Did I mention the notes come in a variety of tasteful pastels?

Meanwhile, I’m making notes for the next draft of third installment of the Enyo Chronicles. I last worked on that tale in June, so I should be plenty objective.

Come to think of it, so do I. But, I only work on one at a time. Otherwise I never finish anything.

When a new story idea pops into my head, it happens–the muse is not interested in my schedule–I make a few notes and let it simmer in the background. More often then not, it never becomes a story. Sometimes a story gets into the plotting stage before I decide it’s not working.

How about you, do you specialize, focusing on one task at a time or to juggle several projects?

Revising requires two different modes of thinking, the editing mind set and the creative trance. An impossible task. For me it’s like trying to jog and dance at the same time. Not happening. And even if I could blend the two, the result would be ugly. What I hope works is frequent switching between the edit mindset and creative process.

Either I’m building new and improved brain functions or I’m burning out large sections….

I’m convinced the sub-conscious is the home of the creative well. Writing means dipping into this well over and over, spilling the contents onto the blank page.

The more writing I do, the more I become aware of my own interior reservoir and the ways it both matches and differs from others’ inner waterworks.

Writing is the practice of emotional nudity. This is both humbling and life affirming. Anyone reading my work knows me to my core. The reader knows I believe in love, knows my quirks, knows my strengths, and knows my insecurities. If I do my job well, the reader connects with some of my truths.

Are there certain themes that resonate with you?

For me, the real benefit of a critique group isn’t the feedback I get. Although, that is a a much appreciated feature. But, there’s nothing like going through another writer’s passive verbs, purple phrases, and liberal dialogue tags to remind me how often I’m guilty of the same lazy prose.

This is not a condemnation of all dialogue tags, all passive verbs, and all adverbs. They have a place. But, I need to cultivate a rigorous habit of self-examination to avoid slipping into evil ways.

Leaving a first draft cooling on the hard drive for a couple of weeks? What nonsense. Like a few weeks would give me any perspective on characters I’ve bonded with over a period of months.

Reading aloud made me feel self-conscious. Besides, I could hear the story in my head. Why on earth would I need to read it out loud? The answer, I eventually learned, is because my ears can’t be fooled as easily as my eyes, which have the deplorable fault of sliding right over the most egregious errors.

I was wrong to ignore both of these suggestions. Reading aloud and resting the story after the first draft help.

This how stories are in my head–if I rifled through the images too fast, I don’t catch all of subtle action. Too slow, and I start to fidget. Luckily, I can replay the scenes over and over until I get them right.