Last Week #34 - Writing Takes A Back Seat To Hair

I was going to focus mostly on writing, as I typically do in my Last Week posts. It was a busy week. The last week of school always is. I didn't get a ton of writing time, but I did make it to my last Freeflow Writing Group meeting before summer break. It was good; just what I needed amidst a June dominated by dishes and laundry. I thought about typing out a bit of what I wrote, but I'm too sad for that. 

What I really need to talk about is my hair. Through my life when I was less confident about my appearance, I had my hair. It was long, shiny and beautiful. I've cut it occasionally, donating long ponytails on multiple occasions, but never have I come out of a haircut wishing I could change my mind. I feels as though if I were to write out my feeling, I might cry.  So I thought I'd try this instead...

First I was:

Then I was:

On the outside I was:

But on the inside I was:

With a little:

My 6-year-old daughter went with me for a cut for a haircut of her own and while her hair looks nice enough, they didn't do what I asked. My Hubby and I have discussed taking her back, but she doesn't want to go. I'm not going to force her.  She's happy and it doesn't look terrible.  My Hubby just feels like we shouldn't be paying so much money for me to be so unhappy.  I know it's just hair and it'll grow back.  It is just going to take much too long.

PS: I got the Disney gif app for my phone and I kind of love it.

What's With All The Links?

More links!  Some good ones this week.  Enjoy!

Things You Should Know About Your Characters - The Right Writing
http://the-right-writing.tumblr.com/post/86914944480/things-you-should-know-about-each-of-your

Scheduling Creativity - Writer Unboxed
http://writerunboxed.com/2015/06/06/scheduling-creativity/

X is for Xtremely Too Long - Heroines with Hears
http://heroineswithhearts.blogspot.com/2015/06/x-is-for-xtremely-too-long.html

How do you write realistic reactions to nonrealistic things. Like something magical or supernatural - It's a Writer Thing
http://its-a-writer-thing.tumblr.com/post/121529925386/how-do-you-write-realistic-reactions-to

Errors Commonly Made by Inexperienced Murder-Mystery Novelists - Quirk Books
http://quirkbooks.tumblr.com/post/121708346551/myjetpack-my-book-of-cartoons-youre-all-just

Would You Survive a Murder Mystery - Quirk Books
http://quirkbooks.tumblr.com/post/121625210347/quirkbooks-would-you-survive-a-murder-mystery

Random #50 - The Closing of a Bookstore

I went to a charity book sale on the weekend.  I was so excited when I heard about it, I couldn't resist. I spent only $23 and got 16 books!  It was a three-day sale, but I didn't get to go until the third day.  I imagine I would have bought even MORE BOOKS if I was there on the first day.  As it was, I had to put stuff back, not that I couldn't afford it, but I couldn't imagine where I was going to put them.  My shelves are already overflowing and here I've added 16 more books (plus I ordered some online recently too, they're just not here yet.)  I'm turning into a book hoarder.  Shh... Don't tell my husband.

It's a bit sad though.  The book sale was put on by the local Literacy Council, because the local used bookstore had to close its doors.  They downsized last summer/fall, but it wasn't enough.  Rumour has it that the owner financed the store out of love, which is nice.  Until she passed and the people who were working there had to figure out a way to make it a viable business.  They tried and it didn't work out. The Literacy Council was brought in to liquidate the inventory. I'm sorry that this store, that I bought many books from over the years, closed.  I think at least a quarter of all the books in my house came from there.  I hope the books went to good homes. 

Quote #38 - George Orwell

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

—George Orwell

Random #49 - Barbecue

Image from here

I love cooking on the barbecue.  I bought the one we have now for my husband, but I use it all the time.  Everything tastes so good with that smokey barbecue flavour.  As soon as "barbecue season" starts, I try to make as much as possible on the barbecue, I try to fit the whole meal on it, not just the meat.  I get the veggies on there, I've made little foil pans and thrown zucchini, olive oil and Italian seasoning together and let it cook next to the chicken. There's so little clean up.  Just turn everything off.  Once it cools down, cover it. Done. No pots and pans to wash. (Maybe there's a cutting board.) It's easy.  It tastes good.  I love his (my) barbecue.

Last Week #33 - What Is She Going To Do?

