possibly pointless blabbering

This Time, It’s The N

annabowling Leave a comment

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not a race. It’s finding your voice. You’re okay. Now get off that ledge, give yourself a day off, feed your soul with something that brings you joy and sit back down from a place of peace. You’re a writer. You’re fine. You have all the time in the world.
-Beth Treadway

Well, I knew it had to happen sometime. We have had the first casualty, or should I say, sign of wear, on the new external keyboard. The bottom part of the N, I noticed as I sat down for the morning’s session, is not as there as it used to be.  I take that as a source of pride. I’ve been pounding keys enough to wear away letters on this new keyboard. As I started typing this entry, I noticed that the L is looking shaky on the bottom as well. Not too shabby, getting those letters, well, um, shabby.

Wearing the letters off keys may be the computer equivalent of emptying pens, which I have also been doing. I’d say filling notebooks as well, but maybe that’s more like using up memory with accumulated files. Maybe? Maybe not? I’m not sure that everything translates like that, but that’s not where I’m putting my mental energy these days.

The first part of this week was consumed by domestic tornadoes of the sort that make one exclaim, “Really, life? Really?” Along with a few other strong words.  Second half of the week looks better, with a new opportunity that may be in the offing, but let’s get back to the first part, which fits very well with today’s quote.  There are going to be times in every writer’s life when the world goes crazy. That’s not an if, that’s a when, and it’s going to happen to everybody. Accepting that makes it easier to handle, I’ve found.

The last few years, the last year, and the last couple of days have made me realize how much a part of me writing actually is. It’s been a dedicated search to find my voice again, and find the process that works for the writer and the person I am now. There’s some wandering around in the woods still, but there are trail markers, and those are all worthy of celebration. It’s not a race (unless there’s a deadline, but that’s a good thing) and it’s okay to take the time to do it right.

Head down, eyes on my own paper. I got this. I know how to write a book. I know how to write a romance novel. I may not have a muse, but I do have a magpie, and she is happily gathering shiny things; books and movies and songs and scents and flashes of scenes and I am getting all of this down. Emptying pens. Filling notebooks. Rubbing the letters off computer keys.  Putting story where there was no story before. That’s progress.

The bottom bar of that L key is going down.

Typing With Wet Claws: Explaining the Writer Brain Edition

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Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday.

The humans say the new year is now underway, but it has been for the last week or so, so I think they need to pay better attention to their calendars. Anyway, this week has been cold. Thankfully, I have a built in full length fur coat, and I am an indoor kitty, so I did not have to go outside. My humans did, every day, and they were not always happy about it, but they are happy to come home to a warm apartment, and, of course, to me.

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One good thing about  the weather being this cold and sometimes snowy is that it inspires Anty to hunker down and get some writing done.  This is what her current desktop screen looks like. She picked this picture because it is very similiar to the cover of the calendar on the wall of her office, but will probably change the desktop a few times before she finds something that feels really right. The important thing here was to put the Christmas desktop away until it is Christmas again. She is always a little sad to see her favorite time of the year come to an end, but it is my job to remind her that this means the start of a new year, and Valentine’s Day is coming very soon. Valentine’s day is a very important day for romance writers.

Also important is when Anty has a new post at Heroes and Heartbreakers, and this Monday, she did. She is very glad this was her week to recap Sleepy Hollow, because a lot happened, for three different ships (I am still not sure how ships fit into this kind of show, but they do not tell kitties these things.) Her post is here and looks like this:

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There have been a lot of domestic tornadoes this week, but Anty is not letting that distract her from getting ready for the new book. I can tell she is working hard at this because sometimes, she does not seem to be all there. Writers’ pets, you know what I mean. If you are not a writer’s pet (or a writer’s human) then I will explain.

Sometimes, your writer may get so deep into their book, especially when they are getting ready to make their first draft, that part of their brain will stay there, even when they are doing other things. Even when they are doing important other things, like ordering tea or making human food. Ask them a question that they should be able to answer easily, but all the answer that gets is a confused look, something that sounds like “huh?” and maybe a quick mumble before they start getting antsy (like I do before I have to, um, defend my family against the Green Chair of Evil.) At that point, it is best to accept the inevitable. Your writer has a new book brewing, and they are going to be spending a good deal of their time talking to the people who live in their heads. Anty says it is more a case of making sure the people in her head talk to her. Either way, the people in Anty’s head live several  hundred years in the past, so it makes sense that it takes her some time to get back to the rest of us. As long as she can still open the bag of treats, I am okay with that.

