Lost and Found

Something Lost

Something Found

Two pens in a summer straw bag

This notebook

A pair of old jeans—finally fit again

Perhaps this house

Maybe a union

Maybe his honesty

Never the cordless phones

The same five pounds

My desire to write

My desire to write

Deadline Looming

Nothing like a deadline looming to get me out of my funk. The first 15 pages are due April 1 for a novel intensive I am attending as a precursor to the NJ SCBWI June Conference. I have been in packing and unpacking mode for so long, trying to get back into a writing routine has been slow-going. But getting the reminder email that the deadline is right around the corner (thank you Donna), was just the trick I needed! I love deadlines!

And for more inspiration...

Anyone going to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games tonight? No? Me either. But I am going on Saturday and I cannot wait. We are going to have a party complete with hearty fare and trivia and then off to the crowded movie theater. I already well up with tears when I hear Taylor Swift sing Rue's Lullaby.

Suzanne Collins has inspired me. Spring has inspired me. Deadlines have inspired me. And yes, I admit it... Taylor Swift's haunting voice inspires me, too...

What inspires you?

Spring already? I don't even remember winter. I'm not complaining but I am somewhat worried that Global Warming might be true. But that's not the reason for this post. That was a "spring break" from my real reason for writing...

IDEAS

My family and I recently went through a very trying time. While in that state of turmoil, I couldn't write or create or even have ideas. I wasn't upset with myself because of this. I knew we were going through something traumatic and essentially an internal struggle. It is one thing to write through external distractions but when your brain space is going toward meeting yours and your family's basic needs, these are internal struggles, which cannot be put aside, ignored, or share space with creativity. At least not for me.

That got me thinking...

I thought about the Russian poets who wrote beautiful works while in a revolution and wondered why that wasn't true for them? I thought about the cliched belief that writers need turmoil and angst in order to create. Again, this wasn't true for me.

For me, I need outer peace and inner peace in order to create. So, as soon as we became settled into our new home and 98% of the boxes were unpacked, and I knew my family was happy and secure, just like that (snapping fingers) a new idea bloomed.

Like the crocuses which push their way up at the end of our dark days of winter, my thoughts blossomed just the same. As soon as I felt inner peace, my brain space was freed to create and just like that, the seed of an idea, buried deep within my (hopefully) fertile brain, germinated, pushed its way up through grey matter and in-between synapses, demanding to be seen and heard.

Interestingly also, most of my ideas come to me when I'm driving or walking. But mostly, new ideas come while I'm driving. Plot problems, etc. are solved while walking. So, I was driving and BOING!, an idea unfurled. I'm very excited about it.... Another YA dystopian ... but I need to get back to my first YA dystopian. And so the old dilemma creeps back in...

Do you believe in working on two novels at once? Can it be done? Do you believe a new idea that comes while working on your WIP is a distraction in disguise from the work you really need to be doing?

This time around, I am going to try to work on two ideas at once and see where that takes me. You have to strike while the coals are hot, right? Write! And luckily, I am not a writer who must write during a revolution!