Story Time!

So, this evening I was craving a Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee and a donut (shutter). It's like a 25 minute drive to DD, so I wasn't sure it was worth it UNTIL I realized that Rob's truck deserved to be driven a bit farther than to the Post Office like 1 1/2 miles away. It had been raining earlier, but wasn't currently, so I hopped into the truck to go get my iced coffee (which would give me motivation to write). As I was driving, there was this ominous cloud one one side of the sky and the sun on the other, it started pouring over top of me, but the sun was still in my eyes. I had to keep my sunglasses on in order to see. After about 5 minutes of driving in the storm, I drove out of it just in time to get to DD! Once I was safely parked (seriously) I saw the rainbow! I <3 rainbows! I got my LARGE iced coffee :) and a sprinkled donut and got back in the truck. Yup, I had to drive back through the storm. As I began to drive, the sun was still in my face, and I was driving straight toward the rainbow! It actually looked like it touched the ground in the middle of the road, and I did in fact drive through it (sadly, there was no pot of gold). Craziest thing though, first: after having to stop at a stop light, the truck tires slid like I was on ice (which clearly I was not, as it is over 90 degrees). Then to make it all the crazier, the wind was super strong, like I could feel it pushing the truck while I drove down the road. However, the craziest thing is that I again drove out of the storm after about 5 minutes and never once had to walk out of the truck in the rain AND once I got out of the storm, the sky was blue blue. BEST PART: I have a large iced coffee! Ok, enough of the random, I will work on my real story now. Bye!

Formatting

No, I am nowhere near done, but figuring out an idea of how I will format this needs to happen pronto. I have all sorts of inserts and memories randomly written and have no idea where they will go or how I will insert them. I am playing around with that right now. It's also helping me fix some tense errors and such. This way, when I have written a complete thought, it won't simply be enough words to make a novel, but it will actually be a complete ROUGH draft. Ugh. Then the fun will really begin. That is a ways off though. I am definitely getting ahead of myself thinking about that. While working through the formatting, I have written about 600 new words today. I sadly did have to remove some words from elsewhere that made little to no sense. Ahhh, the insanity. Well the night is young, and I am sure I will format/write more.

Writing while sleeping, well almost . . .

I don't know if anyone has ever tried it (and no I don't quite mean literally, but close to it). It works for me, at least. It's those few minutes when I am about ready to fall asleep, my subconscious takes over and an amazing thing happens: ideas, creativity, connections. I used to do this a lot in college when writing essays. In college, I went so far as laying down on my stomach, eyes closed and just let my fingers move. Finding something new to say about literature that has been around forever is hard, if not impossible. I used my subconscious to help make connections that my conscious self wouldn't find. My mind does this all the time as I drift off to sleep anyway. I have dream-like thoughts that go beyond typical thoughts and form pictures similar to a full blown dream, but I am not quite asleep. If I try and control the direction of the thoughts, then I can work on whatever it is I was trying to work on. It helps with writer's block, as long as I at least have a starting point. I used this technique last night to try and piece together memories my character had of her childhood. They are obviously vague (as so many of my childhood memories are). They are shaped by her perceptions of the world as a child, and she has to go back at them as her adult self to begin to piece together their true meanings. I may use this technique tonight in order to continue this exploration of a fictional character's childhood memories.

Confused.

Well I started out doing awesome with my writing goal, but it didn't last too long. I was going back and filling in details that are vital to the story, but I started to get confused about what happened when. I have been trying to sort out how I can sort it all out once and for all. I knew what I wanted, but didn't know how to do it. If I was a computer genius I could simply make a program to do it. However, I am not, BUT I did figure out a normal people way to keep track of everything. I will make a timeline on my office wall with painters tape and sticky notes. Who doesn't love sticky notes? This way, I will be able to add info above, below or beside as needed without needing to completely re-do my timeline. Also, if I need to see where something fits into the plot, I can just look at the wall, and voila. Downside: the sticky notes may fall off the wall. I will be on the hunt for super sticky, but not too sticky sticky notes tomorrow. I have a bunch of boring yellow ones, but I am sure they will fly all over rather than stick to the wall. I will update this once I have begun my sticky note time line extravaganza.

