Last night, I parked myself in a comfortable chair in one of the reading rooms in the Bangor Public Library to write while I waited for my book club to start at 6.  I wrote for 40 minutes, and churned out a little over 1200 words.  I was able to lose myself in my story for the first time in a very long time.  When I looked up after coming out of my writing-daze, I discovered that I had accidentally introduced a new character.  I had no intention of creating another character, but he just manifested in my writing.  The scene and the character were completely accidental, but after going back and re-reading, I love the scene and character.  I am interested to see where my brain takes this, and if I can lose myself in my writing again.

For my birthday, Shawn took me horseback riding today.  My birthday is tomorrow and this was part of my present.  The first part was a lovely dinner at Thistle's on Friday night, where we listened to live jazz.  It has been a mellow weekend, one unfortunately that Shawn has spent feeling a little under the weather.

I sat down to write today, and felt creatively groggy.  I seemed to have a small allergic reaction to the horses, which isn't all that surprising, considering my allergies to cats and hay, so I ended up taking a few Benedryl when we got home and it made me drowsy.  I think that drowsiness translated into my creativity.  I'm not going to try to push it tonight.  I wrote a few sentences and will call it good for the evening.

I had every intention of going to my kickboxing class at the gym today, but my stomach is still slightly unsettled, so I opted to come home and try out a new chicken recipe for dinner and make a simple salad with Greek Vinaigrette dressing.  The chicken is baking in a new honey mustard dressing, and it smells wonderful!  I'm trying to wait for Shawn to get home before I actually eat, but with the smells wafting through the house right now, I have a feeling that it's going to be hard :-)

Now that I finally have the time, I have discovered that I love to cook!  I have never really had the time to site down and make real meals before, but now that I am only working one full time job, and I get home every night before 8 pm, I have time to whip up something, even if it's just a quick, small little something.  I am constantly on the lookout for new, yummy recipes, most of the involving chicken.  I remember loving steak as a kid and now- while I do still love steak- I find myself much more interested in chicken. 

When my chicken went into the oven, I sat down to watch some NCIS and write.  Another 3 paragraphs down today, which makes me feel good.  I feel good about the few paragraphs I wrote, and still feel like I might be able to bust out a few more.  Today is a good day for writing.

My last batch of chicken is finishing up in the oven, and I'm anxiously awaiting Shawn's return from the gym, but I am thinking it's not going to happen :-p

Last night, I went to the Reba McEntire concert with my two sisters, Tricia and Brooklyn.  It was one of the first times that the three of us had had a chance to go out and do something.  It was amazing.  And aside from the fact that I spent some time with two of my favorite people, it was a wonderful show, I love Reba!  It was a great show, and I spent it with great people :-)

Today was a very quiet day at home, which I spent with Shawn, and did a little writing.  I only wrote about 2 paragraphs, but at least it was something.  Shawn and I then went to Great Skates with his brother and sister-in-law to watch people skating, and I think it might be something I want to try.  The people that had been doing it for a long time looked so comfortable and like they were having so much fun.  There were a few old couples skating in sync with each other and it was really cute.

I wrote two solid paragraphs today, and my desire to write a little very day is, so far, working pretty well.  If the words don't flow, I stop.  Even if it's just a sentence, at least I write something.

I haven't been feeling well the last few days, and have been engrossed in yet another great story.  Montana 1948 by Larry Watson.  I spent most of the day Wednesday sleeping, trying to keep my naseua at bay.  I haven't had much in the way of creativity the last few days.  I have been having to really force myself to sit and write, and the writing has certainly not been my usual quality.  So, I thought it best to walk away for a bit.

The weather is getting very chilly, and I'm not quite ready to give up summer.  There are things during autumn that I look forward to; picking apples with Shawn, carving pumpkins and making toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie with the fill form the pumpkins, walking in piles of leaves in the park.  But I hate that they will be the last days that I spend outside for several months.  I'm not a huge winter person, because I get cold very quickly and have a hard time warming back up. 

But I suppose on the upside, when the snow starts to fly, I will have no excuse to hide from my writing :-)

Well, I definitely didn't get any writing done this week.  My week was taken up with work, the gym, house and car projects, and the amazing book I just finished for my book club, called Garden Spells.  I spent most of my free time engrossed in that book, and it came highly recommended but way exceeded my expectations!

This week, I need to really buckle down and throw at least a page or two out on my story.  Time to get back on track!

The deer came back yesterday.  They didn't hang around as long as the day before, but they did play with me again.  Basically the same way as they played before.

I wrote about 1/2 a page today and felt like the words came a little forced so I backed off.  I checked out two new books from the library and as soon as I finish them, it will make 30 books that I have read since January :-)  And I have enjoyed every book that I have read since then, which is unusual for me.  I typically find at least one book that I don't enjoy throughout the year, but this year, I have enjoyed them all.  I credit most of that to joining two book clubs at the Bangor Public Library.

I backed off the writing today and substituted reading in its place.  Hopefully my writing will be a little more forthcoming tomorrow.  We shall see...

Deer games :-)

After churning out a few paragraphs, I took a break to listen to the rain hitting the roof and watch it slide down my windows.  It is incredibly therapeutic.  One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is the rain.  Shawn and I opened the door to our back porch and stood listening and watching as the rain came down.

Then, we noticed two little baby deer hanging out under one of our pine trees.  They were chasing each other around and shaking their heads when water drops fell on their heads.  Probably one of the cutest things I have seen in a while.  When the rain calmed down and the deer came out to play in the yard, I thought, "What the hell?"  And walked outside barefoot as slowly and quietly as I could.  I got within about 100 feet of one.  It noticed I was there, and started playing with me.  It would run at me to see what I would do, then turn and run sideways.  Then run backwards and then at me again.  It did this three or four times, all the while watching me.

At one point, I had a bug on my leg and lifted my leg to brush it away.  As I did this, the deer lifted its back leg as well while it stared at me.  When I set my foot back down, it lowered its foot.  The second deer was just munching away on the grass behind the first one.  And then Shawn had to go and ruin the moment by moving :-p  He spooked the deer and they ran off.  But still, one of the coolest moments of my weekend was playing Simon Says with a baby deer after a thunderstorm :-)

I've spent the last few days relaxing, and spending time with Shawn.  We haven't really gotten a chance to see each other lately, so my writing has taken a back seat while I  have been catching up with my hunny.

I have been thinking about a scene that I would like to add in, but I just can't figure out a way to fit it.  I know what I want to do, I'm just unsure of how to work it.  If I want to describe everything right up front, or just drop hints and unveil everything later in the story.

I may end up doing what I'm doing with my two different version and just writing it both ways and seeing which I prefer.  It's a lot of extra writing, but if I can get my ideas out and write them well, then I think it's worth it. 

I was able to write almost 2 pages in my second version of my story.  I decided to combine first and third person almost as soon as I started writing.  My initial scene is written in first person and any flashbacks that might happen in third person.  I think the flow is good for right now, and I was able to comfortably fit more emotion into the first scene than when I wrote it in third person the first time. 

I'm going to continue on this track for a bit, and then switch back over to the first version I was working to see how that goes.  I think I'm going to work on both for the time being, but eventually pick one to finish.  Or maybe I'll finish both...  Who knows :-p