So yesterday there was no progress—Denver and Poncho ate up most of the day. They did well, though, and we had some time to relax in the afternoon, so that was a goodness.
Today went a bit slowly. I'm wrestling with dialogue, something I've always been terrible with—so, of course, my novel is full of it. I am attempting to figure out how to avoid the clunkiness that arises, the odd, stilted nature of my exchanges; coupled with a more archaic style of diction, it's often messy. I've been reading Tolkien and LeGuin again, to see how they accomplish so much passage of information with such a minimum of dialogue, and almost all of that of a natural timbre.
To that end, I worked through one sticky place with the old-fashioned paper and ink, which is slow going but often leads to more insights than the cold glow of electrons. (It also gives my eyes a break from staring at the screen). So my output today was relatively low, but it's useful stuff, I think.
With any luck, I'll be taking a little hike in the morning tomorrow before I jump in. This will either be inspiring, or it will ruin me. We shall see.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Smackdown
Man. Today was tough. The excitement from yesterday was kind of missing this morning. I'm not sure if it's due to lack of sleep (Born Dancin' was up in the middle of the night for unknown reasons, and I am the Baby-Minder General at night), or depressing news stories I read this morning (I probably shouldn't read the news at all before I write), or annoying school matters that keep haunting me (in the form of student e-mails asking why they got the grade they inevitably did). As I'm moving into a section of more dramatic revision on a part of the novel I've never been at all happy with, I think I'm also putting too much emphasis on getting the language just right the first time through. On top of all that, I'm forcing myself to go through the novel from beginning to end because it's so ugly integrating all the random scenes I came up with during NaNoWriMo. It's a good thing, but means that I can't just skip somewhere else when the slog gets tough.
At any rate, tomorrow I'm not sure if I'll get to write much at all—Denver and Poncho have appointments in the morning to get cavities filled, and who knows how that will all end up. (On that note, if there's anyone we know and love out there who wants to watch Born Dancin' tomorrow at 7:30am, you'd be an answer to prayer.) My goal is to try to get into the novel again at some point tomorrow, if only to keep the momentum up.
I'm off home.
At any rate, tomorrow I'm not sure if I'll get to write much at all—Denver and Poncho have appointments in the morning to get cavities filled, and who knows how that will all end up. (On that note, if there's anyone we know and love out there who wants to watch Born Dancin' tomorrow at 7:30am, you'd be an answer to prayer.) My goal is to try to get into the novel again at some point tomorrow, if only to keep the momentum up.
I'm off home.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Stealing Time
It's been a strange, wonderful day. The writing went well this morning--I worked for about four hours and cranked out about 3,000 words. I know I can get out 2,000 words an hour when I'm in a go-for-broke, write-down-anything-that-pops-into-my-head gear (as I was for the entirety of the NaNoWriMo competition), but right now I'm revising original material so it takes a lot longer. I'll be revising, splicing together the scenes from the two NaNoWriMo efforts, and writing new material, so the count is going to be jumpy. I think I've settled on the idea of spending at least four hours a day on this, if not six. My ideal is to get up at 5am (the same time I rose for my 7am class this past semester), get writing by 6, and work until noon on the novel. Today I got a bit of a late start, but it still went well, and was probably a good chance to ease myself into the process.
The time issue is one that threw me off today. Whenever I was writing for NaNoWriMo, I was always stealing time from grading, or other menial work for school, or shirking some responsibility at home. My brain and my heart still haven't adjusted to thinking this is really, truly, time to write, and that I don't have to feel guilty for doing it. Ideally I'll settle in to feeling like this really is my job and not just a guilty pleasure soon. (Though I wouldn't mind feeling like it was a guilty pleasure all the time...)
It was fascinating to immerse myself in Leaf's world again. (For those outside of the loop, Leaf is the main character of the novel I'm working on.) I was worried it might be dry after more than a month without working poking at it, and even longer since the serious work last November, but it all came back and I was there. I've found I have to kind of sink into the world and let it percolate to get the writing going well. I'm still working on really getting a unique feel for the setting, but that's coming along.
