Tiny flash of inspiration - thank God!

Yesterday, I struggled through a few hundred words. I just couldn't find my groove, and then the story just fell flat - Plop!

Today at work, an idea came to me. I scribbled it down on my break, just as fast as I could - handwriting 20+ words a minute sure makes 15 minutes fly!

And tonight, as the kids were doing their writing, I copied it in to the computer, with only a few minor changes, just grammar corrections.

The kids have been bugging me to read mine to them. And so I did. Just that section I wrote today, first. There is precious little story there, just an intro so far, but I think it's a far better start for the book then where I was before.

And they liked it. Wanted me to read the other part. It's ok, they tell me, but they still like the other part better.

I think what helps, is today I nailed the voice for it. It's a voice I tend to fall into and be comfortable with - I don't know if it's my natural one, but it sure feels the most natural to me - and I think I just need to give it free rein for this project and see where it takes me. Especially since nothing else is getting my anywhere!

So. I'm at 768. And I think I can make some major progress tonight, especially once the kidlets get to bed and I can curl up in bed, turn up the heat, and actually concentrate a little bit. It's hard to get much done when I'm out there in the same room as them - totally messes with my concentration, but it's getting better. I've got to stop letting myself get distracted so easily.

I'd better make some progress - the kids are hassling the hell outta me cuz I'm behind and they're all happily on track. It never occurred to me before what a motivating force some pesky kids could be... especially when they're in the "we've ALL gotta do this" mindset, and mom isn't carrying her share of the load - when they all are! (My 8th grader had more words them me right now, to heck with percentages, he's nailing me to the wall. Now that I think about it, depending on how much my 2nd grader wrote this last hour, she might well have as many! Sigh.)