So even though I've been working on my novel, and friend of mine says that is a good enough reason why I haven't kept up with my blogging, it still kind of bothers me that I haven't blogged. Not that I'm getting after myself about it or anything, it's just a reflection of my life right now. It seems like I'm so focused on writing that the rest of my life is put on hold (as in lock it away in a closet and lose the key until you get around to getting a metal detector to find it again). I've never been one to put life on hold. I've always been the go getter and if life doesn't happen then shove that square peg in the round hole and make life happen. Kind of sick huh? Well at least my life entertains me. :)
Or in many cases it doesn't. The main one being that pretty much all of my single friends, or those who were single that I spent quite a bit of time with in the last five years, are all married. You know what? It gets kind of old finding out through other people that so and so got married and you never heard a word from them. To top it off, it could be a year or two after the fact. It's really like WTF?
Even the singles group that I've joined last fall has not really been panning out. And I can't figure that one out at all. You look nice, are a great conversationalist, have good manners, help others to make them more comfortable in a group setting, be optimistic... and all there is to show about it all is that you were not the one standing alone along the wall having a pity party or feeling horrible. With a man or two there's all the signs that he's OBVIOUSLY interested in you--all the major cues are there so that there's no confusion on the matter and then they disappear never to be seen or heard from again.
Is it really any wonder why I have locked my personal life away and focused on my novel??? At least if I'm going to imagine anything is going to happen there's some sort of results, something to show. :) Ha!!!!
But I really do love the time that I have to write. My story has literally become my baby. I continue to tweak it to bring out the best and try to make it fluid. And I fall in love with it more and more. Then I hear from my aunt, who is test reading a draft. She was nice and polite about it, but the bottom line was that she said it did not pique her interest. Oh, I can't even begin to explain the first few hours after I read her note. I was crushed. I actually thought that one of my BFFs might have been generously nice with me when she read the earlier draft that preceded the one that I'm sending to my general readers. Then I opened my files to relook at the chapters that my aunt read and had a what-the-hell moment. My story is most certainly not boring, I still think it's relevant and will sell quite well once it gets a publishing home!!! Even though my aunt is quite well read, I know that she has a different reading style than mine. Besides the point, she said that it didn't grab her, not that it was poorly written. It just means that we have different tastes. (And I need to state that at no point was I ever angry at my aunt. I just value her opinion, which is why I gave her a copy to read. And if she chooses to continue to read the story and finish it, then she can offer me an insight that my fantasy reading friends may not have.) But that being said, this revision that I am working on is taking for-ev-er. The previous draft took less than a month. This draft is already at a month and a half and I'm nearly 3/4 of the way through. It was just a little discouraging that the process is slowing down a bit. But not that I would change it for the world. There have been some things that I added to the story that I would never have added (which add so much depth and flavour) if I had done a quicker revision. The only problem is that I can't keep a fluid line in my head working at this pace. When I was cranking anywhere up to 7 chapters a day I had a great time line in my head to keep track of things. It's not so much that way now. But I guess that is all right. Things worked earlier. Right now the righting feels like making 300 count Egyptian weave cotton sheets as apposed to the K-Mart Special brand on sale. I'm making things tighter.
Oh! Besides that, I've been doing some work drawing again. It's visual aids for me to keep images concrete--rooms, buildings, dresses, etc. I'm excited about that because it has been several years since I last picked up a pencil to sketch and draw. A BFF saw my work on gowns and she already picked out her favorite one. :) It makes me happy. I'm doing it for myself, but I keep thinking in the back of my head that I would like to see if it were possible to have my book published with a couple of drawings. We will find out when I get to that stage. But a few of my friends have been telling me that whether they get published or not, I just need to put them up on my web page for my books. I didn't have to think to tell them that of course I had thought about doing that and had no problem with that idea.
Well this is getting long and I am already cutting into my evening writing time. So I'll have to come back and finish writing another time.
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