Funny

It's funny how when I was writing MM, the most difficult thing for me was to be funny. "I'm not that funny." I would think to myself. Then I would write a line or two and find it funny, but when I showed it to other people, they would say, "That's not funny." Fortunately, the reviews have called it "sarky" - a brit colloquialism for sarcastic - which at least, relates to humor. So that's a good thing. Even then I knew if I was struggling so hard to be funny, it wouldn't be. I felt like a very bad stand-up comic.

Interestingly, for project 2, funny is not a problem. This protagonist is funny all by herself. She has funny thoughts and says funny things and she makes me laugh all the time. Even in my sleep. She is like the gals I worked for in advertising. They kept me in stitches. Things they said years ago still have me brimming with mirth. And this girl, this heroine, she is like them, and more.

As it is...all these scenes are unfolding and I am constantly reminding myself to keep note of them. Keep catching them. Add them to the list.

In MM, I thought too much. In fact, I over-thought. The result was the heroine was positively annoying in neurotic introspection.
Thankfully, this chick is a breeze. She's laughs at herself and I as a writer laugh with her. I hope she wins out. I hope she stays this way, especially once we start getting on the page.

It would be great to laugh my way through the writing of this book. It's certainly looking that way.

Too long

It's been too long since I've blogged. FB does that to you I guess. But lately, I've been needing the warm-ups as a prelude to the writing I want to do - this as opposed to the writing I have to do. Either way, I need the warm-up. Stretching those muscles - stretching any muscles - is a good thing.

Woody Allen said that the hardest thing about writing is the thinking of it, and I'm starting to agree with him. The funny thing is that I've been doing the thinking of two projects for almost six months now, all the while doing all the things I'm supposed to do. Being a wife. Being a mother. Raising a daughter and a son. Building a house. Keeping a house. Writing to help out. Writing to earn a bit of money. Organizing health issues for the parents and children. Getting a dog. Raising a dog. Keeping healthy. Trying to run. Getting fit. Worrying about the future. Trying not to worry about the future.

All the while, the thinking of it is taking place. It is exciting, but it raises the question, at what point is the thinking enough and when can the writing begin?

The interesting thing is multiplicity of distractions. There is another novel with chicklit tendencies lurking in there. There is also a novel of a more serious, dare I say, literary vein. There is also a children's story as well as a short novel for young adults. And the other day, there was even a musical.

It's important to focus, but I persist in the notion that out of the chaos will come order, and in this multitasking world, it is possible to have a few pots on the stove, a few buns in the oven. The wealth of creative ideas is something to be thankful for. It is a positive.

But clearly, it also means that much of it needs to be sorted out. Ergo the resurrection of this blog that has been dormant for almost six months.

It is active again.