Sunday, July 08, 2007

Day Seven

Aha! You thought I was going to skip Day Seven. Well, I didn't write as such. I have filled a page with all of the things that I have forgotten to explain or tie up or develop to a resolution in the novel, plus I did a writing exercise from the Sellars book that resulted in something exciting and surprising for me in terms of story ideas. I have done two hours of writing, just not two hours of typing, and it's sorted out quite a few niggly bits for me.
I've been emailing a writer friend, K, about how much time we spend writing. I think both of us have decided that we don't do enough - not so much in words, but more in terms of focused, extended writing time. My two hours per day for seven days has shown me quite a few things about my current writing routine (things that I need to address). I tend to write in a "snatch and grab" kind of way, fitting it in between teaching stuff, but I can see that in a lot of ways I've been slacking off a bit. I'm terrific at procrastination!
There's been nothing on TV to interest me, so reading at night has continued apace. I finished Jerry Spinelli's There's a Girl in my Hammerlock, which is about a girl who goes out for the wrestling team to get a guy (so she thinks). This was fun but also was a good example of a character journey - starting with one goal and ending up with another.
I've also read The Fall - the first book in Garth Nix's The Seventh Tower series. I didn't expect to like it, as I don't like the Mr Monday series at all, but I really enjoyed this. He creates some great fantasy worlds, and sets the scene very deftly, giving the reader plenty of information but all via action and description (not info dumps). I've been reading a number of kid's/middle grade novels this week to keep my head in middle grade space.
Now I have started Garry Disher's new crime novel. More on this soon.

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