Good – Bad – The Tired

Photo credit: ME! I have this sticker as well as a ton of others in my Etsy shop. (Or contact me and I’ll gladly sell off of there so they don’t get all of my money. 😬)

Hey all, welcome back! It’s a new week and in a few days, a new month. Is it just me or is the Summer flying by?! It seems like just yesterday, people were blowing up fireworks to celebrate the birth of our country. Of course around here, people are still blowing up fireworks because, well, that’s what they do. (And one day, my heart will start beating again.)

Anywhoooo, besides all the craziness of life, I have been up for nights-going-into-days on the book. The other day I worked from 2am to 1pm and pretty much collapsed to sleep. Well, sleep for about an hour. I’m having some trouble with that particular area. Sleep? What’s that? Between the heat and the story going through my head, sleep is a foreign subject to me.

That’s ok though! Just last night as I was getting something to eat, out of nowhere, a critical plot line that I’ve been having issues with resolved itself!! I have been having so much trouble with this part of the story, fully knowing that what I originally wrote was pure and utter crap. Even with all of the research I did on it, it still came off as made up nonsense that would never happen. Ever. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. It’s been weeks of either obsessing about it or completely ignoring it and going on with the story. I hadn’t even thought about it in days so when it popped up last night, it was like a freaking revelation and I literally yelled out loud, “THAT’S IT!” (Thankfully no one else was home.) When I went into the old chapter, I did a complete rewrite and lo and behold, it works! So one major hurdle is being rectified and I’m feeling so much better about where it is going now.

In the meantime, it’s been days upon days of little or no sleep and I’m starting to get to the punch drunk tired phase. Which, I have to say, keeps me somewhat entertained, as when I read what I’ve written during these times? Has me laughing as I have apparently been writing like a lunatic on acid. Kind of how I’m writing now.

The point I’m laboring to make here is, eventually, things will work themselves out in their own time. Once I stopped putting so much pressure on myself to figure out this one plot point, it came to me. It’s like life I guess. Once you stop putting pressure on yourself to do something, it’ll happen. Once we relax a bit, you’ll be surprised at what happens. So I hope that will be your takeaway from this strange zombie rambling I’m doing tonight. Relax. Let life happen and maybe the solution to the problem you’ve been having? Will come to you. If it doesn’t, well then…have some ice cream. Ice cream can make everything better. 🙂

On that note, I shall leave you for today. I hope you all have a week of great opportunities and please, STAY COOL! It’s going to be a hot one here where I am and this Summer cannot end soon enough for me. Speaking of, for those who are keeping track, Pumpkin Spice Lattes start at Starbucks last week of August, you’re welcome.

Until next time folks, thanks for following along and I hope you will check out the links below. See you soon…cheers!

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and will see you in the next post!

No Sleep, Character Obsession and Just Kept Writing

Photo credit: xaviandrew on Pixabay.

Hey guys, welcome back! I hope you all got to see the bonus post I did filled with Summer Reading ideas. If not, it can be found in the ‘new posts’ tab, I’l also link it below this post. I am planning to put it up as part of the On the Bookshelf page as well as I’ve been really neglecting the rest of the site this year as far as updated pages. Also, please note that my links show up on this site in a darker color. They are (unfortunately?) not as defined as other sites.

Anywhoo, let’s get the post at hand, shall we?

Just going to say it, I haven’t been sleeping. Part of it is because it’s hotter than the sun here in the Northeast these days (and other places as well) and my AC is struggling to keep things cool. I mean, 90 degrees inside isn’t exactly cooling things off. I did treat myself to some Gatorade so hey, living the dream!

The lack of sleep has had me writing a whole lot. I have the house to myself this week and with my odd sleep schedule of staying up and night and sleeping during the day, I decided the other day to see how long I could go just writing.

I mentioned in a previous post that I’ve developed a pretty regular routine. To give you an idea (read:recap) of how screwed up my schedule is: I always start by reading the previous night’s work and editing as I go. This usually begins around 4am. At 5am I’m most likely done and then I write the new stuff until about 7:30-8am or until I finish a chapter. I type very quickly, so a chapter can sometimes only take me two hours or a little more. For a little perspective though, some of my chapters are short at only 11 pages or so. I take a lot of meds because of medical issues and I need stuff to help me sleep. Sometimes I will take something about an hour into writing so that I can fall asleep by 9-10am. (Boring you yet? Sorry)

The problem with this a lot of times, is that I’m just getting into the story or getting more ideas for where the story can go just as the sleep stuff kicks in. Then I’m stuck replaying it all in my head making it hard to get any actual sleep. Again, I have the place to myself and had nowhere to go the other day. So I decided to try something and not to take anything. To see how long I could keep going with the story. To just keep writing.

When I finished what is a very pivotal chapter, I went to do a page count and I had typed out 31 pages! I started at around 5am and went until 1pm. I just kept writing.

Will I keep a lot of it? Will the chapter be broken up into two? Is any of it good? Well, that’s what editing is for! But to know that I could keep going like that proved to me that I’d like to try doing this more often. That stifling the creativity just as it gets rolling may not be the way to go. And yes, I have tried starting earlier than 4am. It didn’t stick.

This story has really consumed me. Suddenly, scenes I hadn’t really planned on putting in, are taking over and I’ve been surprised at how they fit into the story as a whole. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that this new book is being written in the first person. The main character has invaded my thoughts and when I put everything away at ‘bedtime’, the story continues in my head like a movie. I will lay there trying to clear my head, only to sit back up and write stuff in the notebook I keep near my bed so I don’t forget anything later on. Yet still, the storyline keeps playing in my head like this week’s Netflix trailers.

There’s also a few things I keep going over, especially now that I’m 36 chapters in. Do I change things up? Do I throw in a major surprise? Is it time to start thinking of this as a series rather than a standalone book? I’ve created some characters and a location that has become so real to me now and that has become a great escape for me that frankly, I don’t want to leave it. But that’s me. What will readers think?

These are the things that are now starting to keep me up at night. That and a whole lot of heat.

And that is where I will leave you for today. I’m sorry if this one wasn’t too exciting but as I’ve said before, sometimes I just need to get out the thoughts so I can move on with my life. 😂

I very much appreciate your hanging out with me for a little bit. I hope you are staying cool and hydrated and that if you like it here, you’ll share this site with your friends.

Thanks again and until next time…

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It’s Summer Reading Time! <—Summer reading inspiration by yours truly.

Find my social (including TikTok), shops and more: linktr.ee/promosocially

If you like what I do here and would like to help support this site, you can click the Ko-Fi link on this page.

Thank you for getting this far and see you next time!! 🥰