Back home

The coast was fabulous. We had great stormy weather for three days, though it cleared up enough late Thursday evening (very light sprinkles, light wind) that we could head out to the beach to greet the New Year. There was fog and the moon peeked through enough to light up the waves a bit, the waves themselves were still pretty sizeable, and it was chilly but not miserable. Magical, in other words. And I needed that. Don’t we all?

Got some really great writing done, I’m so pleased to say. Some of it was story work, but the really exciting work I did was six pages on some very important ceremonies that will be integral to the plot of book 2, and the overall arc of the trilogy. I may end up writing that section very soon, even though it doesn’t come until the middle of the story, because I’m so energized by what I came up with.

Oh, to be at the coast more! So inspiring, and I can’t say enough about the therapeutic aspect of our very special routine of holing up in our little cabin with lots of food and blankets and watching great movies and not having to do much of anything. I love our little vacations so much, and they put me in such a writerly mood.

Though I suppose it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, and that if I could do it all the time, then the magic and inspiration would be gone. Rather dubious that it’s possible where the Oregon Coast is concerned, but I’ll concede that it is possible.

Work begins

I’m writing the second book now. I actually started it more than a year ago, and set down the first sentences within a couple months of finishing the first one. I’ve fiddled with it off and on since, but not felt compelled to really sit down and write more than a few days here or there.

I even started to worry recently that the second book wasn’t going to come for me. The circumstances of this book versus the first are so different. Well I suppose they always are, and whatever the specifics, everyone’s second outing is bound up in far more anxiety and pressure than the first, isn’t it? Sophomore slump and alla that.

I just let myself be. Focused on other things and trusted (hoped?) that the inspiration would push me forward just as it did before, that I would begin when I was ready. Still, I couldn’t help but worry as the days and weeks became months, and I’ve found myself opening up the file to see if I couldn’t just help things along a bit.

It is coming. Not in that lightning strike of inspiration that happened three years ago, but more like a slow burn, a match set to kindling, slowly building to a steady fire. I’m still in the kindling stage — well, still waiting for the newspaper to catch the kindling afire, actually — but I think it’s going to be okay. I’ve felt the need to carry my writing journal again, though I haven’t written much in it yet, and find myself putting together playlists again, as well. These are signs that I’m getting ready for the ideas to come, and that familiar drive to propel me once again.

thankful for: gary lightbody, earphones, dark, rainy days