Tag Archives: Journals

May 30, 2010

The Current Project

By Miss Rosemary

Ciao!

Here it is! The post I’ve been talking about for quite some time.

As you know, I’ve been currently doing a great deal of editing on Becoming Mrs. Kennedy (first chapter can be read here). But with my recent employment (it feels FANTASTIC to get a pay check, let me tell you!) I have been getting up earlier and consequently retiring earlier, eliminating crucial writing/editing time. I have been reduced to writing during my lunch break which has not been working out very well because I’ve been otherwise occupied making new friends. Plus, the binder which BMK currently calls home is enormous with a giant picture of Orlando Bloom and Josh Hartnett from about seven years ago making it much too clunky and embarrassing to lug around. Therefore, I have once again turned my attention to Rescue Me.

As a reminder, this is the novel I have been working on for about ten years. They are by far my favorite characters and I want this novel to be the absolute best it can be (not that I don’t want the others to be as well, but every writer has that one story they adore the most).

The Premise: 1943 in Titusville, Taneia (a small island nation off the southwest coast of Ireland I fabricated because I wanted the hero to be a prince but didn’t want to mess with historical inaccuracies). Laura meets the prince after he is stranded in a botched attempt to liberate the town from the enemy. They find mutual attraction (duh) and wind up spending much time together while he is in hiding to avoid capture and execution. They start digging deeper into Laura’s background and find some shady details about her father (of whom she has no memory). They manage to escape and make it back to the capital and the prince’s family where she finds it difficult to adjust to royal life, has problems with his mother and … not telling you!!!

Sorry that was cruel. But the truth is I haven’t written past there yet so telling you my plans would either a) disappoint you and me if it doesn’t turn out the way I want it to or b) make me change the plan just because of my fickle nature. Also, I’m not sure of precisely where I want it to go. I have the large outline and many of the major details on these papers

but there are two possible endings and several little details depending on each one that need to be determined. Ultimately I will follow where the characters lead me, yet I am still uncertain of one particular path down which they want to travel. So I’ll need your opinions again!

I already have the input of my alpha and my biddie babykins, but I also trust all of you, and would like to know what you think. Is it too cliché for Twin A (who is in love with Lead Female aka Laura) to die protecting her but then a few years later have her end up with Twin B? The last thing I want is cliché, but Lead Female and Twin B are feeling some attraction towards each other even though they both adore Twin A. I’m not sure if I want to travel down this long and winding road, even though it seems that’s where the characters want to go. This story has been about Lead Female and Twin A for ten years. They are my favorite couple. He is my soulmate. I want him with her but he has to die … ugh! So frustrating! And if I write this ending the novel would reach epic proportions in page count. I’ve already filled three journals, I don’t even want to think how long it will be typed. And it looks like I’m going to need a new title …

Purchased at Barnes and Noble because I saw it one day, let it go and thought about it for about two weeks before I went back and made it mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bought in the Metropolitan Museum of Art because it’s beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bought for a bargain in Firenze. The exchange went something like this: Io: Cuanto costa? Commessa: Dieci. Io: F NO! cinque. Commessa: nove. Io: Cinque. Commessa: *sighs* otto. Io: *rolls eyes* Fine. *shells out cash and was quite pleased with self and purchase*
So what is the point of this post? Well to give you my writing updates of course but also to tell you that even though we may worry about our characters and the choices they make about where they want their story to go, they do know best and will not let us down. Of course friend critiques and opinions are excellent help and can steer us in the proper directions as well, but our main guide must be our own, and their, instincts, even if it will probably take you six journals to write. Follow your pen.
I do still want your opinions though!
Ta for now, the marines are playing the national anthem on the field, honoring our vets and service people. I must go place my hand over my heart and sing my lungs out …

19 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Writing

May 28, 2010

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

By Miss Rosemary

And those friends are you!  I promised a post on writing and here it (semi) is. The one I initially had in mind is still floating around in my brain and is not quite ready yet. I don’t want to post it prematurely you know. Before that post I need your opinion on this one.

Rescue Me is plodding along and I am nearing the end of the current journal in which I am writing it … and can’t decide which one to use next. So I’ve created a poll and would like your opinions on which notebook is worthy of housing Laura’s, Thomas’s (and Nathan’s?) story. The options are:

Blue Asian.

This one I enjoy quite a bit just because it has a different look and feel than all my other journals. It’s something new. It is spiral, also new; the other notebooks I have Rescue Me in are not. Downside: the lines are uber small and having such catastrophich handwriting as mine, small lines often do not work well. Also, I numbered the pages when I wrote in it years ago and then ripped some pages out so the numbers are out of order, which could potentially bother me.

Red Beads.

This one I also adore. I have had it for ages and the cover is beaded, making it loads of fun. The lines are quite big, allowing for atrocious penmanship to not look quite as atrocious. The first few pages also hold an older version of Laura and Thomas’s tale, so continuing on in the new and imporved seems almost fitting. Downsides: the lines are quite big and the first few pages already hold an earlier version of Laura and Thomas’s story. I will not be able to get much actual writing done in this notebook before I have to obtain another one.

