Sunday, April 4, 2010

Giving My Lying Self a Dose of the Truth

Something wasn't working.

I had blown through revising the first 70 pages of my MS. The conflict was clear, the characters were introduced and flushed out, the scenes were set. Stuff was cut. (A lot of stuff was cut). Stuff was added.

And then....crickets.

One-third of the way through, I had hit a wall.

All the action had slowed down. The flow stopped. It. Was. Boring.

So.

I took a walk, a long, rainy, Easter walk.

And I thought. What would be unexpected here? What would be a good twist? What could move the conflict forward? Deepen the character? Up the stakes in her choices?

I didn't come up with anything yet. But I will.

Because just identifying the problem, telling myself I needed to completely undo and redo it, instead of trying to justify that I could tweak it a little bit, was a huge relief.

I'm free.

So until Tuesday, I'll be taking a little break. Inviting the possibilities. Not forcing anything.

I'm excited!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm right there with you, Jennie!

Keep it up. All the best :)

Jennie Englund said...

Okay, Wendy, it's you and me!

All the best to you, too!

Unknown said...

Best of luck with it! The perfect scenario will come to you, probably in the shower, if you're anything like me!

Glad to hear you had a nice Easter. Here's to a wonderful week!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Add me to the list with you and Wendy! I am sooooo in that place right now! :-)

Jackee said...

Good luck, Jennie! One thing I do when I'm stuck or forcing things to fit is take a long bubble bath with a notebook in hand. Sometimes ideas come, sometimes not.

Enjoy the break and get some good breathing room in!

Jennie Englund said...

Such solidarity, blog buddies!

Elana Johnson said...

Yay, Jennie! Something will come. It always does. :)

Unknown said...

That is such a relief! I'm so glad! You will get it down now and it will be awesome!