)O( Tea Witch's Musings )O(

Well, the Sisters in Crime Guppy group has been stalled on this topic for a while.  Some interesting observations.  One that men tend to write about characters more in an adolescent stage while women have characters in a more adult stage.  Which really means that male writers tend to have characters who come onto the scene and have adventures then leave without developing any personal responsibility around the characters.  Female writers tend to write about characters who have relationships and families and where the characters have to deal with the effect of their actions on those relationships.  It's not a bad generalization.  But like most generalizations, I can think of  many exceptions.  But as a mystery writer, I'm not sure that the "adolescent" approach isn't wiser for the writer.  After all, your detective can come on the scene solve the mystery and leave.  Later he or she solves a whole new mystery with new people.  I've manage to write a mystery that would fall in the mature relationship category where my characters all know each other.  Which means for a series, I keep having to figure out how to bring in and kill off new characters.  From a mystery perspective, that's a bit trickier.  But on the other hand, it gives readers a cast of characters to grow fond of.  Besides, I like my strange and wonderful characters.

Yes, the Florida Writer Association God versus Angels presidential election results are in.  The FWA presidential candidates were Acaysha and Dan.  Acaysha writes books about angels and believes anything is possible if you trust in your personal angels.  Dan doesn't write much but when asked why he wasn't campaigning more he sent a long rambly email about having faith in GOD (which he does write in all caps).  Dan also finds the FWA Year in Review video, the one that states that non-Christians should be killed, inspirational. I don't know Acaysha's opinion on the video.  She is good friends with the Caryn, the outgoing president, who made the video.  But Acaysha is the rather ethereal type and I'm not sure she's capable of sustaining a thought long enough for it to count as an opinion. 

So, as you might gather, I really wasn't in favor of either candidate and in fact, am no longer participating in any FWA functions because of the minor detail that they feel I should be killed.  But I couldn't drop off completely until I found out the results of this election where GOD and the angels had apparently squared off behind the candidates.  So many questions come to mind - can GOD vote as three entities, Father, Son and Holy Ghost or is he restricted to one vote?  Are the cherubim considered old enough to have reached voting age among the angels?  And did the heavenly hosts deliver their votes via the US Postal Service as mortal members were required to do or did they come carried by a heavenly dove?  Yes, yes, you're wondering - but who did when?  Well, apparently angels make better campaign managers.  Acaysha won.  Quite possibly because the angels seemed to have advised her to post (as she always does) very frequently on the FWA group and ask people to vote for her.  GOD's faith-based initiative for Dan, which seemed to involve sitting by and waiting for GOD to make him president, didn't go over as well with the actual voters.  After all, even W knows you have to do some actual campaigning to get elected. 

But the story is not yet over.  Friends who thought I and a few others were making too much of a deal over the FWA Hate Video declared before the election that they would not do various FWA things if Acashya was elected.  I'm waiting to see if they carry through in these threats or if they just let them drift away much like the video protest.  After all, Acaysha has been accused of horrible actions such as ... let's see, late delivery of her free giveaway bags when the conference was being set up.  And ... ummm...oh, yeah, asking people for donations for a gift for Caryn before she let them sign the card.  Terrible.  Horrible.  Late bag delivery - much worse than saying people should be killed for their religious beliefs. 

Just watched a show on DIY about making a mystery garden.  The mystery garden was pretty much just a stone spiral in a shady spot, but I'm wondering if I could do something like that in the back bed under the tree.  The roots make it tricky for anything to grow there.  Well, the dogs running through the area don't help.   The bed is more rectangular than verticle, but I could put a small spiral in the center area.  And Max, the mostly springer spaniel, can't do much damage to rocks.  Perhaps some pretty stones from the pond and stone place that's just down the street a bit.  I might even be able to tackle this project in the winter. 

Writing is going slowly.  Still on chapter 4.  Didn't think just an edit would take this long.  Of course if I'd really concentrate on JUST the edit and not tv or computer games, it would go faster.

 

Well, I've been trying to meditate each night to see if that helps keep me centered and helps my creativity.  I'm feeling calmer, which is always good, but still more work than creativity going on.  I may take some time off in January to try to plow through book 3.  When I loose the thread lof a story it's hard to get back into it without some dedicated "alone" time with it.  I need to keep this in mind when Nanowrimo comes around next year.  It's one thing to balance a couple of books at once or even writing one book and editing another.  But it seems to throw my rhythm off if I spend a whole month working on one frantic project.  Of course Nanowrimo is a good break and chance to explore projects I might not otherwise think of, so there is balance in these things.  Hmm, interesting, meditation is about finding balance.  Maybe I just need more balance between work time and being off time.   

