May 25, 2010

Moody Skies

This time of year is always so moody in these parts. Brilliant sun then rain. If you drive to a higher elevation, you might get snow. Since moving to Oregon, spring and fall have come to mean: if you don't like the weather, drive 5 miles. It will change.

For instance, I drove to the bank where it was sunny and nice. When I got to my hair appointment [less than 5 miles away] it was brooding and raining. Back at my house, about 3 blocks away, it was sunny again. I've seen it rain next door and not at my house. That one always amuses me. I can have part of me in rain and part of me in sun.

A patch of my hair on the right side near the back was moody, too. I'd tame it with product and iron and brushes. I'd feel I'd won. Never failed a few hours later it was back to doing what it wanted to do. So, hair gal and I chopped it off. Take that moody tresses!

Yeah, so I don't want moodiness in my hair, but I do want it in my writing. Sunny on one page, tragic the next. And I was just saying to video genius how perfectly she captured the progression of moods in 'Semper Audacia'. I never caught that layer in the video until now. I was watching it because I'm working on an edit for it. I'm doing the same for several short stories getting them ready for a new round of submissions.

It's my working break. I needed a few days away from the novel, so I'm working on short stories, perfecting my synopsis, an outline so I can get some help from my writing group, and other things like that. I'll get all these other naggy things out of my way. Then by this weekend I should be ready to go back at the novel with undivided focus.

Like the moody skies, the clouds in my head will part. Thinking about something else will actually fuel the creativity I need to keep going on getting the novel in shape. Bringing about sunbreaks, storms and rainbows.

Maybe if you're stuck, you need a change of pace and some variety. Or, a change of weather.

.