While working on a longer non-fiction piece, a professor once told me to add in the smaller details of my day; readers like the minutiae.
I didn’t believe him at the time, but after another decade as a voracious reader I appreciate the small things. It feels like voyeurism reading about a character’s bathroom habits or learning their favorite recipe for pasta sauce. It gives the mind a place to rest while processing the rest of the story.
The Advanced Reader’s Copies of White Hell arrived on Saturday. I mailed out three copies to friends and fellow wordnerds around the country. One copy lives on my husband’s nightstand.
His reading is one that means the most to me as he supported me through graduate school and while I spent the past three months polishing and editing. In some small way, I wish I could give him a happier book full of big adventures. “White Hell” isn’t about big moments, but finding strength and hope in the darkest times. So maybe I gave him the book I truly believe in.
I’m six days into NaNoWriMo and I’ve decided to back down from the original goal of 50,000 words for November. Pushing myself to write 1700 words a day was adding stress to an already over-loaded month.
What I learned:
Focusing on word count forces productivity
Productivity is not creativity
Character creation and development drive my writing process
Location, location, location
I prefer to start with a hand-written draft
Write the scene first, then research the details
I like to use weather as a catalyst for action
I’m grateful for my progress and I’m glad I participated, but I must refocus on my original November goal of launching “White Hell.”
I have 374 pages to edit before the end of the month. Each day I try to knock out 13 or more to keep up with pace, but it is a slow slog. I’m enjoying this trip down writer’s memory lane, but it sometimes can get in the way of a fun day off or dinner plans. Feel like this little bee: work, work, work. Where’s my honey?
Did you know that one honey bee will only produce 1.5 teaspoons of honey in her lifetime? I can finish 13 pages.
Reading great books and turning an elegant phrase on the page are awesome pursuits, but I choose travel above all.
While on the road, my mind is quiet and I take time to observe. What character am I writing that reminds me of the lowly vulture? How can I better develop that character in this image?
Parker O'Dwyer 