Oh bother, it's back to work tomorrow.  Well, I'm up to chapter 4 on working through rewrites and the new description rule is helping.  I'm also having to rearrange the landscape a bit in the book to make some of the new ideas make more sense.  This is where mixing fact and fiction get tricky.  The book is set in my grandmother's (Mamma) house, a place that is clearer in my memory than it is in reality since it was sold.  But things will work better if I move the duplex's Mamma used to rent from across the street to between her house and the old railroad tracks.  No, I don't have to physically move them.  They may not even still be standing in the real world.  But I have to mentally rearrange them so that they sit the old forest behind the house, behind where Mikey's old doghouse stood.  Of course everyone who reads the book who knows where the duplexs really were is going to fuss that I have them in the wrong spot and that my characters are staying in Mikey's old doghouse.  But right now the task is to redo chapter 4 and actually get them where I want the to be.  

It's wet, rainy and cold.  No, not cold enough to snow.  Which is good because it's done that before and when it gets that cold here and everyone turns on the heat and does the holiday cooking we loose all power.  Today is more mildly chilly made worse by the grey rainy day.  But the garden needed the rain. 

I have decided on a new writing rule.  When I'm working on something I must have a nice descriptive phrase or paragraph at least once a page.  It may seem odd to make a rule like this. Some writers hate having rules around their writing because that would stifle their creativity.  But what this rule does is make me stop and scan each page and think - is this all dialogue or have I really described the scene.  Usually there is some spot where a little description will help the reader.  Because in the end, you're either writing for the reader or for yourself.  If you write for yourself, don't worry about rules.  If you write for the reader, then you need to worry about what makes the story most enjoyable for them. 

Oh, and yes, the most important lesson - to really be a writer, you're going to obsess about writiing all the time.  Even when you wake up Christmas morning.  Which doesn't mean I won't actually spend time with the family.  It just means most of the time I spend wondering when I'll have some free time to write again.  Besides, grey, rainy days were made for writing.

Yes, I'm writing again.  I'm working on book three - When the Ghost is Clear.  I decided that I needed to ground myself by reading back through the chapters I've already written.  And that made me realize I need to work more on description.  Now, I'm a fairly competent writer but I will admit that description is a weakness.  I love writing dialogue.  And action.  But seem to be a little lost when it comes to setting the scene.  So I'm working back through some early chapters.  And I'm discovering that description from Patrick's POV never looks the way I would think it would.  Patrick is one of those characters who tends to take over scenes and make them work his way.  Perhaps that's  why I enjoy writing Patrick's parts.  Over all this inserting description exercise seems to be a good one for getting me back into the book.

No work in the garden today.  Too cold and rainy.  It looks like it should be snowing, but it's not cold enough.  Yes, it does sometimes snow even here in Central Florida.  About once a decade or so.  I did some work in the back room to reclaim it since I no longer share space with anyone.  Now the room is mostly empty space.  I need to find some cozy furnitutre to put in it.  Maybe one of those great big round bamboo chairs.  Something with lots of pillows and such. 

I actually have the day off from work.  I can't sit in the garden because now and then a few raindrops actually fall.  Good for the garden, not the computer.  I've put the Yule gifts together - candles, scented soap, homemade bathsalts and such.  I've been doing a bit of writing and a bit of house cleaning.  Kind of a sleepy day.  

Yes, I'm off until Monday.  Which means I'll spend about ten hours a day writing instead of working. Or at least that's what I should do.  I still have to make the Yule gifts and actually do some house cleaning.  During writer's block, house cleaning can be a good way to postpone facing the blank page.  But more often the need to finish writing something is a good way to put off house cleaning.  But eventually house cleaning is just something that needs to be done.  Maybe I'm inspired by watching "Your Reality Checked" on Fine Living TV.  Yes, that's about the only Fine Living show I watch.  This one showed a couple learning how to be innkeepers.  So it counts as research since Rafe has an inn in the books.  Now I'm watching "Ghost Hunters" on Scifi, more research.  See, research sounds so much better than saying I'm watching mindless TV. 

I have the flu.  I think I must have picked it up during those three conference days where everyone sat in chairs far too close together.  I'm feeling a little better tonight.  I'm not getting any writing done but at least I can concentrate on the odd TV show.  And some of them are very odd.  Back in time animal planet on the science channel.  Last night I mostly slept through something about the DaVinci Code.  Hopefully I'll get better soon.