I'm obsessed

My husband and I recently celebrated our anniversary and for some reason I kept thinking about the first apartment we lived in.  Then out of the blue my neighbor from the apartment called and asked to drop in on us.

It was wonderful to see her and hear that she is thinking of moving back into the area.  We didn't discuss the old times or the apartment but when I woke up the next morning it was still there,  nagging at the recesses of my brain.

I am supposed to be editing my other two novels and had squirreled away time for this purpose but as I sat at my laptop I couldn't focus.  The apartment and all the characters we knew and the fun we had kept nagging at me.  Fine.  I will just quickly start writing something and then it will be out of my brain and I can come back to it later if there is anything there.

Seven thousand words later I was being asked what I was making for dinner.  Where had the time gone?  I prepared dinner thinking about this burgeoning story all the while.

Kids were finally in bed and I was back at the lap top.  Twelve thousand words and I have to go to bed.

Next day I am at work with the story running around in my brain the whole day.  At lunch I finally throw some notes on paper and try to stuff it away until I get home.

Kids are in bed and I am back at it.  All editing forgotten.  My new mistress is taking up all my time.  She is fun and creative and I am writing!  Not editing.  She had become all consuming.  I forced myself to bed with sixteen thousand words.

While driving to work I am making audio notes about the story.  I get to work and riding in the elevator I realized that I'm obsessed with this story.  It is like the beginning of a new relationship when you were in high school and that person was in every thought and any decision made had to do with seeing that person.  That is me now with this story.  I will spend the rest of my lunch writing down all the swirling thoughts and location descriptions and what ever else begs for my attention.

I have been in love with every single one of my stories and when I go back to the others once this one is more established they will be my current obsession but right now my old apartment beckons.

Happy Writing and Creating!

Confidence in Humanity Restored

I know this is a bit off the topic of writing but over the last few weeks I have had more issues at work with employees than fingers to count them on.  I was truly starting to loose faith in the whole lot of generations behind mine. (I know I can hear how old that sounds!)

Yesterday an employee approached me and asked if we could put his niece who is only 8 and dying with a brain tumor on our work boat as her last wish.  She wanted to see where her uncle, who has been like a dad to her, worked.

I work for an oil company and when you think oil workers you think tough, tattooed, prison records.  In most cases this is true.  I will also say that I love the guys I work with.  This has been the best four years of my working career.  Definitely never dull!

So these tough, tattooed, oil workers who have been making a lot of childish and bad decisions lately with in fighting and pranks and who have had me questioning society's fate did something magical today.

They made signs and hung them and then stood out on the deck and waived and cheered for an 8 year old girl they have never met and made her day.  They also gave her a hard hat with a lot of cool stickers and her name which she rocked.

My bosses were amazing and didn't blink an eye at us paying to charter a nice boat, not our crew boat, for the family to go out to the platforms on.  We all had to throw this together with only a half a day's notice since time is of the essence.

I called two charter companies and when I told them what I wanted to do both people I spoke with were so sweet and were willing to change schedules and reduce fees- all on their own I never asked.  My faith in humanity is fully restored.

Sadly we lost this brave young lady on Thursday.  My thoughts and prayers are with her family.

This strong, happy young lady and her family are in my prayers.

Rewrites, rewrites and more rewrites

I have been rewriting the first 5 pages of my New Adult project for review and trying to incorporate some feedback I got on them already.

Every time I rewrite them they are completely different.  It is almost a different story.  They certainly have had a different tone each time.  I edit the rewrite and then when I think it is perfect I look at the original and like the original better but want to incorporate some of the new version.  Then I incorporate and edit and review and decide to rewrite it completely from scratch.

I rewrite and then edit and review and go back to the original and like the tone from the original better but some of the concepts and phrases in the new version are quite good.

This little scene continues to play out again and again and I still don't have the pages to show and have too many versions and I am so burnt out I can't look at them anymore with any objectivity, but I have a deadline so I must press on.

I am amazed at how differently I can write the same thing and that I cannot pick just one I am happy enough with to pass on.  This is new for me and while I thought completely rewriting it was a good way to go at first now I am not sure because I am more confused than ever.

Has anyone ever done this to themselves?  If so how'd you fix it?  Especially when you couldn't walk away and give yourself the benefit of time.

Thanks my friends.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Go California Chrome!
Happy writing!

So much # saturdayscenes, cbwla-writers day anthology

I am not a children's book writer but I love the Children's book writers of Los Angeles (CBW-LA)
Nutschell Windsor, AKA the writing nut http://www.thewritingnut.com/,  is amazing. She and Alana Garrigues did an amazing job running the writing day anthology for our second 'Story Sprouts' publication; due out end of September.

The anthology, this years and the one already available on Amazon in print and ebook, contains all the exercises that the group ran through to create their pieces.  The exercises are great and the book is a great resource for writers.

We wrote for ten exercises and not all ten will get published so I am going to use one of them as a #saturdayscence, started by John Ward.

In this writing exercise we had to find an object that had been placed around the room and write from the point of view of the object.

Enjoy and Happy Writing!

#Saturdayscenes

Alamar’s Purpose

Alamar’s eyes adjusted to the bright florescent lights.  He was finally out of that horrible plastic bag but where was he now?  He missed Amy’s room.  She had packed him and his friends into a plastic bag weeks ago and today the bag had taken a journey somewhere.

There were a lot of pinging noises, garbled voices over a speaker, and adult voices.  He was hoping for kids.  Alamar wanted to be played with again, like Amy used to.

He was grasped by a large adult hand, Alamar was diminutive for a teddy bear, better suited to a small child.  His spirits rose as the hand turned him around Alamar saw rows of beds and children.  Why had he not heard them?  The adult held his friend Gavine in his other hand.  They were both held out for inspection by a little boy lying in his bed.  It was a strange bed.  The top raised up and it had bars on the sides.  The boy pointed to Gavine and the man placed him in the boy’s hand.

Alamar was placed next to a sleeping girl.  She was young.  That was good.  Alamar noticed a lot of wires and tubes attached to the girl that was unusual.

Alamar was squeezed tightly.  What was happening?  The girl grasped him in an iron fist as the nurse searched for a new place to put the needle.  This pain was not what Alamar wanted he wanted to be played with again.  Have tea parties.  Then he felt the wet tears as he was pressed to the girls cheek.  This was better than a tea party, he was helping her.  He could feel it.  He sent out all the love he could.   This was where he was meant to be.