Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Gardening and the Story

     I finished another revision of Marcus Tuttle three weeks ago and have been having a hard time getting back into working on my next novel. That isn’t surprising, since I’m going from “edit” mode to “writing” mode and the two stories are completely different. Marcus Tuttle is a younger middle grade novel and my next novel is an upper middle grade novel. It may seem like a small difference but it's actually quite a large mental jump.
    So what have I been doing to facilitate this change in thinking and start writing again? Gardening. Yes, now that the weather is finally warm enough, living as I do in the frozen tundra wastes of Chicago, (Just kidding. Well, no, actually I’m not.) I feel compelled to get outside and dig in the dirt. I find it's helping me begin to write again. I muse to myself about the story while I’m potting, and I think about what a character might say as I weed and water. I feel that soon my story is going to start growing on it's own.

1 comment:

Tabitha said...

Yep, I can totally see that being helpful. I go for walks or do other mindless physical activities. It allows me to feel useful, and at the same time my brain is free to roam. :)