The inner voice of writing doubt
No, Gracie the greyhound isn't the "inner voice of writing doubt;" what she did last night comes later.
Writing The Trouble With Demons isn't going fast, but it's going well. I think. Paranoia rears its ugly head every half chapter or so, and I stop and ask myself if what I'm writing propels the story, develops the characters, and won't make all of you fall asleep. The answer thus far is "yes" to the first two questions, and "no" to the last. What I've written so far propels the story at a shot-out-of-a-cannon pace, you'll discover new things about the main characters (and meet some really cool new ones), and it definitely won't put anyone to sleep. I read over what I've done and I'm very happy with it, but every writer has that inner voice that whispers insidiously into their ear at 3:00 in the morning, saying: "It sucks. You just don't know it yet. You'll have to rewrite the whole thing." Then the SOB inner voice skips away, happy in the knowledge that you'll be awake for the rest of the night.
Though what kept me awake last night and has me bleary eyed this morning wasn't the "SOB Voice of Writing Doubt" -- it was Gracie the greyhound with an upset tummy. Nothing messy (thank God), but yesterday she didn't eat as well as she should have, and she wanted to be snuggled. So last night (after I gave her something to settle her stomach), Derek and I let her sleep with us. We have a king-sized bed, so in theory, this should have worked. It didn't. Derek had enough room to sleep, but I was left with about a foot of bed and almost no covers because Gracie wanted to sleep sideways. Not just sideways, but sideways between us, up at our pillows. Derek got the cute, brown-eyed end -- guess what end I had next to my face? I managed to push her over enough so I at least wouldn't fall off the bed and I had enough blanket to cover up with. I didn't want to wake her up and make her move, because then she'd think that we wanted her to leave (her feelings get hurt easily). Since I knew she didn't feel good and really wanted to be close to us last night, I just slept as best as I could given what little mattress and blanket I had.
I'm such a sucker for big, brown, I-don't-feel-good-mommy greyhound eyes.
I'm off to get more life-giving coffee.
Lisa
posted by Lisa Shearin at
8:04 AM
4 Comments:
Ha, I know what it feels like being shoved off the side of a bed! Except in me case it is a cat that is doing the shoving. We have cats, smaller than Gracie, but VERY insistant to have their way when they want the covers or room on the bed. I hope Gracie is feeling better, and that you get more sleep tonight.:) Don't let that little voice get you down, I am positive that we will all love the books when they come out!
Thank you, Kate! Gracie is feeling much better, ate all of her dinner, and ran a lap around the yard. Sleeping with a greyhound is like sleeping with a deer. She'll be sleeping in her bed tonight.
I'm pretty confident that TTWD is going as it should. It'll be nine months from the time I started TTWD until I have to turn it in. I want to get it as right as I can the first time around. That's one thing I've had to get used to being under contract -- I essentially only have one draft. I give that a polish then turn it in as a finished book.
I'm glad that your writing is going well. I'm cheering for you!! :)
Thank you! Encouragement and cheering from the sidelines is ALWAYS appreciated. ; )
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