Playing Hookey

Today I'm playing hookey. I slipped out the door, dropped off my fire extinguishers for servicing and, instead of going home to do more paperwork, I snuck into the coffee shop with my laptop.

If the world is my home and my house is my room then the coffee shop is in a large way my living room. It's where my friends and acquaintances gather and where I can relax and create. It's also my social time, the place I go when I want to be around others. In my house I wake up, stretch, get dressed and, when I want company, I go into the kitchen and have coffee before settling down at the kitchen table or in my studio to work.

Settling down at the large shared table in the shop, I prepare to work on something. I've decided I'm not working on the fairy–tale today. This is a stumbling block for me as I had this great idea of "whipping off a rough draft," but reality has proved differently. There will be no whipping off. Instead there will be a slow plod and stop until I figure out what all the story pieces are. I know the story is a parody between a fairy–tale and the real world. I know where the characters start and where they end up, but I don't understand the details. In the fairy–tale the locket is important, symbolic. It has to do with love, but what? How does that play into the story? I know in the real world the character is washing dishes and thinking about the fairy–tale. I know the fairy–tale is going to have a significant impact on her life and will be is symbolic to her. But what exactly is happening in her life and how is that going to work out? I know the endings of both stories will be parallel, and she will have an epiphany about herself, her world and her life. She will emerge a different person than she was at the beginning of the story, but to get all the pieces and put it all together is proving difficult. If I don't work on the fairy–tale then how does this effect my plan? Is the plan still doable?

I step onto my blog and take a look at my blueprint. I'm pleasantly surprised. Things are definitely doable with this well thought out plan. No longer do I have to guess at and try and remember what I was going to do next. The roof will not cave in and I'm will not be buried. I am not doomed to be stuck because this story is taking more time as the next 2 tasks don't depend on it. Instead I'm energized.

I'm suddenly de-stressed about the fairy–tale and excited by the prospect of working on something else for awhile. It's so simple. I just have to look at the feedback from Changing Tides, tweak it, and look up the markets for the art piece and send it both stories out. I can work on the fairy–tale as things come to me and just continue on with the plan. Life is good. Happy Writing!


Photos: 
Top: Baked Latté
Center: In Baked
Bottom: The view from the window