I had a day last Friday and had looked forward, with huge anticipation, to spending a couple days working on my novel.
But first, I had work to finish weekend work on Friday morning. And then a doctor's appointment that stretched into early afternoon. And teaching that night. And then back to the doctor's on Saturday morning for more lab work. And an acting lesson at noon. And dinner with Sue Midlock to talk about art for Cornell Dyer and the Necklace of Forgetfulness and Before the Blood, along with progress of her current novel-in-progress at 5:30 p.m. And more work on Sunday, although I kept that to a minimum (which, I have to admit, is making me a little stressed this morning). And church, where Rebekah and Daniel prepared a lovely brunch for everyone.
All of which are good things. And I had a great time at all these activities. (Including the doctor's appointment because we've been going so long, the staff is a circle good friends).
Not to mention getting a little behind in exercise, enough to make me feel underexercised. so I got back into that, too.
So what's a writer to do with the remaining time? Let the social media go and WRITE!
Which I did.
And I did these other things, too.
Fiction workshop
I love the monthly fiction workshops. I raise a little money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties (the workshops are by invitation only. Cost is a $10 donation to BBBS), and I love the minutiae of helping other writers refine their writing.
Plus, one of the students has been working on a young adult series for his granddaughter for years and has now written over twelve books for the series. I've really encouraged him to put the books in actual book form (instead of just the manuscripts) and guided him through the steps of free self-publishing.
So he made a goal in January to publish all twelve before the end of the year and send them to his granddaughter for Christmas, his surprise gift to her. He had published the first book through an expensive pay-to-publish company about six years ago and wasn't super-happy with the cover or the editing when he first came to WriteOn Joliet in 2013. But he's worked really hard at his writing since then. The improvement is obvious.
Last month, he was working on the first book. On Thursday, I saw he had four books on Amazon. I couldn't wait to see the actual books. Plus, he brought a guest to the group. so, yes, I had to go. And the books were spread out on the table when I got there. I am currently rereading the first in its re-edited form.
For anyone who is curious, here are the links:
We Were 'posed to Get Married: Emmy's Story, Part 1 (Volume
1): https://goo.gl/3HB6iZ
One Of The Guys: Emmy's Story, Part 2 (Volume 2) https://goo.gl/TTFSRC
A New Friend: Emmy's Story, Part 3 https://goo.gl/HBBdeq
And one unrelated book that spans sixty years:
Growing Up In Kinmundy Junction: https://goo.gl/r4ZW5i
Acting Lessons
For about two and half hours twice a month, I've been meeting with Devon Ford. She's a local actress/director/acting teacher who's probably best known for her many years of teaching children's theater at the Plainfield Public Library and doing some projects with Walt Willey, formerly of All My Children. (https://goo.gl/MfYZm6)
My goal was to improve my delivery when working on reading from my work in public. While I'll never be a professional actress by any means, she's been recording my progress on her iPad (which annoyingly won't share via email or YouTube) so that I can see the results myself.
Working with Devon is kind of like working with an encouraging editor. I sent her a piece I read at WriteOn Joliet's open mic last November along with the links to the two video from that night. She then did a sweeping edit of the piece with stage directions, which we worked on during our first couple meetings.
During each subsequent class, we tackle specific tasks to polish it, which has even given me ideas for editing my writing. For instance, last week, I read only one character at a time so I could better bring that character out of my head, not only through my words, but through my delivery.
Later, I'm thinking, hmmm, I could use this technique for editing my writing.
Anyway, I'll be reading this piece in front of a different audience and microphone on Wednesday. night. For more information, visit https://www.bryonyseries.com/fetes-and-feasts.
Dinner with Sue Midlock
We had a quiet dinner at a quiet restaurant and lots of fun talking about the childhood games we played and discovering we had a similarity to our approach to play; perhaps artists who liked a similar genre do?
She showed me her sketches for some of the chapter heading art for the second Cornell, and I shared my frustration with coming up with art for Before the Blood. I had random ideas but nothing that was jelling into a vision.
But Sue asked some questions, took some notes, and did some preliminaries on Sunday, which she sent to me. All I can say at this point is that I'm encouraged, and I think she and I are on the right path.
Sue also shared progress on her own story, one that has elements of some favorite stories of my childhood. I'm intrigued and curious.
Writing
I spent Friday afternoon, a couple hours Saturday morning, a couple hours Saturday afternoon, and a couple hours Sunday working on Before the Blood. Less than I hoped, but I learned these bits of writing in fits and stops might be a good approach for this novel.
Why is this?
1) Inspiration has been slow to awaken. I think that's because the story is winding down. Ideas are not thin (the whole thing has been outlined since 2011), and I've not lost interest, but I think since the entire project is nearing its end, I'm experiencing a natural dropping off that's part of anything in life when the culmination is near. It's a different pace. Instead of fighting it, I should flow with it.
2) I didn't spend enough time in the gap, the part between two novels that won't make the novel. So I'm letting that simmer in the back of my mind.
3) As I reread what I've written, I'm seeing that focusing on individual scenes out of order equals better productivity for this book. This approach is similar to the way I wrote Bryony. The rest of the books were written in order. I wrote Bryony in pieces, which eventually merged together. In this final novel of Before the Blood, I've already merged the scenes, so it's more like coloring by number.
4) Just because I can't see or "feel" the progress, doesn't mean it's there. Again, as I go back and reread, I'm discovering parts that are better than I thought. For instance, most of the last chapter is written. In my mind, I remembered it needing lots of work. I forgot how much I've actually rewritten already. It actually needs very little touch-up.
5) I, unfortunately, did not write the next chapter of Cornell. But that's OK. I wasn't happy with its original direction and didn't devise a better way until I took a walk last night. So I'm in good shape for Saturday.
Why so much information?
Because as I review the last three days, I find a very satisfying mix of activities, far better than if I'd spent the entire three days writing. I am ready, really ready, for the coming week, and not wishing I had ONE MORE DAY OFF, which so often happens when I have some time off, which is silly because I love my job, including the social media parts.
So since my goal for Lent was to complain less (http://maureenblevins.blogspot.com/2018/02/positively-lenten-eve.html), perhaps that will come as I strive for more balance of the different parts of my life, thank you, Walter Bernadyn. :)
And there you have it, readers, writers, and vampire fans: the Monday morning back to work view.
And I have a cup of dark roast coffee in hand. It's a good day. :)
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