Wowsers. Just finished my first edit and sent it off to the editor extraodinaire (I hope), waiting now. The first edit seemed to go well. I think...well, maybe...okay maybe not.... I guess I'll just wait and see.
Anyhoo, I've had a few people ask me where I got the idea for Supernaturally Yours, so I thought I'd write a blog post about it. It will sound cliché and maybe like a line, but I dreamt it. I awoke from a dream, a year and a half ago, with the first line of my novel stuck in my head. "Hi, my name is Anna and I am a zombie." It wasn't that I could remember the dream, just that one line on repeat. It reverberated there for days, while I tried to deny it. The thoughts continued in my head until it was the start of a story. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Within three days of waking up with that I had started writing. For the first two months it was like I had verbal diarrhea, it just came out. It was like my mind was vomiting on the page. (I know nice imagery huh? But it is how it felt) I was like a woman possessed, writing and thinking about the story, within a month I had the first twenty thousand words. After that it got harder, and a lot more work. I slogged through it. I never knew what it was, just that I had to get the story out of my brain. Supernaturally Yours is the first full novel that I wrote.
I've always been an A.D.D writer and crafter, you know the type, I pick something up play with it for a bit then forget about it. I've made stained glass, mosaics, knitting, wooden books, bath products, sewing, jewellery, and so on.. Each craft lasted for a couple of months then I got bored. Our basement is filled with craft supplies that Mr. Gloria is ready to throw out in frustration. Even with writing, which I have always done, I only wrote short stories or poetry because that's all my attention span could handle. When I say this novel is a first for me, you understand it really is a first for me. And you can understand that when I started Supernaturally Yours, I, and my friends and family, had some doubt as to whether it would go anywhere, or even get finished.
What I loved about writing a full novel was the characters. By the end of it, I felt like Anna and Jenny were my family. I knew them so well. I loved bringing the kind of relationship that they have into the light. Although it was my first, I found I truly had something to say.
I always had doubts in the back of my head. You know how it goes, that constantly nagging old lady voice in your head. "You'll never finish." "No one will like it." "It's not worth it, it won't be published." "What's the point?" THAT VOICE. I learned that the voice in my head was full of crap. I ignored Evil Gloria (as I call the doubts) and kept writing. I kept doing what I had to do, putting aside my self doubt and insecurities and letting ME out. Once I did that I found a sense of, it sounds so corny but, peace. I was doing what I had to do. Don't misunderstand, Evil Gloria still comes to play quite often but I've found I can ignore her. Well maybe ignore isn't the right word, but only listen for a little bit then I put her words aside and keep going.
Now how do I get ideas for other stories? The question is, how don't I. I constantly have ideas streaming through my head in full HD. I try to narrow them down, jot them on paper (or in my iphone as the case may be). I have no idea how many notebooks are filled with these thoughts that just come and demand to be let out, to be written down, to be heard. And those are just the ones I actually write down. (It is one of Mr. Gloria's pet peeves about me - especially since I don't write in order or even from the front to the back of the book. I just open any book up and write not caring what page I'm on. He'll grab a notebook and see that the first pages are empty so he starts to use it. Then about half way through he comes to a series of scribbled notes, and poems scattered through the pages. It frustrates him to no get out. That being said, we've been together for over twenty years now and I think that he's getting used to me...maybe.)
Right now I have two very opposing ideas floating around in there, not sure which one will take the forefront. But I'm gonna let them matriculate for a little bit longer to see which one wins.
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