Novel

An Introduction to the King-dom

59th Trial: Having your significant other read your novel can go either way. If he/she is your ideal reader, than by all means attempt it. As Jamie is not my ideal reader (I say lovingly), I struggle to navigate her critique without losing too much blood.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing: 12hr

Weekly Choice of Tea: Dragon Oolong

Biggest Success: I have read through Jane Austen’s “Emma.” I learned a lot from this novel – it is the first Austen book I read where character development and plot is largely through dialogue. I have never read something so dependent on dialogue – and how each character was so thoroughly understood. I would laugh when Miss Bates would go on for three pages, and then when you thought she had lost her breath, another three pages would maintain her voice; Ms. Austen did not attempt to cut her short. That stamina is remarkable.

I begin this blog with all that I have learned from not just Jane Austen, but dare I say – Steven King. There are many reasons why I have not picked up a Steven King novel: my childhood, for one, would not allow it. I have grown up afraid of him, as I have of clowns. The movie “IT” was enough for me to acknowledge that his stories are of a darker hue, and when picking up new novels, I do not look for those which will turn me blue.

I have taken solace in Jane Austen because I have never had the same desire that Mr. King has to look under the bed, or to follow that noise down into the sewers. He is, however, unavoidable when you begin reading books on the art of writing. From Atwood’s own instructive novel she recommended Stephen King’s non-fiction “On Writing,” and I felt it was due time I was introduced to the man who has truly built a kingdom of imagination – one that I have skirted around for years.

But this is where I was taken by surprise – I am ashamed to admit that I pegged him solely as the author of IT, and had no idea that he was the pen behind “The Shining,” “Carrie,” and “Shawshank Redemption” – all movies that I love and stories that I admire (for their own reasons). I have always known about a rabid dog name Cujo without questioning where it came from. Mr. King’s abundance of stories and the far reaches of his fantasy world was little known to me outside of cinema, and after reading his memoir “On Writing,” I am now more comfortable with him, and therefore more forgiving. I think I could even sit in the same room as him now. Alone – yet still not at night. Nor in a creaky house. He may, however, make my list of people to band together during a supernatural apocalypse. A mind like that will always take good measure when zombies are afoot.

But I digress. Mr. King’s (as I am apt to call him, more likely still out of fear than my hope for respect) novel was fun to read – his humor towards the world of writers is comforting, and his confidence is encouraging. There is no coddling, and you get inspiration in his unwavering esteem of the written word. I appreciated most his unorthodox approach in beginning any story – in his way, you do not start by being plot or theme heavy. You listen to the multitude of stories that come at you everyday and you just start writing those that stick, or that take on their own joyride. Because stories do take on their own momentum, just as characters who start in your voice begin to take on their own. Their actions begin to differ, and the plot, the themes, the symbolism come together in a most natural way. This is important to realize and accept, but can only be realized once you have written a novel. I wouldn’t have understood it if I were not standing on this side of the fence.

I also appreciate the simple definition he gives good writers: to improve your writing, you must read and write a lot. And without shame – just complete indulgence. Your writing is initially done with the door shut and only for your enjoyment. There is no pressure in that, and can be playful. Now, if I lived in place other than San Francisco, where apartment’s here are the size of parking spots (which ironically don’t even exist in this city to us trades-people), I would have an actual door to shut. But alas, my door must be figuratively speaking.

