Mental Meanderings

Reply to Scarlet

Well, I was replying to scarlett_o_h for my entry below but, well, *looks embarressed* it's more like an entry in and of itself so, well, I'm posting it.

scarlett_o_h said:
Sounds like you have a well planned, eventful story in progress. I envy you your discipline in setting a time and getting on with it.

Rebecca Laffar-Smith responds:
It is in setting that time every morning in which I'm not allowed to do anything but write (within reason, I mean toilet breaks and kids are still priority although the timer is paused during such interruptions to ensure I still get the full 20 minutes) that anything gets done.

I've spend the past ten years telling myself I'm going to write a book, beginning to end. In all that time I had not actually reached the point of writing it, until now. Yes, it takes discipline but I've found it easy because I wake up to my alarm clock and writing is the first thing I do with my day. It's only 20 minutes so it doesn't feel like too much pressure.

It's at a time of day with the least interruptions, my mind is fresh from sleep instead of fatigued with the troubles of the day, the kids are cheery and happy to play by themselves or sleeping, and I don't have to rush away to get other things done because I leave myself plenty of time to get the 20 minutes in and still get Kaylie off to school. (Can you say major run-on sentence, Rebecca? ) *gasps to regain her breath*

The best thing about it is I feel so proud of myself. I'm finally moving forward with a goal I've held for years. It feels great. Whenever I'm cringing from having to do my morning 20 I remind myself how great I'm going to feel afterward and that it's only 20 minutes, not really long enough to feel pain. Hell, I've had two natural labors that lasted 12 hours each, I think I can manage 20 minutes of writing.

What also helped was breaking the plot down into segments. You start with an idea. Mine came from a friend. We were talking about my recent separation and how he thought the best way to improve my self esteem would be to start dating again. I mentioned that I'm not exactly in a position to meet elegeble men. I don't go out much because I'm at home with the kids and the very few men who take their kids to Kaylie's school are married.

We thought on that dilema a bit and he suggested online dating. Ok, it's a possibility. I've heard of a few people who've had successful online relationships but since online relationships really hits a nerve (my husband left me for a woman he met online and had an online affair with) it's not really my thing. We brainstormed that thought and came up with speed dating. Wow! The writer part of me goes, THE DATING GAME.

Yes, that's right, my title is the basis for my whole story. Yep, wouldn't you know it, didn't solve my dating problems but gave me a fantatic idea for a novel. From the title I got to a character, much like me, recently divorced and wary of love. Tries this speed dating concept. The owner, single, happens to be one of the dates and they hit it off. Jaded woman meets hopeless romantic guy, sparks, love, happily ever after.

From there I developed the concept. What would have to happen to get woman to meet man, man to fall in love, woman to fall in love, why doesn't it work (obviously Emma, our jaded woman, isn't willing to trust her heart), what needs to happen to solve this hurdle, how does it all wrap up. From there you have a basic outline. Then you break that down again until you have lots of little steps.

It's the little steps that make it easy. As you've seen from my previous blogs I talk of fairly small scenes. I've mentioned the carousel ride, Nocturnal House scene, the zoo trip etc. Now I'm onto Sunday (which is the bigger picture) The smaller picture I'm working on tomorrow is meeting Jake's family. Today we met Jake's sister Jaccine. It was a simple scene easily written in 20 minutes.

The idea is breaking it all down into little peices. Start small. You really can do it if you make your chunks managable. Ok, I'm finally shutting up now On the note of all this novel planning you can see my novels outline ("Invalid Entry" ) and other items about "Invalid Item"  Feel free to send me any comments and let me know if you're interested in reviewing any chapters. I'm projecting a month or two till I start putting chapters up for review. But anyone interested in viewing can let me know and I'll add you to my list of reviewers and contact you when I have new material.