Having some issues right now with the Kindle app on my iPad and my Paperwhite. Usually, I just read on my paperwhite, but today my paperwhite was getting low on battery, so I did my reading on my iPad. Well, that reading from today is not syncing over back to my kindle. Quite annoying.
Any who 😛
Today was a…decent day. I had a couple break-throughs with my outline, so that was nice. I realized big-picture what my stories were about, what tropes I wanted to hit, and what broad TYPE of story I wanted to tell. Then I started to drill down on giving each character an arc for this second book. Those arcs are what are giving me fits right now just diving into the writing, and I’m wasting words if I don’t figure that shit out. Each person needs something to do and something to learn. Otherwise, scenes are just for plots. There’s nothing actually being SAID in those scenes that really matters to the characters. There are no real stakes.
Stakes come in inside. This is what I’ve learned and continue to learn. They are not exterior, they are interior. Stakes come from something mattering to a character, and if we don’t understand why that is and feel it ourselves in our gut, then everything happening on the outside doesn’t matter. I didn’t used to know that. Now I do.
We have a house guest. I know! Another one! That’s four of them in just over two weeks. This time, it’s Ian, who’s a YouTube friend of Liz’s. Right now they’re outside doing crafts together. Sounds like they’re having a grand old time testing out some new products. Anyway…it’s so easy to have house guests. We just set up the air mattress in the second bedroom and they have their whole wing of the house. I love it.
I wrote just under 500 words today, which was a bit disappointing, but that was partly because we went to go clear out Liz’s dressing room at Warner Bros. That was…sad. Hopefully they’ll be back for more. We hope. But, you never know. I think they have a very good chance, but you never now. So, keep a positive thought in your mind for us that they’ll come back and do more episodes.
That’s all for tonight. I’m ready to hit the hay. Unsusually tired lately. I’m sure it’s because I’m switching up my routine. Night!
Artwork tonight, colorful in honor of the crafting going on out in our dining room, is by Boris Vallejo.