Health! Novel!

[katernater]

My shoulder is nearly back to normal, thank god. It was a rough weekend. I thought I was doing better on Saturday but midway through the evening I turned my head a particular way and felt something pop again; I managed to drive to the store to pick up a heating pad and a bottle of extra strength pain reliever. I've been doing a series of stretches with it every morning and every night before I go to sleep and I've pretty much decided that I've not torn anything. Not irreparably, anyway. It seems to get better the more I use it, and the only time that it really gives me any grief is when I wake up in the morning. In any event I skipped yoga on Saturday and gave myself another day off from the gym today. I might go back for Zumba tomorrow, depending on how it feels. At this point, I'm so relieved it's not as bad as it was on Saturday. My mom was worried I'd torn a rotator cuff, which freaked me out a little because she's a nurse and I'm nowhere near as cognizant of how my body works as I should be. And because our conversations about the injury almost always devolved into her thinking that I might have permanently crippled myself and me imagining my future as a one-armed panhandler who sells picture post cards and flattens pennies between her back molars for tips.

Panhandling future averted. For now.

I'm making slow but steady progress on The Transformation of Things. The details of the story change in my head from day to day but I have a pretty good idea of the overall plot, and think I will be ready to start outlining in the next couple of weeks. What really lets me know I'm on the right track is the fact I've set up an iTunes playlist and have started adding songs to it that I think fit the mood/characters of the novel. So far there's a lot of Muse, Pulp, and Michael Giacchino on there. And this stage of the writing process is my favourite, because it's the beginning and you're generally optimistic about everything and every idea is a good idea. It's like going to the grocery store when you haven't eaten anything; everything looks and sounds good and you must have it all.

I think I'm going to continue my trend of retiring a bit early with an episode of The West Wing and a book. I'm about halfway though Anno Dracula and President Bartlet just creamed Governor Ritchie in the presidential debate. If this show had corporeal form, I'd marry it.

Comments

[another-myself.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're on the mend. And i'm also so very proud of you for going to the gym and getting after it the way you are. You're going to rock that swimsuit!

When do I get to read some of your writings?

[katernater.livejournal.com]

Er', ah, soonish? XD

[another-myself.livejournal.com]

Promise? :D

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

And this stage of the writing process is my favourite, because it's the beginning and you're generally optimistic about everything and every idea is a good idea.

Ugh, I HATE that part the absolute most! I outline down to the scene-by-scene level, and I LOATHE it. All that planning with no writing - shudder. Not that in love with the first draft, either. Rewrites - now that's fun.

[katernater.livejournal.com]

And see, I can't do rewrites. I get overly attached to each idea and it's difficult for me to make cuts when cuts are necessary. I end up keeping way too much and describing every little detail of the main character's ham sandwich or the particular way they tie their shoelaces.

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

The way I've learned to be able to make cuts without tears is to save the earlier draft separately and tell myself that it doesn't matter if I make cuts in a new version as the previous version's still there and I can go back to it if I want. I never do, but it's a comforting psychological blanket. (I know most people keep drafts anyway, but the key thing is the self-pep talk about not actually losing anything.)

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

Pondering this a bit more, of course it's possible that a lot of detail is just your style - you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Comparing the earlier draft with a cut onel will give you your answer on that.

[farstepper.livejournal.com]

I'm debating just marrying the idea of The West Wing.

[katernater.livejournal.com]

It's so wonderful.