From writer’s block to a finished chapter in just two days. It’s kind of hard to believe.
the hook
That’s where it all begins. In those first few pages. Did you catch the readers attention? Do they want to see what happens next? Perhaps you caught my little synopsis of the first 500 words on twitter.
“Already Mary found herself in the midst of a storm, a lamb missing — presumably scared by the storm — and mud so thick it pulled on her skirts, popping buttons and forcing her to abandon them near the banks of the Willow River. Oh, and she just landed face down in the mud.
testing the waters
Proud of having completed the first chapter even with the guys home today, I decided to present it in its first reading. I read it to my husband. Immediately he was cracking jokes about Mary losing her little lamb — a reference I had failed to notice, but I’ll take it.
There were a few sections I stumbled over. The section where she must ditch her skirts repeats the word skirts far too many times. Enough so that it became a sort of tongue twister. There is even a section where I left it at an incomplete thought.
it’s just a first draft
A rough draft. A slapping down of words in the hopes that they will form something that resembles a complete story in the end.
I’m proud of myself. I didn’t stop the reading right there and begin editing. I didn’t even go back and start editing it as soon as the reading was completed. I left it there. Hanging on. Waiting for my return.
Once Upon a Time in Iowa
Once upon a time in Iowa there was a family living on a farm adapting and struggling through the many changes life was throwing at them. Together through love and determination they were finding their way, together.
I can’t tell you, yet, where the story is going. It’s only just begun. What I know is at the very heart of the story is love and understanding forming an unbreakable bond that holds the family together.
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ShldBWriting 