The Journal, Saturday, 2/25

Hey Folks,

In my WIP, things are bogged down. When that happens, I’ve either written past the ending (I didn’t in this case) or I took a wrong turn. Either that or there’s just something I’m not seeing.

So today I’m going to backtrack in the actual novel (vs. the reverse outline) to try to find where I took an oblique.

From there I’ll read over what I wrote just before that, then take off with whatever comes.

Topic: Balancing Two (or More) Passions

Hmm. I wonder how to balance two passions?

I love telling stories because it’s entertaining to me. That’s what so enjoyable about writing off into the dark.

But I also love my new guitar. And back in the day, I loved performing, playing and singing.

I’d never played a Peavey guitar until yesterday. In fact, I’d never seen one in person, to my knowledge. And this thing plays like a dream.

Put it this way: It plays so well, the action is so good, that I’m looking into lessons online. I’m copying scales and charts and pictures. I’m learning new things I was never even interested in before.

I was a pretty good rhythm guitarist for several years, but I played by ear.

But this guitar is so much fun that I want to learn a ton more about it and what I can do with it.

So just like writing.

I mentioned a day or two ago that you can often mine nuggets about writing from sites that are not about writing.

As one example, here’s a quick quote from the guitar site:

[T]he most important thing is that you enjoy what you’re doing and not necessarily whether you get any good. The truth is, if you do enjoy learning the guitar [or learning writing] you will definitely get better because you enjoy it and therefore learning doesn’t seem like a chore.

And another quote:

[T]ry to enjoy the difficulties that learning brings as much as the fruit it produces. There are fruits in the difficulties!

See what I mean? If you’re interested, the site is here: http://www.all-free-guitar-lessons.com/.

Of course, if you’re interested in playing the guitar and you’re anything less than an accomplished lead guitarist, you can also learn a great deal from this site about playing the guitar. (grin)

As a side note, no matter what you’re practicing, I think it’s also important to practice in private. You know, unless you’re a complete moron like I am.

I spill my guts on this Journal about learning to write, but yeah, I’ll be practicing guitar in private. (grin)

Hemingway once wrote something like, “It’s nobody’s business that you had to learn to write. Let them think you were born with it.”

Oh, but the question was about balancing passions. I think I’ll study the guitar charts, read, etc. early in the morning.

I’ll write later in the day, after I’m fully awake.

And I’ll practice on the guitar during the day also, when I Want To. Just like I currently practice my writing when I Want To. (grin)

For now, that’ll have to suffice for my version of balance. If you have any ideas or are yourself struggling with balancing two or more passions, please feel free to comment.

* * *

Today, and Writing

Rolled out at 3:40. Instead of spinning my wheels on Facebook etc., I spent time reading and studying the site I referenced above and then writing the stuff above this.

Around 7:30, my wife and I headed to the store. By 9:30 I was in the Hovel. I identified the wrong turn (in Chapter 22 of 31) and began cycling through that chapter.

Well, as it turns out, it wasn’t a wrong turn. The chapter just wasn’t filled out right. It was a perfect place for action, the characters had shown and told me what happened, and somehow I just failed to write it down.

So I took care of that, then moved forward through the next few chapters.

Counting this as a nonwriting day. Not enough new words to make a difference.

Back tomorrow.

Of Interest

A cat picture at Dean’s. That’s it. http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/a-friday-night-cat-picture/

Well, if you want to see some great visual humor (Charlie Chaplin in a boxing match), check out https://www.facebook.com/Niwomb1Official/videos/405341699665463/.

Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 700 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 700

Writing of Will Perkins (novel, working title)

Day 1…… 4219 words. Total words to date…… 4219
Day 2…… 4003 words. Total words to date…… 8222
Day 3…… 3383 words. Total words to date…… 11605
Day 4…… 3124 words. Total words to date…… 14729
Day 5…… 3373 words. Total words to date…… 18102
Day 6…… 2294 words. Total words to date…… 20396
Day 7…… 3102 words. Total words to date…… 23498
Day 8…… 2578 words. Total words to date…… 26076
Day 9…… 2111 words. Total words to date…… 28187
Day 10… 2561 words. Total words to date…… 30748
Day 11… 4073 words. Total words to date…… 34821
Day 12… 1721 words. Total words to date…… 35648
Day 13… 3289 words. Total words to date…… 38937
Day 14… 2311 words. Total words to date…… 41248
Day 15… 2262 words. Total words to date…… 43510
Day 16… 2046 words. Total words to date…… 45556
Day 17… 4189 words. Total words to date…… 49745
Day 18… 4758 words. Total words to date…… 54503
Day 19… 2648 words. Total words to date…… 57178
Day 20… 2231 words. Total words to date…… 59409
Day 21… 2010 words. Total words to date…… 61419
Day 22… 4147 words. Total words to date…… 65566
Day 23… 2010 words. Total words to date…… 67576
Day 24… 1976 words. Total words to date…… 69552
Day 25… 2728 words. Total words to date…… 72280
Day 26… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Total fiction words for the month……… 55045
Total fiction words for the year………… 147655
Total nonfiction words for the month… 15140
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 34830

Total words for the year (fiction and nonfiction)…… 182485