Photo courtesy of www.georgejones.com
I grew up listening to country music. My dad listened to all the greats...George Jones, Marty Robbins, Don Williams...too many to list. To this day I still know the words to many of the hits from the 50's, 60's and 70's. If you don't like listening to country music, do yourself a favour and search for the lyrics to a few. Try "The Battle" (George Jones - "soft satin armour" kills me with its imagery), "Phantom 309" (Red Sovine - the best ghost story going), "Stand By Your Man" (Patsy Cline - taking everyday love and making it amazing). If there is one thing country music does better than any other genre, it's telling stories. In three or four minutes, a great country song can tell as much as an 80,000 word novel. And make you feel as much, as well.
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Take a very close look at this picture. This is my office - otherwise known as our living room. What you can't really tell from this picture is that the room is - CLEAN! I have no problem admitting I have a cleaning problem. Let me re-word that - I have a problem with cleaning. I am neat enough - everything has its place as I can't stand clutter. But I am not a huge fan of dusting, sweeping, mopping, until it's done, and then I'm thrilled! It's a lot like revising - a necessary evil that must be done. I was about 40,000 words into my WIP before we went on our 2 1/2 week family holiday in July. So when we returned I needed to re-read the manuscript in order to get back into the flow. And of course I just can't re-read - I end up revising at the same time. At this stage I'm okay with revising. It is way easier to catch issues half way through than to fix a completed manuscript. Revisions are a lot like dominoes - make one on Page 31, and you'd better remember to catch what it affects on Page 171. The problem with revising - the same one I have with cleaning - is that it never seems to end. There is always some way to make the manuscript better - and something that needs to be cleaned! That is where the similarities end, however. With revisions, at some point, a writer simply has to step back and say "Enough" and let the work stand on its own two feet. If only I could say "Enough!" to house-cleaning.... I should have taken a picture, but I didn't. Perfect summer weekends are rare, and this was one of them. I guess I was too busy enjoying to snap a shot.
We spent the last two nights camping at Purden Lake Provincial Park. This is one of the more popular lakes in our region, and for good reason. The water is an incredible deep amber colour, so clear you can see at least ten feet down, and it has interesting nooks and crannies to explore. The campsite is well maintained and heavily forested, and many sites are so private you can pretend you are completely on your own. The weather cooperated (again reaching the high 20'sC) and the water was incredibly warm for Northern BC...yet cool enough to be refreshing when we took a dip after sunning on the beach or in our boat. I even managed to get some revising done on Manuscript #3 (the one set in the Azores). Here's hoping your weekend was even half as wonderful! Summer in Northern British Columbia is short. While we can have beautiful clear days any month of the year, the sun only holds strong heat from about mid-July to mid-August.
That being said, today's forecast is for the high 20C and we are hitting the lake with a boat, so this is going to be quick! There's something oddly conflicting about good weather, when it comes to my writing. It makes me want to be productive - to sit outside with my laptop and write, write, write! But if I do that, I feel like I'm wasting gorgeous weather that should be spent in my garden or swimming at a lake. After all, there are plenty of winter days coming, when writing is warm and comfortable, unlike the outdoors! So summer days are much like any other - a struggle to fit writing into an already busy life. But one thing is for sure...when I'm not writing, I feel worse than when I am writing, no matter what the weather! Today's schedule then? Blog, lake, write. I can do it! |