Packing for the Apocalypse...

In the 1960 movie version of H.G. Wells' classic, The Time Machine, gentleman/inventor George Wells (yes, the author named the main character after himself), builds a time machine and travels eons into the future. He returns to his time and takes only 3 books back to the future. When his friend David returns the next day, he asks the housekeeper which three George took, but she doesn't know.

Let's play a game. You've traveled into the future and can only take three of your books with you. In the story, mankind has warred himself back to Stone Age living- so you are starting society from scratch. Which 3 do you take? Now you can't say books that you don't actually own, that's cheating. You have to have these books in your home. I would take:

1- JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. I have the trilogy in a beautiful leather-bound edition. It makes for great story telling and since the future has no television or libraries or radio, it's stories around the campfire for entertainment.

2- The New Testament. Yes, I'd leave the Old or Hebrew Testament behind because of the contradictions: it does not condemn slavery, a number of the laws are incompatible with my beliefs, like 'an eye for an eye,' and polygamy, and there are some things I can't reconcile, like the Great Flood called up by God to destroy everyone except Noah. I feel it's important to have a moral guide and the New or Christian Testament embodies how we should behave.

3- Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann D. Wyss. A family marooned on an island must survive on what is available. Talk about an interesting how-to book! Of course it works best if you're stuck on a tropical island, and if I have to be stuck anywhere, it has to be in the tropics. Unfortunately I can't find my copy, so obeying my own rules, I have to choose another book.


4- Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth. This tells the story of the Founding Fathers and how they not only started the Revolution, but why, and how our Constitution and Declaration of Independence were created. If you're starting society over, let it be on a basis where all humanity is represented. (I'm not talking about past mistakes, I'm looking toward the future where we can get it totally right.)

Those are my 3, with an extra for the one I can't find, but would really love. Let me know your choices and why.

Char
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The Great Experiment...

Last summer, I had an idea for a sequel to a famous horror/sci fi classic. I didn't have enough of the story in my head, only the beginning and the end (which is usual for me), but hardly anything for the middle. I needed time. But I wanted to start the story. So I compromised with The Great Experiment.

I would hand write, old school like Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Charlotte Bronte, the entire novel. Not even a typewriter (I do have one, but it's electric). Just a handful of #2 pencils and a lovely notebook that was gathering dust in a closet. (We writers do that- we collect journals and notebooks and then want to use them for something 'special-' not just for writing down the grocery or To Do list, Hence, we collect A LOT.)

So I spent hours poolside, or on the patio, curled up on the couch when it rained, in car rides to family visits- writing. A few sentences here, a couple of paragraphs there, and by the end of summer, I had a novel. The slow, more deliberate method worked for this book. Well, I got the novel roughly drafted. But would it be any good?

As I transcribe it, I see repetitions that popped up, probably because I couldn't remember everything I'd put in over the course of 3 months. But I'm seeing some beautiful sections that stun me. (Did I really write that??). Oh, the plot holes. The missing information. Ugh, the contradictions.

But that's part of any novel. I liked this approach because it made me more thoughtful, more deliberate in my writing. It seems like when writing these days we pound the keys in a fury, and promise we'll fix it when we review and revise. This novel will still need heavy editing and reworking, but I see so much I love. I think I am a better writer for having taken my time.

But I won't do this for every novel- I can't. There are too many stories cluttering up my head that need to get out and into the documents file. And this would NEVER work for #NaNoWriMo. But I think I will do this occasionally, so I slow down and enjoy the process instead of stressing out about how much I've written in a day, week, month, season, year. We all need to de-stress and enjoy moments.

Enjoy the moment-

Char

Ooops, I Did It Again...

I missed my last Monday blog post. I have several good excuses. Don't I always? Choose your favorite from the list below:

1.  Snow day!

2.  Tired of people spamming my blog comments with their stupid stuff. (You know I'm only going to block you and remove it, right?)

3.  Book proposal to finish to send to agent. And like everything else, it took longer than I expected. I had to change the ending from the previous one back to the one I liked.

4.  Lazy.

5.  I haven't been able to increase my followers so I'm feeling a little 'why bother?'

6.  Wondering if anyone noticed....

7.  Procrastinated.

8. Yesterday was #NationalNappingDay (although I didn't get any nap, I sure felt like I needed one).

9. The outdoor temperature was in the 50's yesterday and I had to make some vitamin D (I raked the fallen twigs and branches in the front yard).

10. Pre-spring fever. I/m tired of being indoors and cooped up. It's hard to sit down and write (although I'm doing it now), especially when there are long stretches looming in front of me...

I think I'll stop there.

They all are true, and valid, and still no excuse.

But now it's done, although I still have so much more on the To Do list....

Catch you later.

Char