Excedrin: The Non-Stretching Writer's Friend

It's two in the morning and I'm waiting for the Excedrin PM to kick in. I have a headache thanks to sitting in front of a computer typing for too long and stretching very little. (Did you hear that, kids? Stretching--good. Not stretching--liver-taxing Excedrin.)

I've been busy with the move, but after a really great meeting with my RWA chapter (Romance Writers of America, a great org to join even if you don't write romance), I felt motivated to plot out my story points for tomorrow when I plan to write 50 pages.

Yep. You heard that right. Fifty. Because of the move, extreme exhaustion from said move, and trying to recover from said exhaustion from said move, I have about six days to meet a personal deadline. I used to have 21 days.

(Read prior post on procrastination if you wonder how I got here.)

So, RWA... A great org for the aspiring writer. Whenever I push my lazy butt out the front door and drive the 10 miles to the once-a-month meeting, I'm usually (9 out of 10 times) not disappointed with my decision. In fact, I usually come home motivated and ready to write, write, write. (Read the above about headache and its cause if you wonder if I was motivated to write, write, write after this night's meeting.)

I highly suggest joining a writing group if you've ever wanted to write. It's a fun way to discuss murder and mayhem and human nature with other sane people who love discussing murder and mayhem and human nature.

Structuring a Scene

As I get into the muckity muck of the middle (pages 100 to 300, for those not in the know), I've been re-reading Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham. There are some great gems in there about how to put together a scene that makes the character seem to be taking steps backward (e.g., the heroine's informant gets murdered, her car gets towed, her cat's puked on the carpet) while moving the story forward (e.g., the infomant's murdered, which then leads the heroine to find another source of information which, in turn, leads her deeper into the story and heading toward more obstacles).

As I said, I'm re-reading this book. There's so many tidbits of advice to remember when you're writing, you're bound to forget a tip or two year after year and manuscript after manuscript...

Pushing Past the Tired

I'm beyond exhausted at the moment. We've been packing for three days straight, with me doing about 90 percent since I have a schedule that can accomodate it better. That doesn't mean my writing hasn't suffered. Instead of the 2800 words I wanted to do today, I've only done 800.

But, then again, that's 800 more than the day started with.

When you're on a schedule, though, a 2000 deficit can snowball into a 4000, 8000, 12000 word deficit real quick.

Hopefully, the brain cells will be a little more awake tomorrow. The packing is almost completely finished, so there's that, at least. Anyway, I can use this in my book, right? Make one of my characters exhausted from packing. Yeah, I know, a real page-turner...

Making Time for Reading

I believe that to be a writer, you have to keep being a reader. It's so easy to forget that part of the equation, especially as you grow older, have more responsibilities, and can no longer get by on four hours of sleep because you stayed up to read who the killer is/if the hero got with the heroine/etc.

Over the past two years, I've been fairly good at getting through two books a month (a far cry from my 400-page-book-a-day habit from fourth grade through twelfth grade). In order to keep the books straight in my head, I read one fiction and one nonfiction book at a time. Right now, I'm reading Confessions of Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon by Cap Lesesne, M.D., and The Killing Club by Marcie Walsh and Michael Malone.

Lesesne's book is pretty good. He's a little full of himself, but aren't plastic surgeons usually narcissistic? He spends a little too much time on himself, but the anecdotes are worth wading through the muckety mire.

The Killing Club is a very well-paced book with some really good word visuals. I have no idea who the killer is, but I have about five guesses. My only qualm? The writers need to take a class on comma usage. There are so many, I'm stumbling over them!

When Writing Bites

Right now, I'm listening to Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth (works well with my "Bites" title, no?). A great record to listen to when you're trying to work through a mess.

If nothing else, it helps me work through the hostility I'm feeling toward my WIP as I face the mess of blending scenes/giving pertinent character details/placing red herrings.

I feel like I'm trying to navigate through quicksand, with only goggles, a snorkel, and a toy shovel helping me out.

Why Procrastination Isn't All That Bad

Let's talk about procrastinators. Because...Hello, I'm Susan, and I'm a procrastinator. I'm on schedule to write 2800 words by the end of today, and what am I doing? Housework. Magazine reading. Blog writing.

I've been procrastinating as early as second grade. I remember doing my piano homework (yes, there is such a thing) the 30 minutes I had between the end of school and the time I had to start walking to my piano teacher's house. I remember that rushed, panicked feeling. I still have it.

Does this make me want to change? Yes. Does this motivate me to change? Not so much. Why? I always do better rushed. I do. (But not in a speeding car sort of way. If I'm late, I'm late.) I remember pacing out a paper and turning it early--I got a B. Minus. For another paper, I waited until the night before to start the 15-pager--I got an A.

Did I learn my lesson? Yes. Being early doesn't pay better dividends.

Revisions & Contortionists

So I'm going a little nutty. My brain sort of resembles this amazing contortionist here. I have 4,500 words to get through and my brain is tied into knots, trying to figure out where to begin. See, I need to go back and add foreshadowing, new characters that need to get in there by the end of Act I, etc.

Maybe I should discuss acts and writing? Actually, I would like to recommend a book: Viki King's How to Write a Movie in 21 Days. I don't want to write a movie (but if one came my way, I wouldn't say no!), but it's a terrific book for a novelist who is struggling with pacing.

Anyway, back to my brain twisting into a pretzel. Revising a book, at least for me, is like those proofs in back in geometry class. You look at the problem, see the answer, and write down the answer. However, this is a proof, which means you have to write down the 20 steps in between. Right now, I'm writing those steps, and I'm missing steps 9, 14 and 17. I don't know what those steps are, but I'll know them when I finally write them, rewrite them, and revise them.

Back Online

So here I am. Blogging. Since college, I've had three websites and three blogs for various and sundry reasons. So at least you know you're in the capable hands on an online afficionado.

Okay, well maybe not an afficionado. But...maybe an "online capable"? Does that read right? (See what a writer goes through when it comes to word choice?? It's all about word choice, dahlink...)

It's 10:45 on a Sunday night and I still need to write 10 more pages in my new WIP ("work in progress" for those not in the know). I've been on a really good time table with this book. Actually, I've already written the book. Wrote it a year ago. But I had to let it sit and stew. Wrote Black Tuesday while it sat and stewed. Now, I'm about 125 pages into the rewrites (out of 400). Although "rewrite" is a misnomer. I don't want any of you to get the wrong idea that I'm fixing grammar mistakes and moving paragraphs around. Nope. I'm RE-WRITING. As in writing again. From scratch. I think I've reused about three pages from the original so far.

No worries though. The original story was good, but this one is so much better. More conflict, more pissiness, more lies. I love it!