I love my outline.  So far.  I might change my mind tomorrow.  I really think that it's going to be long when I'm done.  I also think it will help me place the scenes I've already written. Here's a bit of a scene I am thinking of writing:

• Sunday Morning, a call from Ben, she ignores it
• She tries to have a normal day, calls and texts from Ben
• She finally calls him back before lunch and he talks vaguely about threats and Kaitlyn and Robert
• She tries to find a way to end things, but he abruptly ends the call

What is she going to do?

I don't even know if this/these scenes are going to take place.  It's just what is swirling around in my head right now.  I have a feeling I'm going to edit the outline before I start writing for it.  Also, I've already written scenes for, as well as not part of, the outline.  I've just been diving into the story and if the outline isn't on my mind, my characters' actions are.  

I wonder how this will all turn out. Will it even be publishable? I keep reading about authors who have manuscripts tucked away in drawers and cabinets and I worry about this one. Not that I think that's what will happen, but I worry that is what will happen. I shouldn't think about stuff like that when it's not even finished. We will just see what happens.

I'm Linking

Came across a few links I shared on Twitter this week.  Thought I'd plop them here in case you missed them.

British Slang Guide for British Characters
http://buckmerogers.tumblr.com/post/117754379317/british-slang-guide-for-british-characters

20 Basic Plots - Kris Noel
http://krisnoel.com/post/64886200767/20-basic-plots

Hairstyles - UKhairdressers.com (more inspirational if you're trying to decide what a character looks like)
http://www.ukhairdressers.com/style/index.asp

Different type of fractures - Brains and Bodies
http://brainsandbodies.com/post/116812521674/different-type-of-fractures-buckle-or-torus

Last Week #32 - From Behind A Tree

I did a bunch of writing just this past Friday.  It was good, not enough, but good.  June is just such a busy month.  I have to sneak time in whenever I can.  I worked on my outline mostly, but I also squeezed out a little paragraph about my main character being unsure of the man she thought was the hero of the tale. Here is just a little bit, I skimmed it, but it isn't edited:

I stood behind a tree, those urban, specifically placed, carefully pruned trees.  It was old enough, the trunk was think enough, that he couldn’t see me watching him.  He was sitting at a table by the window, staring down at his cup.  The sun shined through the widow, highlighting his face, but I wasn’t sure what I saw anymore.  He was handsome, even desperate still.  He was still a beautiful man, part of me wanted to run into his arms and live a storybook life.  We would defeat whatever evil was plaguing him and live together, happily, forever.  The other part of me, the sensible part that had a real life with a good job and great friends, thought, run.

I like it.  I think this scene is going to be part of a sequence of moments that will be a turning point for the character.

Random #48 - Are These Books in the Same Series?

I am currently reading Clay's Ark, the third book in Octavia E. Butler's Patternmaster series.  Books one and two took place very far apart, from the time of slavery to the twentieth century. I expected something similar with this one, maybe a century or two into the future, especially after reading the synopsis.  I have read a couple chapters of Clay's Ark, I can't figure out how they relate, except for the fact that "Clay" was a minor character in Mind of My Mind, the second book.  It's a little frustrating.  I was really excited by the possibility of actually seeing Clay.  He was a great character, interesting and likeable.  Maybe at some point we will find out why the ship was named "Clay's Ark" and thereby find out what happened to him.

The story itself is fine.  If I was reading it alone, not as a part the Pattermaster series, it wouldn't really bother me.  So far, the actual plot is fine.  I like Blake and his daughters.  The plague is interesting.  I'm not fully on board with the motivation, but that might be because I'm only a quarter through the book.  Bah!  It's just really bothering me that the book has no mention of Doro yet.  There has been no mention of Mary and the community she created. I am sure there will be something that links this book to the first two.  I just hope it is soon.

Last Week #31 - Reading The Waves

I got a bit written last week, but not as much as I would have liked. I became really focused on finishing The Waves, a good, but frustratingly slow novel, by Virginia Woolf. I had been reading it for about a month and just could not deal with it going any longer. The book became my focus last week and I'm happy to say that I finished it.  It was a good book, but if I ever decide to read it for a third time, I'm going to get an audiobook.

I did get to add a few sentences to a new scene I started a couple weeks ago, so that's exciting. I've been thinking about my ever-evolving outline too. It's going to end up being twenty pages long the way I'm going.  But, so what?  If it gets me to the end of the story faster, with a clearer path, then that's what I'm creating it for. I'm hoping this week brings more writing time.