Ok so, tell me what you think!! Help me get by, friends :)

7 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Writing

January 13, 2010

I’m Sunk

By Miss Rosemary

First things first, as promised the first updates on my goals.

Creative Writing Status

Rescue Me: Success! The portion didn’t come out exactly the way I planned but who cares? I made it past where I wanted to be *pats self on the back*

And now the reason for my sinking.  When I was in the city a week ago today with my lovely friends as I mentioned in a previous post, we stopped in at the Barnes and Noble on 5th Ave. While I was paying for the bargained priced Complete Works of William Shakespeare, I innocently provided the nice English gentleman with my email address, believing it was merely store policy since some stores just want it for God knows what reason.

What a mistake.  How do I get myself into these situations?  Just minutes after I’d gotten home from the local Borders yesterday and vowed to spend no more money on books until either a) I find employment, b) someone gives me a gift card, c) I discover a significant discount for a book on my Kindle, d) I win the lottery, or e) Diana Gabaldon’s latest novel comes out in paperback so I can have the whole Outlander Series in the same editions/size, when I decide to check my email.  What do I see but a notification from BarnesandNoble.com informing me that all I have to do to receive 20% off my next purchase is activate my new b&n.com account.  It’s totally free and once I completed all the steps I’d be subject to even more savings including the occasional free shipping and handling.

The smart thing to do in this situation when one is a poor college student would be to exhibit self-control and click the “no, thanks” button on the email, moving on with one’s life.  What to I do?  Without hesitation I click “Sign me up!” and start browsing for more books I don’t need cluttering my room and bookshelves because I have a Kindle so the extra books really become superfluous.

How I wish it ended there.  I’m not that fortunate today.  Nope, I also received a 33% off coupon via Borders Rewards (yes, the very place I just was without said coupon) AND I got a Victoria’s Secret catalog in the mail telling us that they are having a huge blowout shoe sale.  What the hell?  It’s like life is determined to suck all my money out from under me.  I can resist anything else: clothes, bags, food, jewelery, perfumes, other online “let’s get this sucker for advertisement!” deals.  Those are no problem.  Books and shoes?  I’m sunk.

Creative Writing Goals

Rescue Me: by tomorrow, I want Thomas and Laura to have reached the crappy hotel and hit the swing dancing clubs.

Damn Brits: same thing, the first journal must be typed by the end of this week; though as a forewarning this may not be reached by the way things seem to be going :(   Looking on the bright side though, I still could make it!


8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Books, Random Thoughts, Writing

January 10, 2010

So I had a Sort of Fight With My Mother …

By Miss Rosemary

… over my bedtime.  Yes, that’s right. I’m almost twenty years old and she’s still nagging me about when I go to bed. You see, she is an early bird and I am a night owl.  We get along impeccably on everything except this particular issue.  I am on the college schedule and find nothing at all odd with retiring at 2AM and rising close to 11, and I daresay most college students would agree with me (although my roommate is prone to getting up in the wee hours, God bless her).

But what, you may ask, keeps me up so late?  The answer is my baby.  Before anyone suffers from cardiac arrest, it’s not a live infant, but my novels.  My writing is just as precious to me as a child; I suppose you could call it my substitute kid for now.  I put all of my heart and soul into it and sometimes I just can’t stop myself from staying up all night.  One minute it’s 10;30 and the rest of the family has just gone up to bed and the next it’s 2:45 and my hand is cramped, my eyes are burning, and I have to keep getting snacks to keep up my energy.  Despite all of that though, I usually find myself in a state of blissful satisfaction because my journal, which has become home to whichever characters are swimming around in my brain at the time (currently it’s dear Prince Thomas and his ladylove Laura, but for most of last year it was Julian and his struggle to clear his name of false charges), is suddenly running out of room and I have to scurry upstairs to snag another one before my ideas flutter away.

Speaking of journals, allow me to lament the sad state of the written word.  Its poor, struggling pulse has almost completely stopped beating.  When was the last time you saw/heard of an author physically writing with a pen on paper?  It’s not common anymore to be certain.  Whenever an author is interviewed nowadays they say they immediately dash to their computers when they have a brilliant idea.  Whenever I have a brilliant idea I grab my pen and actually write it.  Something about it feels that much more authentic, like I’m actually writing a book and not working on a paper or professional document.  Now I’m not technologically ignorant by any means and do transcribe my work to my Mac (and I do love my Mac), I recognize the importance of a Word document; no matter how I look at it though, it just doesn’t feel the same.

Am I a hypocrite? After all, here I am writing a blog and am the proud owner of Kindle, both of which significantly detract from the essence of a printed book or journal.  Maybe I am.  You can judge.  But I will say this: nothing turns me on more than a printed book and anytime I sit, squat, or sprawl out to write, the initial first step for me was, is, and always will be reaching for my pen.

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Random Thoughts, Writing

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