Why I Haven't Blogged (or left the house) Lately

Allow the following picture to explain why I haven't blogged (or left my house, talked to humans, seen the light of day--which is overrated in my opinion. I much prefer the glow of night) lately.

Obviously I've taken up serial killery as a hobby, right? No, no no! I swear my propensity to dead girl books has not led me down a sinister path...yet. That wall of (let's hope temporary and organized) insanity is me revising. I'm so close to completing this novel that I can almost taste the dinners I'll actually have time to consume when I'm done. Now, do not get me wrong, I condone in no way the skipping of meals. Food and me are BFFs, but if it takes more than 10 minutes to prepare, it's not getting chowed while I'm in a funky writing groove. And I've been bustin' it!

So there's my explanation. I would go into more detail, but I have approximately 8 minutes left in this "human time" block of my day to consume a packet of Tinkerbell fruit snacks and a cheese quesadilla (2 mins prep/cook time). Some people count calories, I count prep time. To each her crazy own. With any luck, I'll have a publishable stack of pages to show for mine soon!

Beth*

Killin' My Darlings

Drum roll please...I am finally moved in to my new house and new Writertorium! I have to say that I miss the wood floors in Writertorium Uno and Number Two is significantly smaller, but it exists with functioning internet and a desk with all it's legs screwed on and everything. (Although there was a tragic loss of keyboard tray that I don't feel comfortable talking about.) This, of course, means I'm back to escaping reality on a daily basis i.e. writing.

 

(Loveseat not included in joy jumping. Disclaimer: New Writertorium is too small for my "thinking couch". It now sadly resides in the basement.)

Evidently stifling my creative flow for three odd weeks with signing and resigning a bagillion documents three different times for two different companies (how does that make sense?) and having to pack and unpack and paint and budget for a new furnace (gah!) has brought upon some revelations. 1) Reality sucks. But we already knew this. 2) I'm a shell of a human (and a ton more cranky) when I'm not writing. 3) Taking a couple weeks to gel after one finishes a first draft is equal parts painful and helpful.

I've read it a hundred times in countless writing craft books that you should "Let it cool" and "Do something else" after you complete your first draft. I've never been able to do this. I have this freakish interior motivator that tells me if I'm not writing daily I'm wasting time and thus any potential success I may have in the future. Real rational, huh?

Now that I've been forced into letting my first draft cool, I'm sing a lively chorus of "Killin' my darlings, killin' my darlings, killin' my darlings all the time..." (which is in reference to a William Faulkner quote if you got confused by my sing-a-long lyrics.) I am typing away (sans keyboard tray), changing my male lead, onioning out minor characters (my totally professional way of saying character development) and basically starting from crumbs for the second draft of my new project that you will have to be patient to hear about in lieu of previously mentioned massive rewrites. All this wreckage and reconstruction is making me a little...giddy, actually. I missed writing so much that I must get back to it. Now!

B*

Leaning Tower of Pisa Syndrome

Ok, so I admit staying up until 3:30am last night was probably not the wisest decision since now the back of my head is doing this dull ache thing and I go all Leaning Tower of Pisa every time my eyes close for more than 10 seconds. But I didn't have to go in to Day Job today (AWESOME!), and I really wanted to respond to the "I'm getting ready to send out the manuscript, but" email I got from my agent yesterday.

I needed to do a read through to catch embarrassing typos like "I walked threw the open door" before officially sending off my little bundle of pages to the world. It'd been almost two months since I'd looked at my bundle because I've been keeping myself sane during the publishing waiting game by working on a new novel--which I am totally excited about, finally. Of course, now the process will be waylaid by Leaning Tower of Pisa Syndrome, but that usually only lasts a day...two tops.

I have to say, though, the read through was a little like biting into a candy from one of those unlabeled boxes of chocolates without a chart of flavors. (I'll spare you the rant I have stored up for the lazy confectioners that manufacture said boxes.) I kept getting all these little surprises along the way that I'd forgotten I'd added or changed along the revision road. And even though I knew the ending--which even the lucky few who got to read previous drafts don't know!--it was a little like not reading my own book. I kinda dug that.

Anyone else recently re-read something they'd written or just a fav book and gotten a coconut surprise with the familiar chocolate coating? If not, take a bite. I promise no praline crap moose filling. Really, unlabeled box of chocolates, praline?

B*