Taking a break from writing.

I'm tired today. Maybe tired is the wrong word,perhaps I should use the word,lazy. Much more appropriate for a day where I did very little writing. Actually,I have done no revisions on my newest novel in weeks.I'm calling it a break. It took me over a year to write it and think I just need a break from it and the characters. How long should  a break be. Two weeks,two months,a year? There is no set time for a break. Maybe three to ten years might be a bit much,but whatever works for a writer is all that matters.I'm not sure I would be able to muster a lot of enthusiasm for a book I'd written so long ago. Or maybe I would return to it with fresh new eyes and create a masterpiece. I prefer to focus on the latter. Happy writing.

Writers block?

         I have read about writer's bloc. Horror stories about staring at a blank page and the words won't come. I confess I've not had that experience;however, I seem to have a variation on writer's block.
        I call the monster 'Revision Block'. Staring at a completed manuscript at least twice,maybe three times a day and nothing,absolutely nothing can induce me to type more than a new sentence or two. Perhaps change a word here and there,but I am not fooling myself. I am merely changing how I am saying something the majority of the time. Am I actually making the story better? Did I improve on the character's arc/ is the plotting better. Did I follow the three act formula? Did I use the six core competencies? Is my hook good enough? Did I show,not tell? Are my plot points in place? Did I end each scene with a conflict?Did the final battle end with a resolution? Is that deep POV?Did I head hop? Are my characters likeable,will the reader care about their struggles? Did I..Aarrrrrghhh...I don't know. Enough already!
         Am I an insane masochist for even attempting to be a writer? Possibly,no probably.All I know is my characters come to me and ask me to write their stories and bring them to life on paper. 
They tell me what to say,how to say it,and where they want to go. Sometimes they surprise me,enchant me or bring me to tears.But never do they bore me or desert me and for that I am grateful. After all we are in this together until the end.
       I miss them when they move on. I like to see them happy, however things don't always work out that way for each of them. Some are killed,some walk away hand in hand with their true love. Some turn out to be serial killers,liars or cowards. All I know for sure is they rarely bore me and they don't let me down. 
      Writers block? Thank God,no.I trust my three muses to keep that from happening.I do wish;however, they would assist with sentence structure,word tenses,spelling, grammar issues and revisions.
       I will be very glad when they return from vacationing in Ireland and I have to admit to being  a bit annoyed,that I wasn't invited to join them.I suppose someone had to stay home and finish the novel
     It seems I was elected. No one informed me,we were even voting. Apparently,being the writer is not part of fairness in the workplace rule,nor is writing any part of a democracy. Maybe, I should vote myself, King or Queen and change all the rules to suit myself. I wonder where I lost control and how do I get it back,if I ever had it.
    Could I stop writing? I don't think so. I can't not write. My fingers twitch and new characters whisper in my head until I sit down at the computer or pick up a pen or pencil and begin to write their story.

Writing

      I thought I would talk a bit about writing,since I aspire and strive to be not only a writer,but a great writer.Hey we can all hope and dream.I write romance suspense as a rule. Have two finished novels,the latest in the second rewrite. I have learned that writing the story is fairly easy,rewriting,editing and polishing is a BITCH!
     A week ago my daughter approached me about writing down the childhood fairy tales and short stories I made up and  told her at bedtime and turning them into a Children's book.Well, we sat down and with pen in hand I began to write.With some input from her,I began to create I began to create Fey characters living in a magical forest.Together we came up with  names of five characters and their general descriptions. She took that info and sketched pictures.
    For  two weeks now I have agonized over writing these simple stories. The idea is to write the stories so each is complete and take no more that five to fifteen minutes to read each separate story.There are five main characters.  POV varies with each story. Other Fey creatures will be introduced along the way.Each story ties into the other. They are made to be read to the younger children,the older child would be able to read them with minimal help with some words. Sounds simple doesn't it.
   OH MY GOD!! I had no idea how hard it would be to switch from writing a 150,000 word  novel to writing a a series of very short stories. I keep slipping into novel mode.I now have four stories written and decide they suck.I was ready to throw them out and start over,until my wise beyond her years daughter,Mali picked one up and said."Mom,let me read it like I would read it to Azalynn(my incredibly awesome 4 yr old granddaughter).
  I cried. The story wasn't awful.It was actually good.She turned and looked at me and said."Mom you read the story like a writer.I read the story as a parent reading to her child.
  Needless to say,Scrumble,Bluster, Blargle, Phillip,Teddy, and Becky's adventures will be told and I hope enjoyed by many for years to come. DREAM AS THOUGH THE DREAM WILL COME TRUE.

What the Hell happened? Or how I became an invisible person.

Oh how I looked forward to the day I could retire and pursue my dream of making and selling my woodcarvings and writing wildly popular novels,which would be snapped up by a well known publishing house and sold for enough money to support me. I would then purchase a modernized cottage facing the windswept cliffs and  seacoast of Ireland with the mountains almost in my backyard and continue to pursue both of my lucrative professions.Of course that was far into the future, as I was a fairly healthy woman of sixty something.Then I injured my knees at work at needed some surgery to repair the damage. Recovered, I headed back to work. Re-injured my left knee,which required a total knee replacement. Okay,no problem,I'm mostly healthy. I can do this. I  injured my right shoulder and had to have an excruciatingly painful surgery which left me with fifty percent use of my left arm. Overhead lifting was gone for good with that arm.I returned to work and discovered I had so many restrictions I was no longer able to do my job efficiently. Also my injured knee was increasingly painful. My knee cap had shifted and was pressing against nerves I didn't know I had.At that point I was almost broke,even with medical insurance and disability payments I had  paid a lot out of pocket and ran out of paid medical leave and vacation and sick time.I discovered that bending,stooping,lifting, reaching anything over my head and even braiding my own hair, was a thing of the past At this point I had seemed to have no choice but to retire and move in with my adult daughter and her family.I began to draw social security checks after the disability checks ran out. I was not wise or prudent with my savings. However,not all was my doing. We, spent a lot of money moving to Alaska where my kids found well paying jobs. Then the job played out and we spent a lot of money moving to Anchorage and then   back to the lower 48.I realized and not for the first time,I had made some really unwise decisions that seemed great at the time.
        So that is an abbreviated version of how I came to be an invisible person. Oh I still write,but I had no clue as to how much learning the craft of writing was going to take and how hard it is to get published. So I sit in my room,read books and write.Will I ever get to Ireland or be a great writer and have an agent and have books published. Welll..,let's just say that miracles do happen every day and leave it at that.

Frustrations run Amok!

Okay. I am in Louisiana and my car is being held hostage in Anchorage,Alaska for 2,300.00 dollars. Actually it is going to cost me that amount to have it shipped here. So I decided to sell it on Craig's List. I think some of the people have mistaken this car for a garage sale item. Sigh!I can't get a job because I have no car. I have no car until I have a job. I can't get a loan because I have no credit history. Silly me, I don't buy an item until I can pay for it . My last two cars were bought with cash. Yes, how foolish to think being a responsible person would count for something in today's society.I don't like buying on credit. Anything could happen to leave me strapped for cash and scrambling to make those cursed payments. Fellow humans, we live in a Catch 22 world. Ain't it a shame.