Hello! Long time no blog! It’s great to see you all again.
Welcome to new followers and old friends.
Yes, I know it’s been months since I last blogged…
Don’t judge me.
Yes, fellow writers, I know it’s not a good idea to let my
blog go dormant that way…
And I can totally see that judgy frown over your eyes from
here.
**Before you burn me on the cross of laziness and broken
“road to publishing” rules, here’s the reason why**
I’ve been creating NEW things J and that shizz takes
some super concentration.
Plus, I don’t want to send blogs out there into the
bloggerverse that people ignore because its banal and just blah blah, writing,
blah blah, word count flail, blah blah, laundry and kids. Honestly, do you really want to hear me
blather on about making too many Nutella sandwiches or writing THE SAME story
over and over again? Trust me; there are eleventy-billion blogs like that already
out there.
So what have I been creating you ask? Well, I’m glad you did
because it’s amazing! Here’s the story:
My kids spent the first week of January with my parents so I
had the entire house to myself. I know right? All you moms hate my stinking
guts right now. Its okay, I’d hate me too. Because we all know, going out of
town with your friends or family is great but NOTHING beats your own house
EMPTY. I have the best mom EVER, just so you know.
On December 30th, the first kid free day, I had
to go have my head MRI-ed.
Yeah, my body is weird like that. Don’t ask.
While
I’m in the machine trying my best not to lose my marbles with that stupid
catcher’s mask clamped around my head and to not think about the fact I was
shoved into a very loud metal tube:
a story idea started to form.
A voice rose up over that horrible clicking and clacking of the
MRI.
More specifically, a really nice guy started talking inside
my head. He has a great voice with lots to say too as his first conversation
lasted the entire 43 minutes of the MRI and I was thankful for his distraction.
Here’s how some of that went:
Voice: Hey, it’s dark in here.
K: Uh, hey? Well, that’s cause my eyes are closed.
Voice: Ohhh, I see. Well, actually I don’t. *snorts*
K: *frowns but keeps eyes clamped tight!*
Voice: Are we bit claustrophobic?
K: No, we are more, “I rather not tear this MRI machine down
when I freak out” phobic.
Voice: *laughs* How about I distract you?
K: Take your best shot, Bub. I ain’t picky about my
distractions right now.
Voice: So five years ago, my girlfriend died…
He spent the rest of our 43 minutes telling me his whole
story. The more he talked the deeper I sank into the sound of his voice inside my
head. I was hooked immediately and knew his story had to be told. When the tech
extracted me from that iron beast I nearly ran to my car. The story, the
characters, the environment, the plot was all fully formed in my head.
Remembering my ticket from a few months ago was the only thing that kept me
from speeding home. Southaven cops don’t play when it comes to speeding. But I
digress.
Racing in the house, I made a snack, grabbed my iPad and
started writing as soon as my pj’s and t-shirt were on. Yes, you have to write
in pj’s. It’s sort of a rule J
Why iPad? Because we all know that’s not the best thing to
write on.
Well, over the last year, I have had trouble creating stories.
More accurately, I’ve had trouble finishing stories. Basically,
writing anything new start to finish didn’t happen. I’ve worked on a few things;
all great ideas I plan to finish but I actually finished nothing. Which is the
first time in the last 5 years that has happened and it had started to freak me out.
I’ve written 2 books a year up until 2013 which produced zero manuscripts. The hateful
word count-er at the bottom of the screen was messing with my head in a big way.
The words I did write, I had to rip out of me and only managed about 500 a day
of those bloody things on a great writing day.
I chose the iPad with its tiny screen and awkward keyboard
so I wouldn’t be tempted to look at word count until the story was complete. The
iPad was happy to receive my story. It didn’t judge me. It just merrily jaunted
along happy to be used for something other than son#2’s usual activities of
Dragon Veil or watching YouTube videos of how to make a Mine Craft birthday
cake. I sat on the sofa, feet resting against the warm back of my White Waug,
completely relaxed and just pounded the keys for 6 straight days. And pound those
keys I did putting in twelve and fourteen hours each day only pausing for snacks , sleep and
bathroom breaks.
In the week my children were at my parents, I wrote 26,000
words. By the time I picked them up on Jan 6th, I had less than 1000
to go to finish the story.
TWO WEEKS LATER…
I finally finished that story. Anyone who ever, ever,
ever doubts how difficult it is to write with kids, husbands and dogs in the
house. Let those numbers really sink in.
So now you know, I have the best parents in the world and I
haven’t forgotten about you at all. I’ve just been down the rabbit hole with a
guy I met in an MRI. J
Hope you have a great week and don’t forget to give a book
and its creator some love.
Til Then,
K
