I got to go riding yesterday. This picture was taken in May out in SD--didn't take one yesterday--but this is my Tennessee Walker, Star, who's spending the summer boarding nearby so I can take advantage of the weather. She's a nice, easy ride, but I usually wear a helmet. Gotta protect the source. This fall she'll go back to Indian Country for the winter.
I'm going out there too, probably in a few weeks. I'm going to try something other writers I know do fairly regularly--escape. My plan is to stay at the casino that figures into the story I'm working on and do nothing but write for a solid week. No, really write. I don't gamble. But I will soak up the ambiance. The casino isn't a big deal in the story, but Indian Country is. And I'm at the point where I need to wrap my whole head around this book and think of nothing else for an extended, uninterrupted bit of time. I know the main characters, and I'm excited about the relationships and the way I see things unfolding. But I need to focus focus focus. I know where Susie is in her process--writingwritingwriting to bring the project home--but I'm not there yet. I'm at focus focus focus.
The working title is MYSTIC HORSEMAN, and it's the sequel to RIDE A PAINTED PONY, my Nov28 release. Two very different books for two very different men. Nick Red Shield from RAPP is a loner. He's methodical, purposeful--the kind of guy you'd want in your foxhole. His partner, Dillon Black, is easy-going, charming,unpredictible. In RAPP we learn that Dillon burned his house down after his wife left him. I had to pick up that thread and find out where it leads. Now that I have some idea, I'm desperate for total immersion, at least for a week or so.
But it's tough when you're preparing some promotional stuff for the coming release--getting drafts of the video I'm having made (fun!) and sending comments back, writing blurbs for this and articles for that. Attended a chapter Board meeting last night. Getting a lot of grandmothering in on a daily basis. It's all good, but it's distracting.
So I'm planning an escape. Soon, very soon...
2 comments:
ooh, i love that title, kathleen.
a few years ago i rented a place to write for a month. too long. way too long. i forgot that i can't sit for hours and write like i used to. i started hurting everywhere. by about day 4 i was in agony. i couldn't sleep because the place was so noisy. i bought a sound machine -- that took a few days to get used to. i kept smelling something awful, and finally realized there was dog poop on several of the throw rugs. it had been picked up, but not cleaned. i lifted a few corners and saw that the wood underneath had been pretty well saturated at one time. ewwww. i wanted to go home, but i'd had someone drop me off there because i can't drive very far. a pretty bad experience. i got some writing done, but probably not as much as i would have gotten done at home.
not trying to sour you on the idea, but make sure you get a quiet place with no dog poop. and a week sounds like a much better plan than a month. a month is a little like moving.
Kathy, when you wrote you're going to "escape," my mind immediately went to a vacation, not concentrated writing. Shows you where my head is at these days. I think I need to invest in a laptop - can see wanting to do the same thing.
And yes Anne a month sounds like too long a time.
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