WRITING:

Camp NaNoWriMo and JulNoWriMo. Tweeting updates with @JulNoWriMo and #CampNaNoWriMo. Every Friday until September 21st, I’ll be writing update posts for WRITE YOUR NOVEL THIS SUMMER.

Fractured Tales Series Word Running Total for July: 38,106 words

Totals from April, June, and July: 201,955 words

It’s high noon. The sun blisters and I squint as a tumbleweed rolls by. There I stand, fingers dancing over my holstered weapon. Across from me, several paces away, my WIP stares me down. It’s a battle of wits, of endurance. On the count of three, I grab my weapon and point to shoot–ink? I look at my outstretched hand to see a pen. Yes. I remember those.

In the distance, my WIP is on the ground, its jacket flung off upon impact. I inch my way towards–my foe?–and see my laptop languishing in the dirt. The screen flickers before it goes to sleep. To my right, a notebook approaches, to my left, more allies, a sketchpad and pencil set. They flank me in a semi-circle as we mourn the sleeping WIP.

What’s this all mean, you ask? After my cathartic FRIDAY FORAGE post, wherein I rambled, pondered, and planned, I spent the weekend in an unusual decompression mode. Most of Saturday was spent outdoors in the sunshine as I and the Mothership ran some errands. Something so mundane as banking and grocery shopping was for me, on a glorious Saturday afternoon, both freeing and relaxing. I strolled the aisles, enjoyed the A/C, and was satisfied at the nutritious bounty we took home. I recall in my youth how much I used to hover in the processed food aisles but have since realized that a healthy body and mind contributes to better creativity, as well.

Never have I appreciated some time away to clear my head–sans The Keysmashing Tots, sans the WIP–before now. It’s been nonstop words, carpal tunnel, baby food and dirty diapers. My mind (along with the rest of me) needed a much needed break. It truly does wonders. Yes, I planned on vegging out Saturday before my epiphany struck me upside the head, and in some ways this was a veg of sorts, but one that was good for the creative soul.

I came home rejuvenated to face my beast of a WIP and try again. What a difference a few hours make. I completely understand why writers insist on putting a draft away for days if not weeks at a time to regain that fresh perspective. Alas, I do not have that extended luxury in my fledgling career, but I’ll take these small breaks whenever I can, especially if a break leads to a breakthrough.

Despite my blogging about the experience here, I’ve decided to go old school and draft the way so many others have suggested. Pen to paper, I’ll continue this writing journey and see where it takes me. At first, I worried that my word count would suffer, but I’ve found so far that free writing sessions unleash even more great stuff that ideas and scenes are flowing more readily now.

This afternoon, I drew maps of my story world. I was pleasantly surprised and how the imagery translated from my mind onto the page. I’m no cartographer, but the crude drawings came out well. Aside from family trees, I also created ‘How’d they Meet?’ trees and all the crisscross connections between characters are helping keep things straight.

I’ll give low-tech creativity a whirl and post an update on the progress and/or pitfalls in the next mid-week check-in.

READING:

Currently reading:

          

First time I didn’t finish any books during the week. With the aforementioned WIP overhaul, my downtime from crafting was never quite downtime. Still, I’m reaping the benefits of reading. I see how it’s improved my writing. And it’s just fun to immerse myself in another world outside of the one I’ve created or the one in which I live.

Next up:

          

Total books read since June 23rd:

Fiction: 7

Non-Fiction: 3

Working on it…

SOCIAL MEDIA-ING  (formerly known as BLOGGING):

Check-ins on Angelina C. Hansen’s blog for #wipmadness are every Monday In July. Two Sunday #ROW80 check-ins and two Mid-Week Check-Ins.

FRIDAY FORAGE will hopefully be a shorter post than the last one, but equally fulfilling as we discuss the fourth week of summer writing updates.

I have to give props to my workshops because they were responsible for my epiphany. The were like the canary down in the mines. Good thing the wisdom gained was the canary getting out just in time. Gotta love the proverbial sunshine after the rain. 🙂

OTHERS:

I’ve probably had several Duolingo updates, but today is the first time I accessed the app to see just how much has changed. While I haven’t yet gotten all up in that business, to be fair, I’ve been speaking the lingo thanks to a few rounds with Dora and Diego. I’ve learned to love the shows TKT watches. So, I’m still working towards my goal of being multilingual.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the sunblock’s on and the words are flowing. I’m not Stella, but I’ve certainly got my groove back.