NIGHT WRITER

It’s almost 11:00 p.m., and the house is finally settled down enough for me to begin my day’s work. Like many of you, I have other things that take priority during the day. In my case, I home school my eighth-grader, and I have two babies under two, and all of them demand my full attention. But at night, it’s time to start the party…the writing party that is!

The first thing I do is put on the coffee. Because I’m still nursing the little one, I have my own special brew of half-caff. Then, I put on the good ol’ thumb brace to signify that it’s time to get down to business. Things start heating up around 11:00, and I have a good hour or two to knock out 1500-2000 words. OK, they may not be the most eloquent words, but they are still on paper, or on the screen, if you will. (Tonight I should hit 50k!)

Lately, it has occurred to me that I’m never quite awake, and I wonder how awesome I would be during the day at momming, home schooling, and house-wifing (is that a word?) if I actually slept at night instead of writing, and I wonder how awesome my writing would be if I were able to write during the day, while awake. So until I get published, I’ll believe my mistakes are due to sleep-depravation. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

How about you? When do you write? If you’re a night writer like me, how do you cope during the day?

NEED 1ST DATE ADVICE

No, it’s not my first date, I’m married! I’m referring to the heroine in my WIP. I’ve finally gotten the hero in gear, and he’s asked her out on their first date, despite the antics of his meddling mother. But now I need to figure out where to send them, and I don’t want to use the cliché dinner and a movie. Other major situations that have already been used include ice-skating, bowling, and a coffee house. I need something else.

I’ve been wondering why it’s so hard for me to come up with first date material, and I realized I haven’t had much experience in the way of first dates. I come from a strict family (my dad’s a football coach!) and my parents only allowed me to be out for 40 minutes on my first date. Ouch!

Here’s where you, my wonderful fellow writers, come in. Think back to your first dates. Dig deep now, and give me your insights, impressions, and funny recollections—anything—to spark an idea in me. I’d like to give my heroine the wackiest first date ever!


(P.S. I know the sight looks different than it did yesterday. I’m still experimenting, and this is much easier than dying my hair.)

TEN SIMPLE PLEASURES

Wow, what a great idea! Thanks for tagging me, Amy, you’re a sly one. It gives me a chance to think about all the great things God has put before me, and these are in no particular order.

1. Reading in the car in the afternoon, while both babies nap at once

2. Having a husband who not only tells me I can do anything, but actually believes it

3. Having quiet time at night to write, and being awake for it

4. Thunderstorms

5. Logging on and seeing I have mail

6. Taking a nap, and waking up on my own

7. A freshly cleaned bathroom

8. Listening to my 14-year old daughter sing in Italian

9. Finishing a chapter, and knowing what I want to write in the next chapter

10. The smell of clean babies

Life is good! Now for the hard part, finding someone else to tag….I’m sad to say that I don’t have the links for my new blogging buddies. So please, if you’re out there and haven’t been tagged, leave a comment so I can tag you. This was the best time out I’ve had all day….

Inaugural Post

Welcome to my first post. Don't laugh, you all had your very first post, too, sometime back. In any case, I'm glad you stopped by! Kick up your feet and commiserate with me for just a few moments.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a writer of Christian fiction. I didn't say published writer, which would make me an author, but a writer nonetheless. How do I know? Because I write everyday, rain or shine, regardless of whether or not the mood strikes me. Some days are better than others, but I've set a goal of 2000 words a day, or night, as the case is here.

Tonight, however, I'm stumped. My heroine just stormed into her boss's office in a fury...and that's it. All of a sudden, I'm like a hair-clogged drain, and there's no quick fix. Obviously, I'm not a detailed plotter, although I know where I want to be a few chapters from now, but that doesn't help me tonight.

So what do I do when the dreaded writer's block slaps me across the face? I do something radical, and totally out of character for me: I start this blog, something I never thought I'd do. You read it right, instead of slogging through my chapter until I get a break through, I came here, hoping to find someone out there who understands, and maybe has a few words of advice.

What do you do to solve your plot problems, and push through to the next page?