Hidey-ho, squiders. Happy Thursday. I wrote 7K over the last week on side scenes (and also rewriting the climax, which still isn’t quite working, but it is better–but also I don’t tend to revise out of order and probably when I get there chronologically I’ll be more on top of the emotional arcs) which is helpful but not really, you know? Productive procrastination.
(Also, I daydreamed all of said side scenes and once again, writing them down made them infinitely worse. Why can’t you just pour things out of your brain onto the page?)
I did do a paper edit on the first three chapters as well. Chapter 1 needs to be rewritten just cuz it’s old and I can see several mistakes that I probably still make but at least know I shouldn’t be doing at this point. Chapters 2 and 3 are pretty solid, actually, so I don’t think I need to do a lot there except for fixing some continuity things.
But the big news of the week is that my youngest’s teacher has asked me to come in and talk to the kids about writing. Sounds like outlining specifically (they’re doing their fantasy writing unit! which I am thrilled is a unit) though I am waiting on answers to a few questions.
When I went to the writing retreat last year (and it’s coming up at the end of the month! I can’t believe it’s already been a year) I told myself I needed to have more confidence, say yes to more opportunities. (I haven’t seen Giuseppe in a hot minute, though–wonder where he went)
So I have said yes to talking to the class about outlining or whatever but I am freaking out about it just a tad.
(Okay, a lot.)
I mean, I’ve done panels at conventions and I teach SkillShare classes. In general, I love talking about writing! Something about it beings kids is making it weird, which makes zero sense because 1) I am a Cub Scout leader, I teach kids stuff all the time, and 2) kids are probably a lot less judge-y than adults, and they’ll less likely to be able to tell if I am full of crap (I am not).
(Currently.)
Anyway, that’s tomorrow morning. I’ve asked my youngest a few questions about what they have covered (“Do you know what an inciting incident is?” “A what?” “How about 3-act structure?” *blank stare*) so I do have a bit of a baseline, and she drew me out the plot progression they’ve learned (which is your standard rising action to climax) so I know where they’re starting from.
So we’ll see how this goes.
Wish me luck, I guess!
