Stalled Writing

I'm about 80% done with The Moonlight Cafe. There's one character that I'm trying to develop more, add more to his story. He's just not coming alive for me, though. I had an idea that I thought would help, but so far it's not panning out for me. I don't know what to do to make him real to me, to make me care about him. I'm stuck to the point where I'm contemplating cutting out the entire part of the book with him in it, and replacing it with something completely different. I'm not sure what to replace it with though. I'm going to do some freewriting on it to see if I can figure something out. If it weren't for this character's part of the book, I'd be done. I'd have to cut out 10 chapters or 43, and rewrite some others. A quarter of the book, gone, if I take him out. But maybe it would be for the best.

We had our monthly Saturday writing day a week and a half ago. I edited the chapters that are done, and tried to think of a way to make this character come alive. After that day, I decided to step away and let my subconscious work on it for a while. Still nothing, so I'm going to have to go back to my conscious mind to work this one out. It would help so much if I didn't have a day job. But that's not going anywhere anytime soon, so I've just got to work around it. Wish me luck.

Comfort Books

I don't mean any in particular (though there are definitely books I have read countless times that bring me comfort.  A Wrinkle in Time comes to mind first and foremost.)  Right now I just mean that books are a comfort to me.  I've been feeling a bit vulnerable lately.  It's nothing bad, just changes in life setting me a bit off-kilter.  It hit me full force at work today, so I decided to get up from my desk and take a walk.  Border's is conveniently close to my office building, so I walked there to get a vanilla latte, one of my addictions.  While waiting in line I noticed that the 4th book in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series was finally in paperback, so on a whim I purchased it.  I've been waiting for it a long time, but I've been trying to cut out unnecessary purchases, and books have found their way into that category.  There's always the library, right?  Not to mention the stack of books I already own yet haven't read, and the other stack my parents have lent me.  But that book called out to me, and I listened.  So now I will have some comfort reading.  Apparantly that book being right there by the cafe was the universe's way of telling me to sit back and relax for a while.  Will I be smart enough to listen?  Knowing me, probably not, but I'll try to go easy on myself.

Mac Problems

After a rough couple of weeks, I finally felt light enough to get back to working on my novel. I worked on some editing on Saturday, then let my laptop go to sleep, as I always do. When I came back to it Sunday evening - nothing. I forced a shut down, restarted, nothing. So I packed it up, trekked to the Apple store, where they told me my hard drive was bad. They took it in, backed up as much of my data as they could (everything except my bookmarks - darn!), and replaced the hard drive. When I booted it up Tuesday night, I discovered that my network card was apparently missing, which meant I couldn't connect to the Internet to download any of the programs I use, including Scrivener, my writing program. Still no writing for me.

Let me pause to say I have my novel backed up, but because Scrivener is a Mac only program, I can't work on it on a Windows-based PC. Lesson learned - once a week I will not only back up the Scrivener files, but will also export the manuscript to a Word document.

On Wednesday, I took the Mac back to the Apple store. They had neglected to install the drivers for my network card. Fixed that, and everything appears to be working now. I decided to take this opportunity to upgrade to Leopard, finally, which took a couple of hours. So last night, still no writing. Hopefully tonight I will finally get everything back to the way it needs to be so I can get back to work.

In the meantime, I worked on an essay about my Grandma in my writing notebook. The first draft is done, and once I edit it and am happy with it I will put it up on my website (it's too long for a blog post.) So the past five days haven't been all wasted, writing-wise, just haven't made any headway on Moonlight Cafe.

And since my Mac is in upgrade limbo at the moment, I'm posting this from work on my lunch break. I've never felt so lost without technology as I have these past few days without my Mac. I have come to depend on that thing all too much all too quickly. It's wonderful when everything works, but when it doesn't, it's very frustrating.

Sad Week

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  It's been a long, sad week for my family.  My Grandma passed away early Easter morning.  She would have been 92 on Tuesday, and had been in and out of the hospital the past year, so it wasn't unexpected, but it was still very sad.  I haven't written anything in the past week, and this is going to be a short post.  But I wanted to let you know I haven't disappeared.  Grandma is the first close family member of mine to pass, so it's a new experience for me.  I know she was ready to go, and I'm happy that she is in a better place now, but said for those of us left behind.

Writing Saturday

Saturday was wonderful! Of course, our writing days always are. Tina and I went to Sarah's house - The Treehouse. It's beautiful, trees everywhere, hence the name. The three of us shared new chapters, but did more talking than writing (we didn't write at all.) But we shared, and got ideas to improve what we already had, and shared each other's wonderful friendship. It was a great day, and I, as always, can't wait for our next Saturday meeting.

And while this isn't related to writing at all, I want to congratulate my best friend Renee on completing the St. Patrick's Day 5K run in under an hour. It was her first run, so CONGRATULATIONS!!