Anty's typical view

Anty’s typical view

That is about it for this week. Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Happy New Year Edition

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Hello, all. Skye here, for the first Feline Friday of 2015.

First of all, thank you to all who read my entries. Today’s picture is me, getting ready to blog. I give these posts a lot of thought because I want to do a good job. I am glad that my readers think that I do.

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The big news today is that Anty can confirm she has destinked my notebook.  She is very happy about that. Even Uncle, who has a super sniffer (for humans; cats are still better at smelling than he is. Nothing personal. It is a fact.) cannot smell my contribution. It is good to be off the hook for this one. Anty has learned she really cannot leave any of her notebooks on the floor, so even she has learned something from this experience.

Two things, really. One, not to leave books near my pee spot, no matter how tired she is, and two, how to destink a notebook doused in cat piddle. In case you want to know how, it is easy.

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  1. Put the stinky book in a big Ziploc bag; it must be the kind that zips closed. Ties or flaps will not work, because this must be airtight. Anty says it’s worth going for the brand name on this.
  2. Pour baking soda into the bag. Use a lot. You should be able to see a couple inches of it in the bottom of the bag.
  3. Squeeze all the air out and zip the bag all the way shut.
  4. Keep it shut for about a week.
  5. Every day during that week, shake the bag about twice a day, so the baking soda gets all over the notebook, in between all the pages.
  6. At the end of the week, open the bag. Take the book out and shake it over the trash, to get any excess baking soda out.
  7. Smell the book. Does it still smell like kitty piddle? If it does not, your book is saved. If not, you may want to put it back in the bag and throw it out. Then buy a new book.

Anty also tried this on the notebook that got soaked by her water bottle, and this trick got rid of that smell, too.

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She says that saving two notebooks she thought were lost for sure starts the year off on a good note. I think she is right. Now we will know what to do if this ever happens again. I do not think that it will (at least not the part about my pee place) but at least there is a protocol in place.

Happy 2015

Happy 2015

i think that is it for now, so happy new year to everybody. See you next week.

Until then, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Plannering

annabowling 2 Comments

Monday’s entry on Wednesday, that’s not too bad. Last time this year I’ll be off schedule, I promise. Since today is New Year’s Eve, I am fairly certain I can keep that promise. As for the year ahead, well, that’s still an open -and unwritten- book. Actually, a few of them.

2014 was one of the interesting years, and I am not sorry to see it go. 2015 is full of opportunity. I intend to make the best of it. Not making resolutions this year. Goals, yes. Making those, and keeping track of things in notebooks and planners is definitely part of that.

Though 2014 had its surprises, one of the good ones was me falling in love with Paperblanks notebooks, via my 2014 planner. That’s the green one above, reproduced from a 19th century French silk textile design (I would so get the regular notebook in that design, but I’m picky about closures, and the closure on the pocket size makes no sesnse) It’s paired with my 2015 planner, in my new Paperblanks design crush, the silver filigree, aka “The Precious.”

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That’s the entire Precious family to date – planner is in onyx, aka Badass Precious because it’s the tough one. Baby Boy Precious is the blue one, and the first one to come  home; I knew right away that was to be the pocket notebook for the new historical, and started it as such. That is going to get a small adjustment as his sister (yes, some of my notebooks have genders) Baby Girl Precious was my Christmas gift to me. I wasn’t sure what to do with her at first, but getting the whole family together, it became clear; Baby Boy gets hero notes and Baby Girl gets heroine notes. Appropriate, because one of my goals (see, goals, not resolutions) is to know the hero and heroine of this book inside out so I do not flounder and we do not end up blinking at each other halfway through the book and wander off in our separate directions. That is so last year. Last several, actually, but moving right along…

The ultimate goal is to nab the desk sized version of Baby Boy, aka Big Daddy Precious. If there is a Big Mama Precious, she is, of course, welcome. Still needed a desk sized notebook because writing in pocket sized all the time makes my hands cramp, so in the meantime, I am drafting this lovely notebook that was a birthday present from my lovely housemate:

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This book -oh heck, the working title is Her Last First Kiss– is not an inspirational romance (it’s historical) but when the right notebook calls out, I am going to use that notebook. Colors coordinate with Baby Boy (and someday Big Daddy) so the association is easy to make.