What I learned from Mr. King:

  1. “Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way around.”
  2. “…prissy attention to detail that takes all the fun out of writing.” Prose is not an instruction manual, as he puts it : do not list what is on the table to set the scene. Instead, describe them with meaning that only your story can hold.
  3. On writing: “Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”
  4. “One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re a little bit ashamed of your short ones.” I applaud this statement – a simple sentence can cut with the sharpness of a knife. And one of the reason’s I cannot stand Stephanie Meyer.
  5. DON’TS: Passive Tense Verbs. Adverbs.
  6. “…fear is at the root of most bad writing.” If a writer feels the need that they have to spell it out for the reader, then they need to come to terms with their own way of writing.
  7. “…while to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.”
  8. Paragraphs control the beat of the story.
  9. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
  10. Mr. King recommends to start with situation rather than a well thought out plot. Not knowing the outcome will allow the character’s to create their own.
  11. Description: it’s not how-to, it is how much to do. Keep the reader engaged, the ball rolling, and your ego in check.
  12. Tell the truth as a writer. Observe how people interact, and how situations unravel. Transcribe it with that same clarity.
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Surviving Tricks for the Poor Writer

58th Trial: Learning to structure your writing after you’ve written a novel is a disarming thought. It is the equivalent (use your imagination) of going into battle with only a straight sword, surviving it, and then being told you need to learn how to thrust from the torso before you’re allowed to pick up the sword again. Or that “you are lucky to be alive with the technique you had, but this is how warriors do it.” Needless to say, I have read my novel 4 times by now, and am half way done before it could ever be presentable. Who knew there were so many tricks for the poor writer?

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: 18hr/wk.  Happily work has been picking up, and yet my time for writing is still cherished.

Weekly Choice of Tea: Throat Coat; there is something about it that warms the lining of my entire body.

Biggest Success: Completion of my second draft;  posting chapter one in an online writing forum;  finishing Thomas Hardy’s novel ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’;  and perfecting the pop up technique while surfing. 

 

Having completed my second draft, I have read through ‘Self-Editing for the Fiction Writer’ in an attempt to breath life into a third draft. At first, the instructions from ‘Self-Editing’ seemed basic, and I put it down frequently, confident that I may not need to finish it. That I already had the basics (duh, I wrote a novel), and that my writing needed only the tweaks in its dialogue and its descriptive narrative that would make it chime to the sound of a hundred, sweet and delicate bells.

And yet, I noticed something. Certain do-nots that ‘Self-Editing’ illustrated began to look more and more familiar, and before long, I realized I had made the mistakes of a hot-pressed amateur. I quickly picked up my novel and on page one, I was horrified to see “-ly” adverbs. Page three offended me with verbs that substituted “said” when a character spoke. I had tried to set myself apart, to be unique, to display my voice as a writer — that I made unrealistic and insensible violations to the written word.

Not even in technique, but I began to get feedback that my main character showed less and my words told more. That the beautiful descriptive paragraphs were tossed in there without thought – its meaning not expanded upon. That when you need to explain the shock your characters feel during dialogue, your dialogue is lacking. That poetic and flowery figures of speech steal the stage of your characters. That cliches show weakness, and obscenities a small vocabulary. Repetitions must only be done intentionally, or else you are tripping over your shoe laces.

The third draft will begin soon, as I begin to read Stephen King’s book “On Writing”, and after I’ve had a chance to recover from the ‘Self-Editing’ beating.

Take-aways from ‘Self-Editing for the Fiction Writer’:

  1. Your only job is to engage your reader. (sounds pretty simple, right?)
  2. Show VS Tell:  characterization happens through actions and dialogue. Feelings should be observed rather than told.
  3. Proportion:  make descriptive detail proportionate to the character’s interest in it. Character’s development should be proportionate to their role in the story. Setting detail should mirror the tone of the novel.
  4. Dialogue:  Well written dialogue doesn’t need an explanation. Verbs cannot replace “said.” You cannot chuckle a sentence. “-ly” adverbs show only your lack of confidence in diaglogue.
  5. R.U.E.  Resist the Urge to Explain
  6. Make sure your dialogue reads natural as you read it aloud. No trick spellings that would require a reader to translate rather than be affected by.
  7. Beats:  are actions interspaced in a scene. They should illuminate your character, and match the rhythm of the dialogue. Do not show every movement a character makes – it will be irritating disruptions to the scene.
  8. Interior Monologue:  Do no use dialect for dialogue. Make it match narrative distance. These should be limited to important emotions – the entire novel is not a constant character epiphany. Determine if her state of mind is worth capturing. Certain monologues can be changed into scenes.
  9. Do not use italics. So unnecessary.
  10. Scene length:  dialogue and paragraph breaks help create white space.
  11. Repetitions:  1+1 = 1/2;  they should be intentional. If repetitions exist between words/thoughts/emotions, flush it out by understanding what it is trying to accomplish in a paragraph’s mood, objective, and characterization.
  12.  Use “!” sparingly.
  13. Profanity and Obscenity:  shows small vocabulary and in no way should intimate scenes have anatomical details.
  14. As an author, encourage your voice but do not actively work on it. Notice your flat sentences verses those that sing to you. It will eventually work itself into existence.

