to! Hiking up and down hills, leaping logs, and fording rivers get the heart pumping just fine!) but I got right back into it first thing this morning. I was worried about that actually, I have a tendency to let things like exercise slide (hence the paunch) if I don't do them every day. Strange quirk of my psyche I guess: I will do just about anything, so long as I do it every day. I get into the habit of it. Problem is that it only takes one missed day to throw me off the habit! I've had periods in my life (maaannnyyy years ago!) where I worked out religiously for years, then dropped the whole program because I got a bad cold and was out of the habit for a few days. Sad ain't it? Writing works like that for me too, which is why I've been so worried about losing the rythm I picked up during NaNoWriMo that led to this (charmingly entertaining!) blog and two completed novels, with a third getting within hollerin' distance! So far; so good.
No other blogs to comment on today since I haven't had a chance to read any of my regulars yet (Monday is kicking my ass. Again.) I did get an e-mail from Will (The guy who writes the 'One of Ours' blog on the sidebar) in response to a message I sent him about his take on "The Dark Tower". He was glad to hear from someone else who enjoyed the series as much as he did. I think that folks have been too conditioned by Hollywood to always expect a happy, neatly wrapped up, ending to their stories. King doesn't give you that by any stretch but he does (I think) play fair with the characters and the situations they are in. I also have to add that TDT has added a lot of the fuel I've been running on with my writing. Stephen King gives a remarkable insight on what it means -and what it takes- to be a writer in those novels. He also gives some startling views on what it really means to be world famous (and it ain't as glamorous as we thought!)
Later!
3 comments:
Glad you had such a good time camping. Wow, how do you do it? You're so dedicated to your writing! I hit one snag and suddenly, I have been writing so little over the last three weeks. Its awful. I guess us writer's get lulls and highs, but its hard when the words won't come. Maybe they will but I am just too distracted to find them.
Writing a new scene that is unexpected sometimes does that to me. It will either excite me or leave me stumped...lol. Anyhow, rambling . . . again.
Fish sounds interesting.... I would like to know more about it some time. And does GS stand for something that I missed?
Hey, Lee!
Hope you're feeling better. GS is for "Godslayer" It's the novel I'm editing right now. I think I mentioned that somewhere on this blog but with my scatter-brain one can never be sure :) Don't worry about "Fish" you'll be seeing all of it for Critting in the not-too-distant future!
As for the writing, I just do it. I work with a formula that I stole (from Holly Lisle I believe) AIC = BSW. Which translate to:
"Ass In Chair = Best Selling Writer"
If you don't write every day, you 'll never get to the dream.
Just let go of the words, don't worry if they're good or not. Any writing is better than none. If they don't work, you always have Mel & I to tell you that later. I picked that up from NaNo & it's made a world of difference. did you ever do NaNo BTW? I never asked . . .
First of all, I love that formula. I have browsed over Holly's site a few times and read some of the articles but not recently and I can't remember all the stuff I picked up when I was there. I should go take a look again.
And no, I never did NaNo, but it sounds kind of cool. Don't know if I would have that kind of stamina to tell the truth. I am a perfectionist as much as I can be when I write. I don't want to write unless its good writing...lol. I suppose none of us want to be caught up in re-writes, but its a necessity. I am going to think about what you said. Thanks.
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