October 24, 2011

Out Comes the Sword

Greetings.

Music… 2pac Who do you Believe in? Instrumental
Monday.  I got back to work shortly after midnight.  I looked at a previous chapter and made changes in order to help the flow of the writing.  I’m at the point where I have to start making sure all of the ideas connect.  This is part of my process I have to follow when I skip around instead of writing in chronological order.  I guess this serves as a way to revise what I’ve previously written to make it better.  It’s working.

Sleep.

After getting some rest, I started writing ideas for t-shirts in the drawing pad.  I’m still thinking of ways to gather more attention for Wrinkles without walking around looking like a human billboard.  T-shirts seem to be more subtle and they spark up curiosity and questions from strangers.
After a few t-shirt ideas, I started creating an updated list of what needs to be written about before I’m finished.  This next week will be very crucial.  Once I completed the updated list, I realized that I had set myself up to have to eliminate a day of activity in the book.  It seemed like having two full days to send Wrinkles through would be one too many. I had to go back and make a few small adjustments to eliminate the day, but it only took a few minutes to find the parts that would need to be changed.

Next, I continued sprinkling in hurdles for Wrinkles and the crew to get over before the end of the book.  I managed to draw from my own experience in order to help Wrinkles through a certain situation.  The keys were clicking and things were going right.

Break time.

I started looking at the list of items again, but my fingers weren’t really ready to move that fast again.  Instead of forcing it I decided to go back to my old style of writing.  Before I took the break, I had been writing about Wrinkles using a pen.  My own hand seemed to be calling to use one as well.  So, I went and found my sword and a notebook that I used during the Writing Project.

As a writer, there is nothing like getting out the sword and scratching out the words in a more surgical style.  Each letter is shaped and honored in its own way.  The slice of each stroke seems final until I cross out what I wrote and try again.  Sure it takes longer, but I can slow down my mind and really work through this type of process. 
Next, I typed up what I wrote with the sword and made some instant revisions.  The typing process helped me get some momentum and I was able to keep going well beyond what I had written with my pen.

At this point, I have about 4.5 issues to address and then I can make sure the little things are tied in to complete the book.  I have 99 written pages and I feel really good about finishing a quality book before my self-imposed deadline.  This should be interesting.

Thanks for reading.

STEADY!

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