Spring is
all about new beginnings, and I love it. I’m a spring baby – born on March 21st,
the date many people consider to be the first day of spring, after the Spring Solstice.
But it gets more confusing – the solstice can occur on either the 20th
or more rarely, on the 21st, depending on time zone and year. And
then there’s the differences between the Gregorian and the Julian calendars, oh
my! Small wonder I get easily confused J
Here in the Great White North (rural Ontario, Canada) Spring is all about
planning while waiting for the snow to melt. Yep, we still have plenty of the
white stuff. So we browse magazines and catalogues to plan spring wardrobes,
pore over seed catalogues and plan for fresh veggies and a riot of flowers. 
Yes, I love
the new beginnings Spring offers. But some new beginnings are there all year round.
New novel ideas are waiting like gifts to be unwrapped. The secret is to know
when the time for the great unwrapping has arrived!
With four
new releases in the past four months: The No Sex Clause, Saving Maggie,
Judgement By Fire, and Winters & Somers – I’ve been feeling exhausted and a
bit jaded. The excitement that goes with a new release involves lots of exhausting
promoting and talking about the books – at least, once the editing, formatting,
and waiting are over – and all I could think about in the last couple of weeks
was NOT writing. My DH and I went out a lot, visiting, shopping, exploring.
Planning. I did a lot of catching up with friends who thought I’d fallen off
the face of the earth. Reading. Housecleaning. Paperwork. Taxes. But most of
all, playing and replenishing the creative well.And daydreaming.
Then it
happened. An idea popped into my head and held out its arms like a newborn to
several other ideas that were languishing in a file on the computer. Every writer
has a file like this – mine is named IDEAS – not very poetic but gee, it
serves the purpose.
So, with
ideas linking, characters began to step out of the shadows of my mind and
introduce themselves. Considering I write romantic suspense, mystery, and
comedy, I sometimes worry about what – or who – exactly is lurking in the
shadows of my mind. But let’s not dwell on that!
So now I
have a dilemma. I have this terrific idea for a contemporary mystery series leavened
with humor, set in a country house in England. My fingers are itching to hit
the keys without even an outline – chapter one is already done.
Then I took
Ms. Aaron’s advice and downloaded a trial version of Scrivener (click the link for a trial copy). It’s a
marvelous program that helps you keep track of, and easily access, everything
in your manuscript.
Now I’m
torn. Do I plunge into the writing , knowing I’ll face blocks when the plot or
characters don’t gel and I’ll have to rework, revamp, or edit like crazy. Or do
I take the time out and explore this new program and figure out if it really
will work for me? I know I’ve had
problems sometimes (who hasn't?) with having to go back and edit for mistakes in simple
details such as character descriptions and names, or chronology. This is a real
pain that usually occurs if you have to stop writing for a few days and then
try to get back into your manuscript.
So, learn
the new program or fly by the seat of my pants into the writing? Any thoughts?
Do you use a writing program like Scrivener? Do you outline? Are you a planner
or a pantser when it comes to writing? There’s the gift of an ecopy of Saving
Maggie from Amazon for the most helpful comment!
5 comments:
Glenys,
I'm a pantser all the way!! Love how you likened your ideas to the outstretched arms of a newborn. With an overflowing TBR list - your titles included - and multiple 'newborns' of my own, I'm not one to give advice. Except to say, just keep doing what you're doing. It seems to be working. Best of luck!
I don't use a program, but I do scribble down notes about characters and settings as I write. Critical when writing a series because I guarantee by book two, you'll have forgotten what you named the restaurant your h&h ate at in book one and whether the park was on the right or left side of the road. So, my advise is to jump in but take notes. The program sounds like fun, though. Good luck with your new project!
Without a doubt, I'm a pantser! Wish I could be more organized, but nine times out of ten, once I start a story it takes me. But I will admit, there are times, I need to straighten the whole of my plot out to see...to make sure everything is answered.
I write from the beginning to the end. when I've tried all the wonderful ideas to improve my output, I have gotten bogged down by the process. I still read the suggestions, but I'm sticking with what works for me.
Thank you for your comments! I think we're all agreed that we're pantsers here :-) I like the concept of Scrivener, but I just don't think I'm organised enough to use it - at least, not yet! I, too, scribble notes as I go along, and I go where the story (or the characters) take me. Yep, it works so far, although I was so envious of Rachel Aarons' 10000 words a day. Ah, well, maybe some day
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