Okay. You're right. That's a bad (a very bad) blog title.
But today the writing was so much fun, inventive and lively and sensible somehow, while just the other day I was slogging through the swamp of confusion I call my outline, pretty sure I was in no way ready to write this book. Even as an exercise. Was it sleep, coffee or luck that turned that around?
I really don't know, but I do know this. I can't let the fun factor count for too much if I want to write this book. Or any book. If I want to do it well I have to keep at it the way I'm keeping at weight lifting. Day after day. Not looking for a fast change - but moving ahead - pas a pas.
For me that means packing up the machine and getting to the quiet table and listening to my characters and taking lots of notes, and checking and rechecking my "facts" (did they eat cabbage in Paris in 1230 A.D. - probably, but I should actually know that.) It means tracing and retracing the paths of these alive-to-me people who will all come together eventually if the outline is right. Oddly, it also means loosening up, floating along some afternoons so that things I missed on a fast day get a chance to surface.
It means getting deeper inside the story, trusting my instincts if something seems to work, but checking back later to reassess. And for me, it means cutting sentence after sentence from first drafts because I intend to write some good sentences in this book.
And it's a little scary putting that out there.
So, tomorrow is another day. Another chance - get a good night's sleep, my friends, and may your writing go well.
But today the writing was so much fun, inventive and lively and sensible somehow, while just the other day I was slogging through the swamp of confusion I call my outline, pretty sure I was in no way ready to write this book. Even as an exercise. Was it sleep, coffee or luck that turned that around?
I really don't know, but I do know this. I can't let the fun factor count for too much if I want to write this book. Or any book. If I want to do it well I have to keep at it the way I'm keeping at weight lifting. Day after day. Not looking for a fast change - but moving ahead - pas a pas.
For me that means packing up the machine and getting to the quiet table and listening to my characters and taking lots of notes, and checking and rechecking my "facts" (did they eat cabbage in Paris in 1230 A.D. - probably, but I should actually know that.) It means tracing and retracing the paths of these alive-to-me people who will all come together eventually if the outline is right. Oddly, it also means loosening up, floating along some afternoons so that things I missed on a fast day get a chance to surface.
It means getting deeper inside the story, trusting my instincts if something seems to work, but checking back later to reassess. And for me, it means cutting sentence after sentence from first drafts because I intend to write some good sentences in this book.
And it's a little scary putting that out there.
So, tomorrow is another day. Another chance - get a good night's sleep, my friends, and may your writing go well.