Dawn Colclasure's Blog

Author and poet Dawn Colclasure

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Unconditional love

No update yesterday. It's the same story: I was still grumbling over my character. Still didn't like her. Still didn't accept her. I DID write more in my book, but I also turned to other books in this genre, hoping some of the "common characters" in these books would help me find some REASON to just accept my character and write her story. Well, naturally, that's not what happened. But I DID find some more books to add to my wish list! :)

So, I just decided...you know, I'm not going to complain about this character anymore. I am NOT going to get all caught up in how BAD she is. I am just going to write this story, and that's that. Of course, as I wrote yesterday with this new feeling in mind, I started to feel like some kind of drone. Like I was just this...robot doing what I was ordered to do, and I couldn't FEEL anything.

That didn't happen today.

Today, it was like....now that I have TOTALLY and COMPLETELY accepted this character the way she is, this story has truly come "alive." I didn't feel like some drone as I typed my heart out today. I was actually SEEING this story play out in my mind! I actually had to type faster (typos and all) just to keep up with everybody doing their thing.

And, the better part of it is, I finished a chapter that has REALLY been dragging all week. I was really excited about that!

Of course, I got frustrated in between all that. My daughter kept pulling me away and asking me questions and asking me to play with her while I was writing. I didn't let myself get frustrated, though. I just kept at it! I told myself, 'If William Peter Blatty was able to write The Exorcist with a bunch of kids running around his tiny apartment, screaming, I can write this book with just ONE child distracting me!' (Gee, and I wonder how he got the idea for his book. LOL j/k) That actually kept me going.

But that is not the best part. Even when I finished the chapter, I had another and another coming at me. So, when I had to step away from my computer, I was in my story, not "here." I even ended up walking around in circles in my kitchen, very deep in thought as everything just kept coming together. The WHOLE STORY was finally taking shape!! I was so caught up, it was a while before I noticed my dog standing there in the kitchen entryway, playfully wagging his tail. Haha. I had NO IDEA what he was hoping for....

And even later on, when my daughter asked if she could have another piece of candy, I was soooo deep in thought, that I said, "No, Jen. You already had a lollipop. Just wait until we have....whatchamacallit. Dinner."

Ahh, you can tell Dawn is hard at work on a book when she gets so deep into the zone, she forgets the name of a mealtime. But, you know, it paid off in the end. I now have 14 chapters all planned out and ready to write. Yay!

At least I'm not so deep in the zone I can't come up with more book ideas, which I did tonight, in fact.

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