The Quest for a Quest!

I've been struggling with a chapter of "Tales from Table Rock."  Which I find quite odd, since I KNOW the story.  I even have photographs of events from the trip.  So, why am I having difficulty getting this particular chapter to flesh itself out on the page? 

When I get stuck, I try a few different approaches.  First might be to put superglue in the chair and force myself to write.  (Not helping...you can play a lot of hands of Spider Solitaire waiting for a flash of inspiration)  Sometimes the perfect solution will appear in a dream. (With the Eclipse premiere less than two days away, my dreams seem to be filled with a rather buff,{Go Team Jacob!} underage werewolf.)  Sometimes I ignore it and hope it will go away.  (Nope, still there...)  Try writing another chapter?  (Dammit, all I can think of is *this* chapter!)  When all else fails... reach out to a trusted and sometimes captive friend to talk it through. (Okay, so it wasn't really my intent to talk it through, my intent was to complain about my  inability to write a coherent sentence.)

So, talking through the story, and a lightbulb went off.  It sounded like a "What I did on my Summer Vacation" essay.  BORING!  I know the story, but on some unconsious level, the reason I couldn't get this thing to come out, was that I had no reason for anyone else to care about it.  There was no conflict.  No quest.    Duh!

But... this is a historical novel.  It's not one of my Urban Fantasies, so I can't just kill someone to spice up the plot.  So, we talked out the plot from an internal standpoint.  Aha.... there IS conflict, and I now HAVE a quest for this trip.  A rather pivotal plot moment, if I do say so myself!  Oh I love it when this happens, I've got goosebumps just thinking about it! 

So, while I'd really love to stay and chat, I've got a chapter to write.  Pike's Peak, and Pacific Ocean, here we come!  Thanks, my captive friend... You know who you are!

Taking action in 2010!

2010 is nearing the half-way point, so I've been taking stock of my writing goals and thinking about course-corrections so I end up where I want to be by the dawn of 2011. Here's how it's going:


Goal: Finish "Tales from Table Rock," and start the publication quest.

Progress: Nearing completion of the manuscript, need some factual data to fill in the gaps. A short-story excerpt from the manuscript won the 2010 Bess Streeter Aldrich short-story contest, and I have a request for the full manuscript. WOOHOO! But, that leads me back to my goal of getting the damn thing done and out the door. So, what am I doing about it?

Action Plan: Ummm, write? Yes, I know this goes without saying, but it is really amazing how many times writers can sabotage themselves by not applying the butt to the chair and doing just that. I am no exception to this behavior. So, I add layers of accountability. I belong to three writing groups, The Critique Ladies, who meet about every two weeks, and do lots of e-mailing/cattle prodding if need be in between, the Nebraska Writers Guild, (the group many of my Nebraska literary heroes belonged to) and I recently added the Nebraska Writers Workshop, a group that will celebrate its 25th birthday on June 2nd. NWW meets weekly in Ralston, which is an hour away from Lincoln. Why do I belong to these groups? The reasons are many, but there are a couple of biggies. First of all, there is an exponential difference between good and great, so I depend on my fellow authors to provide an objective ear to polish the story. Another big thing for me is the accountability. I’ll be damned if I’m going to show up for a meeting without having something new written! (Back to the butt in the chair thing)

Research time and writing time are at a premium for those of us with families, and JOB’s, tend to get in the way. So as of 8 pm tonight, I am on a sabbatical. I’m using a week of vacation, plus my days off to give me a ten day block of time to focus on researching and writing. Yes, I’ll go cuddle the brand-new granddaughter while I’m off too, but I’m going to be trekking through Southeast Nebraska in search of history to fill the historical novel. Incredible, huh? I’ve even lined up some fellow-writerly assistance to help me ferret out information, and have a list of things I want to find out while I’m there.

The other important thing is to enjoy the ride. I’m quite goal-driven, and sometimes I forget to do this. So far in 2010, I’ve won an award for my writing. Held a book in my hands with my writing featured inside. Signed autographs. Done an interview with a reporter about my writing. Cashed a check payable to me as an author. Read a short story aloud to a packed room of fellow authors and had them gasp and laugh at all the moments I hoped they would. Read my name in a feature in the Broadside publication of the Nebraska Writers Guild, a publication that will end up at the Nebraska State Historical Society for perpetuity.

Wow. Even I’m pretty impressed writing that last paragraph. See, I told you I don’t usually take time to enjoy the ride. But trust me, I’m not ready to sit on my butt and do nothing. (Sitting on my butt to write, now that’s an entirely different thing…) I can see the finish line, which means it’s time to wrap up this goal, and start setting the next one. Revising and polishing the manuscript is a given,so I’ll use all the feedback from my writing groups to polish the prose until it leaps from the page and sears itself into a reader’s soul. Then on to marketing strategies. (I’ve already got some great ideas for this too) I’ve got seven other manuscripts awaiting my return, so we’ll start the whole process again.

Back to that accountability thing: I just told you all my goals and plans for the next six months. That means I give you permission to make sure that I’m holding up my end of the deal! Will it guarantee a book sale? Of course not. But it will mean I’ve done my part of making it happen, and that’s really what it’s all about.

There is a level of irony at play here. The woman who rolls her eyes and whines like a baby when told to write action plans at work just wrote an action plan—and even used that exact phrase! Okay, so maybe sometimes it does work…

AWARD WINNING!!

You are now reading the blog of an award winning writer!  Wow!  I didn't know how wonderful it would feel to be able to say that!  It has been almost 12 hours since I opened the email congratulating me on winning First Place in the 2010 Bess Streeter Aldrich Foundation contest for short stories.  The glow still hasn't worn off, and I can still barely sit still long enough to force myself to type anything coherent. 

"Curls of Gold," is one of the stories my grandmother, Elsie Kovanda Baucke, told me when I was growing up.  It was one of my absolute favorite bedtime stories.  I've been compiling her stories into a novel, entitled "Tales from Table Rock."  I can almost smell the lilacs outside the window to the big front room where I would sleep in the huge sleigh bed when I stayed all night at Grandma's, and feel the patches on the quilts as she tucked them in around me as she asked me what story I wanted to hear before I went to sleep.  Grandma was a master storyteller--and I think she'd be proud today. 

My Aunt Aladeen told me about having to write a story for school.  Of course, Grandma helped her come up with a tale.  Aladeen got up and read her story to the class, and when she was done, her teacher crossed his arms, and commented, "I so love to hear your Mother's stories."

I agree!  And today is another step in bringing her storytelling to a new audience. 

Of course, I need to calm down enough to focus on writing! 

Award Winning.... It makes me shiver!