Countdown to Vacation

May 24, 2010 by

This Friday the kids and I leave for nine fun-filled days in the Florida sun with family. It’s going to be a little different than our normal excursion as the hubby has to stay behind and attend to work, but the fact that he is staying home doesn’t really lessen the load of preparation for the trip.

Laundry still needs to be done, car still needs to be serviced and packed, and in addition, an extra trip to the grocery store to make sure the man of the house has everything he’ll need while we’re away (Though I suspect he won’t really eat at home too often.)

So, the long-and-short of it is that even though I’ve been lax the last couple weeks keeping the blog updated, it’s probably going to be two weeks before I am back to my regular schedule. When I do return I will be on the final push to finish my current novel and hope to have a lot to share about the end-process and my count-down to RWA National Convention in  (recently moved to) Orlando, Florida.

Yes — two summer trips to Florida in the course of 6 weeks. I must be a little nuts. But after the cold winter a little time spent like that penguin on the left should be good for my soul –and my tan.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: ,

Monday Musings: The Value of Time and Space

May 10, 2010 by

I thought it would only take me about an hour to put my latest chapter to bed. I’d combed over the majority of it a couple times now, and the new four page scene I wrote felt so good while being created. “It was an almost perfect draft,” I told myself.

Myself should have known better.

There is no such thing as a near perfect draft.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I was unhappy with the scene. In fact, I was very pleased. I had a good handle on both characters, where they were coming from and exactly what questions needed to be asked and answered by the scene. It flowed like a real conversation and had emotion and setting painted in. As far as rough drafts go, it was  better than most…but it was still a draft.

Even though all those aspects I mentioned were good, they just weren’t good enough. And then there were others that fell flat.

And then, there was something that was only touched on that could be grown, given a little more time on the page. It’s a huge part of said characters motivation and character. It needs to be explored.

So…I’m hoping for another hour or writing time this evening. I truly think that will be enough this time to polish off chapter ten. And it is important I meet that daily goal.

But I relearned and even more important fact: The value of a little time and space.  The written word, like a fine wine, needs to time to ferment.

Filed Under: Life, Uncategorized, Writing Life Tagged With: , ,