It’s midnight before Easter as I write this. That’s probably cheating for a blog due on Monday but, unfortunately, the days all run together and if I hadn’t had this on my calendar, I would have completely forgotten I had it coming due.
Today was one of those days that quite simply did not stop. Up at Target by 830 for shoes and dresses for the girls. Strike out on shoes, mall doesn’t open til ten. Managed to get everything at mall and get home by 1. Both girls are acting funny but I just figured they’re tired. No sooner did I set oldest on couch with water does she pull a Linda Blair. All over the couch. Couldn’t she at least have aimed for the floor? Got her cleaned up, couch cover (thank heavens) in the wash, then hubby comes home and wants to do yard work. The major kind that involves transplanting trees and bushes. That gets done, then youngest starts heaving. Oh and forgot about housework in between shopping and yard work and dyeing Easter eggs. And that was before I ran back to the store at 9pm because I had NOTHING for Easter.
So how the heck am I going to write a sexy, loving scene at midnight after a day like this? Well, to be quite honest, I’m not. I’m going to write a murder. A vicious stoning in an Iraqi village that my hero and heroine have to try and stop. (This WIP is not my women’s fiction project, in case you were wondering;)
But the only reason I’m writing that scene is because a, it needs to be written, b, I’ve been avoiding it for a week, and c, I can’t move forward on my revisions until I get it done. Oh and I’m not tired yet, either.
Getting into the mood after an insane day is a tough one and honestly, it’s not easy. I usually have to go back and reread where my characters were the last time I left them is one way I slip back into the scene. Looking at notes frantically scribbled either on my note pad or document notes also helps pull me back into the story.
Music is one way that is almost guaranteed to put me in the mood. I have soundtracks made up for each of my books. For my women’s fiction WIP, the song that will put me right there in the scene, whichever scene I need is Red’s Mystery of You. Its a haunting song that symbolizes everything about the trouble between my hero and heroine.
Finding the right way into your piece after an insane day where you’re lucky you can take a long enough shower to shave your legs is tough but we’re writers, right? That’s what we do. So I’d love to hear how you slip into that scene and find the right mood when what you’d rather be doing is sitting on the couch drinking a beer.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a character to stone.
Jessica Scott
www.jessicascott.net
Jessica, I often write at night while sipping a beer. Maybe that’s a good way to slip into it. lol
Seriously, after a day like that it might be easier for me to focus on my book than brood about the insane day. I find it harder to concentrate if something upset me emotionally. And it all depends on where I am in the book. If I know what to write next, it might be easier.
And writing is easy, right? A gift that flows endlessly from the well…
I indulge in music, photographs, wine … and the quiet my closed office door affords me — which is strange because I write when I’m either home alone or the hubby is in bed. Must be a mental thing, or a throwback from the days of teenagers in the house.
Thanks for sharing, Jessica. And I hope the stoning went well.
Good luck on that stoning, Jess!
I’m trying to get back into my revisions and it’s one thing after another. Tonight is the night, though, I WILL work. I will make progress. Of course I have to go back and read to remember where I was! And of course there’s the drinking . . . LOL.
Whatever it takes, right?! Good luck! Hope the heaving is over.