In your face

No, I'm not talking about certain sex positions today.

I finally signed on for Facebook to figure out what all the hoo-ha is about. And found a whole bunch of folks I went to high school with. The amazing part is most of them haven't changed a bit! The other amazing part is, they say, "So, I hear you've written a book..."

Actually, that's the oddly scary part. The last time I saw most of these people was the last day of high school. And here it is, twenty-*cough*-some years later and I find myself caught in how to respond.

I rattle off a list of books to one, and offer a website link to the other (and then I deleted that post because Facebook will find the link and post it like a little ad and I wasn't quite ready to post ads to people's Facebook pages). Anyway, it's hard to explain, but it's just weird.

It's like the teen of *cough**splutter* years ago is competing against the me of today, who, um, is a little brasher, little more forward, than she was then. (Actually, I was the super-shy one.) Sort of "see how I've changed?" versus "well, no, I haven't really".

But it's given me some food for thought for the current WIP. It involves the reuniting of two childhood playmates (no, not that kind, ick) and I'd already added a level of her personality-slash-attitude occasionally slipping to that of the teen who had a crush on this older guy. I think I need to do the same for him though. And I think I can go deeper into their conflict as they can now struggle to reveal how much about themselves have changed over the years.

Never mind that I haven't written a word for about three weeks. The next scene is waiting in my head for me to get the time to write it. But see, messing about on Facebook is good for something.

Oh, and anybody know if it was possible to diagnose somebody with a venereal disease in the 1800s besides taking a look and seeing sores? I'm wondering if I'm going to need a private detective as well....

Where's the passion?

Since last I wrote here, I was struggling to find the ending to my current WIP proposal. I found it. And no, I’m not going to tell you what it is. You will have to wait and see (if it ever makes the light of day.)

I am in a hundred different places at the moment: the course I’m doing, the course I’m preparing to give (no, nothing nearly so sexy as Pam’s), the current WIP. Which strangely is not the same WIP as the one I’ve been writing about.

I was talking to my husband about both WIPs, one just a germ of an idea at the time, trying to figure out which way to go with it. And he said, more or less, you sound most passionate about #2, why not do that one? If WIP #1 isn’t appealing, why do it?

But that WIP has some kick-butt scenes in it, that’s why.

With a part-time job that feels like a full-time one, and study and limited time to write. I think he’s right on the money. Follow my passion. Follow my bliss. Make writing fun again. And I have been giggling over this idea -- which I did when I came up with ONE MORE TIME and we all know how that turned out. (That is, if you read it.)

So it’s an interesting thing--to turn from the obligation of writing and preparing a proposal for a difficult-to-write book, to the joy of writing something for fun. Figuring out real motivations hasn’t been quite so much fun, but I got there.

Enjoying my break in the middle of the day, and going off-campus to a deli and sitting outside and doing some brainstorming writing. And I have character names already. I never have character names this early.

Anyway, I suspect I’m rambling. So writers: are you still following your passion in your writing? Readers, can you tell the difference?