Brain dump

Last night, I was proud of myself. Only two hours of television and some writing done. Albeit the television was on in the background, muted, but I was working. Seriously, I think I must waste so much time watching tv. I don't even realize it. Last night felt like I barely watched anything but I lost two hours there. And only a half hour of it is what I would deem a "favorite" show (Veronica Mars). Fortunately, tonight there's even less television to be watched. A rerun of Lost and then no Alias because of the State of the Union.

I'm reaching the point with the revision notes to Zara II that I'm struggling. I get frustrated trying to work it out on paper ahead of time before I actually sit down to write it. I'm not an outliner. Period. Technically, I could already have an acceptance or a rejection from RuneStone on Zara II if I could just write the stupid outline first. But I have to have the book done. ARRRRGGHH! I don't know how other writers do it. I mean, I know some writers outline first and then I would imagine creating the synopsis from that is relatively easy. But what if you don't outline? Then you have to know what happens all the way through and honestly, I don't think I'd be able to write if I knew the ending. Sometimes the only way I can get myself to write is by telling myself that I need to do it if I want to find out what happens next. To me, the best part is experiencing what happens as the characters do. I know other writers say that they write the synopsis but they don't always stick to it. They let the creative process take over once they start writing.

Okay, I don't know about you, but I have little doubting voices that speak up in my head ALL the time. One of those voices is extremely paranoid and prefers to cling to the "known" instead of taking a leap of faith. If I wrote the synopsis first, in addition to the general lack of excitement about writing something I already know the ending to, I'd have trouble straying from the outline. Because the outline was ACCEPTED, which means it's right. Or, worse yet, I'd agonize over every choice I made that differed from the outline. Seriously, I cannot handle that kind of stress.

Yes, I know. Keeping up my neuroses is exhausting. *grin*

On the up side, I think I found a couple interesting approaches to add layers (and pages) to the first Rennie Harlow. One of the things that I wanted to differently with that series than all the other cozies I've read is to acknowledge the inherent flaw in the cozy mystery. Which is, how often do normal people actually stumble over dead bodies or into murder investigations? I mean, really. Most cozies sort of ignore the fact that B and B owners don't really find themselves solving crimes on a regular basis. With Rennie, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that it's a little unusual that this keeps happening to her. So, I think I've found a way to do that.

I also want to pump up the chick lit angle--you know, the "last year I had a husband, a promising career and an expensive condo in the city. Now I'm divorced and unemployed. And, oh yeah, I'm living in an apartment over my mother's garage. In loserdom, that's only one small step above living in her basement" side of things.

So wish me luck at getting just this last little tangle in Zara II figured out!