Friday! One Day Before Book In A Week!

This is Friday, January 25, 2008. Right now, my cat is sitting on my desk, in front of my computer monitor. This is my life. A battle between me and a feline for my time. So far, I'm winning.

Sophie's really very sweet, though. Affectionate. And pretty. She's a tortoise shell with golden eyes. Usually, we're a great combination. But some days I know she thinks I work too hard. Either that or I don't pet her enough.

She's been upset since I began April Kilstrom's Book In a Week Class. I've spent hours here in this chair, researching Nevada. I've always wanted to write a historical, and I decided this class was the perfect place to get my feet wet. I chose a time period and a subject about which I knew very little. 1866 Nevada. I chose a sub-genre which isn't selling. (No expectation = no pressure LOL.) Because I really wanted to see if April's system worked and I also wanted a break of sorts from deadlines and expectations.

I wanted to step out of my typical routine. I didn't want to have my internal editor saying...No, Susan, you know readers don't want to read about sports heroes. So don't write that. Or no, Susan, you know heroines have to be a certain age. For one small space of time I wanted to write. Just to remember what it felt like to let my imagination run wild.

Well, it's been running. LOL We don't start writing until tomorrow. The goal is to write for 7 days trying to finish a rough (I'm guessing it will be really rough) draft of your book.

But up to this point, we've been creating characters, writing the descriptions of things like people and towns and houses and cars (or in my case carriages and critters) and reminding ourselves that the best way to write emotion is to remember what it felt like to feel those emotions. We've been thinking about motivations. We've been writing scene cards.

And you know what? Tomorrow when we start writing, I think I'll be ready.

Sophie's not happy. Her tail is swishing across my monitor as I type. She seems to know that next week will be the push. Writing every day, every spare minute of every day, trying to get a 100,000-word manuscript drafted in seven short days.

I know I'll fail. LOL. Even if I don't fail, I know no one wants this book. But, wow, it feels glorious just to write what I want to write, how I want to write it. No expectations.

By the way, I recommend this class to EVERYONE. April's lessons are short and concise and helped me to focus quickly on what was important about my story.

Her website is AprilKihlstrom.com. She has an email addy to contact her about upcoming presentations of this workshop.

susan