On Atwood and Writing

56th Trial: Happily I have little to report here, as the gift of gab has seemed to infuse my fingers of late. However, my dog Boo Radley persists in her state of distress with the fact that I am home more, writing at my table, and she is forced to lay toys at my feet that sit there, unobserved by me. She pretends to sit and wait patiently, but then her exhales narrow in her throat and come out as incessant whines. 

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: 10-15hr/wk

Weekly Choice of Tea: Peppermint Coffee – I have set aside the power of tea and have continued the holiday-inspired flavor of peppermint coffee that I stocked up on, making the addiction REAL.

Biggest Success: I am in the Home Stretch. Its that exciting anticipation of being on third base, seeing the end with just one more bat at the metaphorical ball. I have not disappointed myself, and have left most things to catch fire on the back burner so that any and all free time have been filled with a hot cup of joe and my pencil. I have a tan notebook that has the black block letters “WRITE” on the front cover, and it is now more demanding than it was inspirational. 

The past few months have not been a struggle. I have felt more like a writer now than I ever have, and it is because I struggled over the past years to build the foundation and the story line, that now it is happily unfolding. I see the scenes play out before I can write them out, and the character’s have their own voice. I had not felt that till now, and realize the development of the story is likening to the development of my own, that both go through the awkward phases only to come out confident and certain, sort of! That in retrospect, something has been accomplished and created. This story is real, and the novel is nearly finished. I am on the last chapter, and my hands pause over this keyboard as I struggle to find the words to express what that even feels like.

It could be completed next week. I could spend the next month polishing it off before I print it out, wrap it in an outlandish bow, and submit it to my freelance editor (who I chose due to her deep affinity for Beyonce and Harry Potter). With the end so near, I hit a milestone that marks the beginning of the next mountain:  editing, agents, and publishing. That alone could take years, and on top of the many years it took me to get this far, I find myself only half way to the finishing line. But who knows, if it turns out to be a “success”, what time will open up for more stories to follow? But please, I get ahead of myself.

As introduced by my last post, I began Margaret Atwood’s book “On Writers and Writing” after reading the instructions of Edith Wharton. My education on the subject continues, and I continue feel the boundaries of a novel and a writer’s playful attention to them.

These are some of the most important take-aways that I marked in her novel “On Writers and Writing” :

