It is Finished!

AND THE LORD SAID IT WAS GOOOOOOOD!

New beginnings can sometimes look like painful endings. But remember: In books, you can change the outcome for your characters.

Last night, I pulled a Joan Wilder from Romancing the Stone, sans the smashed plate against the fireplace, and finished Chasing Shadows. Huzzah! Yes, like any well-rounded, eccentric author who is in love with fictional people, I drowned my sorrows and my tears in a bowl of Ben and Jerry’s frozen yogurt. The past week of ups and downs, running from the royal guard, being stabbed, hand-to-hand scuffles and knife fights in the snowy woods, time travel, whirlwind romance and twisted triangles, secret hangings, and mysteries solved has looked a little something like this:

It’s honestly my month to do the dishes, so I’ve pulled this six or eight times with my mom. Never worked.

I am a writer. The archetypal image of a novelist for me has always been Joan Wilder in Romancing the Stone. I literally look like this every time I finish a story, or even an emotional scene....... Or a chapter. Or start a new scene. Or listen to a mood-inspiring song. Or go to sleep thinking of sad, or happy, things that will happen to a favorite character. Yes, it's THAT emotional.

So I decided that I should share a little bit of the “Oh my gosh, I love you, Pinterest, because you describe my life as an author/reader to the tee” moments of the past month. Ah, yes, I do love Pinterest. You can check out the rest of my crazy passion on my Reading-Writing board on pinterest. http://pinterest.com/townsendideas/reading-writing/

I hear voices! You're probably an author.

Ah! It’s so true!

Haha. Writer's problem: browser history. I literally was just looking up images for a hangman's noose and medieval gallows the other day for Chasing Shadows, my sequel.

I found this the day after I Googled images for a gallows/hangman’s noose and medieval knives. Then I also searched for explanations of how blood loss would affect decomposition after a few days, etc.

A reader lives a thousand lives Sometimes I think I should stop reading. No.

That moment when you finish a book, look around and realize that everyone is just carrying on with their lives... As though you didn't just experience emotional trama at the hands of a paperback. You have to write the book that wants to be written. If it's too much for adults, write it for children.

You are an author. You should be writing, not Facebooking! If Captain Picard says so, then do it!

Umm, Captain Picard said so.

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.

I printed this out as a reminder. Beautiful and so true.

Writing a dark scene: Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise. I live for such moments. I'm single because fictional men don't exist.

The next person to refer to Fifty Shades of Grey as well-written gets smacked with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

2 comments on “It is Finished!”

Oh, my favorite has to be the Fifty Shades one…that would hurt really bad ’cause Shakespear didn’t write no two-hundred paged crap. *maniacally laughs*