Lately my imagination seems to be working in overdrive. Every night this week I've woken up from a dream that I seemed to be editing as I dreamed it. Normally my dreams are like movies or books, in that they seem to actually have a plot, even if sometimes assumptions are made in the dream that make no sense when I wake up. Still the editing and constructing sentences as if I was writing the dream story is kind of new. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me it really wants to write. It would probably be prudent to listen.
Harder Than You Think
Writing a book is hard.
In school, I never had a problem zipping out a 3-5pg essay in an hour or two. I'd just sit down and write. Even my poetry is like that, done (almost entirely) in one sitting.
Novels don't work that way. I think the problem is that in the past I knew what I wanted to say, all I had to do was write it. I'm finding with the novel that I only sort of know what I want to say, mostly I just have to feel my way towards an argument. It's hard, you have a tendency to walk into dead ends.
Still I feel like I'm slowly feeling my way through.
Quarter Goals - Due July 1st
This quarter I want to focus on:
Becky
I'd like to have the text for Becky finalized and the illustrations started by the end of the quarter.
SMT
Due July 1st is a 20,000 word (Word Count graphic was found at Writertopia) fast and dirty first draft of SMT. I'm still feeling my way into the story and I hope that the low word count combined with the40 scenes I plotted last quarter will prevent any writers block from rearing its head.
Painting and Illustration
I really want to work on my painting and illustration skills. This means regular practice. I'd also like to work on putting together a portfolio .
I really feel like this goals are doable, provided I don't slack off.
Knowing When to Put It Away
I added some more paint to this picture last week. So far I'm really liking how its turning out, even though every time I lift my brush I feel like I'm going to ruin it. Unfortunately, now I don't know what to do with it.
I want to turn it into an interesting picture instead of just a pretty one. I think it needs something lurking in the high grass, an animal or something, but I'm at a lost as far as what kind and where to put it, or even how to put it in without ruining it.Much as it goes against my inclination to finish what I start I think I need to put it away for awhile and have faith I'll come back to it. I need to remember that not all paintings are meant to be painted in sequence.
Hair
Gurney Journey (an excellent blog for artists interesting in learning more about drawing and painting) has been talking about hair lately. If you're like me and can't seem to paint hair that looks like hair if your life depended on it, go check it out. He has two posts up so far.
One
Two
Using Youtube for Research
A previously untapped (at least by me) research resource recently occured to me....
Youtube
Right now you might be thinking, "Hugh?" but bare with me.
The idea occurred to me while watching this video. For those of you that didn't click through, it's a video of two dogs playing. However for those of you that don't have any dogs and need to draw some it could be good research material.
After watching the video I did a search on youtube for pigs (I'm currently working on an illustration with a pig in it) and found this and this and this.
Still waiting to see if this turns out to be a useful resource, but for those of us who can't readily get to a farm, zoo or whatever youtube can be a good alternative if you need to see how something moves.
Writing Trick
I've discovered a writing trick. Only write scenes that you enjoy writing. If a scene isn't interesting enough that you want to write it, then it needs to be cut or changed all together. After all, if i get bored writing it, I'm sure the reader will get bored reading it.
Quarter Goals
Last year I decided that it would make more sense to have quarter goals, due every 3 months, instead of end of year goals. I find that when I give myself a whole year to accomplish something its easy to procrastinate until the last minute. If instead, I split my big goals (finishing SMT, developing my portfolio...etc.) into smaller ones I get more done.
My goals last quarter were:
- Finish plotting SMT
- Rewrite Becky
- Paint Paint Paint
- Draw Draw Draw
I did rewrite Becky once or twice, and while it still needs work I'm starting to see where I'm going with it. I still haven't decided whether I want to try and illustrate it or not. I've always thought that my writing was stronger than my art (at least technique wise), then again its hard to judge your own talent. We'll see what I end up doing as Becky gets closer to completion.
As for SMT, I have finished the plotting, though not quite in the way I expected. Still, its done and on time. So I guess I don't owe SM a meal after all.
I'll be updating the side bar with goals for the next quarter as soon as I figure out what they are. I hope your goals for the year are coming out just as well.
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