Overslept. I had to deal with some school stuff, so didn't get to take a nap. Went to bed just before midnight, intending to get up in a couple of hours and start writing. Slept until after eight o'clock this morning. :-( Oh well, between all the stuff I've had to do this morning, I've written a little over 400 words (total writing time was about a half-hour). And it was without the reward/bribe of a quarter to push me ahead. :-) I've got to get ready to go now, but I'll write more when I get home. I want to make this first scene a lot more vivid; it's pretty bland right now.

This explains what I write. I was sharing an issue I've been having about people being shocked that I don't write Christian fiction and Robert says "So, people are pissed that you, a devout Christian, tackle issues of sin and forgiveness in deeply Christian themed literature, without getting preachy." I love how that statement snapped me back into the reality of who I am and what I write.

I've been blocked lately. Robert rewards himself with a quarter each time he makes word count. I started doing it, it's worked a couple nights in a row so far. And this weekend is 3-Day Novel Marathon Weekend. I'm not shooting for the 40k goal. I don't actually have one of the goals in mind, just a lot of words. I have an idea for a story, a girl I trained with grew up travelling with the state fair and it totally sparked something in me. I'm going to try 1st person pov because I want to get comfortable writing in that voice and I'm writing with a way different tone than usual. It will be fun. There is a reason for the experiment though, I have an idea for a novel to market to Red Dress Ink and similar publications and I want to see how comfortable I am with the voice that would need.

I'm totally incoherent right now. I think I'll take a nap, so I'm refreshed before midnight. I think once it hits midnight, I'm gonna try for an all-nighter...I'm going to the races with my cousin tomorrow, so that will cut into some of my day writing time...I want to get a good start now.

I'll be sure to post my progress.

Uncomfortable Realizations. Noticing that some of the themes in No Use Wind parallel my life. I suppose that has to be true in order for a work of fiction to be powerful, you have to mine it from something deep inside of yourself. However, not sure if I wanted to realize that I was struggling with these particular questions. What if when he finds out how damaged I am, he doesn't love me anymore? I've been living under this mask for so long, what if I've forgotten who I really am? What does it really mean to love and am I capable of it? Does my past determine who I am now and who I will be? Thinking about this stuff makes my spine feel like it wants to crawl out of my body. It makes for good writing though...that's one good thing.