Out the Window: a pure blue arc of sky that presages a really HOT and HUMID day. A very good day to stay indoors and write–how convenient!
On the Desktop: a total mess of notes, notebooks, 3″ x 5″ cards, a copy of the book “Story Genius” by Lisa Cron, a water bottle, pens…. You get the idea. I could lose a hamster on this thing.
Today’s Work-in-Progess: Figuring out the next book. I have the basic idea, but need to work out a plot (yeah, I know, that tiny detail–LOL) and the why behind the plot. So yes, I have lots of work ahead of me.
Once I get the basics down, though, I get to the fun part: outlining!
No, really! I love outlining. It’s where my creativity is allowed to shine, where I move characters and actions around, decide on smaller plot points, and really dig into the “meat” of the story. My method has changed with each novel, but with the last one I seemed to have hit on something that really worked for me, so I’ll be using that again. It’s a combination of notes in Scrivener, 3 x 5 cards of random plot points, following prompts in “Story Genius” for the initial ideation, and eventually moving over to an Xcel spreadsheet (honest!) for the story plot, chapter by chapter. It sounds messy as anything, but hey–it works for me.
And Another Thing: Warmer weather means the pool is open, and Dasher is thrilled beyond measure! He loves swimming, and leaping into the water after his frisbee. And swimming is easy on his arthritic joints, so he can be active far longer than he can run in the yard chasing that frisbee (so I’m happy, too). Of course, we usually join Dash in enjoying the water. It feels good on our joints, too. 🙂
And A Second Another Thing: You might want to flip on over to the “Library” link, where reader Ellie has kindly shared a link to a lovely trove of writing information–from getting started to getting published to publishing yourself. Thanks, Ellie!
Everyday Magic | M. E. Garber 