June 1, 2016

I started the read aloud – woohoo! Found this in one of the first chapters:

Kita found the door she needed. Only maintenance used the payload to wheel spoke doors on the Orbiter. She pressed hard forgetting her dislocated shoulder—the rusted lock resisted. She breathed, focused, and pushed again. The lock disengaged and she gasped the night air as she lifted her elbow to stifle the pain in her shoulder. The rush of air clawed her eyes, and her jaw clenched at the grind of neglected bearings beneath her. The rigger gears rotated the payload wheel and she calculated the risk as rain added its cold play to the slippery rod. Gears joined the wheel spoke at a nasty angle that stretched a foot. The spoke, however, flared wide beyond it; a streamline of metal reaching across open space to a cubed fuselage at the center. Kita jumped, balanced, and raced across the spoke.  She had minutes to steal Orbiter C13.

Rain pelted her exposed skin and she pushed her exhausted legs against the wind. She had to make it. The wind crescendoed against the alarm of the orbiter in its launch lock down. Stiff fingers wiped rain from her eyes then attacked the entry panel with a sequence of numbers. The wind and alarm wrestled like a guitar fighting percussion to crush the words of a song to a stream of tears. Kita tilted her face into the rain, her ear near the entry panel lock hoping for that quiet click amid the chaos. The final alarm blasted and lightning cracked the sky—its brief light exposed her. No one can see you cry in the rain, she thought, but she turned her face to the door and yanked the handle.

It still needs work, but that’s why they call it a rewrite. So, I made notes in the margin and moved on.

I finished the chapters designated for today at 11:59 pm. It ended natural and relaxed with me unaware of the time until I checked the corner clock on the computer. I started with the two dogs listening (intermittently) while I played in the dirt. From there the time just slipped away as I fell in love, all over again, with writing.

I began with only a few pages printed for the read aloud. You may not be able to see them here because one of my favorite books is on top of it.

I’m using that last paperclip. I have more now, since I reorganized, but I think I am going to stick with this one for the aloud read through—make it a marker to hold one chapter at a time. That seems to keep me focused on it piece by piece. I already see how final decisions in the last chapter help me crystalize the world and I am paying close attention to the timeline. I’m dealing with solar systems; so getting the time right is as much about the world building as it is about the science. Right now I’m making decisions and marking the days with tabs to remind me to show those time changes in the writing. It may be the copy edit before it’s pretty, but I designed an entire system manipulating the science with math (which has its own beauty to me) and it works – I get so excited playing with it!

I mentioned a while back about a song one of the characters kept nudging me about. I didn’t come across it till several weeks ago and it put a lot in perspective about writing. A friend recommended the song when I asked about ideas for running music.

I downloaded it to my ipod at work, then at lunch I slipped into my running clothes, snuck out the back door, and hit the road. Sun blistered the pavement, but 95 degrees barely warmed my office-air-conditioned skin (I think I’m part lizard). Halfway into the first incline I remembered the scene I shared with you above. I had written it over a year before, but when I heard the song. . . it all came back. And yet, while rereading the scene in this rewrite more than a dozen songs whisper the diversity of the character. Maybe I’ll share those later, but for now my facebook has the latest addition to my running playlist.

Now that it’s Friday, June 3rd, and I finally have block time I wrestled away from other contenders minutes at a time; I’m going to settle in to my desk, like its another world, and go hard or go home.