Hoping for serendipity

 

Word count: 281                                              Reading time: 2 mins. 

All last night I dreamt about lost animals: finding a litter of tiny kittens strewn in garbage heaps in an alley, a hungry coonhound pup pawing at the back door. These sweet animals weaved themselves into my subconscious and I didn’t sleep well for worrying. This morning I opened the newspaper to the headline that a local dog rescue group has been linked to dog-napping. Vancouver Sun

Bad surprise.

Years ago I went scuba diving with a girlfriend in the chilly waters off Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver. On the beach that day was an Aussie diver who set his sights on me. I rebuffed him, he held his course. Five years later I married him. Happily ever after.

Good surprise.

In real life I hope for only serendipity, inadvertent good luck. As a reader I love sinister twists and turns, especially if the end of a story is uplifting.

As I careened through NaNoWriMo 2011 a revelation rocked me at 36,000 words. I tripped over a central theme to the story that I hadn’t seen at the outset. Good surprise.

This week I looked at another novel that has been resting for the past month. The voice isn’t quite right yet. Bad surprise. I reminded myself that the revisions need time. Randy Susan Meyers and Roz Morris

Solution: I’m using literature to wake me from “the sleepwalk of self-involvement” (William Deresiewicz). In other words, I’m reading lots. I’m also listening to music and getting outdoors to enjoy the scenery. Both of these activities trigger images that no other process can release.

What surprises are shaking your world right now? How do you manage them and how do they influence your writing? 

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 Photo of Salt Spring Island by: Aidan Cassie

Keep on plugging

Word count: 307                                         Reading time: 2 mins.

The NaNoWriMo week-2-slump is right in front of me. I can feel it. It’s like when I’m hiking and I think I’ve bagged the worst part of the hill only to turn a corner and find a bigger, uncharted rise in front of me. This happened to me recently and if I’d been alone I would have gone around it. I believe in the path of least resistance.  

On that hike my three friends were navigating the fallen timber and thick bush like it was a walk in the park. Super-fit people really irritate me, especially when they’re fifty feet ahead on a steep hill. Still, sometimes the hard way is the only way to get there.

Next week is the NaNoWriMo sharp rise. So far I’ve been walking small undulations. The first 21,000 words have flown off my fingers. Only now one character has had a stroke. What do I know about strokes? Not much. Her daughter is shop-lifting to supplement the family income. More research needed.

I decided to send myself a greeting card for encouragement. I found an $8 one, wrapped in a cellophane envelope. Printed on heavy stock paper was this quote: With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. (Thomas Foxwell Buxton) I didn’t buy the card because I could remember what it said. Is that a form of shop-lifting? Hmm maybe that was a research trip after all.

So I’ll take those words to heart and keep pushing along. When I’ve reached my daily goal today I think I’ll take a walk, somewhere long and flat.

How do you keep the story moving forward when faced with the side of a mountain? Do you start up the side of it or do you work around it, on the parts that are less challenging? 

Photo: Aidan Cassie