Recovery
As I mentioned, yesterday I finished my proposal chapters. Late last night, I finished polishing them up to send to my agent. Part of that polishing revolved around consistency. I had changed some name spellings and some capitalizations, and I had also given several names to one place. That stayed. It’s so important that people have given it multiple names and apply them depending on who they are and what their situation is. It required making some decisions, which will influence the plot and world as I go along. Amazing how just a little thing can cause such a storm later. I guess it’s the fictional version of the butterfly affect.
Today was a muddle of trying to catch up on sleep and motivate myself to get some things done. I’m afraid that muddling was more successful than anything else. This is a problem of getting the writerly crazies and diving in to the work and finding yourself worn out and exhausted and having to recover. I’m always delighted when the muse grabs me and runs with me, but at the same time, sometimes I wish it didn’t come with such side effects.
I now have to work out the synopsis for this book. Actually more than one book. But I’m not really an outliner or synopsifier, and so this is tough. I know a number of things that will carry me forward to the middle of the book, maybe more. But I don’t really know how the threads will play out. There are several major plot lines and I only know how one will resolve. The others are fuzzier and require me to, oh, write the book before I really know. yet I have to submit a synopsis. So I have to figure something out. But it makes me want to poke my eyes out with a spork.
That will be my project for tomorrow, along with chores and other business that I got behind on in the last couple of days. The chores are good for letting me think through some of the snarls of the plots. Nothing like cleaning toilets and that sort of thing for thinking. Gardening is good too, but sadly, it’s freaking cold. Meanwhile, I chomp my nails until I hear from my agent and start focusing on my other project. That’s a more contemporary fantasy and will be set in the south. I have been collecting language and habits of speech, but I would love it if you happened to know of any sayings, ways of speaking, anything that’s very southern in eating, dressing, whatever you can think of–please let me know.