fiction

Take The Time To Do It Right

/ PaigeRandall / 5 Comments

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On February 7, when I started writing Circling, we were in the middle of a horrid winter. I was never so happy for piles of snow since I was strapping on skates and skimming frozen surfaces as a child in Rhode Island. Snow days, as I quickly found, are ideal writing days. There is literally nothing better to do than to snuggle up with a laptop and create a new world full of gorgeous, complicated people, who have sex in public places.

Carving out time to write Book 2 seems a bit trickier. Gone are my seemingly endless 16 hour shower free days. And I wasn’t doing any blogging back then.  Every evening as the sun sets, it is a choice.  Blog or book. Now on weekends the damn sun is shining and beckoning me to do things like visit beaches and climb little mountains.

So forgive me for going light from time to time.  Any writers’ tips for avoiding the sophomore slump? How do you keep the writing energy up in the summer? Should I encase my laptop in plastic and bring it into the sand?

Circling Is Finished!

/ PaigeRandall / Leave a comment

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I feel drunk. Very very drunk. Yet I am pedaling (to nowhere) on a stationary bike at the gym. Everyone is very focused on their ear buds and tiny screens, moving very quickly and, like me, going nowhere.

Damn it the urge to stand up on my bike seat and shout at the top of my lungs I JUST FINISHED MY NOVEL is overwhelming. Not “I finished a draft but there is still editing to be done.” Not “I’m almost there but still working out a plot point.” Not “I need to refine dialog.”

I’m actually done.

I tried to let it rest. Three days passed. I gained a pound each of those three days. I couldn’t do it. Their voices were screaming inside me. Finish it!

What happens when a type A person starts getting creative? This is what happens. And I fucking love it.

I’m going out tonight — friends, food, booze and a band — a perfect night. I implore you, raise a glass tonight writers, photographers, musicians, inventors, creators of delicious snacks, all of you artists. Raise a glass to your fearless creations and celebrate with me.

Cheers to you all!