Takin a break...

From the WIP. For tonight. That's the plan, anyway. I've worked on this story every day for the last I don't know how long and I need to just not think about it tonight. When I say I work on it every day, I'm not saying I necessarily write new material, I might just be reading and tweaking or rewriting something I've decided to change. It might only be for thirty minutes or an hour, but I'm all up in it, every day. I'm plotting a scene while I'm soaking in the steam room. I'm working on some dialogue while I'm sitting in traffic. Then at night when I'm home, I'm sitting here working on it.

This is all good, I'm grateful that my enthusiasm hasn't waned. On the other hand, I'm afraid my thinking might be getting stale, and the writing losing some of the voice. So, tonight I'm just not gonna work on it. Not even open the file and read. The last couple of chapters really need some work. The raw material isn't bad, but it needs to be pruned and tweaked before I even think about putting the shine on.

I'm working on the sequel to the scene in chapter ten. "Sequel" being the transition to the next scene, a slight break from the action as the characters reassess their situation and decide on a course of action for the next scene. The sequels become shorter and farther apart as the plot moves forward. Chapter ten was a pretty tense scene, lots of conflict and some decent suspense. It still needs work but I've got some good material to work with. My plan is to write at least one more scene before I go back and polish chapters seven through ten. I don't have all the details of the next scene yet, but after this little break I'll get it worked out.

Nothing else happening really. My social life has been pretty dry lately, but that's the sacrifice I'm making right now. I get out once in a while, but I usually get home early so I can tinker with the WIP. Once I get the first draft finished I'll try to kick start some romance. At 25K with a target of 75K, I've still got a long way to go. Blah...

Work is work. Nothing bad happening, but not much good, either. A couple of deals hanging in the balance could make it a great week or a tough one. I'm just trying to keep a steady course, not get down over the deals I miss, and celebrate moderately the ones I get. I haven't had the opportunity to do much moderate celebration recently, but maybe this week I will.

Takin a break from the WIP. Peace and moonbeams...

Jinx

I had some success at work today. Hallelujah! It's been a long time coming. I'm almost afraid to write about it, like if I think too hard about it or say something, I'll jinx it. I'm superstitious that way. So all I'm going to say is, it was a good day and I hope I can keep the ball rolling.

I try not to let work affect my attitude during the other hours of the day, but inevitably, it has some effect on my overall disposition. When things are not going my way I don't smile or laugh as much, and I'm quicker to let stupid shit irritate me. When good things are happening on the job, I'm generally pretty happy and in a positive state of mind. Thank the Spirit for that. If work is my only worry, I guess I really don't have any.

I'm getting into the meat of my WIP, the middle chapters, and I'm trying to get things stirred up, ratchet up the tension, and the ideas are starting to flow - more like trickle, but hey, it's movement - and I've got some pretty good scenes in mind. I'm trying not to let the story bog down in the middle when I've got what I think is a pretty good start. I don't have the ending scene figured out yet but I'm looking forward to it. I guess a lot of writers know the end when they start the story but I don't. I'm sure it would be easier to write if I did but I doubt it would stay the same, I'd change it by the time I reached it.

Not much else to say, that is, if I've said anything at all. Peace and tiki torches...