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Two pages of Breakfast done. Hope to have entirely finished and ready for revision by end of day, and then off to Katy.

Catherine

Sorry. The new promotion at work has proven to be somewhat overwhelming. I’ve been bitching about that elsewhere, but suffice it to say that since March, that’s where my brain’s been, in one way or another.

I will be working on a small Klarion outtake for a friend who won the Cystic Fibrosis auction I’m involved with, and then will write a Maggie/Roddy outtake for the same auction.

I am still here, I am still interested, and I still have ideas. Maybe absence is wisest to make the heart grow fonder, and instead of bitching about my writing, I will begin to appreciate whatever time and energy I have for it.

I’ll be back.

Catherine

The faerie story is done, and ready to head off to its new owner. Only two more to go.

Catherine

I’ll be auctioning off three pieces for charity for the CF foundation. If any of these interest you, feel free to bid.

1. An Errol Klarion short story written to your specifications.
2. A short story written with two of my fae characters from the Gossamer and Viridian universe.
3. A short story about Margaret MacCumal, character who most of you don’t know yet, but I hope will.

When the auction begins, I’ll let you know, but you can get more details at: http://www.livejournal.com/users/jelybeansociety/

You can also ask me questions here.

Catherine

For Substance, I’m going back to the opening about the wizard where the sand meets the sky. It will be much more detailed, and it may be told by a Klarion father to a Klarion child. I’ve been trying both of these versions out yet, and I’m not sure which one I like the most.

Wonder which one you’d like the best?

Catherine

So, I’m getting itchy, and I’ve finished with a couple of recent obsessions. I think that means it’s time to write.

WHAT I will write may surprise me. I’ve seen last month as sort of an attempt at the wrong stuff, and so I figure if my brain wants a little time to itself, it should have it. I’ve written over 1200 pages in the last 3 years, even if most of it is largely unpublishable, due to the nature of the beast. We probably did need to heal up from the outpouring of words.

I’ve also got a creative academic project going on, so I’m excited to begin that. I feel a desire to sink into myself, rather than reach out to others, although I intend to try to resume some activities that will jumpstart my creativity a bit.

Catherine

Well, I haven’t been writing, or editing. I’ve been thinking and plotting. I have a great deal of plot stored up in my head. AND I need time to write. But I’ve been being professional, doing my job, and not really having that time.

I am not too frustrated. This perculation time doesn’t feel like avoidance. It feels like it’s necessary. We’ll get back there, hopefully soon. Rerolling over it all.

Catherine

Hold out this time oh health! Hold out until I can do some more writing.

Let me copy something from my livejournal here. Hold on…

I woke up Saturday, having had creative dreams about yet another story that I’m not writing, but I was smart enough to lay in bed for about an hour, and think about my current active project, and you know what, I think it helped. I realized why the muse isn’t sitting on my shoulder. I know what this story is about, but I’m in chore mode with it–conversion mode, rather than sitting, and listening to my characters talk to me about their feelings and relationships. This is the thing that I think made so many readers enamoured with the first version of Substance, and so I’m going to spend more time listening and hearing my characters. I’ll have to really expand the first part of the story, and let it go the direction it wants to go.

The other thing I realized I’ve got to stop doing is worrying about the size of the book and its marketability. I’ll tell the story first, and see what we’ve got later. If it’s not the first book I send out, it’ll keep until later. But I’m gonna write it right. I know that there are marketability concerns, but these do change over time, and I’ve got to trust my story teller instincts first.

And finally? I’m going to go back and make all the introduced things part of the story. No need to start them off at school in the story, no need to introduce Professor Borgia. These things should already be there. I’m producing crap, and this is why. It’s almost amateurish at this stage, but I see more clearly.

Regress, progress, regress, progress…

Catherine

Well, I wrote about five pages last night in chapter 5, and so I’m slogging through it. From fertilizer, good things grow. Plotting difficulties on the horizon!

I gotta tell you, I know the story is Stephanus, and I know the book has to be self-contained. About the right number of pages would be Esme’s trial, or maybe even Errol’s trial, but Stephanus’ major changes don’t occur unti Eurydice’s trial. So, I’m going to have to see a way in which he can change by Errol’s trial. Time to do some serious character work there. It’s the backbone of the whole story, this, so it’s important.

The writing workshop is about to get a little more structured. I think this is a good thing.

Spending this week snotty for tax purposes, it would seem. Have been making it to work, but not much umph to write.

So, I’ve been thinking about the prologue to the Klarion story, and I’ve decided to revise it and put it back in, now that I have a fairly clear vision of it after writing the outtakes.

I also really want to avoid making chapter 5 yet another boring establishment chapter. I need to jump right into some plot. Can I do that without another point of view, or making Stephanus seem too beleaguered? Maybe I should start with some action in the custody battle.

I also need to populate the staff of the school with interesting characters.

Looks like I actually have some creative, rather than editing work to do. Hopefully something will bubble forward soon.

Back to the creeping gormies.