Reboot, Relearn, Recreate

Our chapter had an all-day workshop yesterday with Bob Mayer. It was structured to have appeal to everyone regardless of the stage their career is in. We covered story structure, POV, dialogue, setting as well as the state of the industry today, and the future of publishing.

It was a good time to sit back and go over the basics as well as learn a few new things. My purpose going into each workshop is to look at my work from a different perspective at the end of the day, and to possibly learn something new.

Today was no exception. In this industry, in order to be successful, one must constantly shift with the publishing tides. To become a hybrid, either in the way you get published, or in what genre you write, or both. Regardless of the direction, there are things to be learned and in most cases, the learning curve is steep.

By day's end, I was exhausted, but energized at the same time. I am confident in the direction of my career now, and eager to finish my WIPs.

It was a very good time to reboot, relearn and recreate.

A Different Perspective

For weeks now, I’ve been sleeping on the wrong side of the bed.  Not that, in my case, there’s any wrong side, since I sleep alone and both sides are technically mine. But, with my hip surgery, it made more sense to climb in from the left side of the bed rather than the right, which is my normal preference.

Coming at this from the wrong side has forced me to look at things a bit differently. I can see the clock clearer, but the bathroom is a few extra feet away. The dog seems to find my slippers more on the left side than the right, and loves to stick her nose in them and wander off to other parts of the room with them. I’m so right-hand dominant that it’s hard for me to reach up with my left hand and turn off the light, or to grab my glasses from the nightstand. I can’t flip onto my side as easily as I can when I could grasp the mattress, so I’ve had to come up with some creative ways to turn my body.

As I was laying in bed this morning, listening to the coffee pot come to life in the kitchen, it struck me that, even though some things are different, there’s a lot of similarity to the two sides of the bed. The pillows are the same, the bedding is equally warm on both sides, but yet things feel different. When I write my characters and try to find unique voices for each one, I sometimes struggle with getting the male POV down and in a way a male would say and do things. His reaction and solution to the situation I’ve put him into may be the same as the female POV, but they come at it from two different directions to achieve the same goal. Kind of like me trying to turn onto my side.

As I begin my next story, maybe I need to spend more time on the other side of the bed again. Time to rearrange the furniture.