This week is going to become a bit of a time out. I have two written projects that I need to address for class, concerns with a family member, and editing that needs to be done along with the County Fair to address for school.
Please forgive my split focus for the week. I will be back in sharp focus by next week I hope.
Stay inspired!
Good morning, good night wherever you are! Talk to you soon.
Kath
I have made my way through all 3 NCIS shows and the last of Seals in the last 2 days. The last ended with a full on PTS episode at a restaurant with a dose of TBI added to the mix. I am no doctor. Nor did they reveal the information, but everything that I have studied – or experienced, tells me that it is an overlap of both.
The scene prior to the last was another that is all too familiar. A single man walks into his home that he occupies without the benefit of company. The sudden overwhelming sense of silence, and the absence of everyone he has been in-country with… from my perspective… takes his breath away leaving no room for the silence that means peace.
It is the silence that demands attention. It overwhelms. It brings out every bad memory of the last … however many days, weeks, or months.
It is a silence that reminds him of every negative thought, emotion, or – God forbid – experience taking a strangle hold on him.
These are the moments that I want to fill with activities that can be joyful and accidentally become coping tools.
They do not demand time away from home.
They do not demand the involvement of others, though that may not be a bad idea… and it can include others if the moment arises.
All it requires is for the individual to commit to an activity that wears the body down in a good way – like exercise does – but it occupies the mind more fully.
Art.
Carpentry.
Welding.
I’ve mentioned these ideas a million times, and now I am just being redundant. But at least it keeps reminding me of what I feel called to do.
It also reminds me that as much as I love the time home to write – I will go insane if I don’t have office hours that include others. I have been on that negative cycle of stress for weeks now, and I need to step into my own program regain a sense of peace – I call it sanity right about now.
I may not be ready to go back to school – though everyone seems to think its time to ask that… – but the activity of a full teaching day. Solving other peoples problems filling my mind with those dilemmas without compromising my needs. I already need it.
If not for my body and spirit, then for my mind.
Anyone else ready to join me?
And the game continues. I have settled my characters into a quiet, and hidden of course, alcove in a school. They have been given an important piece of the puzzle, but no time to absorb it, nor do they have any understanding of what is about to befall them.
Responsibility. Sharing the ideals that express the need for these two teenagers to take the mantle, and save the world with very little information… Nothing like blindsiding the characters and setting yourself up with a task to make sure you set up the next piece with a strong and believable quality that will hold your audience’s attention.
As I reread this, I get the feeling that filling them in may need to be something they have to figure out… hmm…. maybe I will go about creating an interruption to their fact finding mission…
That means I can create a slightly mad creature… oohhh… this could be fun.
With that thought in mind, how wild do you let your ideas go? I try to maintain realistic boundaries, but maybe that is not the way to go…
Thoughts?
Good morning, good night wherever you are! See you soon.
Kath
Do you ever find yourself visualizing a room, or landscape that seems perfect for the role you need it for? I have spent a ton of time searching Pinterest, and world landscape photos for ideas to help create my fantasy world, but I seem to gravitate toward what I imagine best.
I wish I was as talented with graphic design programs as I am with words and a camera. I can describe the setting, but I always feel like only half of the setting is revealed. My sketching pencil helps some, but I don’t have a feel for drawing depth like I wish I could to build off of the language… though that has been a new and thrilling adventure.
I am better at trying to draw my version of something another has created than building my own, but maybe someday…
What is your solution to setting dilemmas?
Where would you create a world in which to live?
Good morning, good night wherever you are! Till next time.
Kath
I am a day late, and still in need of regaining my focus. My pup was at the vet yesterday, and two of the three that I have been sitting were missing when I went to check on them yesterday morning. All was fine be evening – for everyone, but my ability to focus on writing and story build was shot.
I still don’t feel as focused as I need to be, so with your understanding, I am going to do just that this afternoon and get my groove back.
Any fantasy driven stories that you would recommend I watch or read? How I love to immerse myself in another story…
Good morning, good night wherever you are! Til we meet again.
Kath
I found it! I finally found bits and pieces of the backstory’s backstory that I felt I needed for my novel. I have written three pieces – brief – but actual thoughts have landed in documents to maintain the concepts to pull forward and use for the story at hand.