  • “A lot of people do have a book in them – that is, they have had an experience that other people might want to read about. But this is not the same as ‘being a writer.’ Or, to put it in a more sinister way:  everyone can dig a hole in a cemetery, but not everyone is a grave-digger.”
  • All writers have a diagnosed condition:  Duplicity. With a capitol “D.” While this could easily be understood in a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde reference, I enjoy Atwood’s explanation of it. “What disembodied hand or invisible monster just wrote that cold-blooded comment? Surely it wasn’t me; I am a nice, cosy sort of person, a bit absent-minded, a dab hand at cookies, beloved by domestic animals, and a knitter of sweaters with arms that are too long. Anyway, that cold-blooded comment was a couple lines ago. That was then, this is now, you never step twice into the same paragraph, and when I typed out that sentence I wasn’t myself.”
  • “The composition of a novel may be one part inspiration and nine parts perspiration, but that one part inspiration is essential if the work is to live as art.”
  • Writer: “Why this self-loathing? Perhaps it’s the gap between the image – inherited from the Romantics – and the reality. what will the glorious dead, the giants of literature, make of the ninety-pound-weakling descendants?”
  • “There is never any shortage of people who can think up good things for you to do which are not the same as the things you are good at.”
  • “Publishing a book is often very much like being put on trial, for some offense which is quite other than the one you know in your heart you’ve committed. They [critics] know there’s a body buried somewhere, and they’re keen to dig it up, and then to hunt you down. Trouble is, it’s not usually the right body.”
  • “It isn’t the writer who decides whether or not his work is relevant. Instead it’s the reader.”
  • Reader:  “A spy, a trespasser, someone in the habit of reading other people’s letters and diaries. As Northrop Frye has implied, the reader does not hear, he overhears.”
  • “How many writer have put on other faces, or had other faces thrust upon them, and then been unable to get them off?”
  • “The act of reading is just as singular – always – as the act of writing.”
  • “Going into a narrative – into the narrative process – is a dark road. You can’t see your way ahead. Poets know this too; they too travel the dark roads. The well of inspiration is a hole that leads downwards.”

 

As always, thank you Atwood for your friendly, and yet terrifying, mirror that you hold out for all writers (and society). I read this, warm with laughter at her mindset around the writer and the reader, and as I tucked it back into my bookshelf, I shuddered from the bitter cold this road may prove to be. Luckily, I am not far from the ocean should I need to warm my toes. Only this is laughable still, as it would be in Pacific waters.

XOXO

A Half-Priced Addiction

45th Trial: I sometimes think that if I surround myself with stacks of books, heaping amounts of tottering novels, words and sentences will flow out of me as Inspiration takes form. In other words, I cannot stop buying books. I have a problem.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot:2hr

Weekly Choice of Tea: Pumpkin Spice Tea

Biggest Success: This week I have began running and swimming again! If anything was neglected more than my writing, it was my exercise.

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I have plenty of inspiration. Sometimes I feel small next to it, like the redwoods that towered over me this past weekend. And most times, I feel amused by it. There are so many images and interactions that flow through my thoughts regularly, and I watch them as when I sit and ponder by a passing stream. Some ideas are great, and I throw my lure out to catch them. But like I do when I would sit and fish with my father, many rush on by or take my fishing pole with them! Inspiration should be an entity to any writer, a physical catch or tangible form.

Novels and books already written have always been my inspirational object, and as you read from my introduction, the British ones do it best. However, I am using this post to justify the fact that I cannot stop going to the nearby Half-Priced Books store, and purchase one to five novels. I hunch over the section of leather bound classics like a deformed addict, as if the act of bending over the shelves has bent my spine so that it has become perfectly normal for me to go there and do just that:  hunt for more books. I take them home with me and display them. And I am dazzled by that Inspiration. I see it nestle between the Dickens and the Brontes, or watch it stretch like a lush over the Melville and Hemingway. It jumps from Wilde to Twain, and tip-toes past Conrad. Yes, in just a week, I have managed to purchase books from all afore mentioned authors. I label it Inspiration, instead of addiction, thank you very much!

You Love to Write

44th Trial: A story is a part of you, like a cell maturing into an egg, that then grows in the womb (I understand I am skipping a few steps!). When you give birth to it, it becomes detached, in need for nurture and responsibility. This is a strange comparison, however I feel a bond with my novel, and yet a strange detachment. As if I neglected it, and I don’t know it as well as I did when it was only within me.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: Since it has been over 2 weeks since I last wrote to you all, I hate to admit that my writing hours amounted to a small, dismal, 30 minutes. Let me use the excuses of long weekends working, increase demand of attention elsewhere, and continue to justify my lack of progress.

