Hiatus but progressing
It’s funny what challenges life throw at you and I can say these last few weeks have been full of them. No matter how much I escape into my imagination when writing there’s only so much real-life I can block out and sometimes the real stuff overshadows my imagination and sends it packing back into its dark little box. That said today has been refreshing as I decided off the cuff to see if these typing fingers find a rhythm and thankfully they have.
Sat watching Star Wars Rebels with my oldest I decided to crack open the Dropbox and open the current chapter that’s been haunting me. 641 words of painfully slow progress. An hour later and there’s now 1,648 words and the draft chapter is done! Wow the feeling is pretty good and nice to know that I’ve obviously moved away from the shadows of my stresses and reconnected with my head!
If I sum up what I can of how I deal with life I’d have to say it exists on three levels – mind and body (gym and some meditation), family and writing. If these three things are in balance then I can exist on my divided personality between work and home which for me is a very big thing. If you hadn’t realised by now I am the sort of person that takes things rather seriously and throws myself into things wholeheartedly. Obviously sometimes this can be a little debilitating and can become a massive obsession with things or an overwhelming force but when it’s all in balance then it’s fun!
For this set of rest days I’ve got a kid’s summer house to decorate, a little girl’s second birthday to celebrate, a costume for Em-Con (East Midlands Comic Convention) to prepare and of course some writing to do too. But you know what, life would be boring if I didn’t keep myself busy and I can;t say I resent it, it makes my life varied, unpredictable and fun.
I remember really pouring myself into the story and edits of Footprints On The Other Side whilst they were filming The Dark Knight Rises locally at Wollaton Hall (2012). The presence of Hollywood creativity and imagination was a big influence and I sill love visiting and reminding myself what can be achieved – it’s a long way until Holywood though but I can dream!
I’m honestly dreading the edit phase of draft construction so I think I’m going to have a hiatus and pause whilst I collate and finalise Part 2 ideas into a coherent storyline but whilst doing this go through a full draft edit of Part 1. As the story exists on two distinct levels whilst Part 1 leads to Part 2 they can be considered, from the writer’s point of view, as quite separate entities therefore I feel happy enough to get into a full draft edit without jeopardising the flow of the story. There are a few things that will bleed between Part 1 and Part 2 but ultimately Part 1 and 2 come together to make Part 3.
That may sound completely cryptic but to me it makes sense and I don’t want to risk over-exposing the story and ruining my work. Loose lips sink…..book sales after all!
Well it’s only a brief explanation of how things have been (slowly) progressing but rest assured the story of Whispering Shadows is moving forward.
Whispering Shadows – I’ve decided to stick with the title as it was originally just a working title but it seems to fit. The title implies that the past offers secrets and that really in order to learn the lessons from the past they are not shouted and you must listen clearly to what they have to say. And so the title reflects Jack’s progressing journey and the fact that the future comes from the past and the past sometimes needs careful attention to understand and realise things you may have missed.
