It’s been heavily on my mind of late.  So after thinking about it for a week or so, I remembered that I saw my old files on my ipod.  I fired up the largest version of the story, and wow…I. AM. GOOD.  It was terribly raw, with lots of suckatastic verbiage, but some really good stuff too.  It draws a lot on my life as a young adult living in Greenwich Village, which is really the only place I can see this type of story working out.

I want to work on this, BADLY.  Perhaps I could even wrastle up 3 chapters to submit for Viable Paradise in January (the earlier, the better, with VB).  Key is I need writing to be fun and awesome again.  While this may not be as high brow as I like to convince myself I’d like to write, I don’t see anything not awesome about it.

And wow, yea, I just did call my story awesome. Not something I’ve said about Commoner Days.  Hmm…

The Writing Parent

This TOTALLY explains why I don’t have time.  Not only a special needs parent and writer, but a full time job and a freelance job.  Holy time crunch, batman!!

And that leads me to think that I need some not-at-home time…maybe the local library, Saturday mornings?? Hmmm..

Accountability Report
I’m starting this because I did good.  I completely wasted August, BUT I decided to get off my hump for September. Last night, I did an outline for my devotional, and started revising Commoner Days again (haven’t touched since 9/2. HEAVY SIGH).

How are your writing goals going?

BUT tonight I worked on BOTH my devotional AND Commoner days. How awesome is that? Now I need some momentum…

BY WHICH I MEAN, HALLELUJAH!!! MY STORY IS RESCUED!!

In light of this, I’m jumping right back in. Since it’s 8/1, I’d like to have it submittable to a first reader by 9/1, so that by 10/1 (or after adjustments), I can start submitting it. So, an hour a night of rewrites should do it, I hope. Wish me luck, I’ve got a busy August ahead of me. This also means that I can NANOWRIMO my romance, or that I can do the scene card thing on it. We’ll see.

Happy dance, join in!

Then, I’m going to work on my devotional. I actually have a possible idea for an audience for this – the light bulb went off in my head last night. Again, no idea how to write a thing like this, but maybe I should just start. I have about 3 or 4 scriptures, and I’m thinking it’ll be a 30 day guide. So I need 30 stories & related scriptures. I can do that, if I do one per day. Or even, 2-3 per week.

Got to get back on that writing horse today!

I DON’T WANT IT TO BE. The fact is, I’m not sure I could get more than a few words on the page any day, I’m so stressed and burnt out come night (my writing time). I don’t have a good solution for this. I keep getting the “if you don’t have it, you don’t really want it” signal from the people I’m reading but that’s not exactly true. Burn out is hard, when what you need is fallow ground to plant anew. I haven’t recovered my novel yet and I’m afraid to, as it might be … problematic. What if I get and I can’t pick it up?

I’m wondering now if I should just first reader it…but no, wait, I have to continue on changing the tense. DARN IT.

No idea still where to find a first reader anyway.

Ok, things to get done by end of July: retrieve novel, by end of August: complete tense/edit revision, by end of September: find 1-3 first readers.

Wish me luck…

Writer’s group starts this week, but it’s only monthly, which is ok for now. Hope it goes well.

Magic, yes, that’s what’s been missing lately. The magic in my life has been replaced by routine, summer doldrums, exhaustion, and work. Magic is like a distant, pleasant memory that only serves to torture.

But what is a writer without magic? How can I create the art I want to if there is no magic in my heart?

And “Stardust’ is as magical a tale as any, just like “Enchanted” is magical to a woman who grew up on Cinderella.

So today, tonight, I will try to find the magic in my heart and put it back into my life…

But this is for the rest of us.

First of all, let me say that blogging is not journalling. Journalling or keeping a diary is writing down on a regular basis the stuff that you don’t tell people. It’s simply the act of writing down your mental, spiritual, emotional and, at times, physical journey.

I journaled away most of my youth. From the age of 12 (I can still see that first journal, hardbound, thin, white with gilt edging, a gift from my beloved sister) through most of my 20s, journaling kept me sane.

And then, I met a man, fell in love, got happy, lost and found God, and went on a long, extended inner journey while having a rich and busy external life. Journaling (just as other creative endeavors, such as writing poetry) fell by the wayside.

Then of course, there was my several year infatuation with The Artist’s Way, who’s enforced daily journaling kills the idea of keeping a diary as anything remotely fun or intriguing.

But here I was, this last week, stumped creatively in my writing. Where would I go? So I started journaling, a little.

And it opened up creative doors. In just a few days, even my dreams are richer. I cannot commit to it daily, but I will do it regularly. Nighttime is best for me, morning journaling is painful and the day is too busy. But at night, in bed, pen in hand, with a notebook…ah, there lies destiny!

Try it, you might enjoy it!

I’m taking that to mean I was supposed to find that gorgeous writing on my “Commoner Days” sequel because it has all that special needs writing.  Maybe this is how I’m supposed to write it, rather than this dream about a non-fiction book that’s killing me.

Mulling it over…