By Michelle, on May 13th, 2012
Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs. Malcolm Forbes
I have been writing this week – back to paper, because I have to switch back and forth when I get stuck it seems. And stuck I am. If I told you I was running up a steep, mucky hill with rubber boots on that were 3 sizes too big and carrying 40 pounds on my back, I’d have felt that I’d gotten further up that hill than I have with my story. Stuck, stuck, stuck.
This is the third manuscript I’ve begun and I think that I’ve got myself a little pattern, and it’s called the page 40 wall. It’s a big wall, no doubt covered in something thorny and looks pretty much unscalable. I’ve experienced this with the first two books I wrote. When I get to about page 40 (somewhere in chapter three) I just draw a blank. In the first instance I started from the beginning again. In the second, I tore it apart and just kept going. No Prince Charming – despite my understanding of GMC and a better sense of story structure – is proving to be the same. I seem to have a hard time getting from act one to act two. I wrote a bit a few days ago that I realized wasn’t right storywise, so my intent is to fix that up and plunge on. I’m still trying to get a sense of my characters, still trying to feel my story. However, when it gets hard, your motivation wanes a bit, and you’d rather do things like mop your floor (a domestic diva I am not – those who know me know this is called “avoidance”, pure and simple).
I think what else I’m missing lately is a really good story to sink my teeth into as a reader. Nothing motivates me to write more than reading a good story. I’ve been reading, but am just not finding (lately) a book that I just loooove. I’m about to dive into the Hunger Games on my eldest’s recommendation. I don’t need a romance to do this – just a good story. Movies will do it for me as well. Today I went to see the Avengers, and I loved it (what else can you expect from Joss Whedon?). When you have some characters that really work together like that, it drives you to create your own. Sometimes when you don’t have the motivation though, you have to make your own – and just stick with it.
I saw this on facebook today, and it has since become my desktop background. Because a little help from some superheros never hurts:)
By Michelle, on May 5th, 2012
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. Aldous Huxley
I need music to write, or at least to let my brain wander so I can think of what to write. Mostly I can’t write with music going, although I managed it tonight. I had to put it on, in fact, to push myself . . . → Read More: A new soundtrack for a new WIP
By Michelle, on April 29th, 2012
A good puzzle, it’s a fair thing. Nobody is lying. It’s very clear, and the problem depends just on you. Erno Rubik
I didn’t blog last week, and didn’t write a whole lot either. I’ve been preoccupied with some important (and exciting, I think) work from the librarian side of my life that kicked off this past . . . → Read More: The missing piece
By Michelle, on April 14th, 2012
Writing is a cop-out. An excuse to live perpetually in fantasy land, where you can create, direct and watch the products of your own head. Very selfish. Monica Dickens
So last week I was griping I needed to take a few weeks off from writing. Well, somewhere between then and now, I must have gotten my rest, . . . → Read More: Cop-ing out
By Michelle, on April 7th, 2012
At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I took this week off work, mostly because this time of year I need the vacation (almost as much as the summer) and it being the Easter long weekend, using four days of vacation to . . . → Read More: Distractions
By Michelle, on March 23rd, 2012
The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous. Carl Sagan
I have been writing seriously since 2007 – that’s when I sat myself down, started to write a book. In 2009, I finished it, and as a treat to myself, I joined my local RWA chapter, Romance Writers . . . → Read More: Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas
By Michelle, on March 10th, 2012
Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. ~W. Earl Hall
This is Ding. She is about 17 years old and she is sitting out on my back deck in the sun. She hasn’t been outside since October. She’s not really an outdoor cat – she was an apartment . . . → Read More: Springing ahead
By Michelle, on March 3rd, 2012
Well, I’m back. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
I am always determined to make a shorter blog entry than what ends up on your screen. Some days, I want just to throw up a picture I’ve found and go “hey, isn’t this great!” with some kind of cryptic message that’s short and to the . . . → Read More: Saturday night shorts
By Michelle, on February 26th, 2012
I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. Margaret Thatcher
As you are no doubt aware, this is a leap year. This means that for those of us who wish there were more than 24 hours in a day, or looking for that extra day…well, this week you get it!!! And you don’t . . . → Read More: The patience project
By Michelle, on February 18th, 2012
Lost time is never found again – Benjamin Franklin
For a total week, I have done nothing. Well, not completely nothing. Some strain of plague (perhaps over doing it there…let’s just say, the cold from ‘hell’) crept into the house last Friday went through my house in the past week. Days were a haze of nose blowing, . . . → Read More: The Lost Week
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No Prince Charming 11479 / 100000 words. 11% done! |
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