It’s Monday!!! I have to blog. Blog blog blog….gotta blog. What am I gonna blog about….???? Got lots of things to chat about but little that relates to being a writer except as it all applies to research and writing what you know and how to survive life as a writer. Thinking and keying fast here. Keep up, okay? Diving in to the clutter of my mind now:
Trip time. Hubby and I are heading to the mountains either tonight or in the morning to see about running some rivers. We have this friend, Ralph Altman, I’ve known since 10th grade, and I had totally forgotten he is a paddler from way back. He told us about this roll class at UNC Asheville, in a heated pool, thank God. Gonna learn to roll. Whoowhoo! Need to get it right so I can write *what I know*. First rule of writing, but then I write fantasy too … Hmmm. That rule so doesn’t work for fantasy writers. Anyway, we hope to meet up with some people in the pool who want to run rivers on Thursday, and maybe Ralph will join us. Isn’t that a great name? Ralph Altman. Needs to be a character. I bought a full length wetsuit on Friday, and I have lots of cold weather river and hiking clothes, so I am ready. See what I said about my mind being full of clutter? Wait – there’s more!
I am having panic attacks about deadlines. I have a short story (not started) due June 1st, two books due on June 1st, and two magazine articles due by March 30th, (not started). As of today, I have the rough draft of one book done (about whitewater paddling, by my AKA, Gwen Hunter) about 200 pages of a skinwalker book done (by me, Faith Hunter) and the backstory of the characters in the short story put together, and the world built. But I have 3 months (less than 90 short days) to get it all done. I have this faint (it’s the size of a rodeo bull and it has claws and fangs) sense of panic crawling up my spine. Now, I know Catie has been on the deadline from hell – much worse than my deadline – but for once, knowing that someone else has it just as bad (okay, worse) is not helping. I am BIC to the point of gaining back all the Christmas weight I lost, and so the diet is sooo back on. No comfort foods to chase away the rodeo-bull-sized panic attacks.
So why am I *taking off* and going to the mountains? Research for the whitewater book. I can revise it on the way up and down the mountains. But to do all that I have to stock the RV with food, clean it and put sheets on the bed, and get all the cold weather clothes moved to it. Hubby has to get it ready to travel, a much more involved job.
I also need to brush the dogs and clip their nails. Vacuum the house. And decide on the subject matter for the articles. I need to exercise, (yoga and weight machine), and I have yet to break in the new hiking shoes I’ll need if I decide to hike a river. Can you say blisters on top of blisters? Need a manicure. Note to self (take cell phone charger to RV.)
You know… I became a writer for lots of reasons. So I could see justice on paper, let the crazy people living inside my head out, get all the stories I was narrating in my head out, so I could look for peace (in a way). And I got all that. I really did. Being a writer is the best life in the world for me. I live with a head full of clutter (see above) and writing frees me from it. Being able to focus on a story is like having a bulldozer in my brain. But I also got deadlines. Not just pesky deadlines, but rodeo-bull-sized deadlines. And more clutter in my brain than I can focus on.
Next time, I’ll try to talk about world building. Stuff other writers might enjoy. For now, I’ll drink another cuppa tea, and start packing. Maybe yoga after lunch. Then finish and rewrite the scene of back-story I wrote Friday for Jane Yellowrock, Skinwalker.
Oh – Catie? I finished House of Cards. OMG! You are a goddess! I am so lucky to be on this blog you and David and Misty. Oh! One more clutter bit: Misty’s signings are good??? I hope? Mom started in on MadKestrel and she is enthralled!
Deeeeeep breath. Blow it out. Yeah. I can do this.
The writer’s life for me!Faith Hunter