One last note before I head home: I'm writing this from The Bus Stop, a coffee shop in Running Springs (for those in the know, it's where the old Manic Man coffee shop was, and whatever other name it had before that). I'd been putting off coming here, sticking with my standby, the Grounds for Enjoyment shop on Highland Ave. at the bottom of the mountain. I am sorry, now, I didn't come here earlier. It's terrifically cute (I'm at a wee table next to a paisly overstuffed couch with a little cast-iron stove behind me), the staff is tremendously friendly (and said they didn't mind at all that I would be parked here for hours every day, as long as I mentioned them in the acknowledgements of the book), the coffee is great, and the wireless is free. Plus a few folk from our bible study come here for a "gospel jam" open-mic session every Sunday night. If you're local, come give these folks your business.
The time issue is one that threw me off today. Whenever I was writing for NaNoWriMo, I was always stealing time from grading, or other menial work for school, or shirking some responsibility at home. My brain and my heart still haven't adjusted to thinking this is really, truly, time to write, and that I don't have to feel guilty for doing it. Ideally I'll settle in to feeling like this really is my job and not just a guilty pleasure soon. (Though I wouldn't mind feeling like it was a guilty pleasure all the time...)
It was fascinating to immerse myself in Leaf's world again. (For those outside of the loop, Leaf is the main character of the novel I'm working on.) I was worried it might be dry after more than a month without working poking at it, and even longer since the serious work last November, but it all came back and I was there. I've found I have to kind of sink into the world and let it percolate to get the writing going well. I'm still working on really getting a unique feel for the setting, but that's coming along.
One last note before I head home: I'm writing this from The Bus Stop, a coffee shop in Running Springs (for those in the know, it's where the old Manic Man coffee shop was, and whatever other name it had before that). I'd been putting off coming here, sticking with my standby, the Grounds for Enjoyment shop on Highland Ave. at the bottom of the mountain. I am sorry, now, I didn't come here earlier. It's terrifically cute (I'm at a wee table next to a paisly overstuffed couch with a little cast-iron stove behind me), the staff is tremendously friendly (and said they didn't mind at all that I would be parked here for hours every day, as long as I mentioned them in the acknowledgements of the book), the coffee is great, and the wireless is free. Plus a few folk from our bible study come here for a "gospel jam" open-mic session every Sunday night. If you're local, come give these folks your business.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
The Journey Begins
I almost called this post "The Experiment Begins," but that would indicate that the next two and a half months would be some kind of oddball attempt at something, a stab at a half-baked idea that might or might not pan out. Yet what I propose to do is nothing less than start the work for which I believe I've been formed for the last thirty-four years or so.
For the first time since I started teaching, I do not have to work summer school. With the blessing of my ever-generous wife, this is the Summer of the Beginning of the Writing (which doesn't roll trippingly off the tongue, so I'll have to come up with another title—or perhaps I'm making too much of this already). I'm not sure exactly to what standard I'll be working—whether I'll attempt to crank out a certain number of words or pages per day, or if I'll simply work for a set number of hours. I'm leaning heavily toward the latter, because I'll be doing a good bit of revision on my novel and sometimes that is slow work. But we've agreed that this will be my "job" and that the writing time will be sacrosanct.
I'm in a good place for this and I have confidence it will be a success, but I'm reaching out to you, the vast horde of my reading audience. Any who'd care to lift a prayer on my behalf—for inspiration, motivation, and dedication. I'm going to try to keep a short log here about my daily progress here, so feel free to check in and drop a note to encourage, to question, or browbeat me as the situation warrants. It'd be much appreciated.
Off I go...
For the first time since I started teaching, I do not have to work summer school. With the blessing of my ever-generous wife, this is the Summer of the Beginning of the Writing (which doesn't roll trippingly off the tongue, so I'll have to come up with another title—or perhaps I'm making too much of this already). I'm not sure exactly to what standard I'll be working—whether I'll attempt to crank out a certain number of words or pages per day, or if I'll simply work for a set number of hours. I'm leaning heavily toward the latter, because I'll be doing a good bit of revision on my novel and sometimes that is slow work. But we've agreed that this will be my "job" and that the writing time will be sacrosanct.
I'm in a good place for this and I have confidence it will be a success, but I'm reaching out to you, the vast horde of my reading audience. Any who'd care to lift a prayer on my behalf—for inspiration, motivation, and dedication. I'm going to try to keep a short log here about my daily progress here, so feel free to check in and drop a note to encourage, to question, or browbeat me as the situation warrants. It'd be much appreciated.
Off I go...