Of Spring and Walking

Despite the cold weather that has taken hold in the past two days, Spring is taking hold in Manitoba, and I have photographic evidence! 

See! Spring. It's really happening. Accept no substitutions!

Now then...

I think I've mentioned on this blog before that going for long walks helps me resolve almost all of my writing problems. Generally speaking, if I get stuck on a plot point and writing notes to prod myself doesn't fix it, I take the dog for a walk in the park and all the answers reveal themselves to me. It's a lovely tactic because on top of working like a charm for writer's block, it also keeps the dog and I in decent condition even through the winter.

Imagine my frustration then, when over the last ten days, as I got so close to the end of the first draft of Traitor's Hope, I found myself stuck and... WALKING DIDN'T WORK.

It was most vexing. Especially with the end so close I could taste it.

So I had to break out the big guns. I had to talk through my problem with a willing audience. On Friday I spent most of the day with a close friend who is also a writer and I started on this tactic, but unfortunately, she didn't have much of the backstory and I took so long catching her up on necessary plot points (and some unnecessary ones - I have a hard time restraining myself at times) that by the time our schedules forced us to part ways I had failed to parse the problem.

Then a few nights ago, my husband kindly volunteered to be my wall to bounce ideas off of. He was wonderful, and since he's already quite familiar with the first book, I was able to catch him up on pertinent points quite quickly and get to the meat of the problem. This worked. Once I was able to get down to the crux of the issue I was able to think through what was missing. It's not the most glamorous solution (I've had a few in this first draft that have been surprisingly elegant) but it will let me finish the damn book. Then I can fix the rest of what's wrong in my major revision.

So, after a more than week long stall out, I'm back in business, and hopeful that I'll have the rough draft done by the end of the weekend. Muhuahahhahahahahah...

Ahem. Yep. So... in other news KeyCon is almost upon us! It starts next Friday evening, and Katya Kolmakov and I will be rocking a table selling books and artwork, talking to people and signing things, and generally looking forward to seeing people there. So if you're in Winnipeg over the weekend and like fantasy books, fantasy art, fantasy games, or fantasy paraphernalia, we hope to see you there!

I think that's all for the moment. Happy spring!