I missed the date for writing a new entry last week. Keeping up with a blog, staying on top of my writing deadlines, starting a home business, and having a family life has been an interesting juggling act this year. When I had a regular clock-in-clock-out job, I seemed to be better organized, knowing that each moment was precious. I know that now but I really have to watch that the minutes don’t get swallowed up by non-productive activities.
I finally bought a plan book that lets me record my expected activities for each day. Not just a listing of events or appointments. The goals and objectives for that day. I taught school for so many years and always had to think about my plans for the week. What did I want to accomplish in Reading this week? What lessons/objectives should we cover in Math? I usually started from the end of the year — where we needed to finish — and then broke the lessons into manageable pieces.
Which is the way I also work on a book idea. I usually know the ending, have some ideas about the beginning, and then have to figure out the middle. With most of my completed books, I’ve rearranged chapters after the first draft was completed to help the book flow better or to show character development in a clearer fashion.
So, how do you manage your time? What else you stay on task? Or are you a floater, letting each day move forward at its own pace?
One of my online writing groups has been discussing a recent article that once again complains about romances and books with “Happily Ever After” endings. Reading the article and the comments, I couldn’t help wondering why this is such a bad thing. Or when it became a bad thing. After all, don’t we want our children to have a good life? A life with hope and promise? Perhaps with a compatible mate and love?
Isn’t that the essence of a “Happily Ever After” ending?
Right after that, my husband and I were driving to our youngest son’s basketball game. And I started thinking of the broader version of an HEA. We wanted our son’s team to win the game. We knew that certain players would make a lot of the shots, that there would be free throws after fouls, that some of the refs’ calls would be questionable (for fans of both teams) and that the other team would be going after the same thing. At the end, only one team would end.
Almost sounds like what some people would say is a formula. Two teams, some refs, some shooting of baskets, a happy ending for one team. And yet how many people watch sports every week? How much money is spent on advertising during sports events every week? Ever hear someone say that no one should watch sports because it’s ruining their lives? That sports events aren’t realistic? That nothing good will come from the hours involved in sports? Maybe some do but not to the extent that romance is trashed.
So, I’m not going to listen or read anymore of those complaints. A third of the people will like what we do, a third won’t care, and a third will complain. Listening to the third of the people who like what we do will take enough time. I’m going to concentrate on the positive, keep putting together stories of couples who beat the odds, and read tales from authors who believe in the same thing. Besides, you know that husband I mentioned earlier? We’ve been working on our own Happily Ever After for years. Why mess up a good thing?
This afternoon, I had the opportunity to share with early childhood teachers and caregivers at a workshop. My presentation was called “Sing a Song of Childhood.” I presented an alphabetical listing of songs I used in my kindergarten classroom. We learned all of the songs and then the students could ‘Pick a Letter” to sing a favorite song.
The songs also were used by me for a variety of reasons. We sang at transition times, to lead into a new subject. We chose a song when we were waiting for the next activity, P.E. or Music, for instance. I could start a song and know that I would quickly pull the class together after cleanup time or in the morning.
The main intent of using the songs was to help the students learn the rhythm of words. The songs would rhyme or have specific patterns that would teach vocabulary. Think how many farm animals we learned through “Old McDonald’s Farm.” One of our favorite songs was “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” We would drop a word each time through, until we were only singing the three Rows: “Row, Row, Row,” “Row, Row,” “Row.” A fun way to teach them about words, something they heard but might not have grasped yet. Pre-reading skills that hopefully would lead them to be lifelong readers.
What have you shared with your children to help them learn the lovely rhythm of words?
I’ve been working on a new proposal and revising a manuscript I completed a couple years ago. Between the two activities, I’ve been thinking a lot about what constitutes a story and how we grow as writers.
The first few pages of the completed manuscript made me cringe. I couldn’t believe I wrote those words. . . and sent them out to an editor!! The writing wasn’t completely horrid but when I reread parts of a book that had been published around the same time, I couldn’t believe the difference. I don’t know if I was off those months when I was writing or the story just had a different feel in my head. Whatever the reason, I’m enjoying the chance to revise extensively and I love the way the new plot is coming together. We’ll see what happens.
The proposal is taking me in another direction. While I was working with a somewhat finished product on the completed manuscript, I’m creating a new world with the proposal. New characters, new situations, new possibilities. A blank page each time I sit down to write. My mind is constantly turning over ways to bring the characters together and then pull them apart. I have this great Robert Frost quote taped to my computer that my mom had on hers: “No tears in the writer,no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” I love having tears drip down my cheeks while I’m writing or that lovely ‘aha!’ moment that comes when my characters do something totally unexpected. My family may look at me funny sometimes when they pop in to ask a question but it means the words are working. And that’s what we authors strive for every time we write.
Happy Reading and Writing!
After my plan to keep up with my blog better this year, we had the winter storms show up. Who knew that I wouldn’t be able to get back to my computer after that last blog for almost a week? Not that I really want to complain, since we only lost cable and many around our town, including our neighbors across the street, lost their electricity. Families were huddled together in whichever house did have electricity, community buildings and churches opened up for people to wait out the storm, and some bought a generator to convert at least part of the house into liveable space. We’ve just started to get things back on track and another snowstorm has hit our town. Not as much ice this time but driving home this afternoon, I passed five fender-benders from slippery roads.
I did write, while the cable/Internet connection was down. I finished my new proposal and had it ready to go to the PO as soon as the roads were clear enough. I started revising pages for another idea and went to a neighboring town to meet with a critique partner. The weather may have slowed us down, shut down some businesses, but our brains and relationships with others continued.
That’s why I write. To share that enormous spirit of life that is within each person. I love discovering what draws two people together. . . and what keeps them together. Are there certain odds or circumstances that are too much for them? How do they handle adversity? The last snowstorm was an adventure for us. We didn’t have outside family to connect with so we stayed inside, built a fire, played cards, read, reconnected with each other. We did have some friends show up to use our showers once the roads were passable and we enjoyed visiting over dinner.
What draws you to a book? Do you like to root for the characters or are you more interested in the plot? Whatever you choose, I hope you stay safe with whatever weather you experience!
