A visit to the story-cellar
I dusted off an old story and started working on it again. This one was conceived seven or eight years ago, and last visited in the Summer of '03. In its last incarnation, I made some real headway, but there were still serious problems that kept it from being feasible. Consumable.
Then I had an idea while driving around last week. I mulled it over for a few days, came up with a plan, and made a date with myself to sit down and do it.
I spent all of yesterday revising it - cut out pages of over-writing, tweaked some phrasing, gave it a slightly older voice. Now I think I'm getting closer to a finished product. Just one plot hinge that needs re-working, maybe one or two key scenes to add. I need some help figuring out just how to carry the idea across, but otherwise I have a nice, juicy story almost ready to go.
That seems to be the way with me. My stories age like wine. :)
It's a good feeling to finally get the creative flow going again. The downside is, I didn't do anything else yesterday except tend the baby. I wrote when he slept, or at least when he was content to sit and snort in his bouncy chair.
Towards the end of the day, I got the same old tremors that always come from extended writing sessions - do you guys ever get those? They're a lot like the tremors I get when I read tarot. Maybe it has something to do with channeling all that energy.
I also didn't do any of the other things that really needed my attention: laundry, bills, personal hygeine. I didn't cook anything, either, so I had to get up early this morning to make myself food for work. (Otherwise, I would have starved, since I can't just order take out or buy most things off the shelf.) Also had to scramble to write out checks for the utilities before the mailman got there today, else we would have been late.
So it's a tradeoff. Not like I can just take off a day to write without facing some consequences.
Still, I spent a day writing. That's pretty friggin' awesome.
Then I had an idea while driving around last week. I mulled it over for a few days, came up with a plan, and made a date with myself to sit down and do it.
I spent all of yesterday revising it - cut out pages of over-writing, tweaked some phrasing, gave it a slightly older voice. Now I think I'm getting closer to a finished product. Just one plot hinge that needs re-working, maybe one or two key scenes to add. I need some help figuring out just how to carry the idea across, but otherwise I have a nice, juicy story almost ready to go.
That seems to be the way with me. My stories age like wine. :)
It's a good feeling to finally get the creative flow going again. The downside is, I didn't do anything else yesterday except tend the baby. I wrote when he slept, or at least when he was content to sit and snort in his bouncy chair.
Towards the end of the day, I got the same old tremors that always come from extended writing sessions - do you guys ever get those? They're a lot like the tremors I get when I read tarot. Maybe it has something to do with channeling all that energy.
I also didn't do any of the other things that really needed my attention: laundry, bills, personal hygeine. I didn't cook anything, either, so I had to get up early this morning to make myself food for work. (Otherwise, I would have starved, since I can't just order take out or buy most things off the shelf.) Also had to scramble to write out checks for the utilities before the mailman got there today, else we would have been late.
So it's a tradeoff. Not like I can just take off a day to write without facing some consequences.
Still, I spent a day writing. That's pretty friggin' awesome.