Tuesday, April 10, 2007

The Open Road

My vacation was everything I wanted it to be - lots and lots of down time. I took a couple naps, went to two Easter egg hunts, had a great Easter dinner with my grandparents and dad, and hung out with my brother, sis-in-law, and my niece and nephew on the farm. Saw some adorable baby calves, too.

Of course, I always dread the drive back. Once I hit the interstate, it's a straight line from the farm back home. No turns, no changing interstates - just one, straight line.

That leaves lots and lots of time for thinking, especially when my daughter slept most of the way. I figured since I had nothing but the open road ahead of me for the next four hours, it would be the perfect opportunity to get a little plotting done.

And those ideas came. Wow. I couldn't believe how images started playing through my brain, almost like a movie. But of course, the logistics of making sure I didn't forget these images/ideas was rather difficult. So here I am, driving down the interstate with a pen and pad of paper, trying to write everything down and drive at the same time.

And what fantastic ideas! I now have my first book in the Italian Duet series (although is it a series if there are only two? Probably not) plotted out, complete with great characters, the theme, and GMC's. I can't wait to get started. The second one is well on its way to being completely plotted, too. Isn't it strange how some books sort of write themselves and others are a struggle?

Look forward to catching up with you all...

5 comments:

  1. LOL! I can just imagine you, steering with your knees!

    I'm glad you had a nice, relaxing time. And how awesome to have so much plotted. The writing of it is going to be a blast! :) Yay!

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  2. Way to go, Melissa! Isn't it amazing what a clear channel you can be for ideas while out on the open road? I sometimes take a tape recorder along for the longer trips so I don't crash trying to write down an idea. Glad you had a nice vacation.

    Now get cracking on that new story!

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  3. A voice activated recorder sounds like a good idea to me! Even when driving a straight line, one shouldn't be doing other things, like writing on notepads!!!

    Glad to hear you had such a great weekend :-) Ours was busy and included painting easter eggs the Ukranian way (I'll try to post about it over the next couple of days) and spending five hours over on our property cleaning and burning deadfall. That was way more fun than cleaning our cabin yesterday *g*.

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  4. I think best in the shower and driving. I don't know what that says about my attention span while driving but hey - I get a lot of plotting done. ;)

    Glad you had a nice vacation!

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  5. I was thinking the same thing - tape recorder.

    But I'm with Karen - ideas in the shower - do they make waterproof tape recorders? LOL

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