But those are notebooks, not planners, even if what they mostly contain right now is plans for the 2015 book. Whatever works, right? Right now, I want to write in these with fountain pens, to which I am fairly certain I can become addicted to in short order. Appropriate for a historical writer, I say. Microns will do if I find myself without a fountain pen, but first choice right now is the Pilot Varsity.

As for calendars, this one will be adorning my office wall for the next twelve months:

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I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it on the rack at Barnes and Noble, as it fit oh so well with the notebooks below:

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Different manufacturers, but same feel, and my brain says they all smell like baby powder, even though they do not. That would be the images smell like baby powder, not the notebooks.

For those wondering if I ever managed to destink Skye’s notebook, I am letting the baking soda sit for one extra day to be extra extra sure, and then finding out.

aoon, we will know...

aoon, we will know…

What planners/notebooks are starting out your new year?

 

Typing With Wet Claws: Boxing Day Edition

annabowling 2 Comments

Hello and happy Boxing Day (that is the day after Christmas, if you do not know what that is) to all. Skye here, for my second post of the week, because it is Feline Friday once again.

I spent most of the second part of yesterday under Anty and Uncle’s bed, because that is my safe place. Company came, and the humans laughed really really loud a lot. Everybody had stories to tell, there were a lot of food smells, and most of the lights were on. Too much for this kitty. Also, the company smelled like two other cats and a dog, and I was not sure if those guys were going to come in, too. Really, under the bed was the best place. I did come out once while the company was here, to get treat Uncle put in my purple bowl (that is where my treat goes; my food goes in my other bowl. That other bowl is white.Mama put some food in that one while Anty took care of company) but I stayed close to the wall to be safe. In case you are wondering, the other pets did not come with the company, which was only people. The people were very nice and my humans seem to like them. Maybe I will come out next time.

Anty and Uncle say company has to come back so everybody can start the traditional Christmas zombie hand (I have talked about that before) which may not be only for Christmas, if they are doing it at another time.  One of the guests said she reads my blog and likes it. I have a fan. That is a wonderful Christmas present. I also got filet mingnon flavored cat food. I really really liked that. I usually eat fish jelly (which is also good) but on special days, I get filet mingnon. I do not know if I spelled that right.

Anty managed to get some writing done in between all the Christmas things, and she was up again early this morning to do more.  That is a very good sign. I had better get my blog entry posted before she wants the glowy box again.  She is no longer grinchy or meh. I think that is a good thing. She says she has plans for 2015, but first, today is the start of her favorite week of the year. She calls the week between Christmas and New Year the “tucked away week” and says it is special. I am not sure exactly how it is different from the rest of the year, apart from being between two holidays. Maybe it is the leftovers. Anyway, she usually spends that week with a lot of stories – reading (she is now reading Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, which Mama gave her for Christmas) and watching movies. This year, there will probably be  lot of writing as well. She says she is making up for lost time. I am not sure what that means, but writing makes her happy, and a happy Anty gives me bigger portions of treat.

 

Not a real kitty

Not a real kitty

That is about it for now. Next week’s blog may need to go up on Thursday instead of Friday, because Friday is New Year’s Day, and Anty will go visit Anty Michele, who also writes books and lives in the Old Country.  Anty Michele has a party every year where humans trade books. Anty loves this party, so that is where she will be that day.

Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

 

Typing With Wet Claws: Special Christmas Edition

annabowling 2 Comments

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and happy Thursday to those who not. Skye here, pinch hitting for Anty on Christmas day. I have never written two blogs in one week before, so I am a little nervous here. Anty said she really needs me to blog for her today, because she is very busy, so I will give it a try. There is a lot of stuff going on today.  I will try to hit the highlights.

Wrapping paper is very noisy, in case you were wondering.

Wrapping paper is very noisy, in case you were wondering.

Anty got up very early this morning to make sure all the Christmas things were in order. We are having company this year, which we usually do not, but Anty gets excited over company, so things are happening. Lots of presents under the tree. This year, Anty decided that black and white wrapping paper is classy and versatile, so it was mostly that and the kraft paper she uses for a lot of different things. Anty, Uncle and Mama exchanged presents after breakfast. I hid under the bed because wrapping paper is very noisy when it is getting unwrapped. Fun to play with in small amounts, though. I will bat some of it around later tonight, probably after company has gone home.

