Surprise Changes That Work!

I am currently working on two different points in the same story.  At first, I was just working on a very steamy scene, and at the same time trying to find that name I mentioned in an earlier post.  I did end up posting a question on Yahoo answers, and ended up gaining the attention of an irate native…We exchanged words back and forth, and then one morning I was reflecting on it all.  You see, he was frustrated that another non-native author was “writing about a subject that they knew nothing about”.  Nevermind that I was posting a question in order to hopefully learn more about said subject.  On top of his outrage at my presumption, he also saw my attempt at getting information without paying for it as trying to steal.  Now, I know his people have been shamelessly exploited for centuries, and I’m not belittling that.  Even now there are people claiming to be 1/8 or 1/16 Cherokee or whatever just so that they can get a college scholarship.  However, automatically attacking someone for wanting to know more might not be a proper way to go about voicing your opinion on the subject.  I didn’t go in there with a feeling that I was entitled to the information I was asking for.  I had very little hope of really making any headway, but if by some miracle someone had contacted me, and honestly wanted to help me, and maybe even helped me beyond that initial problem, I would have proposed an arrangement where I would compensate them fairly for their help.  I don’t want to profit from a people and their culture, my character insists on being at least half Native, and to force him out of that mold would be wrong.  However, how deeply immersed into the culture he is might have to change, as well as the tribe…

Strangely though, his conversations with me inspired an interesting turn of events.  The character I was trying to flesh out a bit had been seeming a little flat, and I was trying to get into his head for a little more depth.  After my real-life Native critic surfaced, I started thinking about how the main character might catch the attention of a similar character.  At first, the idea cropped up as a lark that I would probably have discarded later.  That is until a squirrely part of me thought to suggest that maybe I should combine the character I was researching with the critic.  It would bring a whole new set of motivations to the character!  What sealed my fate was getting the mental image of the character stalking up to my main character to introduce himself as the man who’d been harassing her for the past few weeks or months.  It was vivid and it was the sexiest I’d ever seen that character!  I couldn’t get it out of my mind!  The addition to his character would make sense!

This blog post was started on April second, but since I have so much of it, I’ve decided to roll with it.  I’ve been writing pretty well lately, I just decided to make  a post today since I haven’t done so in a while.  Seems every time I try, I don’t finish because I get a scene in my head that won’t let me alone till I write it out.  I still am working on those two scenes mentioned earlier in this blog, and now I have another knocking on the door asking for a rewrite.  The revamping of the character has been working exceedingly well, by the way.  I always wondered if Laurell was just being figurative when she said her characters talk to her, but this character keeps showing up and kicking me in the butt…he even came to me in my dream and informed me that he was Sioux…just something else to start looking into.

The winter was mild this year, and spring can’t decide whether it wants to get warmer or not.  There’s been no snow, knock on wood, but we’ve had some frosty nights since Spring started.  I’ve had a terrible time staying warm the past week.  It feels like my hands are perpetually frozen at the moment.  I weighed myself about a week and a half ago, and was pleased to have clocked in at 153.5 lbs.  I think it’s time to go back to hardcore water, veggies, fruits, smaller portions, and other tricks to lose a little more weight.  I did manage to shrink my waist!  I’ll make that dress form a liar yet!

One coil of my itchy ring snapped.  Most of the thinner wire was undamaged, but the base was broke and loose.  I couldn’t stand it, so I snapped it off and reworked the rest of the wire into a coiled ring again.  Don’t know how effective it will be now, but we will see.  So far so good though.

My comp is being its own brand of annoying, but I’m dealing with that.  I’ve narrowed the problem down to a couple of files, so I’m just going to have to be patient with the time-consuming task ahead.  Perfect opportunity to write.  I’ve been adding a couple of songs to my playlist.  Focusing on the one helped a great deal in getting me into the right mindset, and now with a fully functioning playlist at my fingertips, I’m making a great deal of progress with the story.  It isn’t the only reason I’m writing well, but it certainly has helped.

Well, that’s about it.  Everything else is basically fluff.  Now I’m going to focus on other things.  YAY!