Well, Gentle Reader, I’ve survived week one of spring classes, and by survived I mean, I got a terrible cold and spent most of the weekend in bed. I HATE being sick, because I feel so useless, and I miss out on things, so I’m essentially a five year old when I’m ill. Pout.
But I am feeling marginally better, and I have two great classes this semester, so that helps a ton! I’m teaching Introduction to Brit Lit, and Adolescent and Young Adult Lit. In YA, we’re reading 17 books in 15 weeks (!!!), and in Brit Lit, we’re covering 1300 years of British Literary History (!!!). Noble endeavors, the both of them.
But I’m also writing and working on my new YA novel, Her Majesty’s Shadow Giants, and I admit, sometimes, my writing process is frustrating. I don’t work from outlines. I sit down and write. I start with an idea, a character or two, and let the novel build from there. This of course means I go back and change and revise often, during the writing and afterwards, and also that I hit roadblocks.
I’m working on this book because I hit a roadblock in another book I’m writing, The Last of the Quarter. It’s at a crucial point and I admit, I have no idea where I’m going next! So I put it on the back burner to marinate (two mixed metaphors, that) and in order to keep writing every day, I started something new.
A character I created a few days ago has become annoyingly interesting, and now seems to want to be a Major Character. Hrmph. I make the rules around here, young man! Does he listen? Not a jot.
Oh well. Take me, O Muse, on a journey through words!
The Postmodern Bluestocking 