It happened again. I shouldn't be surprised. I was going along fine, writing sequentially when I kept wondering what happens at the end of Book 2. In general, I knew what scenes were going to be there, but didn't know exactly how things would come to fruition.
There are times when I talk to my husband and friends about it - to get the creative juices flowly, so to speak. They throw out their opinions and thoughts. Some of it sticks, some of it doesn't. I never make any guarentees that what they say will end up in the story. There are times when I take what I hear and it sits in the back of my head and comes to in the story in a different variation than what was originally said to me. Other things... I know doesn't work or isn't the characters and would never be.
I was writing one chapter, partially done with it (or rather where I know it needs to be in order to be "done") when I kept thinking about the end. Got owned by the idea actually. Slowly, the chapter I was working on got harder to "see" and the end got easier. Granted, it probably isn't the final scene, but it's getting to that point. It got so that all I could think about in my "free" time (who are we kidding, I technically don't have free time with everything I have on my plate) like driving, in the shower, before I go to bed and when I wake up. Lines became clearer and clearer. Soon, I decided to just write it. It owned me. But I was still surprised on how things were turning out. The characters still have a life of their own and the things they do and what they say surprise me at times. It's nice when that happens though.
As for other stuff... this month (like most all of my spring) was crazy busy. "Science Fair" season is now ended, so that busy part of my life is "done" for now. I had hoped that I would get some writing done during the "down" times during it, but that didn't happen as much as I would have liked. Never does. Some of it was my fault, I got a little distracted by reading. I was READING and it wasn't my stuff. Miracles do happen (I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but I'm not that much of a reader). So, now not only am I balancing teaching, all my activities/committments to the community (let's be honest, that's what they ultimately are), writing my book and now, I've added reading. I know, I'm nuts. But I like to keep busy and I wouldn't be me if I didn't do all that. I'm an overachiever, get over it. I have.
The other thing that I've recently started was a series of snapshots that occur in my book series. For example, there's a scene that takes place at Disneyland. So, I have stand-ins for my main characters and take pictures of them at particular places at Disneyland. So, as things in life coincide with what happens in the book, I bring them along and take pictures. I have my own photo album of things now. It brings my book to life in a different way. It makes me smile, when I take the pictures and when I look at them. Of course, I probably look really strange taking the pictures, but oh well, I'll likely never see those people again. I started this around Decemeber, but have really gotten into my photo portion of my book experience recently. My friend and I joke that when a movie is made on my book, I've already done the scouting and they definitely know the images I had in my head for it.
