Time to recharge batteries and step back into writing routine
Today, I kick back into regular writing mode with the goal of finishing and publishing a new novel by spring.
What the #$@%^&*%$#@, you might ask? Where the $%#@^&*^%$# have you been?
Well, I sell real estate in a summer resort community. It helps keep the howling jackals – bill collectors – away from my door. We had a really good summer, lots of listings and sales. At one point, I went seven weeks without a day off. Exhaustive, but fairly profitable. Best part is that the wild beasts will have to find another place to feed till spring.
No doubt about it, summer is now gone. The trees are just starting to give up their greenery, and I’ve got to get back to telling stories. I miss it, and I am raring to go.
Whenever I step away from writing for a bit, I recharge my creative batteries with massive doses of reading.
This time I’m refueling with Harlan Coben’s new novel, “HOME,” friend Dennis Collins’ new thriller “Charity Island,” and the late Elmore Leonard’s “Rum Punch.”
I admire each writer for different qualities.
Coben is clever, witty and masterful with suspense, weaving the seemingly disconnected elements of a story into a colorful, twisting tale. Collins is just a darned-good storyteller. His works are fast-paced page burners, and he has a nice folksy style. Leonard, of course, is one of Michigan’s great authors. I read “Rum Punch” many years ago, but I have decided to revisit it because I recently happened to watch the movie, “Jackie Brown." Jackie was based on Rum, so I thought it would be a treat to compare the film and print stories.
When I finish this blog post, I will pick up the story I started working on last spring. It won’t be difficult to get it going again. I just have to devote the time and energy to it and slip back into a writing routine.
All writers are different when it comes to approaching their work. I like to start each day while it’s still dark and quiet. No distractions from TV, cell phones, neighbors, friends, or family. Just me, my whirring laptop and the sound of percolating coffee.
I usually write for a minimum of two hours, three if I’m on a roll. Then I start the rest of my day and let the story do some of its own percolating in my noggin. While the passages I have written do some backflips and dipsy-doos in the back of my mind, I always come up with some different ways to set a scene, or improve the dialogue, or sharpen the narrative.
Then, in the early evening, after dinner and before my late night walk, I try to pick up the work that I wrote earlier in the day. A little fine tuning, a little polishing, some re-write, some deletions and addition, all from what churned around in my head during the day.
During my walk, or light exercise if it’s too cold or nasty outside (in other words – Michigan-like), I start thinking about where I will take the story when I get going in the morning.
The writing process, for me, is never ending. When I’m in it, it’s all consuming.
And so it begins again.
I’ll keep you posted on where I am with the story.
A Grand Murder
What the #$@%^&*%$#@, you might ask? Where the $%#@^&*^%$# have you been?
Well, I sell real estate in a summer resort community. It helps keep the howling jackals – bill collectors – away from my door. We had a really good summer, lots of listings and sales. At one point, I went seven weeks without a day off. Exhaustive, but fairly profitable. Best part is that the wild beasts will have to find another place to feed till spring.
No doubt about it, summer is now gone. The trees are just starting to give up their greenery, and I’ve got to get back to telling stories. I miss it, and I am raring to go.
Whenever I step away from writing for a bit, I recharge my creative batteries with massive doses of reading.
This time I’m refueling with Harlan Coben’s new novel, “HOME,” friend Dennis Collins’ new thriller “Charity Island,” and the late Elmore Leonard’s “Rum Punch.”
I admire each writer for different qualities.
Coben is clever, witty and masterful with suspense, weaving the seemingly disconnected elements of a story into a colorful, twisting tale. Collins is just a darned-good storyteller. His works are fast-paced page burners, and he has a nice folksy style. Leonard, of course, is one of Michigan’s great authors. I read “Rum Punch” many years ago, but I have decided to revisit it because I recently happened to watch the movie, “Jackie Brown." Jackie was based on Rum, so I thought it would be a treat to compare the film and print stories.
When I finish this blog post, I will pick up the story I started working on last spring. It won’t be difficult to get it going again. I just have to devote the time and energy to it and slip back into a writing routine.
All writers are different when it comes to approaching their work. I like to start each day while it’s still dark and quiet. No distractions from TV, cell phones, neighbors, friends, or family. Just me, my whirring laptop and the sound of percolating coffee.
I usually write for a minimum of two hours, three if I’m on a roll. Then I start the rest of my day and let the story do some of its own percolating in my noggin. While the passages I have written do some backflips and dipsy-doos in the back of my mind, I always come up with some different ways to set a scene, or improve the dialogue, or sharpen the narrative.
Then, in the early evening, after dinner and before my late night walk, I try to pick up the work that I wrote earlier in the day. A little fine tuning, a little polishing, some re-write, some deletions and addition, all from what churned around in my head during the day.
During my walk, or light exercise if it’s too cold or nasty outside (in other words – Michigan-like), I start thinking about where I will take the story when I get going in the morning.
The writing process, for me, is never ending. When I’m in it, it’s all consuming.
And so it begins again.
I’ll keep you posted on where I am with the story.
A Grand Murder
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Randy, hope to publish in spring.