Struggles with Writing
Every morning I get up at around 5 a.m. and go to my computer. I check Facebook, my own Felsenmeer Word website, my bank account, the news, and then I think about the latest novel I am writing. I recall where the story was when I last wrote. Sometimes I am so into the book and know where I want to go I start writing right away, other times I just sit there staring at the screen. I re-read the last few paragraphs trying to see into the future of the story ... not the full story, not the larger plot, I know that, but the next small step, the next word, the next action. I might force myself to write something, and sometimes that works, but more often it goes nowhere or to the wrong place. Sometimes forcing myself to write works and the words, good words, start flowing. But often I just sit there, staring. And then I click Save... just in case ... and get up and go to the kitchen to make myself a coffee. That's about where I am this morning.
Back with my coffee ...
Still no inspiration. The book I'm working on is called "The Wisdom of John". It's not religious; not about John in the Bible. It's about an old man called Uncle John and a young boy named Johnnie. Can't say any more or I'll be a spoiler. But anyway I'm stuck. He's on the ferry from Lewisporte to Goose Bay with his wife. It's about blame. Or I want it to be about blame anyway. There are many ways to talk about blame. Maybe I'll find a different way. Some other scene. Some other circumstance. The story won't be that different if he doesn't go to Goose Bay. Maybe I just want to get Labrador into the story somehow. None of my other books involve Labrador. Maybe I'm just a guilty Newfoundland. Not wanting to give the 30,000 people in Labrador one more reason why they think they should separate from the island. They need us and we need them. You know a lot of the young kids (just finished high school kids, I mean) from Labrador go to university at ST FX or somewhere other than MUN. The connection to St. John's, to the island, is not always strong enough. Kids from Corner Brook also go to ST. FX, even though they have a MUN campus in their own town. I suppose variety of options for education is a good thing. Our kids certainly had lots of options, but we lived in Ontario when they finished high school.
How did I get here? Wandering off on kids choosing universities. But it got me writing. It just started to flow. That's how forcing yourself to write when you are writing a novel sometimes works... it starts things flowing.
Glenda and I are off to Kingston today. Will leave in a few hours. Probably arrive around 3 or 4 p.m. We are visiting some good friends there. We lived there for 12 years (1993 - 2005). I'll probably blog from there on Monday or Tuesday and will certainly do a picture gallery. Watch for it đ