When Forever Doesn't Last

Just checked the website for our interview and here it is:

http://www.yourldsneighborhood.com/PersonalTouch.aspx

Check it out!

Keepers DAY 31

I am finding out that the word "balance" does not mean finding time to do everything I would like to. In most instances, balance means trading off, exchanging, and prioritizing what needs to be done. Like yesterday (and other days since starting this book project). I wrote a great deal (handwritten), but had my daughter's softball game to attend (and pick her up from), then after dinner just had 45 minutes until the kids' bedtime, so I spent a little time with them on Wii Fit, then, when Natalie got home (from book club) we were both exhausted, so we went to bed early. And then tonight: Today is my daughter's birthday. She's 13! We have a small friends party planned this afternoon and evening, and then a family party tomorrow night. With work taking up my whole day, I'm not sure when I'm going to fit in typing. But tonight might just have to be a Mountain Dew night, even if the family has already gone to bed.

I guess that's what balance means.

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

Word Count: 26,685 (+0)

Keepers DAY 30

I have entered a very technical area of the story and I apparently don't know enough about the subject to allow the writing to flow. I had always just "passed over" the details of these next few chapters knowing that someday I'd do the research and fill in the (many) blanks that I currently have. Well, yesterday was the start of that "someday."

I made the decision to skip over many of those fact-intensive parts and try to focus on the story, instead, but my mind wouldn't quite let me. I did write a few pages, but I also spent time doing research and getting some of those facts organized and distilled for the book.

Although I will continue to push myself and strive to write the ten pages a day, I have to admit that it may be a little slower for the next couple of days..

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

Word Count: 26,685 (+887) (Lost and V were both on, too, which didn't help...)

Keepers DAY 29

Well, I think I'm past the doubt and questions. Yesterday morning a new, more in-depth idea came to me on the train that I think will add meaning and reality to the story and will "fix" some of my concerns. It will also lend itself to a stronger storyline in later books.

A couple of thoughts came to mind yesterday as I thought about this "block" and doubt I was experiencing:

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names. - Chinese proverb

and

When confusion ceases, tranquility comes; when tranquility comes, wisdom appears; and when wisdom appears, reality is seen. - Buddhist Saying

I think that by calling those feelings as they were, and not trying to hide them or just worry about them, helped me overcome these.

I didn't type yesterday, and my writing was limited during the day as I worked to catch up from last week (when I didn't do much work and was preoccupied with interviews, writing, etc.). But with a clean desk at work I think I will have more time to be creative.

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

Word Count: 25,798 (+0 at least on the computer)

Keepers DAY 28

Fourth week. And I'm still plugging along.

But something happened over the weekend that I have experienced before but it still gave me pause and concern. Yesterday, while typing a couple of days' worth of writing (that wasn't very much, by the way...), I was struck by the doubt and fear that I wasn't going in the right direction. This was more than just writer's block; it wasn't a "I don't know where to go from here" thought - this was a full-on "I'm going in the wrong direction/what the heck was I thinking" thought. And when these happen it can be very frightening.

I remember having this while writing The Watchers. I was into the book about the same number of pages (page 100), and about the same amount of time (about a month), and with that book I did take a break - about a year and a half! And then when I finally came back to it I had changed, and so did the story from that point on.

I'm not sure what this milestone is, and I wonder if other writers experience it, too. If I try to analyze it, part of this might be due to the fact that I combined two chapters and now I have to come up with another means to blend into the second "Back Story" chapter, or just break it up like I had planned all along, and beef up those chapters to fill the number of pages.

But I'm sure that's not all of it. For me, there seems to be some period of doubt and creeps in about this time. It's like it says in The Alchemist, that "beginner's luck" happens to create excitement and build confidence for what you are trying to accomplish.

I am glad that I am recording this because, as I have said many times and in many circumstances, you can only control what you understand. (Think about that one for a while...) But I'm not going to be shaken from this book that easily. I will push through this, trusting in my outline and dreams for this book. I feel that I have been inspired to write this one at this time, and will trust in that inspiration to get me through my doubts. Like I heard on Conference this weekend: The opposite of faith is fear. I will rely on my faith and dispel my fear.

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

Word Count: 25,798 (+2595)

Keepers DAY 25

I am very pleased with the writing (handwritten, anyway) that happened yesterday. I find that whenever I have a chapter or scene with a lot of dialog that the words and phrases and order of those conversations come to me in pieces at first. I will "hear" bits of it, exchanges, etc. and just have to write them down anyway I can. I think that's one of the reasons I find that I have to write a first draft longhand. My pages yesterday are filled with boxes drawn around paragraphs, lines and arrows to adjust the order, and notes off to the side to go back and include these words or this reaction. But at the end of the day I was very happy with the direction it went.

But, alas, last night I didn't type. You see, tomorrow (Friday) I am going to be interviewed on FM100 on my latest book, When Forever Doesn't Last, and had to update and fix the website as well as outline the points I wanted to cover. Frankly, it took almost all night. But that's OK, right? I wrote during the day (keeping true to the plan of writing every day) and this was related to writing (just not this current book).

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

Word Count: 23,203 (+0 on the computer, anyway)

Keepers DAY 24

I am noticing that I am able to write/type faster than I could just a couple of weeks ago when I started. Last night I didn't start typing until after 9pm and even with a bedtime "rodeo" I was done with my 2000 words by 11:15pm. It is definitely getting easier. I just hope that holds out to be true for the next month or two.

Today I will be writing events that are, at least peripherally, actual accounts. These are always a challenge with historical fiction because you want/need to use these accounts but also have to make sure they fit within the story, plot, and "voice" of your writing. I struggled a little with this when I wrote the "trial" scene in Lifted Up. I had the accounts from all of the gospels, as well as insight from Jesus, The Christ, and had to use them in a way that I felt accurately portrayed the recorded accounts but blended with the story line. I think it worked well (or so I have been told my many people over the years), and I suspect it will be the same for today's writing. And, of course, I'm not using the words of deity, but you get the picture.

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

Word Count: 23,203 (+1816)