Where was I?

This blog has been unusually quiet the past few weeks. It's been a busy year what with the move, then my sister's humongous wedding, road tripping to OK and back, then when I get back I get orders for Muster Duty from reserves (It's just spending a day on base updating my reserves info, but hey, at least I get paid for it). I haven't had time to do Thuper Thursday, but hopefully things can start to settle down enough that I can get back my routines. I would still like to rearrange my sleep schedule so that I go to bed before 10pm and get up at 5am. This way I have a bit more quiet time and I'm not so exhausted from the day. Yeah, that plan isn't going so well. My body refuses to accept the change.

Unfortunately, my writing has suffered and I have lost the direction I was going with the end of this book. I miss the days when my characters screamed at me until I wrote the scene they demanded. My head feels lonely as I sit around mooping all day, a resounding echo through the empty chasm, "Hellooo? Where did ya'll go? We're not done here!"

Yesterday I spent most of my time cleaning, and plotting. My husband can always tell when I'm stuck. He says I get this vacant look, as if I'm looking for something that's not there. It helped somewhat to shove my headphones on last night while I lay in bed and listen to my MS through my Kindle. I always enjoy going back, finding things I can change and treasures that I had forgotten about. I'm hoping that will be enough to jumpstart my writing battery.

As always, my TPR gang has been there pushing me along and giving me the support needed. Sometimes we all just take a day to moop together, and some days we celebrate our productiveness.

I'm reading a great self-editing book called Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print. It has some great advice and I'm already looking forward to going back and revising. I love reading books on the craft. They lift my spirits and give me the courage I need to keep going. Just knowing that I learn something new every day that I write, gives me purpose to write more.

I had the pleasure of asking the wonderful Kim Harrison (The author who inspired me to write in the first place) what she did when she got the end of the draft blues. Here is what she advised:

"It might help to take a few days and plot out just how you want the story to end, and then write a few pages about what you want to write afterward, just to get you excited about the next project. Sometimes, though, you just have to tell yourself that you will sit in your chair, ignore all distractions, and chuck words onto the page to get it done. Don't worry about making them good words right now. Just get them on the page so you know what needs to be fixed." – Kim Harrison

So that's what I'm doing, plotting. I take notes, I delete notes, and I make more notes. Soon maybe I will find the right path and finally make it to The End.