Ideas Come A Poppin

As I said in this earlier post I actually finished a project. Not my WIP but a Christmas project. What a thrilling feeling that is. I had come to a standstill with my current WIP and wondered if I had it in me, the ability to finish anything that is.

Like most I have been very busy with Christmas preparations. Not a time conducive to the flowing of creative ideas for a stalled WIP. But yesterday I actually got the urge to look at my WIP and add some notes. Ideas just sort of popped into my head. No prompting, forcing, mulling or stressing, just pop and there they were, ideas. These new ideas are now written on post-it notes and attached to printed pages of said WIP. I feel like I am getting back in the zone. My completed Christmas project has made me realize, I do actually have it in me to finish a work. I am so excited, I am feeling enthusiastic and my fingers are eager to get back to the keyboard with my fresh new ideas.

I hit a road block awhile back, stalled and in frustration stashed the offending WIP under the bed. I am not a descriptive writer; it does not come naturally to me. I am more of a character inter-action sort of writer. When reading I have a tendency to get bored and skip over long descriptives, anxious to get back to character action. Proof of the ‘You write what you read’ mantra. Still some descriptives are necessary. The story cannot be conversation from beginning to end, now can it!?!

I have learned so much from my recent BETA reading. A big thank you to Nicole Zoltack, Where Fantasy & Love Take Flight and Sherry Chaisson Auger, Sherry Auger for that. I have a better understanding of gauging chapters, what I need to develop and what might be best left alone. A big huge 'Thank You,' fellow blogger/writer friends.

And on that note I will say...have a wonderful Tuesday all!

I Did It!!! Yes I Did!

I apologise bloggie friends for my lack of presence lately….I hope to get around to your blogs over the next few days and catch up on the goings on in bloggerland! I have been so out of touch it feels like I have just emerged from the outer edges of the universe. But hey, I did it. Believe it or not I finished a project.

I was only lamenting a short while ago on the multiple unfinished projects stashed under the bed (here) …so to speak!

I know many of you who took on NaNo may be shaking your heads thinking, What is she going on about! For me this is a major achievement. I Finished a writing project.

The idea for this project began to formulate in my mind’s eye last summer. I outlined what I wanted to include and how I wanted it to look. I ran my idea past my friend Libby as we sipped wine at her kitchen table. I often have what I consider to be wonderful ideas until I voice them. More often than not they fall flat and with a splat! I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by Libby’s enthusiastic reaction. A thought just occurred to me ….could it have been the wine…..No! No! Banish that thought from your head. Banish it I say!

On my return to Wisconsin in September I began my project in earnest. The past month has been exhausting, frustrating and exhilarating. I enjoyed the process, the ups, the downs, the sleepless nights and the nights filled with dreams of being chased by words and pages. But when I pressed the publish button a feeling of lightness flooded over me. Accomplishment and lightness. I did it!

Storm In A Teacup

I am here at the page. A place I have not frequented on a regular basis all summer. At present I am trying to overcome jet lag and some lethargy. Of course jet lag cannot be the excuse for my lack of concentration and motivation throughout the whole summer. A summer where reading and writing required such mammoth effort.


But here I am now with my favorite pen in hand. Actually I have two identical favorite pens. Twins you could say.  One I always carry with me and the other is kept with my notebook. I brought both these pens to Ireland with me. Better to be sure than to be sorry, Right?! I was delighted I had the foresight to bring them both when pen one ran out of ink. I clutched pen two in my hand with a self satisfied grin and continued to write. About a week later pen two ran out of ink. I did not have the foresight to bring ink refills with me. I tried to find a replacement pen, one that words just couldn’t wait to leap from pen’s tip to the page but my efforts proved fruitless.

Could my lack of writing enthusiasm really boil down to the feel of a particular pen in my hand? An idea would flash into my head. I sat to the table, holding the replacement pen unhappily in my hand and wrote the first sentence of new flash. Replacement pen unlike favorite pen did not keep going. I stalled, I struggled, I stopped. The answer it seems is yes, it did boil down to the pen. 

Okay so maybe the pen was the reason I did not get much writing done. But reading….what happened there. In fairness, I can’t blame the pen for that. That comes down to a total lack of concentration. It took me forever to get through a book. My reading slowed to a snails pace.  Last summer I read no less than fifteen books. I wrote every day, I was productive. This summer I read only six books and wrote very little. In an attempt to console myself I took to editing writings from last summer. Telling the unconvinced voice nattering in my head that this was good! This was productive! This was writing too!

Adding to my angst, I lost patience with the slowness of my broadband computer service and just had to give up blog commenting to maintain some semblance of sanity. It was taking a year and a day to post a comment, never mind the loading a blog to read it. Then there were the blogs I had to just give up altogether. Beautiful, wonderful blogs, but my computer totally refused to load them. Dispatches from the Deise, Writing in the Crosshairs, Agnes Pages, Diary of a Virgin Novelist, and Walk2Write in Florida. I am looking forward to catching up with your wonderful blogs. I have missed you.

