Rockin’ to Johan Strauss

Something silly popped into my head the other day. I was in my daughter’s room, rocking her. It was her naptime, and I was trying to get her from this:

To this:

So as I rocked, unable to do anything other than listen to the Blue Danube Waltz I was playing to calm Little Miss Frenzy down, my mind started to wander. And then a picture popped into my head of two characters I am working on, dancing a waltz, both wearing very old - I suppose you can call vintage- army fatigues and very dark sunglasses. 

If you now believe I am crazy, I can assure you that you are not the first person to think that.

I wanted to share this because truly this is a great way to give a character you are creating some depth.  If you write, try it as an exercise. Take two of your characters. Any two. They can be of the same gender, or from two different stories.  It doesn’t really matter what they are wearing. Visualize them waltzing (listening to music helps).  Based on their personalities and their relationship (or lack of), how would the dance go?

Would they hold each other close and enjoy the dance, or would they keep a comfortable distance? How would they hold each other?

Would they cut a rug and take over the floor, or would they stumble clumsily through the song?

Would they enjoy each other’s company, or would they stiffly go through the motions, anxious for the song to end?

Which character would lead?

Would one character try to trip up the other, or would the pair connect and come up with a completely new dance, just to show off?

Would they make eye contact? Would they glare at each other or make silly faces to try and crack the other’s composure?

If you like to read, take two of your favorite characters and have them dance while you try to answer the questions above. See what kind of scenario your imagination comes up with. 

Withdrawal symptoms and a broken spacebar

Yay! My first novel is now available on Kindle (early e-book release). Yes, I am excited. But I realize I have my work cut out for me. My publisher is a very small press, and I am not famous or popular by any means, so If I want to get the word out, I am going to have to hustle. So I have been researching, taking notes, talking to friendly fellow authors (thank you Mike Lynch for your pearls of wisdom) and formulating a plan of attack. This is in addition to all my other chores, tasks and jobs I need to get done this month. One thing I have not been doing, though, is writing. And I am not happy about it.


I quit smoking many years ago, and it was one of the best things I have ever done. But breaking free of the habit was tough. It was all I could think about. I could not picture my morning coffee, lunchtime beverage, or my bedtime reading session without a cigarette in my hand. It was irritating, and I felt lost.  I am feeling much the same way right now.

So am I addicted to writing? I don't know. I share very few of my works with others (although I plan to change that) and I get shy when I begin to talk about my book. So if I am afraid to share and let the world see what I have done, why do I prefer to spend my evenings in front of this terrible keyboard that skips my v's half of the time and periodically  decides to quit spacing my words? I tried replacing the keyboard twice and I keep returning to this...thing.  Don't ask why. I'm just trying to figure out why the darn thing has become so rickety and unreliable.

I suppose it doesn't matter. I can still get a blog update done (32 corrections so far). And it is a way of sneaking in some writing. Now let's see how long before my next update.

Hello!

I am drafting my inaugural post from my trusty iPad using this nice app called Blogpress. I have tried several before this, but this one seems to be 'the one'. Hopefully. We'll see.

I have another blog, Staying Home, which was meant to chronicle my adventures as a stay at home mom with a pending book due for release. But I never anticipated how many things would take priority over my sad little blog. Hopefully I will do better from now on.

So you are probably wondering why I would create a new blog if I can barely keep my other one alive. The only realistic answer I can come up with is that I am not quite right in the head. My idealistic answer would be that as opposed to writing about life away from the workforce, here I can write about writing, and to give some insight about my upcoming saga. So we will see how that goes.

Please check out my website www.dracawards.com to find out more about my book.

B.


- Blogpress post from my iPad