I had a choice of using another photo similar to this one, with more clarity and better composition. But in the end, I just loved the full-on dramatic blaze of color in this.
I suppose our choices aren’t always rational ones.
Lately, despite my INTJ nature (if you know what that is, you’re nodding in understanding; if you don’t, don’t worry about it), I’ve been the Queen of Non-Rational Choices. At least when it comes to writing. This is part of the mister curse. I rarely ever feel like I get to control a story or make decisions about it. It’s like this great slippery many-tentacled thing that I’m trying to wedge into a Vera Wang gown. Never mind the make-up and hair-I just want the story to be able to walk down the runway without turning into a pile of goo.
So here I am in the middle of RP2. Just past the middle, actually. I’ve got about 63K written and I’m predicting I have about 48K to go. And bizarre things keep happening. I get one tentacle neatly tucked in and three more pop out.
Sigh.
It’s times like this that I wish I could pre-plot, when I’m envious of all those neat little outlines and well-behaved characters who simply suit up and behave. I know, too, that I simply need to slog through this part, that the story is trying to communicate something to me and I have to find out what it is. Writing the words then becomes like saying a rosary or Kaddish – you sit your butt down and put in the time, trusting that the transformation will take place.
Meanwhile, I’m all kinds of cranky. If I were the sort of writer who locked themselves in an attic room, demanded that food be left outside the door and threw temper tantrums, I would SO be doing that right now. But I don’t have that luxury, so I plug along, observing my rituals and routines to stay more or less on an even keel.
This morning, after I lifted weights at the gym, I put the check for the water bill in the dropbox. Taped to it was a note. You know the kind of note I mean. The passive-aggressive kind. It said something along the lines of “Please do not repeatedly slam the dropbox door. The bills will drop easily on the first try.” Clearly this person’s desk is on the other side of the wall the dropbox is attached to and said person is tired of hearing the dropbox door repeatedly slammed.
Now I want to type up a little note of my own and tape it on there. Something like “Please don’t post bitchy little notes.”
Ah, the irony.
This, my friends, is how my crazy writerliness manifests.
Maybe you should all just find me an attic room after all. Just leave food outside the door.
Jeffe, please don’t write posts about bitchy little notes. Because they are too fun and awesome!!
Snort! Hopefully writing about it will keep me from really doing it!
The truly hilarious part? It’s probably not even true. I bet bills get stuck in that thing ALL THE TIME.
They DO, Donna!! You are so right – the thing is a piece of crap. I’m just so amused that you knew this!
I feel your pantser pain. I often wish I were capable of actually plotting books out in advance. Try though I will, it never works for me. Alas.
And running across bitchy notes doesn’t help the pantser pain. 🙁
That’s right, Linda! Don’t they know how traumatized we already are?
go on…embrace you’re inner bitch and let her fly. Maybe you’ll discover something about the “great slippery many-tentacled thing” that’ll be useful. Just a thought.
jeanne
that’s exactly what I’m thinking, Jeanne!
Panster here. I wish I could be fancy like the Planners with the dry-erase boards and post-it notes, with their crafty OUTLINES and DEVELOPMENT. SCREW THAT. AND SCREW BITCHY NOTES. There. I said it.
Oh, hai, Jeffe.
lol, Jen! Thank you for sharing my pain!
Take a deep breath, put everything negative into a big bubble and blow it away. (With a puff of air, not an AK47.) I started out doing this as a joke after seeing it on an episode of Dharma and Greg. Doing it for real, though, seems to work. Eh, it couldn’t hurt, right?
Barring that, beat the living crap out of your pillows. That works, too. ;o)
the poor pillows! 😀
Will it help if I leave Jameson laced coffee outside the attic door?
Yes. Thank you!
“If I were the sort of writer who locked themselves in an attic room, demanded that food be left outside the door and threw temper tantrums, I would SO be doing that right now. But I don’t have that luxury…” hahahahahaaha, I sooooooo feel your pain! Hang in there! {{{{{{{{{{{{SUPERSISTERWRITERHUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
lol – thank you! those are AMAZINGLY good hugs!
Oh, I hate those bitchy little notes.someone at my work leaves those everywhere and to make it worse they are full of typos. I always have to stop myself from attacking them with a red marker.
Carien – I’m laughing and laughing at the image of you correcting the bitchy little notes. Rock on!