I know. I’m a day late for my usual entry. And this one is coming late in the day at that. How dare I intrude on your weekend.
I was about to skip it, altogether. (Everyone: I was about to skip it.) I thought that, like Robert Sean Leonard’s character in Swing Kids that I had nothing to report. But that’s not true.
I’ve had the great fortune over the last few weeks to sit down with some writing friends, both in my writing groups, but also with friends who happen to be writers. It was so good to converse with people who share the struggle, know what it’s like to have ideas while also having difficulty getting them typed onto the page. Vocalizing plot difficulties. Looking for more realism. Hatching something more fantastical. Whatever the project calls for.
In a way, it was like writer therapy. And because it hasn’t happened as often as it used to (due to not seeing some of these friends for a while), I hadn’t realized how much I had missed it. Needed it. The nice thing is, with my twice-monthly group, we’ve largely seen that we need to get back in the habit of talking about things beyond just the piece that is up for critique, so this sort of dialogue is likely to continue. I hope it can be of benefit to all of us, and help us to expand our horizons beyond the regular business of the group.
This also parallels an issue I’ve been struggling with in my monthly novels. It can be very easy to fall into the trap of using narration to get the plot across, until you realize that having more dialogue can help in that regard, too. You don’t want to get so focused that you don’t overcorrect, however, and have people talking so much that you lose sight of having the action of your plot play out, as well. But in the pursuit of a first draft, that’s not something to get too hung up on, since editing will be necessary anyway. Don’t let it hold you back from finishing in the first place.
By the end of next week, the month will be over. All but Monday sees at least one of my kids on a half day from school. This weekend, my daughter has a softball tournament. All that to say, my writing time will be precious. I could argue that since I let the Romance novel stretch into this month that I could cut myself some slack, and do the same into April. I don’t want that to be the case if I can help it. I don’t need that carrying over, becoming the pattern. Besides, spring break starts up, so it’s not like it won’t be difficult to get writing done at the start of the month, anyway.