Wednesday, March 4, 2020

March Forth!

I love a date that is an imperative.

It is another meeting of the IWSG 
where writers kvetch, moan, cheer, and repair. Go to the site linked above to find out what the fuss is. I love it and love how quickly a meeting comes around. Time is aflying on this mud ball we call home.
This is one of my most favourite signs - especially as Port George and Delusion are in the same direction. My other favourite was just a temporary one at a motel as you drove into Halifax - it said
baked ham - $12
children - $8


I have too much news.

Whew!

It's true.

So I'll break it down into word-bites. Gah! The older I get the more I hate lingo of any sort. Still. Handy short-cuts I guess - which is all language is for anyway.

Me want bone.
Truly, I (such a subjective place to begin) feel such a strong desire for a good piece of meaty bone, one that hasn't been overly gnawed. Could you help with my repast request?
Writing bite:

I have been struggling with writing the conspiracy behind my mystery. I think I finally have it. It is the down side of writing in the 'seat of one's pants' method, as opposed to the 'plotting' method. Or as Elizabeth George opines "a bunch of characters in search of a plot" when she is discussing how pantsers such as myself write. Of course she doesn't come right out and say that. I mean she does - the bunch of  stuff. But she just mentions it as an unfortunate phase, not a lifestyle choice. However we want to write is fine with her...but... she finds it best to write a book before writing a book and she is a flaming rock-star and I'm a mendicant at the altar of the publishing industry. Ah well.  Thing is I did it and now I'm on to the next part. Which is pretty much revising with a few stalling tactics first. Colour coding is always a good one and the editor I'm working with suggested it - so yee haw. No, truly, I probably won't because I have from now until mid-May to get the revision done and the conspiracy bit took up way too much time. Necessary, but really really hard. One of those times when anyone looking at me would've said - that girl isn't writing - she's futzing about, staring off into space, moaning and doing a lot of unnecessary cleaning.

Not writing bite;

So, before I got right down to it I went on a wee vacation. I went on a five hour bus ride to Cape Breton - just the ugly part, not the glorious part - where I stayed in a very nice hotel for two nights doing basically nothing but idle things with a dear friend of mine. We ate nice food, at the hotel, did crossword puzzles while we ate, like the weird old ladies we are, lay on the comfy, very nicely fitted beds watching netflix and yakked. Only, the last night after watching Judy (fabulous) I got dreadful sick. All night and most of the following morning. To make it nice for readers let's just say that I lost four pounds and I wasn't on a diet. Completely true but still a gussied up tale. A five hour bus ride was out of the question so my dear fella was phoned and he drove out with the pooch and saved me. On Saturday we spent another glorious time - eleven hours at Emergency. I thought food poisoning, they think some other horrible thing - a condition that I'll have to tend like a weed garden. My doctor gets to be the tie-breaker. Meanwhile I'm not writing. Well - this. And emails. Mostly I can only be upright for a little while and then I want to be prone. I am feeling lots better - but recovery seems slower than I would hope. So I've decided to do another good writerly thing, as I can do it lying down - I'm going to...

Writing bite:

write elaborate character analyses by hand. I don't think this will be procrastinating as it can only go on for a couple of more days and I know it will strengthen my rewrite. Plus I maybe can do the colour coding thing or at least go through with a marker saying where big sections will have to be changed. Of course, other stuff is happening - my fella is going away to work in Labrador for two months - he was supposed to leave this coming weekend but won't be leaving until April which is good (cuz I still feel bad and he's nice. And handy) and bad because I thought that would really force me to get to work as there'd be nothing much else to do. But that is life - always throwing you a curve ball, which reminds me...

Not writing bite:

I got some astounding news a few days ago. It is not entirely my story to tell but I will say that it is weird and wonderful - not a thing bad about it, just hard to grok entirely. And it will come out in my writing. And I'll tell you when I'm able for sure. And entirely out of the blue which is a grand thing, because when I'm past surprising about how events unfold on this mud ball, well that will be too bad. That'll be that for this broad.

Okay - end of meeting for me. Time to take a little lie down. It is chore, lie down, chore, lie down...etcetera ...

As for today's question.
No.

ha ha ha ha
But really I mean no, I don't have an immediate thought on this question. But you can bet I will later when there isn't so much a happening.

So march forth with your writing! It's imperative.

9 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I love it! I didn't think about today's date that way until you mentioned it. :)

So sorry you got so sick and on your lovely trip! Hope you're 100% better soon.

Liza said...

Oh, Jan, I hope you recover soon. No fun! I love Elizabeth George, and I wish, just once, I could know my story beforehand so I could outline it before I wrote it. Such discipline! Looking forward to hearing your good news as I "march forth" indeed!

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

Your wee vacation sounds lovely. Cape Breton is a Canadian treasure and everyone should be blessed at least once by visiting. And Peggy's Cove! It must be quite fabulous being able to live there. I would go back in a second. I actually took several photos in black and white because the scene is so mesmerizing even without colour.

Did you visit CB in the summer? Seems a bit cold there right now, I'm thinking.

Looking forward to hearing your good news.

Pat Garcia said...

Hi,
It is good to see that even though you have down moments, you also have up moments where your writing flows.
Wishing you all the best.

Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange

Chrys Fey said...

What is color coding for editing? I've heard of it but still don't know what it is (and I am an editor). I'll have to look it up sometime.

Jenni said...

Jan, sorry that you ended up being sick on your trip, but the before-sick part sounded lovely. Hope you're recovered and ready for more writing. I love your quote from Elizabeth George. I feel that way too, even though I'm sort of a pantser--plotter.

Margot Kinberg said...

Oh, Jan, I am so sorry to hear you've been sick! That's awful! I hope you're feeling better now. It's good to hear you're finding your way with your story, though. For me, having a path (even if I don't quite know where it's leading) is so helpful.

Beth Camp said...

As another pantser, all I can say is your bites of writing had me smiling, nodding my head, and commiserating -- for that nasty whatever you caught AND for that revision deadline so close. So, what do we do when our story needs that one-more-pass-through? Just as you suggest: taking one angle and pushing the river. Trying another strategy. And another. May your revisions (and good health) inspire you.

Narayana Rao K.V.S.S. said...
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