The thoughts swirling around in my head, keeping me awake at night and paralyzing my hand these past weeks are, "Am I just a storm in a teacup? Is my lack of concentration and inability to produce a sign I’m all used up. A has been before I have been and a ten month blog wonder?" I dread the thought, because this year of writing and blogging has been a year of great contentment for me.  I have experienced an inner soul type of contentment.  Something I have been grasping at and chasing all my life.

So what is the moral of this little tale? Well first off, not only bring both favorite pens everywhere, also bring multiple ink refills.

Hopefully the storm in my teacup was only momentary and my muse….my writing mojo will grace me with it's presence once again!  Fingers crossed.

A Bit of a Moan!

I am so out of sync I can't think.  I am still trying to figure out if I am coming or going. This morning was the first time in almost a week that I actually put pen to paper and wrote words. Real Words!  I have not read the words I strung together this morning. So they may not make any sense whatsoever, but at this moment in time, I am just thrilled I got words on a page. 

Oh the great news in my little world....Remember that phone call (scroll down to see the photo)my girl got the day of graduation, the one about an interview!  Well interview is done and dusted. She got the job and is now an employed pharmacist!  Yeah!!! and Yeah again.  Clapping and jumping up and down, big grin on face.

Next, the flight.  What can I say.  There were no delays.  A good thing.  The volcano decided to let us pass.  Another good thing.  Then there was the not so good things! The flight attendants on our transatlantic leg left a lot to be desired.  The service was crap!  To put it mildly. A drinks trolley was nae to be seen before the meal service.  So no water or wine or before dinner drink to be had.  The meal placed in front of me, didn't have the usual little cup of water either and there was no protective covering on the sad wilted excuse for a salad.  Which after very little thought I decided was safer left untouched.  More than 20 minutes after the meal was served, cold tea and coffee was brought around.  I know many of you drink iced teas and coffees but I do believe this was supposed to be hot. It was the first and last time a drinks trolley rattled down the aisle.  It was also the last time I saw a flight attendant.  The flight was smooth and arrived on time, this being the most positive thing I can say about this particular transatlantic experience.  Which when all is said and done is the most important thing.  But hey a drop of water wouldn't have gone astray.  So will I lodge a complaint?  I have yet to decide.  Complaining is not really my forte!  Stop shaking your heads in disbelief. I should refrain,  lodging a complaint where it would do the most good is not my forte.  Another little quirk of mine.  I am more inclined to moan and moan and moan until I bore all around me.  Are you bored yet????

My Glorious Fridays

I had to work last Friday. Normally I don’t work on Fridays. My work schedule is Monday thur Thursday. Friday is my day. My day, with the house quiet and to myself, my time for writing with no distractions or interruptions.

For the last two weeks my program almost department has been conducting on-campus interviews to fill two new faculty positions. Friday interviews were scheduled to accommodate candidates. As a result I have worked the last two Fridays. Missing two of my Glorious Fridays in a row!

I have a few competition deadlines looming and fear I will not have anything ready for them. So I thought of requesting Monday off. One day in lieu of two sounds pretty fair to me. I would just say I needed the day as I had two deadlines to meet. And that’s when I hesitated. Imagining once I mentioned deadlines, I would be asked, deadlines for what. To which I would have to reply writing.

The next statement would be, Oh you write, are you published? or Have I read anything you have written? Even though this conversation was going on in my head I blushed with embarrassment, a feeling I was overstating who or what I am washed over me. And of course I would have to answer, “No I am not published. My deadlines are for writing competitions." I can see the dismissal in my imagination. But I need to write. I have missed two Fridays in a row and I feel it. I physically feel the toll it has taken on my well being. I have been dragging myself out of bed in the mornings and nearly crawling on all fours up the stairs to my bed at the end of each day. I have tried to put words on paper, but neither ideas nor words have been flowing. I have been in a kind of Fridayless funk.

Oh, more embarrassment, I need to qualify, I am not a professor or a lecturer. I am a University Services Associate, referred to as a USA. They do love those acronyms here. This position was previously known as Academic Associate and previous to that Administrative Assistant . All fancy ways of saying Secretary. I guess it is no longer politically correct to call someone a secretary. I didn't plan to be or dream of being a Secretary/USA . I don't particularly like being a Secretary/USA. But life's circumstances steered me in this direction. So here I am now with this particular set of skills, why fight it. After all this job allows me to have my Glorious Fridays. The one guaranteed day of the week I am able to do what I love best, to write. This secretarial job affords me my greatest pleasure. In a perfect world I would be able to dedicate everyday to my writing. But in this world, my real world I delight in my Glorious Fridays, the day of every week I can dedicate to my writing. Except of course when there are on-campus interviews for new faculty.