Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Don't you hate it when you have an epiphany and then the next day you can't remember what it was? I know I made some important neural pathways yesterday, but all I can do is trust they'll kick in when I need them.
Despite my grogginess yesterday, I did have a pretty good writing day. I'm ready to be finished with this project so I can start on the next. Not sure what that will be yet, but I do have a few ideas which have been inside my head for a while and want to get outside:
- A middle grade or young adult book about orphans who go to live with their hoarding aunt, make a network of tunnels through her mountains of stuff, find treasure and have adventures (tentative title, Catacombia).
- A medieval fantasy about twin girls separated at birth, one of whom is adopted by an innkeeper and learns that her sister has been raised to be the dragon's next sacrificial victim
I'd also like to finish a middle-grade that I started with my daughter several years ago--it's about halfway finished--and I'd really like to revisit the Ea's Gift world. That wouldn't be wise, I guess, since it hasn't sold yet. Better to spend my time on new things.
Have you had any new ideas lately? Care to share? I won't steal them, promise.
I have a few new ideas. I'm stuck straddling my guilt at not finishing the completed manuscript I'm editing and having a WIP which is hanging out there for the last 18 months doing nothing. The latter needs some corrective work, which I can do, but then ... I really want to finish the one I've started.
ReplyDeleteInstead, I'm filling up a notebook or two with ideas, synopses and story planning stuff for about three or four other ideas I've been kicking around. I feel like if I just decide to write, I'll have a LOT of work at my fingertips.
I love the Catacombia idea!
ReplyDeleteThe other one's pretty interesting too.
I hate when epiphany's get forgotten - seems like so much genius has been wasted. *sigh*
You know, this post still isn't in my Reader. I saw it on the Twitter RSS, which DID show up in Reader. Weird.
Based on our conversation today, I bet it won't be long before you're hard at work. :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if anybody else is having that problem with my feed. That may be why I'm not getting the hits I've come to expect. Or maybe I just suck now. :)
ReplyDeleteJust showed up now, well, at 6 pm. I just showed up at the comp and saw it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's you. One comments RSS I subscribed to takes 4 days to show up in my Reader - so it's either Google, or me.
And you don't suck now. Stop that.
Catacombia - that's worth writing for the title alone. I recently watched a program abouut hoarders - it's an interesting illness.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I got loads of ideas, but you already knew that. Blood on the Ice; Troubleshooters: the Sins of the Mother; Pariah's War; Champion: a Just Cause Novel; just to name a few. :)
ReplyDeleteI like the hoarder idea too- I've known at least two people with that compulsion, and I'd love to read a book about it from a young person's perspective. It could turn something kind fo sad into something magical. I'm still in the midst of my current project but I do get ideas for poems. I have the habit of not writing them down though, kind of a anti-habit, and would like to change that. Hoarding would be a interesting subject for a poem, for instance. Note to self- write it down!
ReplyDeleteWhat is weird, is that the last blog I read before I came over here to read yours? Talks about hoarding! Well, more about clutter--you know, the kind of clutter that finally collapses and traps the poor soul until he dies. Anyway, it is an interesting blog. http://www.murderati.com/blog/2009/10/4/positive-and-negative-spaces.html
ReplyDeleteLet's see--I've got the short stories I'm working on for the MFA app. AND I've got my next NaNo idea. Way excited about it.
But lots of other things to do. ahem.
Probably should go do one or two of them now...
Yes ma'am.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wondered if it were too dark to write about, but then I remembered how dark Lemony Snickets was and figured it might be ok for kids. But the aunt will be the harmless, eccentric type and I don't plan to dwell on the health issues.
ReplyDeleteI knew about all of those except Champion. And I'm not surprised you had a list ready.
ReplyDeleteWrite it down, girlfriend!
ReplyDeleteI'm like Darknight. Too many new ideas, plenty of Languishing WIPs, and the guilt.
ReplyDeleteHere's a couple (out of a bazillion):
*a young heiress and socialite kills her married lover, and the story follows her futile attempts to avoid the consequences.
*a mid-level Inquisitor is forced to become a warlock when a small town is overrun by a plague of golems.
I read that post and found inspiration. The clutter she describes does sound like hoarding. Though I don't hoard, I never thought about how temporary the spaces in my house appear to be. I wonder if it affects my creativity at all. It's a good concept to apply to your writing, as well, positive and negative space. Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteThe second sounds right up my alley, "a plague of golems." Can't go wrong with golems. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSherri,
ReplyDeleteI love the first idea! Kids building tunnels through hoards of stuff! I love it!!
I really hate not knowing that important epiphany I thought of the day prior. So I had the brillian idea (once upon a time) to carry a voice-activated micro recorder and would 'jot down' writerly thoughts while walking. i was really big on long walks when I lived in San Francisco, and I took down hours and hours of notes that first time I used the recorder...only to find that all I heard was white noise! Because wind across a microphone is far more powerful than me talking low to a crappy cheap recorder!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I thought if the aunt had a mansion, then the kids could find hidden doorways and stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteOh man, that sucks! lol I've tried using a recorder, but I hate the way I sound on there, plus I'm always afraid of the hubs listening to it and making fun of my "epiphanies".
ReplyDelete