Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Hazy Shade of Winter

Time, time, time, see what's become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities 
~Simon and Garfunkel "Hazy Shade of Winter"


It's Wednesday.  It's ROW80 check-in day.  It was supposed to be a snow day, but it got to almost 40 degrees before 7 a.m., and everything melted, so now I am sitting at work, too cold, huddled in my chair, looking out at a soggy gray landscape and feeling rather dreary and uninspired.  And cold.  Did I mention I'm cold?  I am.

Still, the ROW must go on.  So here's what I've been up to the past few days:
  • Answering the questions from H.E. Roulo's article "A Simple Novel Outline--9 questions for 25 chapters."  I'm not sure how useful the info on putting chapters together is going to be, but the questions themselves have helped me get to know my MC better.  I'm on Question 6 right now and will be finishing up the whole thing today or tomorrow.
  • Researched my MC's career to help me pinpoint a few things about her that I didn't have clear ideas on.  I didn't think I needed more info, but the aforementioned Question 6 led me to a few questions of my own that needed answering.
That's it.  I haven't exercised, but now that I've made that public I plan to do my workout as soon as I post this so I can feel a little better physically and mentally.  I also haven't been spending time just relaxing and letting myself enjoy time away from being busy.  I did fine with this last week so thought it wasn't something I had to really give much attention to, but I think I might have been mistaken on that one.  Tonight, there will be knitting and TV watching and brain rest time.  There will also be time for putting away the Christmas tree ornaments that are lying on the table waiting to be wrapped and stored, but that won't take long, so I will have plenty of time for relaxation, too.

The plan for Thursday-Sunday:
  • Keep doing some sort of writing every day for at least 10 minutes
  • Exercise three times
  • Get the Christmas ornaments put away!
  • Read through my story so far to get myself fully back in the storyline
  • Write about what I want to have happen in the next parts of the story to start generating some ideas and get the story moving again
Somewhere in there you might find some hot chocolate and a jigsaw puzzle put up on the table the ornaments are strewn across.  It's the perfect weather for that sort of thing, and I do need to get in that R&R!

See you Sunday.

9 comments:

Julie Jordan Scott said...

Brava, Kim! Love how you keep moving your story right along...

and as you quoted the Simon and Garfunkle song I swear I hear a girl band from the early 80's singing a version of it... The Go-Go's maybe? Do you know what I am hearing in my head?

Anyway - always grand to read you!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy the downtime as much as your writing. :)

Audrey Tomorrow said...

You just reminded me I need to pull down the chrissy tree!

Tia Bach said...

I love digging into the story, and it sounds like you are doing that. Hope it continues to progress.

I have learned that I need to exercise first thing or the excuses pile up all day long. Hope you were able to squeeze some exercise in. ;-)

Heather said...

Way to go! Sounds like you're doing great! I hear you about the exercise thing. I have fallen completely out of it lately and am struggling to get back on track.

Shan Jeniah Burton said...

Julie- It was the Bangles. Pretty.

Paul's is better. Paul sings to my soul. EVERY time. EVERY song.

Kim - you made my night. Now I'll be seeing if Spotify has Hazy Shade for my ever-growing Paul Simon Playlist....

I love learning more about my characters, and think I will check out that link - to use before I start the second draft....

I hope you enjoy your journey deeper into your story!

Shan Jeniah Burton said...

Julie- It was the Bangles. Pretty.

Paul's is better. Paul sings to my soul. EVERY time. EVERY song.

Kim - you made my night. Now I'll be seeing if Spotify has Hazy Shade for my ever-growing Paul Simon Playlist....

May you continue to enjoy your thoughts and writing...
I love learning more about my characters, and think I will check out that link - to use before I start the second draft....

I hope you enjoy your journey deeper into your story!

Eden Mabee said...

You may feel cold, but your post seemed warm and rich to me. I love Hazy Shade of Winter (both versions).

Maybe, you can do exercise in smaller spurts throughout the day? I guess it depends on whether your goal is weight loss or endurance. Both require slightly different tactics from what I've heard. But 10 minutes of cardio level exercise, 3 times a day is actually supposed to be as good, maybe better for you than long workouts.

Live, Love, Laugh, Write! said...

Hope this half of your weeks goals are going well :) What are you knitting?

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