Another bust of a day, writing-wise.
THE DAY
Family stuff in the morning, then the gym because we were down there and it’s stupid to go back to the mountain when you have to turn right around again. Did my 90 minutes but got a little waylaid by another woman who wanted to chat (and I’m, like, *quiet already, I need to get going*). So didn’t get to the writing desk until almost 1 p.m. I was really tired from the day before, and early afternoon is my normal time to power down anyway. If I’m going to nap, it’s then: usually no more than 15-20 minutes, but I sacked out for almost an hour. Woke up because Timmy started chewing on my shoulder. At the end of the day–before I finally gave up and decided to spend my time doing my assignment for the cover workshop I’m taking, figuring that a) it had to be done and b) if I finished something I was ahead of the game. Finished that then dressed for a holiday party, from which I just returned. The husband’s out getting supplies for tomorrow’s cake (what a sweetie), and I figure, okay, mea culpa, I’ll write this.
WRITING OUT LOUD
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500
Day 3: 3011
Day 4: 2652
Day 5: 3210
Day 6: 3450
Day 7: 0
Day 8: 2756
Day 9: 4580
Day 10: 2670
Blog Post: 628
Part of the problem was the family stuff and the messing up of my schedule. But, get real, not everything can go according to plan forever. So part of the slowdown is also the rethinking part of writing: when you realize what you have to show but have only just told yourself before. (Like, if the dad’s a drunk, okay, but instead of having the kid think it, have the dad’s breath stink and his eyes be read and have the kid notice the glass on the table . . .something rather than telling.)
Until now, I’ve been telling myself a lot of the story, instead of showing it. Showing feels like it comes only after I get to know my characters and even then, it’s a struggle because you have to know when you’re describing something for yourself versus your reader. So I have been rethinking this entire first part from the standpoint of showing, not telling. It’s a challenge.
I had a semi-meltdown with the husband today over this. I worry that I’ve forgotten how to do this. It’s been so long–a year and a half–since I finished a book, I worry that I don’t know how, and that makes me impatient. I (stupidly and erroneously) somehow think that this should all be so much easier by now. Of course, it’s not, but I am so impatient to be done with this book–so driven to be finished, on to the next product, hand this off to my agent . . . that I keep forgetting that a) writing a decent story is hard (because if it were so easy, everyone would be doing it) and b) it always takes time to write books. I have to stop looking at people who write faster and thinking that I fail because I’m not.
This is all easier said than done.
But I frequently feel like a failure.
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What I’m Watching
Finished The Astronaut Wives Club; great series.
Started The Knick, and I’m . . . meh. Maybe? The setting is novel; the subject’s interesting…but I’m also not sure how much gloom and corruption I can take. if it craps out, I’ll go for the rest of The Art of More and then try to slog through Man in the High Castle.
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What I’m Reading
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel; very good nonfiction. An easy read, and some of this you know, but if you’re my age, you also remember this.
