When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. ~ Ansel Adams
I will apologize now for any upcoming typos that I miss. As I sit here typing this, the dog keeps dropping his toy on my keyboard. You know, I'm sure Lassie never behaved this way. Perhaps he was too busy saving Timmy from the well he'd fallen down for the umpteenth time. Great...now he's doing his butt dance. This is something that has to be seen to be believed, but I'll try to describe it as best I can. Imagine a bunking bronco, and then imagine that bunking bronco is slamming his butt into your chair. Oh well, at least he's not trying to eat his tail. He seems to have gotten it into his head that it’s a chew toy.Meanwhile, back to my originally scheduled post before Cedar got me off track. My vacation has ended (que sad music and wailing). It was an awesome vacation sandwiched between two weekends away, lots of food, and plenty of writing. Sadly the lots of food was not followed by lots of trips to the gym. It should have been. I'm sure at the retreat alone I ate double my weight in carbs. I'm making up for it now.
The photo shoot with Heather Gionet was fabulous. We had a great sunny day and lots of natural light. The setting at Kings College was perfect. It will be about 3-4 weeks before the pictures are ready for me to view and choose. I can't wait!
Last weekend was RWAC's annual Writers Retreat at White Point and once again it was an absolute blast. There was plenty of food (and when I say plenty, I mean I ate anything that wasn't nailed down), a little vino, lots of writing, and awesome company.
When I arrived Friday around noon, I started working on my plot for my NaNo book. My plan was to write Book 2 in the Brides of Fatal Bluff series. Book 1 is The Outlaw Bride (Carina Press, April 2011), and Book 2 is The Widow Bride. I thought I had it all pulled together and it just needed a little more tweaking. Ah, foolish girl...
The more I worked on it, the more the plot fell apart. The main problem I was having was...well, it was somewhat boring. This, upon closer inspection, revealed there wasn't much in the way of conflict. Now, because of the set up in Book 1 with these characters, I didn't have a blank slate to work from. I was married to certain details. I tried not to panic. I failed miserably. I needed to have this ready for NaNo. The clock was ticking. I couldn't figure out how to fix this. None of the ideas I came up with were working. Ahhh!!!
Ahem. I decided I should take a break and go walk in the fall foliage. That seemed to do the trick. I came back with a new idea. Played around a little. It held up. It led to other places. It made the story fun! Interesting! Problem solved and story saved. Whew!
So now, all I need to do is work on my detailed outline to have it ready for NaNo. I use Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet to help with the process. This week and next, I'm transferring the Beat Sheet into 40 beats and posting them on index cards on my bulletin board. Then voila - I will be ready to go on November 1st.
Photo: Julia & me doing the annual clinking of the wine glasses.
12 comments:
Finally, not getting bumped out of your blog! Yeah - and the new look is fabulous, Kelly. I love your tagline :)
The retreat sounds like it was heaven. And with all the cool, rainy weather a perfect time to hunker down and get some writing done. Good to hear you got your plot organized.
Still have Blake's book on my list of books to buy - might have to purchase sooner rather than later. Sounds like you're very organized for NaNo!
Hi Kelly,
So interesting, and I wish I could have been at the retreat.
I have to get going on Nano too - you are ahead of me in preparation (but then you usually are!). Wish I could have joined you for the retreat, those brainstorming sessions are awesome!
We'll have to get together for some write-ins this Nano!
I was thinking about write-ins this morning. And yes - we definitely need to schedule some!
*clinking glasses*
I had an awesomely awesome time. Already looking forward to next year.
As for Cedar's butt dance - our family's dog (a husky-Samoyed mix) used to do the same thing while playing tug of war with a knotted-up leg from a pair of jeans. Rope toys just wouldn't cut it with Nikki (the dog, not our fellow retreat-er.)
I should try that. In the past week he's destroyed 3 ropes.
Loved the retreat this year. It sounds like you made a lot of progress. Congrats, and best of luck with NaNo!
LOL re Cedar's antics!!! He sounds just adorable.
The retreat sounds wonderful...glad it gave you time to work through your plot problems.
Good luck with NaNo this year :)
Sounds like your muse aka Cedar is doing an admirable job at being a-muse-ing...glad to hear you've broken through with a new plot and have all this good writing mojo going on!!
Yay, Kelly! A walk in the leaves is always clarifying. Sounds like you're ready for Nano. Best of luck.
Don't you just love when the plot finally comes together?
Best of luck with Nano, Kelly.
Good luck with the plot - definitely not my strong point, and that's my goal for this week.
Good luck with Nano - you killed it last year and I know you'll do it again.
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