My slip is showing

My lack of confidence sometimes rears it's ugly head and gives me great misgivings about my work. This time it was an off-the-cuff remark someone made on the NaNoWriters email group. We had been discussing Water for Elephants and someone said that it was an interesting story but that the writing was "average." All I know is that as I read, I was hooked...I almost couldn't put the book down until I finished it. If that was "average" writing, then I'm in trouble.

So I worry about my little novel. Is my writing also going to be considered "average?" Gads. I am not average. At least, I don't want to be!! I want my story to grab my reader and pull them in and get them to not want to put the book down. I had thought up until now that my first 50 pages or so are "done" as far as I'm concerned. But now I'm not so sure. There's not much action in those first pages. At least no much action that can get people excited.

Hmmm.

If I could just finish the story, they I could go back and fix/hack/change. I keep getting distracted!!

Zoppe Family Circus

I got the most recent announcement from the Zoppe Family Circus website, and it turns out they will be performing at the St. Louis County Fair and Air Show over Labor Day Weekend. I have never seen the Zoppe's alone, always mixed in with other circuses (like Flora) so it will be neat to see it as it is meant to be...

Zoppe prides themselves on being "circus the way it was meant to be," small, intimate, entertaining, and memorable.

Not to mention the fact that I'll get to see Nino again this year. What a treat!

Scenes that Don't Want to Be Written

I've been working on and off for months on one little scene in my book, where the FMC and MMC go out on a date. Simple, right? Not so much, no.

I think last night I finally had a breakthrough. I had put the dinner date in the wrong place. I moved it, and a few other things, to a week later in the timeline, which seems to have helped some. I do need to make a few more adjustments, as well. I've got a bad case of "cart before the horse" on some major parts of the novel.

It feels good to be sitting down and writing every day again. I really need to do that. When I let it sit, and come back to it, I have to remember where I was and what I was trying to accomplish, and that can be such a time-eater. So seeing it every day there isn't such a lapse, and perhaps I can get more of this story banged out in the next few weeks or months.

I'm also debating on participating in NaNo this year. I like to do it, it keeps me focused and after four years, it is a bit of a habit. But I don't know if I want to give up working on Without A Net for an entire month while I work on another project. We'll have to see.

Time flies...

...when you're unnecessarily busy.

I've decided to give up a major part of my contract work so that I can have more time to devote to writing. I have not touched my novel in at least three weeks, and at this point the darned thing is NEVER going to get written if I don't get moving on it.

I will miss the money from the contract work, but I should have plenty more hours each week to devote to writing. Now I just have to stick with my plans and actually GET the writing done. Today I have a nice 3 or 4 hour time to spend writing away from home. I'm taking advantage of it, believe me. My poor neglected novel.