Monday, March 21, 2011

Keeping it real and finding the heart

Thanks to Simon and Frankie for another fun Philly lit night. I was so sad I had to leave before dinner. :(  Definitely will stay next time.

Another thing that was super fantastic this weekend is-- I got my first ARC. Yes, I'm excited, so keep watching for my review.

I basically took the weekend off from writing. Well, I never fully take off because I think about my stories constantly, so my brain wasn't fully in vacation mode. The end of last week was sort of rough and I had to re-evaluate some things, including myself. Blogging can get in your head, reading other writers progress was making me compare myself and that's just bad. So, instead of totally curling up into a hole, I'm plugging through. All of this nonsense actually helped me come up with the heart of my story, which is the problem that put me in a tizzy last week. I needed to find the heart.

The heart is why you're telling the story in the first place. What makes the character change and why? Why should the reader care? This has to be evident in the first chapter and what made me so crazy last week. The funny part is-- I've been feeling and dealing with what my character is going through for many years. I guess that's why I'm pretty determined to write it. Crazy, how things come about.

So, this week I will be digging deep into this character's head to make the first chapter make sense (hopefully), and then write the rest. Whew.

Have you found the heart of your story?

How was your weekend?

What are your goals this week?

Have a great day!