Weekly Choice of Tea: Turmeric and Ginger, with the occasional Pumpkin Spice Latte (thank you Starbucks for now having almond milk)

Biggest Success: Finished reading the play, The Cursed Child. The magical world filled the empty pockets of my living room once again, and every time Time turned, I felt its rush! I look forward to seeing the play one day, happy to see the dynamics hold strong between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, as I envisioned them to. I know the characters live always within Rowling’s mind, as she has stated, but in a way they never leave the reader’s thoughts or our hopes.

As I said before, I will no longer write of not finding time to write. Or that life gets busy, hectic, stressful, and long-winded. It will ALWAYS be ALL those things. It is a beautiful thing however, to understand that something you create comes from your love of doing so.  It may take daily attempts to see it this way. I love to read and to write, and that passion comes from nothing more complicated than my enjoyment of it. You always read the quotes that say “do more of what you love”, which means the majority of us do not. Though I will support that it is not without lack of trying for most. I never wonder why people do things they do not love doing, but it astonishes me when people ignore the things that they love. Be it the person you are married to, the purpose of your career, the pursuit of knowledge, or the beauty of art.

I sat down to write for the first time yesterday in a couple weeks. The story was extremely malnourished and frankly, I thought pitiful. I reread the paragraph I last wrote. The sentence structure was rudimentary and the language of my genius downright knickbockery. And yes, I just made that word up. Instead of letting self-hatred lead me to give up on my novel, I told myself this:  you love to write. And then I just picked up where I left off, knowing it is my own deficiency of character to NOT work for what I love.

Currently, I am reading Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaids Tale” as well as a children’s novel, “The One and Only Ivan”. And have not watched anything BBC in too long. It is time that I incorporated something more British into my routine.

Levity

43rd Trial:  Sometimes the world seems to squeeze around you, as if you were in the center of an overly packed elevator. Maybe it is because your career isn’t taking the bait you’re offering it. Or a loved one’s life has taken a turn, and as their heart breaks yours does too.  Or maybe you put distance between you and your passions, whatever the reason.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: Happily 2.5hr

Weekly Choice of Tea: Chamomile and Lavender

Biggest Success: I have found that my friends are what make me most appreciative of this beautiful world, and some steal my heart with their own happiness

As you can see from my trials and my successes today, I am at two ends. There is hurt snuggling closely and confidently with happiness. As if divorce and marriage asked me to dance.  People that are close to me, influence me more than I could’ve thought, and I am thankful for that. As one’s world seems to change with hurt and sorrow, mine cannot help but feel and resent the darkness they sit in. Yet a phone call with a dear friend, who asked me to be a part of his special day, brings that balloon of excitement and anticipation back into my chest. The tug of war is worth it, because the light and the dark compliment us all. With the levity of love from friends and family, we can all escape that which seems to close around us and restrict our breathing.

This week I will write about loss and renewal, as I am inspired to do so. And as with all things, it appears that was where my story was headed anyways. For those that feel despair, inoculate yourself with time and meditation. Open your window and let the new light in, and love will follow. I will do it with you, as will all who care about you. The beautiful thing about our world, is that in no time in our lives, are we alone.

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Grounding Gravity

42nd Trial:  Keeping that which grounds me a part of my daily habits

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: 1hr

Weekly Choice of Tea: Lotus Tea from Vietnam

Biggest Success: Getting SH** done! At the speed of lights. I feel coasting speed up ahead

“Dark have been my dreams of late” -LOR

I dramatize, naturally. However, I feel the way one does when they lay on a exercise ball backwards. The chest expands and each breath has so much more space to fill. With working 60 hr/wk, taking certification tests, getting DMV-prepared, and getting my former life changed over to California (which if you didn’t know, is another country. I’m serious), I had found little time to actually write.

