Laura Benedict's Blog, page 30
February 8, 2017
One
One is uncomplicated.
One is doable.
One is visible.
One is easily contemplated.
One is worthy of focus.
One is satisfying.
Multitasking takes away the satisfaction of accomplishment, the pleasure in the journey.
What is one thing you could do, today?
February 8th Words
Journal: 205 Words
Long Fiction: 0 Words
Short Fiction: 0 Words
Non-Fiction: 0 Words
Blogging: 60 Words
Exercise: Errands, errands, errands.
February 7, 2017
Valentines, Watching Victoria, and Why You Should Read the Book (But Maybe Not the One You’d Think)
What does one do when one finishes an enormous, year-long project, like the first draft of a novel?
On Monday, I finished the draft of The Intruder early in the day. I had some tummy trouble, so I arranged things so I could stay at home. I spent some time happy dancing (so restorative), and then remembered all the things that I’d left undone. The most pressing thing was writing out and addressing Valentines. So I started working on them in the late afternoon, told my guys that they were on...
February 6, 2017
The Next One
I have some good news to share today! The first draft of my next novel–tentatively titled The Intruder–is done. There’s lots and lots of work to come, but as the saying goes: you can’t edit a blank page. Now, none of the pages are blank, so I will be able to make them all work together. But it’s good to stop and celebrate just a little, don’t you think?
What are you celebrating today?
February 6th Words
Journal: 75 Words
Long fiction: 1217 Words
Short fiction: 0 Words
Non-Fiction:...
February 5, 2017
Confessions of a Supernatural Fangirl
What? I haven’t yet written about the show Supernatural on the blog? Color me stunned. (If you don’t know the show, or even don’t like it, we can still be friends, but you might want to read the Supernatural Wikipedia page to catch up.)
Tonight my guys and I finished Season 11 of the continuing adventures of monster-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester. In the eleven and a half years the show has been on television, none of us has watched an episode live, or on a DVR. For the past four...
February 4, 2017
Sunday, 5 February 2017
A 41-inch bust and a lot of perseverance will get you more than a cup of coffee – a lot more. — Jayne Mansfield*
*Jayne Mansfield, a tireless seeker of fame and self-improvement, also spoke 5 languages and a reported IQ of 163.
February 4 Words
Journal: 35 words
Long fiction: 1824 words
Short fiction: 0
Non-fiction: 0 words
Blogging: 57 words
Exercise: Typing, typing, typing, plotting
February 3, 2017
Saturday Serendipity, 4 February 2017
Self care, art, and audiobooks were all on my screens this week…
Shakespeare was right, after all. Science now tells us that sleep does clean-up in our brains, and may help us to forget what we don’t need to remember.
I’m a certified audiobook addict–just ask anyone who rides in my car with me. Over at Modern Mrs. Darcy, Anne Bogel gives you all the hints about how to listen to audiobooks for little or no cost.
It’s apparently true that your life flashes before your eyes when you’re dying....
February 2, 2017
When Doubt Arrives, Right on Schedule
I’m at that point in the book. It’s one of two moments of intense doubt that show up for me in writing a novel–every single novel.
The first moment happens at around twenty-four thousand words. That’s about a quarter of the way in, when the basics of the story are all on the page exposed to the light of day. I’m just getting familiar with them as a collection of actions, characters, settings. But they’re a lot less shiny than when I first envisioned them. They don’t have that ahhhhh new...
February 1, 2017
That Time I Said No to the Man on the Phone
We had a security alarm incident at our house last weekend. Thank goodness we were home, because one of the fire/heat sensors fell off the ceiling and set off the alarm. It also set off all the smoke alarms and the security panel announced FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! and flashed that the fire department was on the way. The animals were either barking or cowering. I was running around the house carrying the broken, bleating alarm that wouldn’t turn off while trying to talk to the security people on...
January 31, 2017
Finishing Endō’s SILENCE–Or Not?
I demand a lot of the books I choose to read. Over the last decade my reading has become more directed–possibly narrower. When I reviewed books for a newspaper, I read widely: biographies, memoirs, literary fiction, history, commercial fiction. While I still read from all of those categories, most often I’ll read literary and commercial fiction, or historical biographies. There are some research books, too. Time is an issue. That’s a rather long way of saying that I’ve become very particular....
January 30, 2017
Artist Date With the Past
At the end of last summer I took myself on an Artist Date to Marion, IL, which isn’t far from here. Marion was holding a festival with a car show in their town square, and I particularly wanted to hear my friend, Andrew Staff, and his band, The Swamp Tigers, play. Here’s that post. So many cool vintage cars. But I also wandered over to a shop off the square called Picker’s Paradise. I bought a couple of vases and some glassware, but mostly had a lovely time looking at all the fun vintage thi...
