This is more about yesterday than today, I suppose. I’ll edit or update again later about today (not much has happened yet).
Pretty calm day, not too much happened. At least it was a lot cooler because of the thunderstorms Tuesday night. Made my list of things to do, got some of it done.
Andy came over later, and we both got worked up over exactly how we’re going to get out to Oregon without completely blowing our bank account (to fly or not to fly, that is the question!). Our original plan was to drive, but then there was car trouble. Now we might have a car that can get us out there, so do we rent a trailer for all our stuff, or do we cut back AMAP (thank you, Andrew!) and just try to make it out with one car’s load? Then how much will hotels cost, or should we just stop at camp sites along the way, and are there campsites along the way, and just what is the likelihood of a bear attack? It was a thrilling and humorous discussion, even if it was riddled with some serious deliberation and financial stress. We still don’t quite know what we’re doing, but I think after a brief foray into flying out, we’re back to driving out, if only to have access to a car immediately upon arrival.
Then we ate dinner, had Dr. Pepper floats, and watched a couple episodes of Scrubs Season 6. Good times, though I must say, Season 6 gets so weepy and emotional, I can only forgive them because there are some truly hilarious moments strewn throughout.
Writing Stuff:
This is really what I wanted to mention. Chapter 2 is done! But no, not the chapter two I was working on before. I reread the 1,700 words I had yesterday and decided it was all bupkis and threw it out. Just was not working. So yesterday afternoon, I sat down, and in a particularly sarcastic mood, hammered out 3,000+ words of the real Chapter 2. The voice is completely different from the first chapter, but since Chapter 1 was more from Keon’s POV, I guess it’s only natural that Marha’s POV would be extremely different.
I just finished re-reading it to see if I my cheer about it yesterday was all just emotional whimsy without any real usefulness, and I’m glad to say that it is in fact something I can work with. In fact, I find it hilarious. That was partially what drove my writing attempt yesterday: to get back the humor this story originally had. The problem with the previous version of Chapter 2 was that it simply was too serious, too heavy, and because of that, incredibly stifled.
The original version was a little more whimsical. I sat down yesterday and pinned down the main things I wanted the voice of the story to accomplish or evoke: (for Marha) Mechanical, (then in general) Romance, Action, and Humor.
Surprisingly, I don’t think the new Chapter 2 is stifled at all, and I think it does a good job of capturing Marha’s POV without having to resort to too much emotion (which has always been a chanllenge, since she’s notoriously not that emotional (at this point)). It’s stiff, it’s distant, just like she is, but you know- I think it’s rather funny. I think I actually managed to channel the sarcasm I was feeling and turn it into Marha’s voice. The plus side in particular is that I think this voice could smoothly transition from stiff and quirky to far more free, open, tender, and fiery, which would work perfectly as Marha develops. Now we’ll just have to see if I can ever do it again!
Maggie Slater 