Sorry I’m late with this week’s post. I’m currently flying between Korea and the US and boy are my arms tired. Rim shot please. Sorry (again). I blame the jet lag. My body clock tells me it’s 4:30pm. The clock on the bedside table and the darkness outside tell me it’s 3:30am.
I’ve been looking for inspiration the last couple of weeks. I’m stuck in my current WIP at a scene that’s just not working. I tried to write around it but I couldn’t. My story needed whatever came out of this scene for some reason. It was a pivotal moment for my heroine but I couldn’t get her to the point I needed. I needed inspiration. I needed a muse intervention. Both eluded me.
Until I hit 35,000 feet somewhere over the ocean last night (yesterday afternoon??). And all the lights are off on the plane. And everyone is asleep around me. And of course the guy in front of me wants to recline his seat so my computer sits at an angle where I can neither type nor see the screen. What’s a writer to do?
By the dim glow of my dying Kindle, I pulled out the notebook and pen and scribbled maniacally. Sometimes old school is just what you need and the words flowed for pages. If I’d ever done drugs, I think this would be what is described as a high.
I fight with writer’s block a lot. I over think things (no gasps of surprises). I want the perfect word versus a word that will get me through the first draft and onto the important words “The End” at the end. When I find the words, I edit and edit and edit. I started using a new trick in an attempt to get past this. I uses () as a symbol something more is needed but I don’t have it right now. And when my characters get sassy and do the unexpected that requires a change in the earlier story, I used track changes to put a comment in the side margins to remind myself to go back do this LATER. Not now. Now is for new words.
I wrote a previous blog post on scheduling and have not been living my schedule like I should. It’s been tough with all the changes in my life since June. The new job is about 20 hours a week more than my previous. Adjusting to a new city/job/country has been exciting and thrilling and terrifying. I have some health issues that require my adherence to a pretty strict diet and changing cultures has been a challenge to that as well, so I’m not feeling tip top. But those are excuses for the elusive muse to dig in deep and keep my fingers off the keyboard.
I’m heading to RWA Nationals next week and I am just exploding with excitement to be back in that environment. I was a regular attendee for 10 years. I even co-chaired and chaired the conference for 2 years. Not only do I get to root for some fellow writer friends up for a RITA and a Golden Heart, and meet my new critique partner, I get to drink in that buzz of inspiration and creativity that comes from being around so many writers. You’ll also see me with my notebook and pen.