No one is perfect.

So I kinda slacked off yesterday and the day before. Like, I didn't write at all. Monday, I was in a bad mood for reasons that deal with lawn sculpting equipment and my lack of knowledge on how to properly use them. Tuesday, well, I don't really have a good excuse except I didn't feel like it. However, I did write a decent amount today. It doesn't make up for two days, but I did write 1,348 words. I wrote in two shifts today. I think it was a good way to go about writing over my goal, which I did intend to do today.

Another solid day!

Today I wrote near 1000 words, 9?? to be almost exact. I could have finished the word goal, but I finished what I was working on and wasn't mentally ready to start a new section. I will go there tomorrow.

The last few days I have been filling in a section that was lacking, I have a few more things to touch on there and then I will once again not be sure where to go next. I feel the section beyond what I've been working on lately is full of interesting detail and emotion, but after that is open ended forever. I do have a few things that as I went back and added detail, I learned will happen later, but so much of it is a mystery to me.

Thank you followers. You are keeping me honest when it comes to my writing goals. Even if you never say anything, just knowing that you know makes me want to stick to it.

I did it again!

Today I got to 1056 words! I could have done more, but then I got distracted by the TV and Dogs 101. Dakota (my German Shepherd) is quite intrigued, which is super amusing to watch. I am finally filling in the space that needed to be done when I got stuck months ago, but didn't know what happened. I am slowly learning what happened, and it's so obviously important now.

Exceeds!

Yes, it is true. I have exceeded my goal today with 1245 new words! I think sitting down at the computer a little earlier may have had something to do with it. Go me!

I think I can, I think I can . . .

Chug, chug, chug. Today, I wrote 990 words. A good start to my average 1,000 word a day goal. I could have done better, but I finished The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins today. I couldn't put it down and I was happy with how it ended. I hope someday I have a book that people can't put down and they like how it ends. Kudos to all the authors that can do that, I hope to someday join your ranks.

I write best at night. I always have. In college, I used to go to Drake Library, lock myself (literally) in one of the small, individual rooms in the upper level of the library and write. I would drink a Sobe adrenaline rush and block out distractions. I don't see that drink around too much. I look for it often, because it was one of the few energy drinks that tasted delish.

Tomorrow the dream contiues

Back from NY and ready to write!

The past couple weeks I have been visiting family and friends back home in NY with little to no time or space to write. I did get a couple pages out, but nothing too special. I did have a lot of good things happen while I was in NY. My sister in law had a baby: Mariah Josephine, making me a proud aunt to two gorgeous nieces! My cousin Kristina had her wedding shower and bachelorette party - fantastic times had there! I got to hang with family, have hot dogs and other killer bbq food, and I even added an extra dog to the mix - temporarily. I am dog sitting my mom's long haired tea cup Chihuahua for July.

I got back a couple nights ago, after a crazy drive back that began we me locked my keys in the car while it was running and the dogs were inside, followed by having to detour around a 4th of July parade after getting off an exit for gas, and driving through a hail storm going about 10 mph. Yesterday was my day as rest, relaxation, and lawn mowing (aka sweating my skin off). Today, I continue to write.

I wrote about 750 words. Not fantastic, but surely better than nothing. I know I need to pick up the pace if I have any hope of finishing my novel-in-progress. I am currently 81 pages in. I want to set a reachable goal. I punched out the stuff tonight in about an hour. Maybe try for 7000 words a week. It seems lofty, considering how long it has taken me to get where I am, but it doesn't seem unreasonable. We shall all see how well I stick to my new goal. Wish me luck and thanks for reading/following! :)