Yes, vampire fans, it was indeed a productive Saturday, and far too short for the ideas spilling out of my head. I feel like weekends are too short anway, and that I could use one more day for writing.
Sundays are spent at a church forty miles away, so by the time we get there and back, and I take one ninety minute power walk and get yoga done, it's time to do the health pages, and voila! Sunday is gone. (It's a very nice Sunday; just would like one more full day for fiction).
For me, the character questionnaires were the trick to unblocking the block, although I didn't realize when I began them for this chapter just how well they actually would work. As I answered random questions for each character, and the characters took on dimension, vague ideas for scenes swirled in my head.
But then, as I moved deeper into each character, I found my responses sounded like the character. By the time I neared the end, I had actual dialogue I could use, and the murky scenes grew crisp and clear.
So on Saturday, after social media, coffee and a stroll with Rebekah, and some dawdling time listening to random music, I was ready.
Because several weeks had passed since I'd written any drafts for Before the Blood, I felt a little rusty at the keyboard, so I rolled with the slow warmup. But as I got writing, the words tumbled out, and the chapter took shape. It's several weeks from being done, but it's a great beginning.
I ran out of time to reread anything I'd written (if I wanted to get any decent sleep, that is), so this morning will be the first opportunity. Honestly, I had a hard time cutting off the time on Saturday, so frustrating, as I won't have a block of many hours again until next Saturday.
Yes, I still take a little time to work on the novel each day. The hour I planned to commit to fiction each day is only half an hour. But it's a dedicated thirty minutes at least four work mornings a week, and it's now a habit of many months. The goal, of course, is to stretch it.
In the meantime, I'm thrilled with the progress on Henry's chapter. Going to take a peek at it now...
Sundays are spent at a church forty miles away, so by the time we get there and back, and I take one ninety minute power walk and get yoga done, it's time to do the health pages, and voila! Sunday is gone. (It's a very nice Sunday; just would like one more full day for fiction).
For me, the character questionnaires were the trick to unblocking the block, although I didn't realize when I began them for this chapter just how well they actually would work. As I answered random questions for each character, and the characters took on dimension, vague ideas for scenes swirled in my head.
But then, as I moved deeper into each character, I found my responses sounded like the character. By the time I neared the end, I had actual dialogue I could use, and the murky scenes grew crisp and clear.
So on Saturday, after social media, coffee and a stroll with Rebekah, and some dawdling time listening to random music, I was ready.
Because several weeks had passed since I'd written any drafts for Before the Blood, I felt a little rusty at the keyboard, so I rolled with the slow warmup. But as I got writing, the words tumbled out, and the chapter took shape. It's several weeks from being done, but it's a great beginning.
I ran out of time to reread anything I'd written (if I wanted to get any decent sleep, that is), so this morning will be the first opportunity. Honestly, I had a hard time cutting off the time on Saturday, so frustrating, as I won't have a block of many hours again until next Saturday.
Yes, I still take a little time to work on the novel each day. The hour I planned to commit to fiction each day is only half an hour. But it's a dedicated thirty minutes at least four work mornings a week, and it's now a habit of many months. The goal, of course, is to stretch it.
In the meantime, I'm thrilled with the progress on Henry's chapter. Going to take a peek at it now...
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