Congratulations Sarah!!

One of the members of my writing group finished her novel on Wednesday!! Sarah has handed her manuscript to her editor for review! Way to go Sarah!

Writing and Music and Moving, Oh My!

I know, it's been too long since I've posted here. I've had a lot going on. I'm moving in 2 weeks, for which I can't wait. I'll have more time after the move, because I'll be 5 miles from work (and everything else I do) instead of 30. That adds almost an hour to every day. I've been spending most of my free time packing and getting ready for the move. I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff. I'm going from a house to an apartment less than half the size. I also realized that this will be my 7th move in 7 years. That will cure almost anyone of the pack-rat mentality. Anyway, I'm going to try to make up for my lack of posting with a longer than usual post tonight.

Last Saturday was our monthly writer's day. It was an amazing day! I was the first to show up at Tina's. She opened the door in surprise and exclaimed, "Is today the day?!" We had originally planned to meet on May 17, but changed the date to May 10. She still had the original date on her calendar though, so wasn't expecting us. Her day was clear, however, and the spontaneity was fun. It also gave her the blessing of not having to spend the entire next week cleaning her house in preparation for us. Mary brought a copy of 'In the Moment' for us to proofread. We all went through our poems and marked any necessary changes. Mary will make the changes, and then it will be available for purchase! I'm so excited! This will be my first publication. As soon as it's ready for purchase, I'll post details here and on my website. The cover is gorgeous. Mary's husband Tony is a professional photographer, and did the most beautiful picture of a tree for us. The whole thing is beautiful.

Soon after everyone arrived, we got to watch a parade! The grade school down the street from Tina was having their picnic, and the parade went past Tina's house. We stood in her front yard waving to the kids and collecting candy. We gathered a bowl full by the time the parade had passed. Just as we were about to go back inside a tree in Tina's front yard showered us with helicopters! I can't remember the name of the tree, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about...the seed pods that spin down from the branches like a helicopter blade. It was like a snow shower, but of helicopter pods instead. It was gorgeous, worthy of a poem. Poetry isn't my strongpoint, but I just may have to give this one a try.

I only managed to write one new chapter of The Moonlight Cafe during our writing time. I know what to do for the rest of it, but the details aren't all solid yet. And with everything going on in my life, I had a hard time concentrating. I got an easy chapter done, but the next one wasn't as clear in my head, and my thoughts were scattering every which way like ping pong balls, never resting in one place long enough for me to form a coherent sentence. But at least I made some progress. And once I'm done moving, I'll have more time, and hopefully a calmer mind, to focus on finishing Moonlight.

Our next monthly meeting will be at my new apartment. I'm very excited. I haven't held our gathering since last...April, I think. It was supposed to be at my house earlier this year (February?), but everyone was sick, so it was cancelled. I love hosting our writing days, and will be excited to show off my new place in the process.

I'll continue my extra long post with a non-writing related subject, though it's still creative. Music. I got to see my favorite band this weekend - Dream Theater. Sadly, they rarely stop in St. Louis on their tours, but I love them enough to travel. I've only seen them in St. Louis once. This time around the most convenient location was Cleveland, OH. (translation: required the least amount of time taken off work.) Yes, I drove 8 hours to see a concert, and it was worth every gallon of gas. The show was amazing. I love music, especially live music. This is the third time I've seen Dream Theater, and I'm sure I'll see them many more times - as long as the keep putting out albums, I'll be there. This was the second leg of their tour for this album. I saw the first leg in Chicago last fall. This show was very different, but great. I hadn't expected the set list to change so dramatically. For me, one of the most energizing experiences is seeing a good live show (one of the most energy-draining is seeing a bad live show.) I went with someone who loves Dream Theater even more than I do, and it was an amazing experience. I've seen shows with people who are there just because, and it's great, but seeing it with someone who loves it as much, or more, than you do is an awesome experience. The energy of who you go with can add a lot to the overall experience.

In my last post I wrote about an "aha!" moment with my novel while I was out driving. I had another of those - I now call it a Big Bang moment - on the way to Cleveland yesterday. This was for a part I didn't even consciously realize needed fixing, but this idea just popped into my head, and everything became clear, and I know it will be smoother and more coherent. I can't wait to get back to work. I shall have to remember that, when I suffer writer's block, driving seems to be a catalyst for brilliant ideas.

About the only thing that has stayed the same in my life recently is my job. Almost everything else is changing. But with change comes opportunity and the chance for new experiences, and a lot of things seem to be falling into place, like 'In the Moment' nearing publication. I've had many moments of muddy thinking (that's the best way I can think to describe it) in my life, but lately I have been blessed with some clarity, aided by a lot of hard looking into myself and introspection. I've learned some tough lessons with this self-examination, but the lessons have been valuable beyond measure. I will keep these lessons in mind as I move forward.

Once I am settled into my new place I will post more regularly. I hope this tides you over until I make it on again.

Haircuts and Breakthroughs

I was feeling restless tonight. I did a bit of cleaning, watched a few episodes of Wolf's Rain (a Japanime series I had never seen, but so far has definitely grabbed my attention), and it was only 8:00. I had to do something, get out of the house, but didn't know what to do. So I hopped in my truck and just started driving. I don't think I've done that since high school. Maybe college. I got about 20 miles down the state highway, driving through a small town and saw a sign for Great Clips. I was just thinking yesterday how badly I need to get my hair trimmed, so I stopped in and did just that. Back in the truck, somewhere around mile 30, I had a breakthrough for my novel. I finally figured out what to do with the character/story line that has been giving me so much trouble. I will cut it out entirely, and I know what I'm going to replace it with. I think the novel will work much better with this new idea.

I tried to find a diner to stop, grab a bite to eat, and jot down some ideas, but the only one I found had just closed. It was now 9:00. I turned around and headed for home, and stopped at the local 24 hour diner for some coffee and toasted ravioli. I jotted down almost 2 pages of notes, then headed for home. I probably won't have much time to work on it until writing day next Saturday (had I said it was this Saturday? It's next weekend.) But I have notes and am ready to go whenever I do have time. And even just the notes feel much more real, more alive, than the chapters I have written but will now cut out.

I'm not sure what gave me the idea, if my subconscious had been working on it this whole time, but I'm more likely to believe it was my restless, somber mood, Mogwai playing on my iPod, driving through dark country highways that did it. Whatever it was, I'm glad I took that drive. Cut out some chapters, write new ones, then I just might be done with this thing.

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!