(Okay this part is Day One continued)
It turns out six hours of uninterrupted quiet time is magical! A cozy couch, fuzzy blanket, and several cups of tea led to an extensive cohesion edit of my current story, as well as a brand new chapter, and a revolutionary idea for a chapter that just wasn’t working.
-Aside: sometimes you know something about a chapter but don’t have a burning desire to write it. I recommend jotting down whatever it is you know and then moving on. Sometimes you get father into the book and then the inspiration strikes. Other times you make it through and realize you didn’t need that idea in that place to begin with.
Dinner: TJ’s Chicken Marsala with Mashed Potatoes, cooked in the microwave. Flavor was very nice, consistency not bad (though the chicken would have been better in a real oven had I one. Not even close to the number of mushrooms depicted on the packaging.
On To
Day Two: I took a lazy morning eating packaged breakfast food and reading through a series of short essays on writing that have been in my email account since June. Of the ten or so that I had saved to read at a more convenient time, I found two to be helpful. The rest summed up to “write because you need to and don’t worry what people think of your work” which is great advice but a rule that I live by already (otherwise I would probably be a widely published romance novelist).
The two helpful pieces included one on how doing things outside of writing can open your mind to many new things that influence what goes on the page. I needed this reminder. I struggle with the guilt of the time and effort I put into writing as it takes away from other important areas of my life, but I also struggle with the guilt of not using my expensive education for profit. The first article gave me a lot of “let it be” vibes and I am here for it today.
The second was about being a good reader. I literally blog about being a good reader and shouldn’t need a reminder, but then I thought about how many books I’ve actually read since my summer challenge…I’ll work on scheduling some more page time into my everyday life.
Writing wise I had a bit of a revolutionary idea last night and it played out well on the page today. A character that I’d actually considered cutting because he didn’t seem to have a role blossomed into one of the touchstone voices in the book. He only gets one chapter and I felt like I made it count.
I also experimented with time jumps in a way I haven’t done in this book, and am taking a risk with the amount of information I just revealed all at once. In a surprise to me twist, I may have written my favorite relationship ever? Ever? Today. I have no idea how it will resolve because…well I can’t tell you because of spoilers… but I certainly need resolution between the two even though they are such a tiny portion of the cast.
Because of my late start and some impromptu calls to Pepper (but then it was actually a group chat with my mom too?) for help with a plot point I only have a chapter done thus far today. I am calling in to my choir rehearsal from 6-8, but then hopefully can finish editing the second half of the book that I’ve written so far.
I gotta say that I love my first half. Day two has been productive and relaxing thus far.
Writing Exercise: Write a romance scene between two unexpected parties in which a guileless gesture means the world to one of them.
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