Not So Bad

I've realized that this week wasn't as bad in the writing department as I made it sound. During those nights after 11 p.m. I actually edited my way through several sections of the book, so progress was made even if it wasn't all new words. I tend to count new stuff on my little mental tally sheet and forget that editing is considered progress too. And the new section is going well tonight. I just got my current POV character into a very tight spot. Literally. Ever been in a corridor where the mortar between the stones is partially made with ground-up human bones? Urk. I once saw a documentary where some underground rooms were made with piled-up human bones and skulls. I think it was in England, but everyone please forgive me if I'm mistaken about that. My memory may be faulty here. Anyway, that vague memory of the documentary made me think that my villian might very well have used bones in his mortar.... So now it's not mortal remains, it's mortar remains. No don't hit me!!! It's my blog, so I can write really bad puns at 12:30 a.m. if I want to. And now back to the icky little corridor, where my character is having a serious case of claustrophobia....

Writer, Interrupted

I'm in the middle of a writing marathon. The goal is to have 10,000 words done by tonight at midnight. Now, it's not as crazy as it sounds. The marathon actually started on Monday. Problem is, all week I've not been able to get in front of the computer for more than a few minutes at a time until after 11 o'clock each night, and by midnight I'm fried. To make matters worse, I keep interrupting myself by finding other things to do. And if I don't interrupt myself, someone else in my family will happily oblige. There are so many things to do. If I go to Forward Motion writers' community, I can lurk on the boards there and see what everyone else is up to. I can scare myself with their tales of how one girl's agent let her go because the agent couldn't sell her book, or I can make myself green with envy over the lady who actually has six hours of writing time all to herself every day, or I can go over to another writer's blog and drool over his or her upcoming book tour, or....

Or I can kick myself in the butt, go back to my manuscript right now and just get on with it! I guess I'm hoping that it'll be easier to keep from falling off the writing wagon if I know someone else might be watching--or reading. And the irony is that I really want to write this book. I love this book. It's turning out well, and I'm all caught up with the edits I've been working on since I went to Donald Maass' Breakout Novel Intensive workshop at the end of July. Now it's all new stuff ahead, and I guess maybe I have stage fright or something. I'm standing at the end of a diving board staring down at that wierd blue water below and I'm afraid that maybe I can't swim, after all. And well, no, I can't swim. But I can write. So here I go. Anybody seen the life preserver?

Just for Openers

I'm not sure whether by starting this blog I'm jumping onto a bandwagon or jumping off of one, but I decided that I might as well keep a log of my writing progress. That way, potential readers can see what I'm up to during this long waiting period before I have my "overnight success." Or not. At the very least, my critique partners can keep tabs on me if they're either extremely bored or having their very own bout of writers' block.

Since this is going to be a blog about writing, I'd better get things up to speed. Right now I'm in the middle of the middle of the middle book of my yet-to-be-published fantasy trilogy. With me so far? The current book is called "Shadows of Memory." Tonight I'm working over the first section of Chapter 13, and my big silver tabby cat is snoozing on the writing portion of my L-shaped desk, with his head so close I could bump him with my left elbow. He could lie down in the really comfy armchair near the window, but no. He has to be right next to me, and the sounds from the keyboard don't seem to bother him in the slightest. But if I were to warm up the printer, that would be a different story. On goes the printer, down goes Moonshadow. Oh, well.

I'm about to steal just one more hour from what is supposed to be my night's sleep and do any necessary edits to Chapter 13, Section 1. Soon I'll be all through editing the stuff I'd previously written, so it'll be all new sections. I may need to borrow a page from one of the Harry Potter books and conjure up a patronus to chase away the writers' block. Nah, just kidding. I actually have the entirety of this book outlined on colored index cards and posted on my closet doors. So now it's no longer a question of what to write. It's just a question of sitting in the chair and getting on with the work.

Blog, blog, blog, yackety smackety....