Clear Writing

I’ll have to get myself back on track today because my “getting things done” day yesterday failed utterly. On the bright side, I feel much better now. That could be because Tuesday’s pollen count was in the 4,000 range and yesterday it was down to the 700s, so I was just tired. An afternoon nap did a lot to revive me, and now I feel functional but behind. Generally, any new scheme I embark upon tends to falter when I hit a roadblock, the perfectionism kicks in, and I just give up, but I’m determined to pick up and move on today instead of getting discouraged.

Mostly, I’m eager to get back into the book. It’s really starting to come to life for me. I’m making myself stop and think along the way, making sure my characters are reacting properly instead of just doing what the plot needs them to do. How would this person act in this situation? What would this make them feel? For this to work, it needs to feel authentic, so readers are at least thinking “Yes, that’s what this person would do” if not “Yes, that’s what I would do.” And the doing comes from feeling, so if the feeling makes sense, the actions work.

Meanwhile, I’m still reading award nominees. I had to put one down last night because I really just couldn’t get into it. There was something about the writing style that didn’t work for me, and I couldn’t figure out who the characters were supposed to be and what was going on within the first thirty or so pages. I may give it another try later, but when I have to get through so many books in time to vote, I can’t spend weeks (and it’s the kind of book that would take me weeks) reading a book that I’m struggling to get into. If none of the other things in that category seem as good (unlikely), I may try again. I suspect that the denseness and opacity was what got this one nominated because that’s a very literary thing, but I’m afraid I like things a little more straightforward and less pretentious.