Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Absolutely Everything Going On in My Life

I wrote the first 1,000 words in the new book yesterday. That usually seems to be the scariest part of a book for me, that moment when I first really meet the characters and commit to going down a particular path. I'm thinking today will be a good writing day, as it's cold and rainy (my favorite weather). However, I did get a late start because it's awfully hard to get out of bed on a cold, rainy day. It was even worse this morning because when I went to bed, it was hot and muggy, so I wore a light nightgown and put on the ceiling fan, and that meant I was freezing this morning and really didn't want to get out from under the covers.

As for the book, I'm still not sure I've found the right voice, but I can always edit if need be once I settle into the style and get comfortable with it. Today I should get into the story itself, beyond just the introduction of the main character and the "ordinary world" part of the story. The main character is quite a bit different from what I usually write -- or, at least, she's supposed to be. I may have to work at maintaining that instead of slipping into familiar patterns. This may be a real "stretch" book where I have to constantly go outside my comfort zones, but I think that's good for me and could really pay off.

Beyond that, I don't have much to talk about. I'm not reading anything I want to discuss (I'm barely managing to read it). I watched a couple of movies over the weekend, but they were old familiars, just using them as background noise (but I must say, I think I love Stardust more every time I see it). I have a song from Kiss Me Kate totally stuck in my brain, thanks to the Showtunes digital cable channel, so I had to look up the lyrics online, and then I found a couple of performances of it on YouTube so I could learn it and actually walk around the house singing it instead of just humming the couple of bits I could remember (it's very frustrating to only have a fragment of a song stuck in your head without really knowing the song). I think I might still have the PBS Great Performances production of that on tape somewhere. I'm not crazy about the show as a whole, but I like parts of it, and I like that cast, which, with a couple of differences, is the cast I actually saw (though I saw Rex Smith instead of Brent Barrett, but I have seen Brent Barrett in another show).

I may bake cookies today because it's that kind of day and I need to have something to bring for a gathering this weekend. And, thus, I have discussed absolutely everything going on in my life right now. Exciting, huh? No wonder I spend so much time making things up.

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