What's Up Wednesday

Having grown tired of waiting for house elves to magically appear and tackle the dirty work, I decided last week to put on the rubber gloves myself and heed the spring cleaning call. I've been doing things like completely stripping my bedroom of everything I could move on my own. Only after giving everything a serious wipe-down could it reenter the space. Oh my, I'd forgotten how big dust bunnies could get! And I'd forgotten how wonderful a room feels after that sort of attention, when you lay back on crisp clean sheets and look around and there's not a single thing to do. Lovely!

It took a rainy sky and super-talented Jen Osborn's awesome Wednesday challenge (see her cute badge in the sidebar there to the right) to get me to the computer today. If I haven't been doing stuff purging then my head has been lost in ideas and paints. I am happy in that place but I lose crazy chunks of time there. An hour feels like a minute. Why is that? Does this happen to you?

The deal with Jen's challenge is to take a picture of your workspace on Wednesday and share what you've been up to. I love this idea!

Ok, here was my morning:

That, my friends, is a picture of the novel, the work in progress, of the last few years. Scary, huh? What you see are all of my handwritten pages: in notebooks, legal pads, whatever I could find at the moment words struck. There are also words on the computer. So...I am sorting the handwritten papers into folders labeled ACT 1, ACT 2 and ACT 3. I have a special folder for research and so on. I am hoping this will help things progress in the direction of a completed something to eventually share. I feel good about this. The story is tightening up and I am loving every minute of this project.

And a painting in process....it's about swans and what they do under the full moon when no one is watching. More on that soon.

Happy creating,

 

Wednesday Writing Check-In and a Quote

Found the magic 8 ball in our Halloween things. It seemed to be stuck on "YES" that day which was OK with me. I am liking that word these days. Yes to life, yes to creating, to writing, yes to opening up my heart....all those good things.

writing inspiration: I have this printed out and pasted in the front of my writing folder. I think you will like it too. The words are from Isabel Allende, one of my heros.

"For me life becomes real when I write it. What I don't write is erased by the winds of oblivion. I forget a lot, my mind betrays me, I can't recall palces, names, dates or faces, but I never forget a good story...or a significant dream. Writing is a silent introspection, a journey to the dark caverns of memory, moves from revelation to revelation.

I write because I need to remember and overcome. It is from memory and a sense of loss that the passion to create emerges. Every book is an act of love, an offering that I prepare with great care, hoping that it will be well received."--- Isabel Allende

writing check-in: The goal was met! 5,133 new words written on THE PAINTED SPARROW since last Wednesday. Whoo-hooo! I'm super-happy about the progress, I feel good about the new scenes, much better than if I'd used the week to keep revising the words I already have, which is the place I've been with this project for a while now. I do have to admit to spending a good part of two evenings rearranging chapter one again (and again) but I am happy with it now (I think) and have put it away(someone take it from me, please!). Another evening was spent looking at the big picture, writing all the major scenes of the book on post-it notes and placing them in order on a posterboard, then rearranging those too until it felt right. I placed checks on the scenes already written because I'm not writing any of this in order, just as it comes to me. I have stacks of story on legal pads and loose paper and it's quite confusing. The board is helping though, seeing it all laid out like that, a lantern of sorts to light my way. But the highlight of the week was when a new (perfect for now) first sentence came to me out of the blue one morning in that magic time just before the sun comes up. I could just hear the main character, Adele, speaking the words and I got shivers all up my spine. Love when that happens.

OK...more to say but I will save it for the next post. Olivia is calling. It's pumpkin carving time! I'm saying "YES!"

Happy creating!

xoxo

The hanging of ghosties, writing goals, R.A.K.s, and fried green tomatoes

This past week has been filled with:

*Halloween Goodness. We've been decorating around the house and that's always fun. Olivia immerses her whole self in the spirit of whatever holiday it is and becomes this little ball of energy zipping around the house, this time only stopping to paint a wooden house, read (DRIZZLE by Kathleen Van Cleve), or watch the newly-discovered episodes of Kate and Allie on Netflix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Goal Setting and Meeting. Olivia's also putting in the hours at dance. THE NUTCRACKER will be here before we know it. Olivia’s dance class time is my writing time. It’s good guilt-free “me” time and I usually head straight for a coffee shop after dropping her off, but this week I’m trying something new; this week I’m trying out library writing and so far, so good. See, when I’m in a coffee shop, I have zero willpower over chai lattes and caffeine in the evening is something it's better I do without. Plus, libraries have the super-cool book ambiance. I’ve found a favorite spot too, catty-cornered between mythology and genealogy. It looks out onto a courtyard. Cozy and perfect.

A few weeks ago I went on a writers retreat. A cabin in the middle of nowhere, and I do mean NOWHERE. (I mentioned on facebook that it was there I saw my first ever shooting star. The whole time felt enchanted, really) There we did writing exercises like this: our own "Where I’m From Poem"s, but we also had time alone to write on our individual projects. When we gathered together that evening we were all inspired and ready to make things happen. We decided that to keep each other on track between meetings we would set goals and check in once a week. My goal was to write everyday for 30 minutes a day. The first week went pretty smooth so I’ve decided to up the requirements a bit and make my new goal 5,000 words per week on the WIP (work in progress fiction story). This doesn’t include blogging and writing in my journal or doing morning pages. Now, this is going to be more of a challenge but I think it’s what I need to actually get this sucker finished. And (hope I don’t regret this later) holding myself accountable here on the blog with Wednesday check-ins. I did a bit of math and if I can stick to this goal (fingers crossed and wearing all available talismans) I will have the project finished sometime around April or May.

I don’t even have the words to express how much just completing this book would mean to me. This story, the characters, have been company through many difficult moments. It kept my mind busy in Mexico, and then during the chemo visits, the lonely, sick times on the couch after those chemo visits. What a joyous thing to see the characters through to the end, a promise kept to myself.

*A Random Act of Kindness. See the abstract there, the gorgeous square piece on the bottom, blue wall. I've tried three times this morning to get a good shot of it but it's cloudy here and not the best for taking photos. I love this piece. LOVE it. It was a surprise, a random-act-of-kindness, from my friend and local artist, Gina Louthian-Stanley. How fun and fantastic is that! Who doesn't love a surprise? Please click to visit her blog and see more of her amazing work. Gina's work is soulful and expressive. Haunting. Earthy. I just love everything she posts. We all see different things when we look at abstract art. With this piece I immediately saw a swan and that relates to another story, a fairy tale sort of story, I've had in the works and will share all about soon. I placed Gina's art in a spot where I can view it many times throughout the day. I can see it from the kitchen and now, from the dining room where I sit typing these words.

*Trying a New Food. Can you believe I've lived in the South for most of my life (other than my brief stint in NJ) and have never had fried green tomatoes? Well, I just thought that there was something wrong about that, especially being the tomato-lovers that we are in this family, so I picked up four very hard, very green tomatoes at the farmer's market. Just dip them in beaten eggs and then in flour or cornmeal and fry. Olivia helped with the dipping; she didn't help much with the eating though. I thought they were tangy and yummy. What do you think, ever had them?