First Draft Done! I've finished the first draft of my new novel, working title A Pirate's Treasure. I've got 93,000 words and have started on revisions. But I'm one of those people who love revisions. I would rather work with something than have to stare at that blank page and blinking cursor all day.
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Today's tip of the hat for creative assistance goes to the Dachshund of Doom. While I was doing the morning walk I had a breakthrough about a clue I need to plant towards the end of the WIP. I know I wouldn't have had this flash of brilliance on my own. It took the mindless activity of walking Her Highness to stimulate the braincells. Showering is my other favorite mindless activity to stimulate the brain cells, but with our bathroom undergoing remodeling I don't have a shower stall that's bland and comfortable enough for my mind to turn off. No, while I'm using the hall bath it's all about how quickly can I get in-and-out and why am I the only one in the house who notices the need for re-grouting? And the clue has to do with Gainesville's tourist highlight, The Devil's Millhopper . A friend of a friend once said, "Let me make sure I understand this--your town's claim to fame is a hole in the ground?" and that about sums it up. I'
My WIP is creeping towards the end, and it's making me think now about what I have to go back and fix at the beginning to make it seem like a seamless work, and not the pastiche my writing usually is in the first draft. What I like about sitting down with a full manuscript in that first read through is seeing my characters fully fleshed, from start to finish. It allows me to pay close attention to them, now that I have the action out of the way, and make sure that their motivations are true to them and true to the story. But first, I'm off to finish that rough draft.
Librarians rock. Reference librarians rock the hardest, and university librarians are like gods you want to burn incense to 'cause they know how to find out everything. Today's incense is being wafted over towards the University of Florida Libraries, where information was uncovered for me that makes it logistically possible for me to write a Really Big Scene I've been wanting to write. I'm so happy!
The WIP is about 85% finished. Plot pieces are falling into place. I'm finally figuring out why I wrote certain scenes months back and set them aside for later use. Now it all makes sense. The joys of being an organic writer, as opposed to an outliner. I may not always know why I'm dancing the steps I am, but in the end it all works. And I do believe it's more exciting that way, at least for me. I'm no longer staring at my characters' dialog snippets, scratching my head and asking, "Why did you do that?" Instead, I get to have more "Aha!" moments as the pieces fit together into (I hope) a seamless whole. Whew!
I'm back home, having stopped off at that hotbed of pirate activity, Amelia Island and Fernandina. This time though the only plundering was of the restaurants and pool bar at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island , where we reveled in the celebration of our best friends' daughter's wedding. What a weekend! I enjoyed the Ritz so much I dropped unsubtle hints in my dear husband's ear that an anniversary get-away to Amelia might be just the ticket--he could golf, I could explore historic Fernandina and do some writing, and at night we'd cuddle in front of the fires in the lounge or down at the beach. More on this as it develops...