One of the difficulties of balancing a full-time schedule of college classes, work hours, and (the semblance of) a social life is that, inevitably, something ends up getting shortchanged. Unfortunately for me, my writing project is the thing that I've ended up having to place on the back burner for the past several weeks. However, I do have a few positive bits of news to report!
Over the past few months, I've had an opportunity to attend a few sessions of my new writing critique group, and I've managed to receive some amazing encouragement and feedback. Best of all, I've received the motivation I need to start actively moving past the mere planning stage. Outlining is extremely helpful to me, but, at the same time, it tends to keep me a bit stuck. I find it too easy to begin to distance myself from my work and keep painstakingly plotting for every little contingency. Not only does this begin to suck the spontaneous pleasure out of the project, but also I find myself afraid that I may never actually move beyond pages of endless plot summaries and character profiles.
Thankfully, I received the stimuli I needed to start actually writing the thing. Even though I've been working on my outline sporatically since July, I still have a (significant) few more holes to get filled in, but I suppose, at least for this first draft, that I'm going to try to tinker with and explore my characters and let them begin to reveal aspects of themselves as we go. (Those who have worked with creating and writing original characters will understand how this process works.)
With that said, my major goal for this coming Yuletide season (and extended break from college classes) is to complete the first one or two chapters of Plan C. Can I do it? I think so! I've started to jot down a rough outline of the first 1 and 1/2 chapters as well as having begun a working draft for the first few pages. I just wish that I was finished with the last few (academic) writing projects of the semester...
Until next time...
I'd much rather be novel-writin'.
-R
Not to write, for many of us, would be to die. - Ray Bradbury
Saturday, November 29, 2008
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