Luckily, with the new lung capacity, I dove in and was able to write for an hour today during my lunch break. Jamie sat beside me, and a warm chai tea latte set the mood. I met my second Camilla (though this one started with a “K”), the first being a travel companion in Malaysia and Indonesia. Camilla is my main character, and I find it absolutely serendipitous to meet this unknowning child on the day I begin writing after another month off.

Even describing this to you is so thrilling to me. Innately, my breathing follows the passions and inspirations that make me a chiropractor, an individual, and a writer. Universally, worlds revolve around gravitational pulls. My world is no different, and the positive energy I put into myself, the universe surrounds me with force, interaction, and grounding gravity.

Dark may have been what filled my hectic days, but knowing that light endlessly travels in a void puts me farther away from a universal enlightenment (metaphorically). Putting gravity back in my life, such as writing, family time, swimming, and positivity, give me back ME. And my revolving world.

I appreciate and love all you readers!

Dreaming in California – Not Yet the California Dream

40th Trial: Totally separate from my writing. San Francisco Housing. Enough said.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: 1 hour for plot – you would think with a 5 day drive to California with nothing to do much change CDs and ignore strange sounds coming from tired tires, I would have more time to consider the project and product our leading lady will immerse herself in.

Weekly Choice of Tea: Peach Tranquility

Biggest Success: Making it to San Francisco. Through all of the chaos of moving to a new city, I have been able to save some energy to consider a schedule for writing, swimming, and travel planning.

All of it is true. Jamie and I packed our cars just two weeks ago and came to the west in the same desperate desire for a next adventure. In our own way we pioneered a new life;  passing through the green crops that filled the rolling hills of  Iowa, the snow capped mountain ranges and deep canyon lined roads of Colorado, the vast red desert lands of Utah, Las Vegas, and the immensity of Arizona canyons. The road to California was primarily heat, dust, and desert. There were exit signs that were nameless, as if the roads that came from it went nowhere. The stars at night were as impenetrable and clear as they were in Indonesia. America is no longer a land without differing landscapes and cultures to me, and is just as vibrant as the countries that make up many other continents. It takes a drive across country to see it as such!

The next three years in San Francisco will be the most momentous of my life. Here I will finish my novel, gain all the experience to create my own business, and discover further the west coast of our wonderful nation. Something More British will document the entire process, and in turn create a network of aspiring writers (and anyone else!), so that we may all continue to pursue what seems impossible to us. You always have time to pursue your dreams, no matter how hard driving 14 hours a day across the desert can be. Or finding a new place to live in a city filled of chaotic opportunities. Or even when we allow careers to exhaust us. You only thrive when you are being who you love. How we look at our circumstances make our reality what it is, and you can change your reality in the same regard. That is the true plot of my novel, and in its own way it will show that our reality can bend in the way we accept nature, self, and love.

The Air is Full of Spices…

37th Trial: Walking through Kuala Lumpur’s largest bookstore, and experiencing two trials:  what NOT to buy and the oppressive intimidation that my writing faces when I look onto these great writers.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: 6 hours

Weekly Choice of Tea: Teh Tarik and Malaysian White Coffee

Biggest Success: Where to begin…FINISHING chapter SIX! Also, finishing the wonderful Alchemist while traveling through the beautiful countryside of Malaysia.

“The air is full of spices.”

One of my favorite lines in the movie Sense and Sensibility is by Colonel Brandon, the voice and beautiful performance by the beloved Alan Rickman. He is talking about his time in the East Indies to the little Margaret Dashwood. I love Rickman deeply in that role, and even more so, I hear his line as I travel through the same countries his character was likely referring to. If not, I will imagine otherwise. Especially in Malaysia, where the cuisine is greatly influenced by many cultures, Indian and Malay curries here can be smelt and tasted as you walk the streets lined with open shops and restaurants. My literary and movie enthusiasm seems to follow me through the country side, and that one line continues to sound in my head as if on replay. It is like the fly that keeps landing on my arm or shoulder blade, though without the nuisance.

