Brainstorms

They're wonderful things.

I was writing Morning Pages--a habit Deb got me into a year or so ago--and thinking about the fact that I haven't written as much on HM as I'd wanted to this month. So the questions started.

Why not? Because I'm not sure where to go from here. Wait, that's not exactly true. I want to wrap it up but the word count is about a third of what I need minimum.

How to fix that? Need more going on. A few more subplots. Maybe change the structure. Add more depth to some of the current subplots.

Cool! Now I have a blueprint. Decide what to add and what to expand. Then I will employ a little of The Novel Plotter's Toolkit (thanks, Giles!) and resummarize my chapters with what I need each to accomplish. Then do it.

Just that easy.

In theory.

Going Home

In a manner of speaking anyway.

Last night I picked up two Miss Marple books at B&N. I realized that I haven't read Agatha Christie in at least ten years. So the next two mysteries I read will be "The Murder at the Vicarage" and "4:50 From Paddington."

We had a discussion the other night about sometimes not being able to go back and read books you liked when you were younger. That your taste as a reader matures and changes, and what you loved at 12 or 18 or even 25 may not hold up when you're 35 or 45.

Will that be the case with these? I certainly hope not.

But I'll keep you posted.

Prompt of the Week

Include the following 3 words in your writing for this week: plum, storm, bossy

Blocks

Ali recently posted about writer's block and whether it really exists.

I don't know. I do know that I tend to write in spurts, one has just started--thank goodness. I'm not sure what really triggers them, but it's something to look at. See if I can maybe set them off on my own.

Are the off times blocks? Feels like it. And it's not a good feeling.

Here's to a long, long spurt.

Dogs!

A friend dropped off her dogs last night. She and her husband are out of town through the weekend. Both dogs are mixed breed, about medium size (maybe 50ish pounds) and sweet as they can be.

My cat is not pleased. Spooky has been an only cat for a very long time. The dogs' arrival means she is relegated to the blue room. This will mean many tufts of black cat hair will have to be removed before any kind of painting can start. So no redecorating this weekend.

I also have to be careful about the fence between my back yard and that of the neighbors to the west. They have 3 dogs who like to charge the fence when Kita and Missy are visiting. Another one of those projects that may move up the list soon.

An update on the hornet nest: When I sprayed it, most of the hornets flew out under their own steam. Only about 3 died. None of the survivors moved back so I knocked it down. Mission accomplished.

I have a feeling Spooky will be harder to deal with when the dogs go home.

Figuring It Out

I recently finished reading a very good cozy mystery. Well crafted, some nice tension, realistic characters and humor--always a plus for me. But I knew who did it the minute the character was introduced. I kept hoping I was wrong, but nope.

Fleur says that's one of the problems with being a writer. We read books or watch movies and think, "What would I do here?" Movies with big twists are especially disappointing. About ten minutes into "The Others" I knew what was going on. That doesn't mean I'm particularly smart, just that I thought, "What would make this movie different from all the other ghost stories out there?"

So how do we avoid giving away what we're trying to hide and still play fair? Introducing a character on page 250 of a 255 page book and then declaring him the culprit is a cheat.

I guess, as with most things in this business, it comes down to the writing. Craft a story with all the elements I listed above, and the reader won't care that she figured it out. She may even feel good about it.

Prompt of the Week

You're waiting for your baggage at the carousel in the airport terminal in Des Moines. A woman in a pirate costume stands a short distance away. It's not even close to Halloween. What's going on?

Top of the List

I'm a list maker. I guess that may be where the outlining comes from, come to think of it. Not that I always remember to take the list with me or always follow the outline, but there you are. It's what I do.

There should be no surprise then that household projects go on a list. The list is rearranged as needed. Some things go to the top of the list because not fixing them immediately would lead to other things needing repair or because I'm excited about them. Some things move to the bottom because they aren't critical or they're too expensive or I just don't want to do them.

A new item is at the top of the list.

As I left the house for my walk this morning, I was dive-bombed by hornets. The little buggers are nesting between the screen door and the front door. This is an example of an item that should have moved to the top of the list because it would cause other problems. My screen door is as old as the house--about 35 years. It's one that can be switched from a storm door (with glass) to a screen door (with screen). But two of the clamps that hold the glass or screen in place have gone missing over the years so it's an air door. Which allowed the hornets to get between it and the front door. Which means I need to find a way to get the nest out of there without getting stung. I'd like to do it without killing the hornets, but if it comes down to a choice between them or me...

Well, it is my house.

Oh, and I wrote 5 pages yesterday. Yay!

Forward Motion

Three pages!

Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you haven't written for a while, three pages are a huge breakthrough. One scene finished and another started. A key scene started. Questioning a suspect.

