It's so hard to believe it's been almost two months since I wrote my last post, Writer's Block - Gone but not forgotten. I'm very happy that somebody missed me, lol. Cathy from one of my must read blogs, Still Waters wondered what I had been up to and how I was getting along with my book so I'll give you an update. And please forgive me my wonderful blogging friends if I haven't faithfully been reading your blogs. I do try to read my favorite bloggers - all of you - a couple of hours a week to catch up what's happening your way.
My book is taking shape. I'm building my characters, piecing together scenes and have thrown entire chapters in the trash can when I decided to do away with a character that I was having trouble with. I don't want to waste my time with problem people even if they're only on the pages of my book.
I find myself taking notes everywhere I go. Be careful what you say when you cross my path or you may find yourself hiding behind a flowerpot whispering to your best friend in Chapter 8. Even my cat Theo is in my book looking longingly at the bird feeder just outside the window each morning dreaming of the red Cardinal he would catch if he could just pounce through that glass. And I never hear town gossip anymore since Betty, the Post Mistress at our local Post Office clams up when I walk in the door. And all because I recently got out my notebook while she was talking. "Don't go putting me in that book!", she yelled. How could I not? She's the most colorful character I know.
Main Street is growing. The shops are all named and placed. I've even drawn a map - although not entirely to scale, as you can see by the extremely crude map of Church Street in this photo, lol. I think I should let my granddaughter who is an artist do my drawing for me.
I have notebooks and folders everywhere. I'm backing up everything on my hard drive and a flash drive and now started on an extra flash drive since I misplaced the original flash drive for a while. And I've lost an entire chapter - a very important one where I had an unusual burst of creativity - aren't those always the ones we lose?
It hasn't been all writing though. There was a very sad time for us in December when we lost our "man's best friend" Fox to a sudden illness two days before Christmas. It was one of those things that I haven't been able to write about until now. Hubby came home with two puppies in January - little hound dogs - I thought it was too early after our loss of our precious Fox, but these little guys have proved to be a joy in the midst of sadness and I've spent many hours with them. They're adorable. Here's a cute photo of Joe, the first one we got.
We later went back and got his little sister Ash. They're not inside dogs - we have a fence and dog houses outside for them but they do get to come in for some TLC each day.
Our December and January were very mild - even for here in the South - with many 60 and 70 degree days. But February and March have been cold with even an inch or so of snow. Just enough to make everyone run to the grocery store for milk and bread (that's what we Southerners do when we even hear the word SNOW mentioned in the forecast) - don't ask me why!
And I've spent time with friends! My BFF and I recently had lunch for her birthday celebration. It's not everyday you get to celebrate that now you're eligible for Medicare! And tonight - another friend shared her famous "dressed up" Oreo cookies with me. She knows I love them and she made a beautiful Easter and Spring batch. I'll have to hide them from Hubby since he has to stay away from sugar.
I've also spent some quality time with the grandchildren. My grandson Jake will be seventeen this month and recently spent a couple of nights with us so he and Grandpa could go hunting together. Genevieve turned eleven in February and Chloe will soon be sixteen. They're growing up so fast.
I miss writing my blog. Sometimes when I'm mired down with this book I say to myself, "Now why am I doing this? Is it something that I'm trying to prove to myself?" I'm bound and determined to finish it now that I've made such good progress, but my true love in writing is writing short stories and little tidbits of life happenings - that's what I do best.
So that's what I've been doing this winter. How about you? I would love to hear from you!
*Update 3/9/2013: I found the chapter I lost under an obscure file name in My Documents. Thanks be to God!
My book is taking shape. I'm building my characters, piecing together scenes and have thrown entire chapters in the trash can when I decided to do away with a character that I was having trouble with. I don't want to waste my time with problem people even if they're only on the pages of my book.
I find myself taking notes everywhere I go. Be careful what you say when you cross my path or you may find yourself hiding behind a flowerpot whispering to your best friend in Chapter 8. Even my cat Theo is in my book looking longingly at the bird feeder just outside the window each morning dreaming of the red Cardinal he would catch if he could just pounce through that glass. And I never hear town gossip anymore since Betty, the Post Mistress at our local Post Office clams up when I walk in the door. And all because I recently got out my notebook while she was talking. "Don't go putting me in that book!", she yelled. How could I not? She's the most colorful character I know.
Main Street is growing. The shops are all named and placed. I've even drawn a map - although not entirely to scale, as you can see by the extremely crude map of Church Street in this photo, lol. I think I should let my granddaughter who is an artist do my drawing for me.
We later went back and got his little sister Ash. They're not inside dogs - we have a fence and dog houses outside for them but they do get to come in for some TLC each day.
Our December and January were very mild - even for here in the South - with many 60 and 70 degree days. But February and March have been cold with even an inch or so of snow. Just enough to make everyone run to the grocery store for milk and bread (that's what we Southerners do when we even hear the word SNOW mentioned in the forecast) - don't ask me why!
And I've spent time with friends! My BFF and I recently had lunch for her birthday celebration. It's not everyday you get to celebrate that now you're eligible for Medicare! And tonight - another friend shared her famous "dressed up" Oreo cookies with me. She knows I love them and she made a beautiful Easter and Spring batch. I'll have to hide them from Hubby since he has to stay away from sugar.
I've also spent some quality time with the grandchildren. My grandson Jake will be seventeen this month and recently spent a couple of nights with us so he and Grandpa could go hunting together. Genevieve turned eleven in February and Chloe will soon be sixteen. They're growing up so fast.
I miss writing my blog. Sometimes when I'm mired down with this book I say to myself, "Now why am I doing this? Is it something that I'm trying to prove to myself?" I'm bound and determined to finish it now that I've made such good progress, but my true love in writing is writing short stories and little tidbits of life happenings - that's what I do best.
So that's what I've been doing this winter. How about you? I would love to hear from you!
*Update 3/9/2013: I found the chapter I lost under an obscure file name in My Documents. Thanks be to God!
I'm glad to see you back Glenda - I do miss your posts ... but now that we are in regular contact elsewhere I'm delighted that I'm kept abreast of what is happening in your life. Love the biscuits!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Jane! We do love our biscuits here in the South. I would make you a batch and send them your way, but I think they would be very stale by the time you received them, lol.
DeleteHi my friend. Lovely to see you here today, although we do catch up with each other on facebook, which is nice. Your two new puppies are sooooooo adorable! Good luck with the rest of your book. It must be exciting to see it all coming together.
ReplyDeletesounds like you were just going through the normal ebb and flow and redirect of creativity...much as we'd like we just can do everything, and creative work in particular is greedy and gobbles up our attention...sounds like the book is going well, and that you've balanced it nicely with family and friends.
ReplyDelete