Change of scenery

This was my view in the shuttle from the airport to the house we stayed in. My skin and my hair told me that Lake Tahoe was very different than Houston.

Once at the house, this was the place I chose to sit most days. First, it was by the fire. The nights were chilly and so were the mornings.  Also, this view was amazing. The first day, 5 of us went to a Thai restaurant and got to know each other.

The next morning after breakfast, we sat in a large group (there were 11 of us at the workshop) and we had to do an elevator pitch, a one sentence description of our novel. 

I had such a great idea:

"Luci starts to have memories of a murder that she witnessed as a child after she moves back home to her small town in Central Texas."

Seemed so simple and succinct. Little did I know it would blow up later in the week.

I had to make a decision

Was I going to commit to writing?

Did I want to do this....but I mean really do this? 

Yes... I got on a plane and went to a writing workshop. I needed to learn how I write. 

That may not make sense, but here's how I think about it. 

There's a movie (I think with Chevy Chase) where he is in the beautiful, mountain cabin. He's at an open window enjoying the breeze. He's in front of a typewriter (it's an older movie) and he types "page 1, chapter 1, scene 1" and then just stares at the paper. (If I remember the movie I will update).

Folks, that's not how "most" people write. Some may be able to do that, but I'm not one of them.

I have been following Suzanne Lakin for a while and have a couple of her books that have really helped. But I needed to jump in with both feet. That's what I did this week at this bootcamp.

I feel so good about my process now. I am going to stick with this one story until I get a good draft done; however, I won't "write" until my scenes are well plotted. That's a big lesson for me.

I'm on it! I feel confident. More to come about this week . . . .