Two Down

Man you know it's a long week when you're tired of it on Tuesday.  LOL  I'm feeling much better today.  My headache is gone, and I have no fever.  That is expontentially better than I felt over the weekend and yesterday so I'm starting to fear that I'm gonna survive this thing after all.

The meeting with the welfare people went well yesterday.  (Which means it went my way.)  I was able to show them that I am working even though it's not a 40 hours a week at a desk kind of job, so I've been released from indentured servitude.  YEAH

The kids are squabbling over the markers that they both need to do their homework.  ~Sigh~  And tonight is Tuesday.  Yes, they got out of bed this morning talking about going out for "Kids Eat Free" - unless they start looking like more promising dinner companions, we're all gonna stay home and it's gonna be "Kids Eat PB&J" 

Mama ain't feeling THAT much better. 

Sniffle Sniffle

I have a sinus infection (probably).  Sore throat, fever, stuffy head, aches in my jaw ... don't feel so good.  Well, I feel better than I did yesterday, but that's not saying a lot.  I have an appointment this morning with the welfare people.  So we'll see how I feel after.  I'm kind of not expecting my day will improve.  But I'll be back this afternoon to write a real blog.  Maybe. 

Everytime I sit down to write I start thinking in poetry.  Weird huh. 

If you'd like to see what I've been up to in that regard, I've posted a couple over on Mysterri. 

Wanna Talk About Writing? 

Okay here's my profound thought on writing today.  Writing is just like sex.  Every time you pick up a pen or sit down at the computer, you're in search of a climax.  Some days you get there fast, some days slow, and some days not at all.  But if you can get there and take your reader along with you, you've written well. 

That's the end of my profoudn thought.  Wanna hear a thought from someone who's doing a lot better at this writing thing than I am?  Here's Anne Lamott discussing Plot in her book on writing, Bird By Bird ...

Plot is the main story of your book or short story.  If you are looking for long brilliant discussions of plot, E. M. Forster and John Gardner have written books in which they discuss it so lucidly and wisely that they will leave you howling like a wolf.  I just want to add a few thoughts here, things that I pass on to my students when they seem especially bitter and confused. 

Plot grows out of character.  If you focus on who the people in your story are, if you sit and write about two people you know and are getting to know better day by day, something is bound to happen. 

Characters should not, conversely, serve as pawns for some plot you've dreamed up.  Any plot yo uimpose on your characters will be onomatopoetic: PLOT.  I say don't worry about plot.  Worry about the characters.  Let what they say or do reveal who they are, and be involved in their lives, and keep asking yourself, Now what happens?  The development of relationship creates plot.  Flannery O'Conner in Mystery and Manners, tells how she gave a bunch of her early stories to the old lady who lived down the street, and the woman returned them saying, "Them stories just gone and shown you how some folks would do."

That's what plot is: what people will up and do in spite of everything that tells them they shouldn't, everything that tells them they should sit quietly on teh couch nad practice their lamaze, or call their therapist, or eat until the urge to do that thing passes ...

I haven't plotted much this week.  In fact, in the past seven days, I've written fewer than 500 words on my book.  So I'm a little down on myself for being a slacker bum since NaNo officially ended.  I've been busy, but that's really not an excuse.  Time to get back to those characters and find out what they do next.