My first week of school went well, but it was hectic and my WIP languished. I'm still working on finding my weekday writing groove. Mornings are when I do my best work. My brain is rested and firing on all cylinders. I don't trust what I write late at night, ironic since I'm writing this post late at night. I often have to rewrite the weird, late night turns my WIP takes. I guess I'll have to start going to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and get some writing done.
I'm very fired up about what I accomplished this weekend. My word count wasn't off the charts or anything...about 2K for the whole weekend, but I'm almost giddy all the same. The middle of this book has kicked my butt in a major way. I was so stuck I put it down for about six weeks last spring. I had plot threads hanging out all over the place, and my main character had gone strangely silent in my head.
In the last week of June, I literally made myself open the file. Since then I've slogged through some flat scenes I know I'll rewrite, but I've kept at it. If you stop by regularly, you've seen several whiny blog posts complaining about my writing troubles. But then, a couple of weeks ago, I started to pick up steam. One cool scene here...a snappy bit of dialogue there...and I was making progress. Even though the book sat while I was in school this past week, it was rattling around in my head.
Friday night, my subconscious mind went on a rampage. I had bizarre (and not completely happy) dreams all night long. I awoke tired and irritable Saturday morning. One dream in particular haunted me most of the day. I won't repeat it here, because when I told Bruce, he looked at me like I had lost my mind, and he loves me. God knows what complete strangers would think. I will say that it ended with a disembodied voice telling me to remember that karma is a bitch.
She is indeed, but why was she on my mind? Mid-afternoon, as I stood fondling the produce at Evans Orchard, it hit me. One of my major themes in this book has been the idea that all violence comes with a heavy price, even when it's justified. Karma is a bitch.
I came home and re-read my last 30 pages, letting that theme drive my thinking. I wrote two more pages and stopped to ruminate. This morning I woke early and heard my characters' voices. They drove me to my computer and six pages came effortlessly. I could have easily written more, but real-life responsibilities pulled me away. My son's senior pictures were important, and we needed clean clothes. It's okay though. The threads are starting to weave the picture I had in my head 10 months ago when I started this book. I finally feel the momentum that carried me through the end of the first one.
So no more whiny blog posts...knock on wood. And for the record, I waited until morning to post this. When my eyes are burning and my brain is in slow motion, it's time to call it a night.
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