The Tangled Skein of a Writer's Brain
This photo is a visual representation of what my brain looks like right now. It's a mess...and that's only the writing part of it. I won't even attempt to convey the disaster that is the holiday-shopping-addressing-cards-decorating-house-keeping-up-with-children's-schedule part of it. It would give you nightmares.
My knitting project is taken care of for quite some time into my future since my husband's scarf-in-progress is going to be seven feet long. How much can one say about a scarf that repeats the same pattern for seven whole feet? That's why I'm blogging about writing (although you should notice how cleverly I tied it to knitting).
My problem is that I cannot decide which book I should work on right now. As a result, I'm working on none, which is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs for a writer. I have three possibilities rolling around in my brain:
1) My hockey romance of which I've written about 150 pages. The heroine is a poet and the hero is a gorgeous superstar hockey goalie. Not only are their professions diametrically oppposed but he is seven years younger than she is. The proposal for this novel won first place in the Book of Your Heart Contest (wahoo!) but I can't get a publisher interested in it. I adore the characters and would love to see how their story ends.
2) A women's fiction story about a woman who delivers her last child to college. The next day her husband announces that he's only stayed with her for the sake of the children and now he wants a divorce. She meets another woman in a bar where she's gone to drown her sorrows. The strange woman ends up as her boarder in the suddenly very empty house. The woman's past brings violence into the home. I'm interested in exploring how a divorced wife could rebuild her sense of identity and self-worth when the foundations of her life have been totally destroyed.
3) A paranormal romance about humans with psychic powers. This would require some interesting "world-building" where I get to make up the rules about how psychic abilities function in our reality. The heroine is a Sensor whose skill is recognizing extra-intellectual potential in others. She works for "The Fold", an organization dedicated to educating the mentally super-gifted about how to use their abilities constructively. The Fold is seeking a powerful Controller to combat another powerful psychic who has turned to the dark side. (Can you hear Darth Vader's breathing? He's my all-time favorite villain.) She finds her Controller but he's the CEO of a mega-corporation who doesn't want to believe that his success is based on strange mental abilities he's not even aware he possesses.
So, if you were me, which one of these skeins would you choose to weave into words during the holiday season?
posted by Nancy Herkness at 9:16 AM
9 Comments:
As a "dyed in the wool" Canadian I say go for the hockey player romance! Maybe you need a Canadian publisher?
All three sound intriguing. The women's fiction might be a bit too heavy for the holiday season, but that may be just me. During these low daylight months I lean toward pure escapism in both reading and writing. Thus if I had to choose which to work on, I'd go with the paranormal.
Tanya, my hockey player is, of course, Canadian: French-Canadian. I LOVE Canadian accents, French or otherwise. The New Jersey Devils used to have a radio announcer who had the most wonderful Canadian accent but sadly he has been replaced with some boringly generic voice.
Laura, you are SO right about needing an escape, esp. to escape the holiday stress. So the women's fiction is out then.
I like number 2!
ROFL! Okay, you guys are NOT helping here! Everyone's voted for a different book! No wonder I'm having a bad case of the "waffles".
OOh.....waffles! That sounds good! With blueberry syrup!
Sorry Nancy....I'm no help either. They all sound like good reads!
Kim
The reader in me votes for the women's fiction idea because that's what I love best. However, the writer in me leans toward the hockey player romance because it's the holidays and immersing myself in something sexy and fun holds great appeal.
But (and you knew there'd be one) the writer/reader in me is head-over-heels intrigued by the paranormal idea and can't think of anything more fun than worldbuilding.
Gee, I was a big help, wasn't I??
Useless! You're all useless! (She says, grinning hugely.) Actually, it's good to know that all of the ideas sound good to you guys--it means I can't go wrong whichever one I choose.
It must be #1. Such different carrers!! He younger than her!!! I can't wait!!!
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