BLOGGING (versus going back in time)

In 1942, this tunnel in Williamsburg, VA had a dirt floor and was a great place for young couples to walk through, holding hands. Or to sneak a kiss.

I blog today because of a comment my husband made this morning. He was at his computer with that last cup of morning coffee when he mentioned that all the regular bloggers he reads have quit posting.

Including me.

Hey it's summer - people are mowing grass and climbing mountains and sky diving!

I've done precious little of that stuff. A smidge of mowing, maybe. And too little hiking. But skydiving? Get real!

So what's my excuse for not blogging? I found it this morning embedded in a post on my YA Writer listserve. One of my fellow writers put it like this.

What is it with non-writers that they don't understand how
deeply you have to be involved with the book to be able to write or
revise effectively?

Wow! Not sure why I needed Mary Beth to clarify this for me but suddenly I realized why I had trouble writing this story I'm working on. I wasn't deeply involved enough. In some ways it all boiled down to more research.

But it was also about being deeply involved. Having the house to myself for hours on end and even for a few days. Reading chapters aloud and studying photographs, interviewing octogenarians, reading their memoirs, and exploring material that is in some way related to the time and place of my story. (Did I mention research?)

Have I mentioned going back to 1942 and staying there?

I think Mary Beth has it right and I've been thinking about that alot this summer. Writing a story means drilling down into the setting, the time, the characters. If we're jerked back into our real lives too often, we're apt to become disoriented. And it's hard to write when you're groping about in search of what you were saying just before you got interrupted.

Fortunately, I got past my dry spell this summer. And wrote the story. Mostly by slogging through some uphill moments in the last several weeks.

I'm wrapping up that first draft this week. And reading it aloud all day everyday. And tweaking. And I'm so happy because I'm going to spend next week with dear editor and some lovely, like-minded writers. We'll be immersing ourselves in our stories.

But I promise to blog some - so hubby has something to go with his coffee.

Anyway. There's my excuse for not blogging recently. Nothing to do with skydiving. Just been off in a different decade, is all.

WEDJ! (Write Every Day in June!)

During April I got into the habit of blogging every day. It was a busy month but I did it. I didn't write much in my work-in-progress, however.

So I threatened to abandon blogging in June and write my actual novel then. I will not quit blogging. But I do intend to write every day in June.

Last night, in the middle of the night, I realized I hadn't written in my book at all yesterday. I did some research though and got some ideas so I guess that could count. But I need to get some words on the page!

I've committed much of today to antique cars and a trip into the past. (something to blog about later if I'm not too busy writing!)

Between now and then I have a few minutes to write. See ya later.

IN WHICH BLOGGING TAKES ME OVER AND I GO ON A RANT

Late last night, I blogged about my need to read MARCH for my book club meeting on Monday night. Early this morning, I got an email from my sis (who happens to be in the same group) saying that MARCH was last month's selection!

Told you I've been a bad member lately. Turns out, I have a Toni Morrison around here that I need to devour in 3 days.

I could probably do it if I didn't have to blog. I "joined" the BEDA challenge (Blog Every Day April) so now I have very little time for anything else! There's time only for putting words in the little posting box, adding links, tweaking the words, eliminating a space here and adding one there. Then uploading pics, rejecting pics, browsing for more. Ooops! Need to crop that one. And where in the world did I put those school visit photos?

This leads to a grand but futile effort to reorganize the pictures in my computer (relabeling, moving to more appropriate folders, and generally forgetting what I was doing in the first place.)

Ah, yes, blogging. It takes way too much time. Good grief! In the time I get a blog post up I could write a chapter of my work-in-progress!

There has to be a faster way to blog. I should be able to sit down, spit out a few words, and publish! After all Maureen Johnson who started this BEDA idea writes a long - really, really long post every day. (She also has published 7 books in 3 years so maybe I should get the hint that I won't be keeping up with her any time soon!)

But I'm seriously considering starting up a month of my own. I'll call it CEDJ - Chapter Every Day June (or July). It might also become BNDJ - Blog No Days June.

And then again, maybe someone out there can tell me how to blog fast. I'm open to suggestions. As long as you don't tell me to eliminate the pics.

I gotta have my pics. Maybe I'll start blindly inserting one from a random folder and take whatever comes!

That's how I got the one at the top of the post. And hey, at least it's not me on a bad hair day! I'd tell you what school visit I discovered this BLUE poster on, but that would take way too much searching.

And right now, I've got to go read A MERCY, by Toni Morrison.