Whining

Just a little.

I'm having trouble getting back into a routine with HM, and I'm not sure why. Part of it may just be that I did break my routine. That can make things a bit hinky.

Writer's block obviously isn't the problem, because I'm not having trouble posting. Or working on other things. So it's HM related.

What about HM is giving me pause?

Characters? No, I love my characters. The Group teases me about playing with the guys. And I like the supporting cast. So characters are not the problem.

Setting? Again, love the setting. A little town in the mountains of Colorado with a blend of people whose families have been there for generations and newcomers using the former village as a bedroom community. All good.

Plot? I like the murder. Which is weird sentence to type. Victim-good. Murderer-good. But there's something nagging there. Subplots aren't strong enough. And I'm not sure that the clues are great. Or the resolution.

In summary, what I hear myself saying is that it needs revision. Okay. But revision is for after the first draft is done. First draft is for just getting it down in all its messy glory. As Deb says, "Sometimes The First is painful, embarrassing or messy." And for first drafts, it should be.

So, I need to tell that Inner Editor to shut up and wait her turn.

Goals

Guess I should fess up to how I did on my wimpy goals for June and set some new ones for July.

Last month I said, "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."

I did not finish the draft of HM, but I did figure out that it's okay to write the beginning, then the end, then the middle. Hoping that helps move the page count. Did not outline D&D since goal one wasn't finished. It shouldn't have mattered one way or the other, but it did. I did read another cozy and bought the two Agatha Christie's to delve into.

This month, I'm setting my sights a little lower since we're already more than a week into July. I'd like to write 25 pages of HM. And I will outline D&D no matter what happens with HM. And read at least the 2 Agatha Christie's.

Prompt of the Week

"The sky is falling!"

Something falls on your head. What is it? Where did it come from? What does it mean?

Getting to The End

Interesting First Monday last night. There was some great discussion about Deb's book, which I've read and like, but have a hard time with all the characters at the beginning. Then we moved on to our usual format.

Deb and Jenny spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the Harry Potter series will end. I guess I'll have to read the books one of these days. The movies are okay. I'm not sure why I've resisted reading them so much. Maybe it's all the hype around them.

Someone asked me about HM. I told them about the problems I'm having with just wanting to end it even though it's far too short. Shane asked if it wouldn't be okay to write the beginning, then the end, then the middle. I don't see why not.

I think that's what I'm going to do. I have a five-day weekend to put it in practice. Maybe that will be my process. Maybe not. But I feel like I need to experiment and the first book is the place to do that.

Prompt of the Week

In honor of Jenny (she knows why):

Your character was born on February 29th. Describe how s/he feels on those non-leap years.

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.