Day 24

Wednesday, October 6, 2010. . .A slow day with the folks. I couldn’t quite hit the right note. This happens. Sigh.

I plugged along anyway. It wasn’t pretty. As my writer friend Ree says, though, “nothing is dross.” I may have to delete every single word from today, but something was worked out somewhere inside my imagination.

The characters got in position for a significant moment between them. Thus, necessary plot movement occurred.

For me, this situation in the writing process occurs when I have to introduce myself to a new personality or a physical place. Today it was both.

I knew the names and ages of two necessary minor characters; I had a vague notion of what their relationship with the protagonist and her husband was like. However, when it came time for them to stride onto the page, I needed more than vague.

Also it’s time for the couple to go home. What does their house look like? Their neighborhood? I usually have made a diagram of the characters’ homes or place of work before this point. Nuts. I forgot to do that.

These things trip me up mostly in the beginning because much will stem from even these minor things.

So today was where the discipline of writing comes in. You just do it. You don’t wait for the right mood. It has been said that the most significant part of writing is simply showing up.

DETAILS. . .Son phoned, DIL texted: tornado warnings in their city. They are fine, but not all is well with others. Lord, have mercy.

I ran errands. This is a good way to give my mind a break. Beneath the surface, story is churning away. Tomorrow results will show up.

And there we have it.  Walmart and Kohls and writing fiction pretty much in the same sentence. I swear, all of life is fiction.