Monday, July 5, 2010

Day Five - Breakthrough...

I love Mondays. Every Monday is a do-over. And this Monday is especially sweet because it's a holiday. I love writing on holidays because I can trick myself into believing it's "bonus" time. Like it doesn't really count, because I should be drinking my weight in beer and roasting by the pool. Instead, I'm sneaking in this extra writing. It's totally freeing. I can take more chances on extra Mondays. If only I could convince myself that every day was a holiday.

So happy day after the fourth of July. I'm off to write my five pages of novel, followed by finishing up breaking out my outline into beats of 10, 12, 12, 10.... More on that tomorrow.

In other news, I have happily happened upon my main character's arc. It is simply bottled-up to open. She is a control freak in the beginning and tragically afraid of feeling. She's bottled up a tragedy in her life, but that cork is also holding back her joy, happiness and capacity to love. The journey of the movie uncorks that bottle of pain, creating a big mess of her life as the contents spill out here and there. Ultimately, there is room to let the joy in.

I'm sharing this with you because it fills me with joy to take a step forward on a project. Joy in the writing process can't be beat. It's also few and far between. So embrace the victories when you get the chance. Yesterday, I made the huge mistake of drinking decaf which lead to one of the most depressing writing days of my life. I felt like a deflated balloon. This opened the door to fear and self-loathing who camped out with me all day and forced me to eat fattening food.

By the way, sometimes, I hate to admit this - but jelly donuts do get your through a rough writing spot. In the "writing tools" toolbox - this is right up there with The Story Grid and a pair of sweatpants. Funny post about the sweatpant/writing relationship here: http://hollywoodroaster.com/?p=3239

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