New Chapters

Between last night and tonight I have written 3 new chapters for The Moonlight Cafe. Let me say, for me, a chapter is short; on average, 3 printed, double spaced pages. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but 3 is a safe average. But even so, I think 3 chapters in 2 nights is a good accomplishment for someone with a day job. I'm happy with the progress, though will have more research to do with one of the new story-lines.

We are having our writer's day this Saturday with the 3 of us who can make it. I am very excited, and can't wait to share the new chapters.

Now I must be off to bed. It's past my bedtime.

Rewrite Part 1, Complete

The first part of my rewrite - changing the point of view to first person - is complete. Yea me!

Almost Done, Sort of

I have 6 more chapters to rewrite into first person point of view. I might finish it tonight. Then I get to work on the really fun stuff. Building character, adding a story-line or 2, describing little things to bring the story to life. I'm having a lot of fun with this rewrite, and think the novel is much stronger because of it.

Our monthly writing day is this Saturday, but with 2 of the 5 members unable to make it, we might reschedule. Part of me wants to reschedule so everyone can be there (though it will be a long time before Sylvie can make it - she is out of town a lot for the next few months), but part of me wants to have it anyway with the 3 of us who can make it. We missed last month due to most of us being sick, and I'm really looking forward to this Saturday. I will go with what the group thinks best. Though if we do meet, it gives me more motivation, because I want to bring new work on The Moonlight Cafe, not just rewritten chapters. We shall see.

And now, I'm off to rewriting those last chapters.

Take Time

Driving to work this morning I realized how often I don't take time to pay attention to the simple beauties in life. There is a stretch of highway, just before the bridge, that is farmland, with trees edging the road. The trees are bare this time of year, stick figures reaching towards the sky. Yesterday morning, the view was stunning! The trees, the grass, everything in sight were covered in white. It looked like a completely different landscape, just from the snow cover. On top of that, there was a dense fog surrounding the bridge. I could only see maybe 50 feet in front of me. This added to the beautiful white landscape. I thought about how gorgeous it was. Yet by the time I had reached work, I was annoyed and cranky, and had completely forgotten about the white beauty. I let something as mundane as traffic overcome any sense of peace I had gained from just passing through the beautiful scenery. I didn't think of it again all day. It may as well have not happened.

Then this morning, I noticed how everything was back to normal on that stretch of the highway. All the white was gone, and it was once again a dreary, winter landscape. I remembered the beauty from the day before, and realized that I had forgotten all about it, as if it hadn't existed. It made me realize that I need to take more time to truly pause and admire the world around me and appreciate it. I too easily let the mundane aspects of life take over and cause me stress. I told myself that I must remember the beauty from yesterday, and think of it (or any other simple pleasures in life) when the world gets to be too much, and to step back for a moment and pause, take a deep breath, and relax. I told myself I must remember that, and to write a post in my blog about it when I got home. It must have worked, because here I am writing about it.

So when work, or family, bills, or whatever it is that causes you stress rears its ugly head, try to remember to take a step back, even if just for a moment. Think of some simple pleasure in your life. Take a few deep breaths. Always remember: "This, too, shall pass. "

Currently playing in iTunes: Tempest by Lisa Gerrard

More Snow and Dreariness

More snow fell on St. Louis yesterday. Sunday saw temperatures of 70 degrees and above. By the drive home Monday afternoon it was sleeting. By Tuesday afternoon there was anywhere from 6-12 inches of snow on the ground, depending on where you lived. Today it was 40, and most of the snow has already melted. I am infinitely ready for spring. I like snow, but I'd like it to stick around a bit longer, rather than melting a day later and leaving the world in a muddy ruin.

The dreary weather has been affecting my mood, and my creativity. I've been pulling myself to the computer to write, and have made progress. I'm about 3/4 of the way through rewriting The Moonlight Cafe in first person. Once done with that, I will work on other changes, and additions, to the story.

On the evenings that I just haven't been able to make myself write, I've been catching up on my magazines. I have subscriptions to Writer's Digest and The Writer - must haves for any aspiring writer. I've gotten several months behind, so I've been catching up. I read these with a highlighter in hand, to mark areas of specific interest. Then I go back and copy these areas into a notebook for future reference. Sometimes it's ideas to improve writing. Other times it is a list of publications, contests, or agents.

I'm also going to take some time to work on some short stories, things that might find publication a bit sooner than a full-blown novel. I have a list of magazines I want to submit to. Nothing written yet, but I'll get there.

As I write this, my puppies are playing in my office. They're tugging a Santa hat that came off one of their xmas presents. Tiberius got a stuffed teddy bear wearing a Santa hat. The hat is all that remains, and it is one of his favorite toys to carry around. From the tiny ripping noises I hear, it might not last past tonight. The puppies are always good for a mile, even in the dreariest of weather.


Currently playing in iTunes: Ben Pode Santa Maria by Azam Ali