Thank you for listening.
I know it is a simple thing, but the fact that I am writing any ideas down – even random ‘what I need to do’s’ and sharing them, is setting my mind into a whirlwind of possibilities and I am no longer waiting for the inspiration to hit.
Now is the harder part, keep it going and integrate the new pieces to help the main novel flesh out more as I edit.
Wish me luck…
Hope you are finding your inspiration as well!
Good morning, good night wherever you are! Til tomorrow.
Kath
While watching one of my shows that has led to this crazy adventure I saw nonverbals on the screen that spoke volumes to me.
In the scene, a husband was drawing strength from his wife through the simple act of touch. Something we each do in some way, shape, or form each and every day.
Anchored.
That was all I could think of. An anchor was needed to get through the moment and I suddenly realized, that’s a missing piece. Not only do we need an anchor just to stay focused, but that one person, gesture, location, song, quote, book… something pushes the stress away for, and guides us back toward center.
That is what I need for my characters…
…and then I went to my script to see what my last edit was… and goofed. the. whole. piece. up!
Three pages… I know but dang!
Ok… so here is the thought for the day while I go back and reintroduce my world.
What is your anchor? What guides you back to center and lets the world fade away so that you can once again, take that much needed deep breath?
I keep thinking it is a keepsake. A charm. A piece of something that will guide my mind where I needed it to go… and then I sit down here and prove my hypothesis right again!
I need to write and write more. Watch other creations less. Take more time for my creation to see the light of day.
So, again I say… what is your anchor?
…
Good morning, good night wherever you are. Til later!
Kath
Three screenplay pages in, and more character profiling drafted later… and voila! I am staying on point for a change. If I can draft a few high points with the Spark! theme behind them, I can carry forward with my Borealveldt Troupe and continue editing for my final thesis.
One thing is for certain. It is a relief to be writing creatively… though I have started what I understand, is my last primary class leading into completion of my thesis. To write a story as a thesis though… boy howdy do I hope that all is as I expect it to be. Then I will be even more focused on this aspect of my day.
As I mentioned in prior posts, writing has a healing effect on me. As the new school year looms with the promise of documentation being audited… I half dread the year, but I did very well with it last time… I had just promised myself I would be a step further in my program by now and be out of the classroom after the last go round.
Oh well… someone has to do it, and in the meantime… I get to live the dream and write… Right?!
Thank you for joining me today!
Good morning, good night wherever you are! Til next time.
Kath
I’ve done it. I have found my pathway into the Spark! storyline without creating too much of a headache in the process. A little missed sleep because my brain WOULD. NOT. SHUT. OFF… but what’s a little sleep between the magic and the muse?
At least I hope that is the case, and will continue to be so.
No new details other than it has begun. Just the usual. I am still binge watching Netflix, but this time the unending supply of empathy that I hold in reservoir guided me toward today’s writing.
I want it to be a comic style writing but it is more story format to me now… so I compromised and put it in screenplay format since that is my new talent. At least I know enough to be dangerous and catch the interest of some of my peers using it…
I have my theme…
Optimism and hope. Those are two things that I live on to keep the doldrums away… and by GOD, I will share that same message in my writing one way or another…
and now I wish to be a wuss and go back to my yoga ball and Show… The writing has begun…
Hope all is well in your world!
Good morning, good night wherever you are! Til tomorrow…
Kath
yes… I know… highly disjointed thoughts today but that is the absence of sleep showing up…
Last night, and again today, I started working on the art aspect of Spark! that I wanted to begin only to find that my favorite pencil is not where I expect it to be.
A.. pencil…
Seriously. Have I gotten that… no… yes I have. I am so obsessed with having one pencil.. or at the very least, one particular style of pencil that I am not comfortable without them. I feel uninspired…no… not quite that… but unfocused because I have the wrong tool.
Bahh… Ok… We are counting our crazy little sidebar as our writing for today and going back to yet one more heart-wrenching Netflix moment… WHILE WE DRAW WITH SAID TOOL.
Oy…
Hope ya’ll are more focused than me today… sheesh…
Good morning, good night wherever you are. Talk to you soon!
Kath
BaconfortheBrain 