Today, after work, I get to drop by the grad fair at the local UofP campus to pick up my gown, cap, and tassel for graduation. Today I'll post two comments in the classroom and that should be it for school for a little while. I have to admit that I am looking forward to the break! I've started working on the sequel to The Citizens (I was going to write the sequel for Dhampiri first but the feedback I'm getting on The Citizens has changed my mind) and it's been making it really hard for me to focus on much of anything else.
It's funny because when I'm in "writing mode" Snackers has noticed that my eyes kind of glaze over and I stare blankly out into nothing and sometimes, if I'm working on dialogue between my characters, my lips will even move slightly like I'm talking to myself when, really, I'm just writing in my head. And when a story starts to develop to the point that the smallest experience can inspire ideas for it, I can go into writing mode anywhere: laying in bed at night, sitting at my computer, taking a bath, even while I'm standing outside smoking or doing chores around the house. The first few times that Snackers caught me writing dialogue he called me out on it - "What are you saying?" he would ask. And then I would get embarrassed and say "Nothing, I was scratching my lip with my teeth" or some other silly cover excuse.
Recently, however, I read a blog post from my favorite author of all-time, Kim Harrison, in which she talked about going into writing mode herself. As it turns out, I'm not alone and that is a comforting thought. (If you want to read her post you can find it here). I think it was Kim who also said that stories exist on their own and writers are just the vessel through which they manifest themselves (paraphrasing). In other words, The Citizens sequel(s) have the ability to take over as they develop and that's exactly what they've been doing to me lately. There are still fragments and pieces of concept throwing a rave inside of my head but the story is somehow writing itself and I will be helpless to hold it at bay. It's frustrating sometimes but I felt that way a lot as a teen which led me to write poetry and I realized that sometimes it's harder to keep it in than it is to just let it out so that I can move on with my life. Whether successful or not, I think that all writers feel this way. Sure, some people just try too hard to force a story but the majority of us, whether we ever make the NYT list or not, can't help but write just like cats with claws can't help but scratch and dogs with tails can't help but wag them.
Food:
140 oz of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 granola bar
1 fruit bar
1 healthy choice lunch
3 tuna hand rolls
2 pieces tuna sashimi
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1477
Activity:
Yoga: 30 minutes
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Fitocracy Points: 117
We left immediately after work for the grad fair to pick up my cap, gown, and tassel. The line went out the door and down the hall so we were there for over two hours (bleh). After that we dropped by the 24-hour post office inside a Shell gas station because I had a package that I needed to send out, and then headed to dinner. When we got home it was almost 9 and I sat down for a bit to let dinner settle, intending to get on the treadmill around 9:30 but ended up waking up at 11:30 and going to bed. lol
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