Journaling

A great writer (and professor of mine in college) introduced me to an invaluable way of staving off writer's block: journaling. In his class on writing the novel, we were required to keep a weekly journal about our writing. I never felt so productive in my life. Not only did my written ruminations on my own creative process prove an interesting record, but they also kept me writing consistently. My professor's advice amounted to "whenever you're stuck, write about why you're stuck" and you basically brainstorm your way out of it. And even if you don't, hey, at least you're writing something!

This practice doesn't just work with writing. I have often found that sitting down and writing about things that are bothering me, or simply jotting down the random thoughts in my head, give me new focus and clarity. It's like getting therapy without paying anyone. And the best part (in my mind - and I might be a bit obsessed with this part) is that you get to keep a record of how you thought and grew over time.

I have an enormous number of paper journals in my apartment: journals for keeping track of what I eat and when I exercise, journals for recording quotes I like or books I've read, journals for my thoughts, journals for my (literal) dreams, journals dedicated to my travels, and even a journal that I used only when I went to a bar every week for a summer. As you might imagine, I'm a fiend for new notebooks. I sigh over leather covers and college-ruled paper. Really, it's a problem when I have my credit card in a bookstore. Because I can always find a new topic for which I need a new journal. Or sheaves of paper. Or shiny pens.

Blogs like this one serve a similar purpose. (Although they do lack the tactile beauty of stacks of ink and paper which is why I believe so many successful bloggers wind up publishing books.) But the public atmosphere of a blog offers the one thing personal journaling can never give - the audience factor. Knowing that your thoughts and experience could make some kind of impact, however small, in someone else's life has enormous allure. Humans are such social creature, even introverts like me (maybe especially introverts like me) long for some kind of outside validation.

But enough of that bit of transparent reflection.

My week off from work to finish my novel is over, and here's my final summary of how it went:

(Percy the cat from my favorite webcomic: Sinfest)

1 - I discovered that I am fully capable of writing every day with no outside motivation.
2 - I am extremely happy with who I am when writing is what I consider my working day.
3 - My expectations of how much I can get done in a week are definitely too lofty.
4 - Drinking whiskey from 8 at night on Thursday until 4 in the morning on Friday will mess you up. Seriously. Hangover hell is no place to write from.
5 - I really should cancel my cable. Daytime TV is almost as bad as hangover hell for writing.

A solid third of my book is completely done. I am hoping that by the end of today, I can make it a half (or more - but there's that lofty expectation thing again). And I definitely plan to keep up with this as I go back to work. I just won't sleep or something. It can be done!

Meanwhile, I also expect to get back on the blogging horse. I started this blog with the goal of eventually posting something every day. And I have a whole list of things that I can't wait to write about. So I'll see you all here again very soon.

Until then, happy journaling.

Finishing My Novel, Day Four

Editing this monstrosity of a paranormal romance novel has been equal parts pain and pleasure. When things are good, they're incredibly good. I feel like... Well. Like this is me and all of the characters in my book:

 

But sometimes I run into roadblocks. Difficult scenes. Blank spots. Uncooperative characters. A sarcastic and sour muse who sits in the corner and stares at me like this:

 Note: my muse is NOT the evil stepmother from Cinderella - but how awesome would that be?

At any rate, today is one of those writing days that is has run the gamut of good and bad. I just finished a really excellent scene where one of my characters fell into a role I had no idea he was going to play - but he played it beautifully. The dialogue came natural and fast. And my poor hero is experiencing early heartbreak. Recipe for a good scene! I moved on to what I thought was going to an equally good scene with the angsting heroine and her conniving betrayer of a best friend. Sounds pretty good too, right? Wrong! Muse staring at me from the corner and refusing to cooperate. 

Hence I'm writing this blog post instead of actually writing my book.

Le sigh.

Overall progress is... progressing. I'd say I'm a solid third of the way through this book. And I feel very good about everything I have so far. The rest is much more action-y and sex-ridden (woo hoo!), so it ought to go fast once it starts. I just need to wrangle my damn muse out of the rafters and get him to work for me. Anyone know any good cowboys who could be of help? Or maybe the perfect recipe for muse attraction? 

My Novel Finishing Week Begins!

Sorry for not updating for so long. No real excuses. Only failure. But we should all choose to grow from our failures and get better - so that's what I'm doing.

I will address other things later - this week is all about finishing my first novel. I wrote this paranormal romance novel back in 2008 (as a joke really), and it ended up being the first novel I've ever written the words "the end" to. For reference's sake, I have started and written a good portion of more than half a dozen novels in addition to this one.

I've grown to love this novel a lot. It's become way more than the joke it started out as - though I do still find it to be far sillier than most of my other books. But I think that's a good thing! And the best part is that the genre is so huge right now, I could stand a decent chance of publishing.

So here's what I'm doing this week. And I took the week off work for good measure to be sure that it's the only thing I'm doing:

Today I've done about seven scenes. Written a couple thousand words. Edited a couple thousand more. Excellent start. More updates as the week progresses.