Stuck in the Slog

No, I'm not talking about all the rain and snow and mud and muck in Western Washington. I'm trying to transcribe 70 pages of longhand work on this novel. Transcribe, and edit, and improve it at the same time. And it is agonizing! I don't know why it's taking so long--I only got through five pages yesterday. Today I've gotten through fifteen, so it's improving, but still.

There's a lot of other stuff to take care of at the same time. Talking to the insurance company about the damage to the house from the storm; getting bids for roof repair, etc. Chores. Yard work. Getting dinner on the table. Freelance work. And getting this draft of the novel done done done. There's been some discussion on the blog I Love Werewolves (http://ilovewerewolves.com/blog/) about how to get it all done. I wish I was as capable or good at time management as some of the commenters there. But I keep trying...

Hope all's well with the werewolves out there...and the people who love them... and the people who fear them....

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

All this snow and ice, followed by the holidays, followed by the rescheduled make-up festivities, it's been fun but it's really thrown my writing routine off. Today I'm trying to get back into it.

Yesterday, Kurt and I headed off to the Wing Luke Museum to see the exhibit about Native Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest (www.wingluke.org). I grabbed what I through was a blank notebook to work on a particular scene I've been having trouble with. The ferry to Seattle is usually a good place for me to write--couldn't tell you why. But the notebook I grabbed turned out to be full. No room for more writing. The good part is that it was full of scenes I KNEW I had written (and done a pretty good job on too) but could not find. Does this ever happen to anyone else? I should be more organized. It's a problem, though, when you're working full-time and your commute is a long one. You lose track of what you've written and where you put it. Outlining helps, but if you outline too much, or get too detailed, then you kill the creative spark that adds life to your work.

I know I'm very blessed to have this time for writing. So I need to make more of an effort to make use of it.

The main thing that's on my mind at the moment: Wolf packs and werewolves. How much do pack dynamics affect werewolf behavior? (Sounds like an anthropological or, dare I say it, a lycanthropological treatise, doesn't it?)

Happy New Year--good luck with your own writing.

Werewolves on Bainbridge Island

So what is this project I'm working on now? Well, it's a novel. About werewolves. On Bainbridge Island. No, actually, they are on a fictional island that shares some attributes of Bainbridge. That's probably all I should say. A screenwriter friend advised me not to tell anybody what I was working on "because people will steal [your] ideas." It's a sad comment on our times if that is so, but I suppose it's better not to take chances. And I suppose it's the reality of this business since it's certainly the reality of the American workplace in general, isn't it.

Bad Britton, bad! Far too cynical!

Anyway, I've never paid much attention to werewolves before because they just didn't interest me that much. If you asked me what kind of writing I dabbled at in my spare time, I would have said historical fiction since the one manuscript I did manage to complete was set in the 1920s. But this idea came to me involving werewolves, and somehow I felt compelled to pursue it.

So here I am, ten chapters into the second draft, and praying for the wisdom, talent, and discipline to finish it. I would like to have had vampires as my subject. Vampires are sexy. But no ideas presented themseves (leastwise, nothing that Anne Rice didn't do, and do way better than I ever could). So werewolves it is.