This feels like a j-o-b!

WOW! It has been some time since I been on here and written anything worth mentioning. Time for some updates -  first the book is finished! Great News (slap on back, balloons in the air, time to uncork that bottle of champagne) but not so fast. The last few years have been revision pandemonium. Cut here, add there, take this whole CHAPTER out. The blood, sweat, and tears into just writing the novel has now become the aggravation of what feels like a j-o-b, but if one wants to prefect their art it must be done.

But let me tell you I definitely did not start with revision, oh no, I dove head long into novice novelist regrets - I sent out my query (resume of the book) right after one quick pass of an edit, lets just say my cork board is covered with form rejection slips. Each one well deserved and now I stare at them and remember - slow down dear padawan, be patient and learn your inner most ways, feel the force or more directly learn what the heck you are doing.

So this I did, kind of, I went out finding any living thing that would be interested in reading a very rough version of what I believe to be an awesome book. I found a few suckers (I mean wonderful, deep caring people who would like me to succeed). The stats read like this: Husband loves it (of course), offspring read parts and love it (of course), close friends will not touch it with a ten-foot pole in fear of having to tell me bad news (of course). However, I did one (I believe) smart thing and advertised through social media to my friends that I needed 14 to 18 years old kids to read my story - humans I didn't know. Now my stats looked different, not everyone read the book but those who did (9 people including a few adults), and finished it, loved it (or so they say). Now you can't take that to an agent or publisher but I can use it for my drive and determination to work on the story and fine tune it.

I did receive wonderful feedback from all who did read it and I asked some very specific pointed questions of each of them to know areas of improvement. One big standout that I heard from each of the nine people, plus husband and offspring, "I can imagine the place and see everything going on - this should be a movie". Now in the literary world of mine a movie is okay but for someone to read the story and be transported into it is the meat and potatoes.

So now I continue on my fifth edit and work on the writing - trying to bring the book alive. I hope in the near future it will be on a shelf in a bookstore near you.

Gloomy is a word

Gloomy adj A partially or totally dark; esp : dismally and depressingly dark <~weather> (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary circa 1984).

If you were to look out my sliding glass door at this moment this would be the word that you would use to describe the scene. Or if you are a 4 year old  it would be ~ yucky. Dark and depressing does not even cover it, the rain is coming down with no excitement just blah. Not the words of an expressive writer but the truth is that is exactly what is happening. Gray and dismal are sometimes just that ~ gray and dismal.

So as I am doing my summary of my plot and character development I have had to expand out of the gray dismal that can be easily put into long never ending sentences. Instead stormy, misty, ominous, under the cloak of night are better used in writing. Saying the titles Sleepy Hollow or Dracula should rack images of gloomy but with excitement or better yet fear.

I am not sure at this point in my novel how much weather will play into it but gloomy can also be a word easily used for mood. Not that a gloomy mood character sounds entertaining either, but they sometimes help balance the story and bring a sense of realness. Everyone knows an Eeyore...."oh  bother,", not always the most loved character but I think we can relate to him. Sometimes a character with a positive disposition can all of sudden become sullen and gloomy, even if temporary.

At this point in my novel I have certain main characters, without detail I can say I have one character that is a young boy. I wanted to see an image of him on paper as I do in my mind, so thanks to the Internet I found a nameless boy in a pose of what I see this character to be like.....grinning from ear to ear. Always happy and uplifting, nothing gets him down. To think that there is possibilities that within the story he will be gloomy is hard to imagine, however to add depth to him he may have to become gloomy.

I see my plot and story line like a roller coaster but the depth of my characters is something different. They are becoming people that I know and care for or even better hate (my antagonist who actually I like, its complicated).

I continue on and hope that in the periods of darkness I can bring light to my story.

Next Step

Well since my last posting I have had a few questions, mainly why the eyes in the corner. They say the eyes are a glimpse into a soul, true enough these happen to be my daughter's eyes. I love the radiant blue color but also the warmth that they reflect. When developing my characters in my book, I am looking deep into their being to bring out a realistic character.  I want the reader to feel like they know them and can relate. Many characters start to take on personalities of people I know personally or from a distance or someone I wish I was.

The scene of the pond (a watery marsh) is from our property. I started to have the ideas of my book come to life from viewing the pond and listening to the sounds off our mountain. Its peaceful up there and your imagination can wander for hours. When my husband and I take are long hikes it is amazing how the scenary can change by just walking hunderd yards or so as in the book where things do not appear to be what they are.

I have stopped writing the book to due some research and write another short synposis of the whole story line. I get too excited that I start to add way too much material and I need to condense and keep a true story line going. In this process that I am going through now, I think I will be able to see how many books will come from the story, but I won't tell you now you will have to wait and see.

I will be working on the next step.

Where to start?

Question for the centuries. I think all new ventures start with this basic premise 'where do I start'. Say you want to become a doctor, you ask yourself "Where do I start?" easily answered by saying go to college then to medical school. But what if your question of where to start is more vague like 'I want to see the wonders of the world'. Both are obtainable but where one has a more direct path usually the other is, well, vague. For both you prep and plan but I think more people would be able to achieve becoming a doctor than fulfilling a dream of going all around the world. Then the next question is why are they so different?

Really there is no difference, both require money and time, as well as sacrifice of oneself to other opportunities such as families. How does this relate to myself, well I'm a structured type a person. For years I've gotten up at the same time, read the paper with coffee and cereal and lived a very 9:00 to 5:00 lifestyle - the Doctor route, predictable, planned and straightforward. Now during middle age I want to explore and not be routine. I think this will be as easy as a pig flying but determination and persistence will hopefully prevail in my changing.

I think the obvious answer of where to start is where do you want to end. Maybe if the goal is written with more a backtracking approach is becomes a reality. They (who ever 'they' are) have always said that imagery is very powerful and if you clip pictures from books and magazines of the things you want it will help you obtain them. I think I will find pictures of book covers and post them all over my bathroom mirror.

To be fair to myself I have already written 50 pages of my future best selling novel but most brilliant ideas come in the shower or as I am falling asleep. Now I know most people would say get up and go write them down, my problem is I have old timers, meaning by the time I get to a piece of paper I have forgotten the brilliant ideas. I won't begin to tell the problems when I am in the shower.

When I think of my story line and characters I get a smile on my face and get excited for the adventure, but putting it into words with a, the, and ands makes it frustrating. A person like myself with ADD really hates having to put down all the extras but as I mentioned I'm a person who likes routine so that makes me also obsessive compulsive which means I have to make sure I spell correctly and look for mistakes while thinking in triple time. This is not a winning combination for a writer.

Favorite place to write

The question now for myself is not where to start but what is the next step.