| Thanks to my Great Aunt Helen, we've got somewhere to stay until we leave next week for New Zealand. Jim is busy studying, Elizabeth is teething, and I am writing and reading like a furious monk who can't have any more beer until he'd copied the Old Testament into Swahili. (Ok, I know, I don't really drink much beer, and I don't think Swahili has much of an alphabet.) You get the idea. Although I've virtually been given the go-ahead to write my book, I still fear that I'm taking the story in the wrong direction. What if I'm wasting time? What if it's too over-the-top in certain places? What if it's not all that interesting? What if my writing isn't a good in the middle and end as it is in the begining? AHHHH!!! My husband is a dear, however, and continues to encourage me. We just went over the plot, and it was nice to have someone else go through it with me. He says it sounds exciting, but then again, he's my husband. What if the ending is horrible? Hopefully, any editor will be able to help me out there and let me know when certain sections aren't working. I'm betting that the editing process will take a bit more than a fortnight. (I read Shannon Hale's Austenland last night, so I am still breathing out Regencyese.) So speaking of good books... Yes, Austenland. I little book of chick power. I could NOT put it down. I tried. I went to the kitchen to make myself some late-night oatmeal (Ms. Sick Teether is nursing like crazy, and oatmeal helps me make more milk, in case you wanted to know...ok, maybe not, but I said it anyway). I decided to read a bit of it while eating said oatmeal, fully planning on getting back to MY story after the chapter. Jim asked when I was going to start writing. I said I would, later. Then at TWO A.M., I finished. Voila! Shannon Hale is so good at storytelling, it's scary. I have also recently read Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind, by Suzanne Fisher Staples. I had to read it because that wonderfully encouraging editor said my story reminded him of it. It is beautifully written... ;-) I was completely immersed in the Pakistani world while reading it, but I was a little disappointed at the end--it was over too soon! Ms. Staples is really good at describing things in a different sort of way, usually referring to the way the light bent at that particular moment, or sounds, like the jingling of copper bracelets. Everything became real and clean and illuminscent. I can only hope my story comes out at well! I'm printing off a chapter I wrote back in late spring, before I changed the plot, because there is a part of it I want to use in the next chapter I'm about to write. It's the point in the book when the Moriori gather at Te Awapatiki to discuss the Maori take-over. They have to make the decision if they should fight back and defend themselves or stick to their code of non-violence and try to make peace with the Maoris. Fortunately, I saved all of my work on iDisk because my lovely computer is in storage. Again, here's my ad for alphasmart: get a Dana. If you can't afford a laptop, or don't want to deal with lugging around much more than you need, a Dana is perfect. I've even found it easier to type on than my at-home keyboard. |
Wow, my Aunt's printer is S L O W. I'm only trying to print off 12 pages. Ok, it's almost done... now, back to writing!
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