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Indigo Vales

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Indigo Vales

Tag Archives: progress

Bonewitch

06 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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Bonewitch, Flash fiction, HoW, progress, prompt

The goddess wants me to tell you the story of the witch who lives in the blue school bus.

I hope tonight I will dream her whole life, and find the words ready to write in the morning.

9/7 Update: Her name is Bonewitch.  And she learns her sidekick’s true name upon giving her last breath.

Darwin’s Moon

27 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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Flash fiction, goals, Niko's Boots, progress, prompt

Notes from the desk of Indigo Vales:  I completed (yes? completed?) a flash fiction piece that comes from a photo prompt at my beloved HoW.  I find I do very little writing that isn’t cathartic unless inspired by the prompts found there. I hope that as I increase my reading diet and continue to bend my back to the writing wheel each day, there will be less blogging and more “real” writing.  It is a goal. A vague one.  I haven’t actually created a publishing goal lately.  Am I in a position to create and state one right now?  *Notes empty coffee mug. Distracted. Will come back to that.*

In my excited state I shared the story with my spouse who said (to paraphrase) “Good writing, where’s the rest?”  So now I have to decide what to do with the rest of the piece. Is there enough of a tale to tell about Volusia and her friend Darwin? Does she ever decide to get her passport and travel to Cambodia and see the temples beneath the moon? Will she stay in love with her life, her freedom, or make the biggest mistake of her life and fall in love? What happens when a young woman uproots herself from her lavish family to see what happens when she throws herself at the footsteps of the world?  Um, looks like there’s a rest of the story there…  But I wanted to write about Niko, who is still stuck at the bottom of a crater, grievously wounded! How will he get out?  Does anything interesting happen to him if he makes it back to his village?  Less of a story there, no matter how much I enjoyed writing about his dilemma.

All I know is, it’s going to be a busy day here for my family. Some life-changing times going on. I believe there’s going to be some river-sitting and beer drinking in my future this afternoon, and tonight, and tomorrow, and I shall bring the laptop along with me and see if I can coax any words to come along.

August 26

26 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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covenant, goals, progress, thoughts

Notes from the desk of Indigo Vales:   The business cards are here. (Notice that sentence not written in italics, all caps, ending without exclamation?)  I watched their progress as they made their way across the country, leaping from post office to post office, to finally here in my fingers. They’re shiny smooth and blue, quite pretty.  But the print was much bigger on the screen, and I have to squint to read the address.  It appears I am going to need make the typeface bigger and re-order them.  BUMMER!

No writing to speak of lately, but the clock says there is still time to make progress before heading out to the “day job.” As I tried to drift off last night, Darwin explained some things about the moon to Volusia, so I am looking forward to writing that (scene? dialogue?)  I was afraid I would forget as I usually do when ideas come during the night, but this one stuck. (Along with some disturbing dreams which I have no interest in trying to decipher.)

Goals:  Write To-Do list, work on story, try not to get distracted.

Thoughts for the day: If your boat is leaky and you’ve been reading your charts upside down, who’s fault is that?  How long you gonna stand there, ankle-deep in it trying to figure out which way you’re gonna go?

The other thought is this: Keep the promise to your story.

Another Learning Writing Day

23 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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evolving, progress, reading

So writing is contingent upon reading.   And no work can ever be produced if you neither write nor read.  This is old news. I’m not reporting a newsflash from the Great Beyond.

My reading habits are improving, going from not reading anything to reading the same books over and over to reading things I’d never looked at before. I have the fortune and blessing to be surrounded by writers, authors, and editors who DO read and share their favorite tomes. My eye, right now, is on “What makes it a great article, a fantastic story? What was it about that piece that got it published?”  My job is not to mimic that story or article.   My job is to make sure it’s good enough to go out into the world.  I used to run around panting “Get published! Get more published!” Submitted material not quite on a whim, but not exactly with enough behind me to have a real chance.  This is evolving.

Full disclosure: I don’t plan on reading the classics or what’s on the best sellers list right now. I don’t plan on becoming a literary fiction aficionado. That’s not who I am. I do plan on reading a broader range of stories so I can practice sitting still, letting my mind focus on the words unfolding, holding everything else at bay, and enjoy the story.

Learning how to keep the arse in the seat, keeping the mind focused down here on the page instead of on the trauma going on all around me, ALLOWING what’s real to rise up and seep out onto the page (which takes a lot of bravery), is my daily job.

Did I just say that?

Notes on the Writing Day (so far)

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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amwriting, inspiration, poetry, progress

I think I slept for three hours. Got up, did some “stuff” and then got down to some writing.  There are 150 other things I could and should be doing around this house, but I opted to plant my ass and type. Something. Anything! I did not write in my personal journal this morning, that came later, actually.

What I discovered today is this:  I don’t have to write it all at once. The story (or poem) doesn’t have to make sense on the first take. I can write small words and replace them with a better, more descriptive noun or adjective LATER. I wrote three pages (stopped in the middle to get some thoughts out of the way) and then returned to the blinking cursor.  This is what writing should feel like, and it feels better knowing it will be there when I get back.   I can’t write a good, interesting, read-worthy piece in one sitting.  I can’t stay up all night and pretend the midnight oil (and beer) will somehow light the way. It surely doesn’t. A happy, rested body and mind finds the right words to read for inspiration and then compose. I am learning to trust that I will come back and not leave ragged bits to flag in the wind.

Another thing I discovered is that there are very few poems coming to my Inbox by way of Poetry.org  that resemble romantic love poetry.  You can’t write “good” until you’ve seen “good.”  I compare them to some of the stuff I’ve written these last few years I think “Oh god, really? Where have I been?”  I’m seeing it every day, plastering pieces of it upon myself to carry around with me through the work day, and it’s sticking.

But the time marches by.  The kitchen is trashed but at least the laundry is washed (but not folded yet.)  Time to put away the words for now.  I won’t feel so distracted by them while running around slinging auto parts because I know they will be there when I get back. It seems I’ve learned how to keep covenant with the promise of words.

August 16

17 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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Flash fiction, progress, submitted

And that is how you do that.  By the seat of one’s pants when one decides at the last minute, “Hey. I haven’t submitted any material today. Or this week.  Or lately. What’s the hold up?”  And one polishes a flash-y thing, fills out the form, and sends said piece on its way.

The title of the piece is “It’s For You,” sent to the New South Journal.

WOOSH!

Thank you to IA

09 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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happy problem, International Authors, meeting, progress

A big thank you to the IA group for a lovely meet-up at (an undisclosed location) in Manhattan. On 56th.  Near Trump Towers.  Did I give too much away?

Met a lovely group of authors, and I couldn’t be more inspired to keep the hand pushing forward, to hold the lantern up and keep writing!

Did I mention I still have to finish Rose’s book and the sun is setting and I have to attend to my day job tomorrow and there are only 24 hours in a day?  A friend of mine, I believe, would call that a happy problem.

Onward!

Rose’s Book

04 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by Kristine in Uncategorized

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progress

Have you heard about this book yet? No one has and no one will until I get the last few 3K words done.  So that’s it. That’s my list for the day.  It will be time for the day job soon enough, and then…

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