Thinking.<\/p>\n
THE DAY<\/p>\n
Normally, at this point in a weekend when I’ve written not one new speck, I’m fairly suicidal.<\/p>\n
For whatever reason, though, I’m not. \u00a0I think that’s because there have to be some weekends–some days–that are just made for thinking and recharging…but mainly, for thinking.<\/p>\n
As I think I said last week or the week before, you slow down when you realize that that ideas you had for how something should go start to veer off-course. \u00a0You HAVE to think about how the story should unfold and what’s really happening because you can’t write the sequences or even foreshadow well, if you can’t know. I was re-reading The Shining<\/em> the other day and realized that King had foreshadowed what would come later very, very early on. \u00a0Now, he couldn’t possibly have known that Jack Torrence would be swinging a sledge-hammer and shouting for Danny to come take his medicine at the beginning of the book; he just couldn’t. \u00a0I don’t know of any writer who could. \u00a0What that means, though, is that when King got to the point where he saw where this was going–and not just the sledgehammer sequence but the vignette of that hornets’ nest (and, yes, that’s there, too, early on)–he went back and added, or he went back and rewrote large swathes to make this all weave together.<\/p>\n So, for me at this point, it comes down to WHY things are unfolding the way they are. \u00a0WHY is a certain locale this way? \u00a0WHY is this the only way things could go? I am certain I have wrestled with this before in other books, but it always feels new, like I’ve never done it before and so seems to be an insurmountable task.<\/p>\n But I really couldn’t keep writing–flailing–without knowing.<\/p>\n So that’s why this weekend–these boots–were made for thinking.<\/p>\n Do I think I know now? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0Is it something around which I’ve been circling for a while and keep coming back to? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0Can I write that part of the book now? \u00a0Probably not without a touch more preparation. OTOH, I can write around it. \u00a0I remember that Jay Asher talked about that for\u00a013 Reasons Why<\/em>: that he wrote the two narratives separately and then wove them together. \u00a0I can see that. \u00a0I have never DONE that, but I understand how it could be done. \u00a0The trick now is to do that, or try that.<\/p>\n It will, of course, means revisiting chapters much as King must have done to make everything flow. \u00a0But that really is the craft of writing.<\/p>\n WRITING OUT LOUD Day 1: 1000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 23-26: 9450 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 51-52: 4500 Blog Post:<\/p>\n *** Thinking. THE DAY Normally, at this point in a weekend when I’ve written not one new speck, I’m fairly suicidal. For whatever reason, though, I’m not. \u00a0I think that’s because there have to be some weekends–some days–that are just made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3997"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4002,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3997\/revisions\/4002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ilsajbick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nStay\u00a0Dead (started 5\/05; Days 1-4, false start)<\/p>\n
\nDay 2: 1200 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 27: (novella) 2000 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 53-57: 6000
\nDay 3: 1800 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 28: 2500 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 58-61: 10,200
\nDay 4: 1350 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 29-32: 8850 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 62-67: 11,250
\nDay 5: 1000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 33: 3400 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 68-74: 16,110
\nDay 6: 2000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0LONDON HIATUS (13 days)
\nDay 7-10: ~4500 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 34: 3000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 75-79: 11,900
\nDay 11-12: ~5000 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 35-39: 9,800
\nDay 13: 1600 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 40-43: 10,500
\nDay 14: 2300 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 44: 2000
\nDay 15-17: 4450 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 45-47: 6000
\nDay 18-19: 4500 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Day 48: 4000
\nDay 20-22: 5220 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Day 49-50: 3500<\/p>\n
\nWhat I’m Watching:\u00a0Saw\u00a0MI:5\u00a0<\/em>(Rogue Nation) this week. \u00a0I’ve seen it before, but–man–did I enjoy that movie. \u00a0So much fun, and I desperately need to add\u00a0fun\u00a0<\/em>into my vocabulary. I think I also caught up on\u00a0Motive\u00a0<\/em>(just a few episodes). \u00a0Then went out today and saw a splendid movie,\u00a0Hell or High Water<\/em>. \u00a0This is a very good film: somewhat quiet in some ways and a film you’ve seen, sort of, but Chris Pine was really quite good and Jeff Bridges was just a treat. \u00a0(If that man doesn’t get a nomination for this, I’ll be hornswoggled.) \u00a0Did I see what would happen a mile off? \u00a0Sure, but the husband didn’t and so I think it’s just because, you know, I write stories. \u00a0So I understand tropes. \u00a0Still…doesn’t mean I wasn’t delighted.
\n***
\nWhat I’m Reading:
\nOh, my goodness, a whole slew of things:\u00a0Chained in Silence\u00a0<\/em>(about women in convict-lease programs);\u00a0A Reliable Wife\u00a0<\/em>(Robert Goolrick), which isn’t half-bad;\u00a0Rebecca\u00a0<\/em>(Du Maurier, natch);\u00a0The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism\u00a0<\/em>(Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis). \u00a0Other stuff I can’t put my finger on right now.
\n***
\nWhat I’m Listening to:
\nRebecca.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"