Feeling scattered

Ever get the feeling that you're running around with your head cut off? There are plenty of things I need to do, but it seems none of them are getting accomplished. I've been sleeping in, which is bad business for a person like me, forgetting to make to-do lists on my never-ending supply of sticky notes, and wandering around aimlessly worrying about everything that needs to get done. As with the rest of the world, there's always something else that comes before that other something, and then there's the offspring with their demands. What's up with that? Back in my day kids found things to do on their own. Just kidding. I'm sure I followed my mom around the house asking for food and telling her how bored I was. With that in mind, today I'll walk a little faster so they can't catch me and make a list of things that won't get done.

A woman raised by apes?

I tried several times to get interested in Origin, a book that has been on my shelf for years. The book's description sounded interesting enough and it's by an author I'm not familiar with so I thought I'd finally open it up. I tried and tried and tried. Here's what got me every time: the main character was raised by apes. I'm not even joking. There's no way I could pull that off. My main focus in my writing is believability, and asking my readers to engage in a woman that was raised in the rain forest doesn't seem possible. Before deciding to quit the book, I went to Goodreads to read some reviews and was surprised to see that many people enjoyed the story. There were some, like myself, who questioned what the author was thinking. Needless to say, I won't be recommending this book. Apes? Really?

In with the new, out with the old?

I love creating new characters. I love creating a ficticious life for them to be a part of. It gets my creativity flowing and life is good. However, my husband insists that readers want to hear how characters from the previous books turn out. He is suggesting that I continue to tell their stories. For me, that isn't always easy. First off, I'm about sick of some of the characters I've created after reading the book for the eight hundredth time. Second, I find it difficult to continue a character's story after a certain point. Does everything work out for them and they live happily ever after? Is that what the reader is looking for, some sort of closure? Does the character suffer from more sadness and betrayal and need to be talked off the ledge once again? At some point, if a character can't buck up, I'd want to just push them over that ledge and be done with her or him. Is that too cruel?

I will say that I did extend a few characters from book #1 to book #2 - Nancy being one of them. I'm struggling with the idea of pushing some characters from #2 to #3. I have some new characters already formed and if I string along the old ones that might make for a confusing book with too many characters to keep track of. Maybe I'll take a poll once book #2 is published to see if anyone is interested in hearing more about a particular character's story.

If you're reading this, who do you want to hear more about from Missing Maggie?

The beginning of a new novel

It's hard to know where to begin a story. Do I start by telling the reader something quirky about a character? Do I start in the middle of an action scene? Do I set the scene first and then dive in from there? Books I've read about writing typically say to start with some sort of rising action. They say you only have a few pages, maybe even a few paragraphs, to hook your reader. It makes sense. A reader can download a sample of a book and know within a few pages whether they want to spend money on the piece of literature. So, the beginning is crucial. It is your first impression and it better be good. Hence, starting a new book takes a lot of consideration. I don't know how many times I rewrote the first chapters of my other two books until I felt satisfied. Each word had to be scrutinized. Each character description had to be just right. Each line of dialogue needed to reach out and grab the reader. Now, I just need to do that again. I need the reader to hang on and enjoy the ride with me.

Well deserved break

I'm taking a break from taking a break during this hot 4th of July week. The sun is a beautiful sight, but this chick has had enough. While gathered with family and friends, we've camped, swam, and laughed until we had nothing left in us. Today, we'll take time to recover in the air conditioning until the fun starts all over again. Is it possible to have too much fun?

As for writing, my printed copy of book #2 sits in a pile on the counter waiting to be edited. It's been moved several times, never out of sight though. I keep it out in plain view as a reminder that there is still more work to be done. There is always more work to be done.

Editing

Editing is not one of my favorite things to do, but it's probably the most important step in the writing process. I'm reading book #2 AGAIN and this time I'm looking at the sentence structure only. I'm making sure my word choices are consistent and my verbs are all correctly congugated. I'm removing extra spaces that somehow snuck into the paragraphs and I'm looking up words in the dictionary to verify my use is correct. Everyone thinks that English majors are grammar freaks that can pick apart a sentence and tell you all their fancy names. That isn't me. I studied English for the literature, the beautiful flow of words on a page. Hopefully when I'm finished with this book, it will be cleaner than Missing Maggie. I plan on editing it two more times---I'm determined to get it right.

My son is writing

I've always known he was a good writer, but I just didn't think he would sit down to type on the computer without an assignment prompting him. The other day though, my 11-year-old typed out 1000 words. This is summer vacation, mind you! I thought I might burst into tears.There he was sitting on the couch, netbook on his lap, and get this, THE TV WASN'T ON. Shocking. Is it possible he's even tired of watching that hunk of junk?

I haven't read his story yet because I'm afraid I'll say something to make him stop. Moms have a way of doing that you know. They butt in when they shouldn't but they can't help themselves. It is so hard to keep our mouths shut! I can only hope that he continues with his story and turns it into something wonderful. Maybe he'll even let me post it here.