Even better, I know what has to come next so I'll be ready when I start on it. Which should be in just a few minutes.

And the best part is that I read through the first 109 pages and liked it. That doesn't mean I don't have some tinkering to do when the first draft is done, but not a lot.

All in all, a good way to start the writing day.

How Do You Feel?

One more thing. When you finish writing your response to the prompt, write down how you felt while you were writing. You don't have to share that part. You don't really have to share any of it, but it always seemed to help in Feminine Ink when people did.

And you don't have to say who the person is that you're writing about. I'm certainly not going to.

Writing Prompt for 6/11/07

Think about someone you don't understand. Now write from that person's point of view.

The Why and How of the Weekly Prompt

I mentioned that I met a friend for wine and conversation yesterday. We orginally met when I ran started Feminine Ink. A group of women got together once a month to freewrite based on prompts that I supplied. I had to let the group go because I needed more time to actually write.

But Laurel and I both miss the regular get-togethers and the fun we had sharing what we wrote from those prompts. So once a week, I'll post a prompt here. The rules are simple, read the prompt and start writing-by hand. You shouldn't think about it much. This is an off-the-cuff thing. Write for 7-10 minutes without stopping and without self-editing while you write. Once the pen starts moving, it has to keep going until time is up. If you start on a tangent, go with it. There's gold in them thar tangents.

If you'd like, post what you wrote in the comments. I will add mine when I'm done.

Chopping Wood and Prewriting

Last night I had a little trouble falling asleep because I didn't write anything all weekend. It felt like I accomplished nothing. Even though I watched a friend's dog, cleaned, did five loads of laundry, etc. I moved a lot of junk out of the Blue Room in preparation for a making it the Lilac Room. And I met a friend yesterday whom I hadn't talked to in months. We caught up, drank a little wine and really enjoyed ourselves. Not a wasted weekend by any means.

But I didn't write. Except...I did in a way.

Let me go back a little bit. One of the aspens next to my deck died over the winter. I think something infested it--I don't know as much as I'd like about trees and other plants so I can't be sure just what killed it. Last week a windstorm blew it over. Luckily, it fell in such a way that it didn't hurt the deck, the shed, the garage, the fence or the rose bushes. Early Saturday morning I went out and cut it into manageable chunks to get it out of the way. While I sawed and sweated and cursed a little bit, I thought about the next scene in HM.

Then this morning on my walk, I thought about it some more. I now know exactly what I need to do in that next scene. When I sit down to work, I won't have to stare at a blank screen trying to figure out what to write. So, I guess I did write this weekend.

One Size Fits All?

The other night I got together with my writing friends. It's a great forum for talking about what's working for us and what isn't when it comes to our writing. We can solicit help, feedback, commiseration, whatever.

Deb was talking about outlining her new novel, and that started a discussion about whether or not to outline. The responses were pretty evenly distributed. Fleur and I always outline, which makes sense. We both write what could fall under the broad umbrella of crime fiction. We need to know where we're going. Jenny and Mary are both organic writers. They start with a character or situation and just write from the gut. Shane and Deb fall somewhere in the middle. Shane says he outlines in his head before he starts, but then it's organic. Deb jots notes and sort of follows them, but will allow herself a tangent if it feels right.

All of these people are excellent writers. I guess it just shows that one size does not, and cannot, fit all. Beware of those who would tell you otherwise.

A Room of My Own

I actually have a house of my own, but have wanted a Writing Room since I moved in. I finished collecting all the supplies to convert the Blue Room. Lilac paint for the walls and white for trim, a new light fixture, shelves and new miniblinds. The room already has a daybed that I use as a couch for writing. It took me a while to realize that I preferred the daybed to a desk because that's the way I wrote when I was in junior high and high school. It makes it feel less like work.

There's also a new comforter set for the daybed and lots of fuzzy, brightly colored throw pillows. I'll move my writing books and research books upstairs when it's done. Maybe a few interesting tchochkes to spark ideas.

When I finish it, that excuse for not writing will be gone.

Maybe I'll take my time.

Goals

My friend, Deb, is big on setting goals. Every month she sends out a challenge to set do-able, as she says, goals that will take a bit of a stretch to accomplish. Some months it just gets on my nerves. Of course, those are usually the months I want to slack and really need the goals to stay motivated.

For June, I'd like to finish my first cozy, known here as HM, and outline a second, which will go by D&D (not Dungeons and Dragons, even though my nephew loves that D&D). Not a lot but enough to keep me busy.

I'd also like to read a few more of the current crop of cozies out in the world today. Just to see what's there and, maybe, discover what might be missing.