Mr. and Mrs. Gothy Claus

 

Sometimes, new characters pop up in Anty and Uncle’s heads, that live with us instead of inside books. This year, Mr. and Mrs. Gothy Claus happened, because they were both wearing black.  They both wear a lot of black. Some of my fur is black, too. Uncle’s hat says “Bah Humbug.” Anty makes him wear it all during presents. That is okay, because he likes it. I do not wear anything on my head. Ribbon bows were discussed when I first joined the family (I have been here a few years) and I said very big no thank you, because ribbon bows are scary and I do not want them on my head.

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Anty is not wearing all black today; yesterday, she painted her toenails red with green glitter. She said she wanted obnoxious Christmas nails. She didn’t get a chance to do her fingernails, but the toes came out nicely. Did I mention I love the smell of nail polish? I always want to be really really close to her when she does her nails. Then I stare at her, very hard. It’s a cat thing.

The only holiday movie Anty has had a chance to see so far is A Very Brady Christmas, which she says is perfect in its horribleness. I do not understand the criteria Anty has for judging movies. She and Mama plan to watch more Christmas movies during the upcoming week. I will probably hide under the bed if they laugh too loudly, which they probably will. i will come out for treat, though, and possibly playtime.

That is about it for now, at least until the company comes. I will tell you about the rest of the day tomorrow.

Until then, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Typing With Wet Claws: Six Days to Christmas Edition

Asideannabowling 2 Comments

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Hello, all. Skye here, for another Feline Friday.

Anty really needs me to blog for her today, because it is six days until Christmas. She says she has been running around in circles, screaming, but that is not entirely what is going on.  She has been spending time on the glowy box, and writing in her notebooks. Also making a lot of lists, because lists help her feel calmer and more in control. I wish I could make lists, but hiding under the bed does the trick pretty well, so I am okay most of the time.

Anyway, Anty has hit the critical stage for Christmas. That is her favorite day of the year. Normally, she is very happy about this from the time we are done with Thanksgiving dinner, but this year, not so much. Life is good, but there have been a lot of domestic tornadoes. Anty being Anty, she has a plan to work around this. Some of it involves making a lot of lists. She says she is not putting her lists on this blog, so I cannot share them, but she says I can share other parts of her plan.

What Christmas movies are missing from this picture?

What Christmas movies are missing from this picture?

Christmas movies are a big part of getting into the holiday spirit in our house. Uncle likes Elf, but we do not have that one. It is still good, though. Anty likes Love Actually so much that she has the book of it; that is in script form, not a novel, which she finds unusual and very fun. Yes, she has read along with the movie, in case you were wondering about that. She also can say Billy Mack’s whole swear line from memory and thinks it is very creative. She might not like me saying that, so maybe do not share that part. Thank you in advance for your discretion.

About a Boy counts because it is not a Christmas movie, but has two important Christmas scenes, and she says that is enough to qualify. It is also by Nick Hornby, and Anty really really likes his stories. She thinks he should write more books. She has already read all the ones there already are, so she needs more.

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol is the first movie Anty ever saw in a theater. It was not new then, so you cannot tell how old she is by that. She does say she felt cheated because the first thing she saw in that movie was the curtains opening to show theater seats. That was confusing to a human kitten.  She still loves it, though, even if nobody else in the family will watch it with her. She would eat razzleberry dressing if it were real.

Anty did not want to see The Holiday at first, but her friend, Carol, said it was good, so she watched it and now she loves it almost as much as Love Actually. Only almost. Maybe if it had Hugh Grant, it would rank higher, but it does have Jude Law. Uncle does not like Hugh Grant, but Jude Law is okay. He has Jude Law’s Sherlock movies, but they are not about Christmas.

She took the Charlie Brown movie out of the library yesterday, because if that couldn’t get her in the Christmas spirit, nothing could. I think it is working, and she has not even seen it yet. This time,  I mean. She has seen it a lot before.

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What other Christmassy books are good this time of year?

 

When Anty is not on her glowy box, in a notebook or watching a movie, she finds Christmas stories are very good this time of year. She loves Christmas romance anthologies (do you know any good ones?) and, although she did not know it, Landline starts at Christmas.  She says that is coincidence, but I think there may be something more than that going on. It is the season of miracles, after all.

Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Time, Place, and Billy Joel

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‎If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.
– Billy Joel

Welp, ten days until Christmas, and I am nowhere near ready.  This surprises me. Christmas has been my favorite holiday since I was but a wee sprog, even more as an adult than as a kid, and, normally, I am in a constant Christmas frenzy from the moment I get up from Thanksgiving dinner.  This year, well, it’s snuck up on me. I’m not sure how that happened.

I’m not sure, for that matter, if it matters how it happened. Fact is that it did, I have ten days until The Day and all I can do is make the best out of what i have. Today’s quote is from Billy Joel, one of my all time favorite musicians, and I’m going to count him as a favorite writer as well, because “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” is a whole story of everyday genius, and there’s “Captain Jack” and he managed to evoke emotion in “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” which is comprised entirely of name dropping 20th century names, events and places. So yes, one of my favorite writers right there, as writers come in all flavors.

One of the reasons I love Billy Joel’s writing (and music) is that it is intrinsically tied to his voice. First few notes of “Piano Man,” and you’re there, in the bar, breathing the stale smoke and watching the regular crowd shuffle in and do their thing, again and again, day after day, while simultaneously inside the piano player who knows this can’t be his end point. It has to be only a stop along the way. (Pause here a moment to appreciate the storytelling mastery of “Stop in Nevada.“)  It’s a very specific place, and  yet a very universal feeling, and I think that’s why it resonates as much as it does with me.

I’m all about the emotional connection, which is probably a good thing since I write romance, and since I write historical romance, the connection to a time and place is also important. There’s a world of difference between Georgian England and modern day NY, but the same desire, to be known and accepted for the person one already is, that’s timeless. So, all in all, I’m in the right genre, and that’s a good thing to know.

This past Saturday, I sat in a room full of other romance writers and listened to the fabulous Marie Lark share her method of plotting via character motivation (which also works for pantsers. I think I’m somewhere in the middle, but not doing labels at this time.)  Where I’d come into the meeting wondering if I wasn’t off the mark with something regarding the new historical that I oh so greatly love but still didn’t quite grasp yet, by the time we were only a few minutes into the workshop, my characters, once reticent, were blabbering at me faster than I could write.

One of the things I found I tended to do during my wandering around in the woods years was focus so much on the plot that the characters faded. That’s not what I love. What I love is the characters driving the whole story, their needs and wants (especially when the needs and wants are two different things) taking me where we all need to go. This workshop was a great reminder of that, and exactly on time.

Which will be the same with my favorite season of the year. Play some Christmas music. Play some Billy. Write some story. Bake some cookies. Let the lights shine. Prepare the traditional Christmas zombie hand and dangle an ornament from its fingers. My mother used to say, “the more you do, the more you’ll want to do,” and she’s right. The Monday blog post is already up on Monday, I baked brownies, and story things are going to happen. Tree is decorated, gifts are in their process of being created and distributed, and far better to embrace the season with ten days left to The Day than turn Grinchy and let it slip by me completely. Besides, in our family, the twelve days of Christmas start on the 25th, so adding that all in, I’ve got oodles of time. Now where did I put those candy canes?

 

Typing With Wet Claws: Running Late Edition

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Skye here, for another Feline Friday.

We had big snow this week. I am an inside kitty, so I was not out in it, but snow does make Anty happy, so she was. She did not take any pictures so far, but she says winter is young, and there wasn’t a lot of time, She said it was something to do with the domestic tornadoes we had this week. Human lives get complicated, and often involve trips to the laundromat. I am not entirely sure what happens in a laundromat, but Anty says she does a lot of her writing there. Since she always takes her notebooks with her, that makes a lot of sense.

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The Christmas tree went up this week, as did the lights around the doorways to the living room and Uncle’s office. Last night, one of the light strings fell down when I was sitting under it. That was scary. It did not hit me, but still not something I would care to repeat. The humans gave me food to make me feel better.. That worked.  I also got more food when Uncle decided to see if I would play with the light from the big flashlight. I did not. Silly Uncle. Lights are not toys. Crumpled papers are toys. Anty makes me a lot of them, so that works out well.

