Yep. I gots it. The head/throat nastiness that's going around. I sound like a chain smoker headed for a double lungostomy. Is that a word? I don't care. The fever is getting to me, I think, but that's all part of the fun. There's always light at the end of the tunnel, one way or another.
Just started (and finished) what my sisters and I call a "popcorn" book: a novel that can be read in one day (paperback 250-350 pp). I'm not a speed reader, but you put me in a chair and give me something I love to read with characters I love to read about and I can plow through it like an ox in a New York china store. I even shouted a couple of times. It was pretty awesome. Swordfights. Plot twists. (Man, she put the HAMMER down in this one!) Angst. Ancient legends. True love. Miracles...wait, that's another story, but anyway. It had EVERYTHING.
I want to write like that. I want my characters and plots to suck people in like a black hole and never let them go and leave them at the end breathless and lustful for more. I SO want the next book in the series and I know it won't be out for another few years. ARGACK! (This is my new frustration word. I made it up. I like it. It even sounds good aloud!)
One of the best pieces of advice I keep forgetting is that to write good stuff, you have to read good stuff. I have so little free time these days, my stack of "wanna read this" has reached taller-than-me proportions. That's pretty tall. And I have this terrible addiction to books in the sense that when I start one, that's all I want to do. It's like eating the first piece of chocolate cake and not being able to quit eating until it's ALL GONE even if it makes you sick. In this case, it makes me unable to keep a full-time job, get laundry done, live my life, etc. I've never been able to find a balance. So far. I'm still alive, right? I still have time to revise that nasty little quirk.
Speaking of revision, since this is NaNoWriMo, I've dedicated my free time to finishing Emily's story, Shadow of Redemption. In the process, though, I've decided I also need to work on Daniel's story, Shifting Perspectives so I can better flesh out what's happening behind Emily's back. If I do this right, at the end of the month I'll have TWO books, one of them (mostly) finished, the other as a first draft ready for edits. Pretty cool.
So as I close, I realize I'm starting to get cold and hungry. A good sign the fever is breaking and I'm probably going to have to go to work tomorrow. :-( Well, at least I have my lesson already prepared. And maybe I can slip in a few chapters of some book without interfering TOO much with my job. Maybe. (maybe). *grin*
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