Friday, February 4, 2011

CRIME ON MY MIND

Nothing on my mind!

How can that be? I'm a writer, after all. Isn't that what writer's do, or start with at the very least...something on his or her mind?

So, maybe I exaggerate. I do have things on my mind: the troubling violence in Egypt; whether we'll have a snowstorm next Tuesday; should I re-write the last 30 pages in my new book to delay this latest development; will a dear friend soon be back to good health?

And then there's this blog. Every day that I've had to write a blog, it's been there. The topic. Something has flowed from my brain, through my fingertips, onto the screen. Even if I didn't know what was coming. Because that's another trait that writer's have...the ability to just sit down and write, even if it isn't great prose, even if you're not quite sure where it's coming from, even or especially, with the deadline looming.

Blogs are a bit different though. You don't have a plot which gives you a partial roadmap, at the very least, of where you're heading. The only character on the page is you...your thoughts. Hopefully, there isn't a murder.

Blogs allow the blogger to share thoughts and information, and it's hoped, open a dialogue with the reader. That's why comments are so important to the blogger. Do you agree? Have you had a similar situation happen? Maybe you disagree -- that's great to hear, too. And there are times when blogs can be a cry for help. Like, not to berate this point, a title.

I'm still playing around with that elusive title for my second book. Would you allow your baby to go un-named for the first 2 months of it's life? Because even though it's not a birth that involves a pub date (such as Mary Jane Maffini's announcement of her newest book, The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder), that book is in the writer's mind and is a living entity. It invades the brain all hours of the day.

I'm sure you know by now that when writers look spaced out...well, they are. They're dwelling in bookland. For me, that's Ashton Corners, AL and I'm hanging out with Lizzie Turner, a younger, smarter, wittier, prettier and hotter gal than me but, I get to work on her roadmap. Great fun but sometimes very daunting.

So, where was I? Oh, yes...my blog for today. Sorry. I can't think of a topic. But next week I'll be rejuvenating my body & soul...so look for enlightening things on this page in the future.

Anything on your mind today?


Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

3 comments:

  1. fap snort, other than being younger, you're every bit the equal of all of Lizzie's attributes, that's either a sign of bias or blindness - i see what's happening with your blog as you work on with book #2, the book takes over one's life - i know well the vacant stare, i look forward to all of march when i'm in quietude and solitude to work - this is always a sign that work is going well, even if it's slogslogslog - i visit a few blogs every week, but don't see many "comments" - if i had a blog (i want one titled What I'm Reading) i'd value a ton of comments

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  2. You're going to be in Florida. You put that in my mind, as I listen to the snowplower in my drive/laneway. Just couldn't get it up to shovel it all -- it's a couple of hundred feet on a hill, and that was quite a bit of snow we got the other day. So I bless my brother in law for bringing me a snowplow that is bigger, heavier and more determined than I. So I could pay someone else to use it. While I write this response to your blog, thinking I had nothing in my mind until your warm week of getaway sparked this.

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  3. Thanks for the comments, you two. My point. Exactly!

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