Thinking of taking the rest of the week off.....

Turned 55 today.

No.

Really.

I did.

And I feel every second of it right now - caffeine hasn't kicked in yet...give it a few minutes.

Anyway...Hi. How are you today?

I really don't have much to say. Just some random rambling. Oh, say that five times really fast.

On second thought.

Yes. This is me in my weird mood so don't expect anything even remotely inspired in this post. Just random thoughts and reactions and whatever else pops into my head.

Actually, I do have something to share. Rewrites. Yes. I said it, that nasty word every writer hates. Come on. Admit it. You hate doing them, too. I was whining about rewrites to my Mom the other day and she asked why I couldn't just write the story and get it out there without having to change things.

Good question, Mom. Why can't we just write the thing, shove it out the door and move on?

Well, editors, for one thing. Storylines that change abruptly during first draft. Characters that want to do their own thing and not what you, the writer, want them to do. And a million other reasons.

For me, getting the first draft down usually does not include important things. Like description. I know what my characters look like, what their world looks like, but you, the reader, can't read my mind, can you? No. You can't. Well, you could dream up your own version but if I do happen to put in a few descriptive words, you might end up thrown out of the story because what I'm seeing won't necessarily match what you're seeing.

Book covers help but only if the characters are correctly portrayed on the cover. I remember reading one book where the heroine's hair color on the cover did not match her description inside the book. Rather jarring to say the least.

Unfortunately, descriptive prose isn't my strong suit - at least, in my opinion. It's hard to get it right. Either there's too much or there's not enough. I can't seem to find that happy, middle ground when it comes to describing things. I do try to practice, though. Reading helps. I always seem to write better when I'm reading at the same time.

I have two writing friends that are unbelievably adept at descriptions. One is so lyrical, her prose can be mesmerizing to read. The other can describe food with only a few words but they sound so delicious that you're wondering where you can get it for yourself. This is what I want to do but we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to other writers, now should we? Then again, we're always the hardest on ourselves so I'm probably not as bad I think I am.

Hmm. Think the caffeine just kicked in?

And I got off topic a bit. I was supposed to be considering taking the rest of the week off.

When I was working out of the home, I always took this week off. I always said I don't work during my birthday week.Things are different now that I'm home all the time. I have even lost track of what day is it at times. The days just all run together now, which is one reason why I'm considering instituting a work week for me, with scheduled days off. It'll be like I'm back to a normal work schedule but the working environment will be much better than it was in my old office.

Getting my room together will probably help. Right now, I could be a candidate for that hoarding show. Everything is so jumbled up, I have only a path from the door to my desk and that's about it. I now believe wholeheartedly that a messy environment leads to a messy mind that can't focus on a blooming thing.

I think I just got my answer in that last sentence. Perhaps I need to step back from rewrites (no, I'm not using it as an excuse), and get the room together so that the mess isn't distracting me from what I'm supposed to be doing. Plus, I need to free up the other window in the room because my little garden is quickly expanding. Everything is growing like crazy and already I see some of my babies that need bigger pots.

Not to mention the recent obsession expansion from nail polish to makeup. That's another post on another blog but a valid point nonetheless.

Mission "Make The Chaos Go Away" will begin this weekend. Today I'm just gonna be Birthday Girl. Tomorrow, Birthday Girl again with friends (hello, Rusty Bucket and Blueberry Stack!). Saturday, grab the shovel and start digging out.

Sounds like a good plan to me.