Maybe Jane Austen heard of travel here, heard of the exotic cuisine and the boiling nature of the tropical sun. Her novel Sense and Sensibility has made its way to where her characters supposedly traveled, and where her admirers currently do. If only Austen could have traveled here, what wonderfully colorful stories would come from it! I look to my own novel, already having the plot within a much different country than I am currently in. I have wrote before about my struggles of not putting a looming volcano in the heart of North Carolina, or of an ancient Temple at a corner in Charlotte.  While Austen did not have such influence, I can say that I now do. What will I do with it all? What can I grab, transform, and steep in imagination?

Currently I am in Malaysia, and today I thought about all the places that I have sat down and wrote pieces of Chapter Six. Ristr8toLab in Chiang Mai. Atop the coarse sand of Koh Phangan, or the soft grainy beaches of Koh Phi Phi. From Thailand this chapter has extended into Malaysia, where it progressed surrounded by the tea plantations of BOH and Cameron Valley of Cameron Highlands. In the heart of Kuala Lumpur, I finally finished the chapter. I am getting to a point in the book where I need to do further brainstorming. I jumped into writing because waiting to write was, obviously, getting me nowhere. But introduction of what I hope to be my main road of the symbolism is about to begin, and I need to buckle down. Because writing is easy. Plot has always been my unformed and jeering companion.

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Heartache Motivates in the Land of Smiles

35th Trial: Wanting to go back and alter a past description or illustration, and realizing the manuscript is back home and I am across the world with only an empty notebook. Taking mental notes does not suffice anymore, and so I am making pages of things to remember to correct. I am finding it easy to change that which is already written, than brainstorming on that which needs to happen.

Weekly Hours Spent Writing or in the Pursuit of Plot: Since last post, I would guess-timate around 2 hours

Weekly Choice of Tea: Chrysanthemum iced tea and Thai Milk Tea

Biggest Success: Visiting Angkor Wat temples and getting a spiritual Sak Yant Tattoo in Bangkok, Thailand! I am currently in Chiang Mai, and this backpacking trip has been the most thrilling, let-loose, connecting with humanity I’ve ever done.

My writing has been more in the forefront of my mind than I thought it would be. Grant it, I have not the time or energy to actually write–even more so than when I worked back home. My days have been filled with temples, site-seeing, and documenting through my notebook and travel blog. Facebook is getting its fill of pictures and videos on a daily basis. I am writing more than I ever have because the documentation portion of this trip has been the most consuming, and I find that it is still an exercise for my writing. I had not planned on writing any chapters while abroad, and yet I find I cannot detain myself! I love that I miss writing my novel, and I love that I miss Chiropractic. My life does not seem without or wanting, and seeing this new world in Southeast Asia strengthens my inner character rather than filling a void.

I have a stirring passion to pick up chapter six where I left off in January, primarily due to finishing the novel “Villette” two days ago. Charlotte Bronte is a mastermind. Her ability to grip the heart and tear apart one’s world is only paralleled by her sister’s ability. Whatever gene they have that makes them professors of unrequited love and debilitating despair sadly ended with their much too early deaths, and the world is at a loss without it. While I admire their ability to crush my soul into bits with loss of love, I have a cautious relationship with the Bronte girls. I can trust them only so far. I can rely on them heightening my spirits by connecting to my deepest desires, but am appalled that they could then treat me so brutally afterwards.

Regardless, I am so inspired by Charlotte. In regards to somethingmorebritish, it is ultimately authors like her that motivate me to write. I put down “Villette”, warming my sobbing heart with the thought of my own novel, and how I can end it however I wish. Love with always triumph–you’ve heard me say it before. However, I must learn from the Bronte’s how to pull at the heart stings a bit. Just a little.

Some Travel Photos for you 🙂 see more at http://www.blankpproject.com, my travel blog!

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