Anty worked a lot this week. She has a new post up at Heroes and Heartbreakers, about the 200th episode of Bones. It is here and it looks like this:

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Beyond that, she says she has kept her head down and eyes on her own paper, which is probably a human thing. She will explain later. Since she keeps her eyes on her paper, I keep my eyes on her. Most years, she watches a lot of Christmas movies and reads Christmassy books, but so far, nothing this year. This concerns me. Writing and pre-writing time is good, but that takes a lot of energy away from important things like playing with me. Christmassy movies and TV shows usually mean she will make popcorn. I don’t eat it (as it is not kitty food) but the smell is amazing. Same with hot chocolate, of which there has not been any yet that I can tell. This also concerns me. Knowing Anty as I do, I know her Christmas fever is going to kick in sooner or later, and the longer it takes to start, the harder it will hit when it does.

Really, it’s in everyone’s best interest that she start as soon as possible. I am not sure what I can do to get that underway, (if you have suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments) but the decorations being up is a very good start.

Tomorrow, Anty will be going to her CRRWA meeting, which is always a good thing. She gets to spend time with other romance writers, hang out in a library and best of all, come home to feed me.

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That’s about it for this week.

Until next time, I remain very truly yours,

Skye O’Malley Hart-Bowling
(the kitty, not the book)

Fumbling Toward Storytown

annabowling 4 Comments

You should walk towards yourself as a writer, not away.
—Chuck Wendig

Writer Friends: What are you working on right now?

Me: :shifty eyes: Um, :mumble mumble: New historical :mumble mumble: Georgian. :mumble mumble: Something about a love triangle. :mumble mumble: Canada.  :mumble mumble: Hey, look, a kitty.

Even if there’s no kitty. Really, all I want is to change the subject. Current Project doesn’t want to be talked about yet. Odd for me, since extrovert me really does want to talk to Everybody about pretty much All The Things, though I’ve tried really really hard to hold myself back on that. Sometimes too much. There has to be a happy medium, and sometimes it’s tricky to find. On the other hand, there is such a thing as talking too much about a story, so much so that A) It’s all talked out and now no longer needs to be written, and/or B) there’s so much input from so many different sources that outside voices drown out the voices of the characters. In either event, nothing gets done, and the characters sit around in the author’s brain, all crabby because they were all set to have this awesome adventure and now nobody’s doing anything and what are they even here for?

Imagine various couples dressed in garb from various historical eras, drumming their fingers on various tables, sighing loudly and looking out the windows because they are sooooo booooored. Not with being historical people (except for Anthony and Christine, whom I tried to shove into a Regency setting where neither they nor I are at all  happy, because Regency sells, but my heart wasn’t in it. We’ll give this a rest and try again in a different era when they are speaking to me again.) or with being couples, but with being stuck in stories that weren’t working because I was so determined to do things the way they “should” be done that I couldn’t have shipwrecked them worse if I tried.

Can they be rescued? Sure, most of them. We need some time to let the dust settle, these would-be books and I. Others will shake hands (or bow and curtsy as the case may be) and go our separate ways, glad to have been in each other’s lives for the good times we had. Time plus distance equals perspective, and taking a step back from a story-that-won’t is often the key to making it into a story-that-will, and eventually a story-that-did.

The story I’d thought I could maybe possibly have done and dusted, at least to the halfway mark, if I did do NaNo merely laughed at me. It didn’t want to be plotted with charts or GMC’d into marching order. No, these two have banded together and want to play with me. They’ll tell me this much, but I have to figure out this other thing before they’ll say anything else, but when I do, they have something special for me. I haven’t had a hero and heroine do this to me before, but that’s kind of the whole point, having those characters find me while I’m still wandering around in the woods at night, bumping into trees and getting my foot caught in decayed logs. One of them will help me sit on some boulder I never noticed before and the other one will calmly disengage my foot from the rotted log, chase off whatever wildlife was inside said log (because there usually is) and then we’ll have a talk. They’ll tell me their story and I will write it down.

Because that’s what it’s all about for me. The hero, the heroine, their story. All the rest, word counts and GMC and plot and historical versimilitude (far better than historical accuracy, but that’s another post altogether) and character charts and all the rest, those come secondary. Listening to too many voices has resulted in the past with me stomping about in the woods at night, during a rainstorm, with both feet in rotten logs and a bucket stuck in my head, and I’m over all that, thankyouverymuch. Here’s this couple (even when they unite to make me their plaything, but I’m not minding much, really; it’s fun for me, too.) and here’s me and we’re going on an adventure. Feels about right.