As I mentioned in my previous post, this week held an unexpected and unfortunate surprise in the form of a failed laptop and the loss of my past couple month's worth of work. I have many thoughts about this but most of them are not publishable. Over the years, I've noticed that hope is as indestructible as a cockroach, so I'm going to hold onto that sucker until I'm presented with undeniable proof that my work is irrecoverable. I believe in you Steve from Geek Squad!!!
On a brighter note, thanks to this blog and some screenshots that I happened to have of my narrative work, all is not lost and I've been able to reconstruct some of the most important pieces. I'm looking at this experience as a forced revision...a crash course in the lesson of 'killing my darlings.' Maybe something better will come from it.
What am I currently working on?
The biggest piece I've been working on is a revision on my first chapter for the Narrative assignment. I've essentially scrapped my previous work and gone in a completely new direction. I took the feedback about steering clear of stereotypes, beginning elsewhere and reworking the mother character I had developed, and I really like where its going. I finished the new chapter with total of 1182 words.
I wrote a poem this week entitled It Wasn't Rape which explored some of the reasoning that is made in order to justify or minimize the reality of what happened. This one is locked up in my traitorous laptop so I don't know if it will ever see the light of day.
I also wrote the tale of my Valentine's Day Heartbreak last night and the word count was 461.
How do I feel about the process?
I have mixed feelings this week. I tend to have a bit of what my therapist calls an 'all or nothing' personality. If my work needs revision, I have a hard time not completely starting over from scratch rather than seeing what I have already created through to the next phase. Maybe this is okay, but I could see it being an issue if I continue to reinvent a new chapter one over and over. I also feel like I've struggled a bit to carry a cohesiveness throughout the chapter, tending to fall off my momentum as I incorporate dialogue and background.
What am I reading?
Bedtime stories mostly, but I am making sure that I pay careful attention to how the stories are stitched together and the details like word choice. I'm also getting ready to pick back up Stephen King's On Writing.
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