Blindfolded in the Dark

EDIT- I added a new picture or too. How could I forget? Next week is Style Week. I'm not kidding. Now go ahead and take a peek into my very crowded brain...

I never get writer's block. I just write crap instead. But I keep writing.

This week, a stunning thing happened. There I was, poking away at a story that I'm finding proportionately hard to write considering how much fun the story itself is. Or, how much fun it should be. The story itself is sweet and kind of funny and not nearly as dark as what I've written before. The more I get to know my characters, who are interesting and good hearted, the more I like them. Finally I'm writing about horses, and rock and roll!

Fun, right?

So why is it like wading through wet cement?

I may be putting too much pressure on myself. I do that. I am my own worst critic. I have been pecking away at it regularly and not giving up on it. But so far it's been a bunch of unsatisfying words with a few decent paragraphs scattered throughout it. It's not any shade of brilliant. I know it doesn't even get a faint glow until I've been through it two or three or nine times, but still, it's not as much fun as I wanted it to be!

More specifically, the story in my head is waaay more exciting that the one on my computer screen.

What's missing? What am I not getting? What is it that will make this story click?

Yesterday, it slowly settled on me.

My main character was holding back some information.

She's so good at keeping this little bit of info to herself that even I didn't see it at first!

And when I figured it out, it all made sense. Everything. I got this feeling of peace. I'd always known what direction this story would take, but now I know why.

It's okay- she won't regret my knowledge. I'll tell her story the right way.

The truth is, it has't been a good week for writing. The kids had the day off school on Monday and basically spent it inventing new ways to damage each other. My man took a few days off work to build the back porch and I of course got pressed into shoveling gravel and holding wooden beams and fetching tools. When I did sit down to write it felt hard to get into. Like I said, a little at a time I pushed my way through, but it wasn't always easy.

The best thing about writing though, is that it's my story, and I am free to cut all of the crap out before I show it to anyone!

Here's what's in my head for this story...




























































That's only half the story though...because I'm sort of working on another one at the same time. We'll see which one gets to the finish line first.