Author: lleachie

I am an associate professor of human services at a regional Midwestern university. I am also a writer of fantasy and romance, hoping to get traditionally published. I have one husband and am owned by four cats.

Priorities

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I’m in the busy time of year — grading upon grading; major assignments coming due — and that doesn’t bode well for writing. I am about 1/4 through the re-conceived version of this year’s Kringle novel and stymied because I just don’t have the mental bandwidth to write. I have plenty of time to finish it, as I’m not doing NaNoWriMo. I just don’t have time right now.

The thing I used to teach (and will teach again) in resource management — the importance of a task and the motivation toward the task should match. Nothing more motivating than angry students who need that assignment to be graded. Luckily I’m motivated to do the important task of grading, or at least motivated enough. Some music to motivate should help.

My top priority is to get the assignment graded. From there, other work. Maybe I will get to write this afternoon.

Wish me luck.

CATS

Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite animals?
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I think it’s clear to anyone who has followed me for any time that my favorite animals are cats. (Dogs and goats are tied for second place).

Why cats? First, because of all of their moods. My cats are silly, aloof, affectionate, grumpy, sleepy, and content. They remind me a lot of me in their variety. And they have no trouble telling me what mood they’re in.

Second, because they’re amusing. Whether doing zoomies, jumping into the bathtub until it starts filling up with water, or defiantly standing on a high surface, cats’ antics leave me chuckling. Sometimes they’re not so amusing, such as when they climb up a Christmas tree (who am I kidding? If they’re climbing up someone else’s Christmas tree, it’s hilarious), but for the most part cats are funny.

Third, because they’re beautiful. Even my chunky cat Chloe possesses a beauty that makes me envious. They flow, they slink, they’re smooth and powerful. (Except for Chucky, who lumbers and plunks).

Having three cats in the house has been a cornucopia of experiences. I can’t imagine being without cats. If I were, my house would be that much less comforting.

Beach or Mountains? Nah.

Daily writing prompt
Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?
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Which do I prefer — beach or mountains? If I had to choose between those two, I’d say mountains. I loved the Catskills when I lived out in upstate New York, and I used to stay near the Adirondacks in a campground.

But I really prefer forests. I want the cabin in the middle of the woods where I can have a writing retreat. I want trees outside my window and the possibility of deer in my backyard. I want misty mornings and rain through the branches. I want the fire in the fireplace against the chill outside.

This might be why I like to go to Starved Rock State Park so much. We stay in a cabin; although it is not in the middle of the woods, trees surround the cabins. The park’s trails and sandstone bluffs are wooded. The park is one of my favorite places on earth.

I guess I’ll go to the mountains if the opportunity arises. At least it has trees.

Trust My Instincts? Usually.

Daily writing prompt
Do you trust your instincts?
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I usually trust my instincts. They have kept me out of bad situations for all my life. That gut feeling — literally in my gut — signals that trouble lies ahead, and I listen to it.

I don’t always trust my instincts toward something good. I find that, if I’m not careful, I use instincts as justification for something I personally want. Or I mistake impulse for instinct. So good instincts go through a reasoning process, which makes them not instinctual, I guess?

I think instincts exist as a survival mechanism, which means I need to refine my belief in the positive ones. I just have to figure out how to recognize instinct from impulse or justification.

The Strangest Dream

Some mornings I can’t seem to wake up. I’m out of bed, I’m upright, I’m typing, but I am not awake. There’s a cup of strong coffee next to me, but I am not awake.

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I woke up at 4 AM from an annoying dream in which my mother (a compulsive clothes shopper) left me a truckload of clothes that were 1) in the wrong size, and 2) profoundly ugly. Instead of taking them to my home, my sister brought them, racks and racks full, to a shopping mall and I was left to gather them all. And my sister started yelling at me because I had misplaced a supposedly valuable hot pink wool suit. I was trying to get it back from the store clerk who found it. At least I saved the glow-in-the-dark suit. There were at least 20 pale pink cotton shirts and matching polka-dot pants. I decided I needed to lose weight to fit into all these clothes I didn’t even like. An old friend walked by and held up a stretchy skirt saying I could never lose enough weight to wear it. I bet her I could wear it right now and put it on over a long black matronly skirt. A sales clerk from another store tried to persuade me that these clothes were, in fact, breathtakingly ugly. I got mad at him because I knew he was just trying to sell me more clothes.

I’m awake now and wondering what the heck that dream meant.

So I gutted the Kringle book and started it again. My female protagonist is now a writer who can spend a bit more time at the lodge and start her stay early enough that they might actually progress to a “breakup” before Christmas.

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The romance novel has a structure. I use a Scrivener template called “Romancing the Beat” based on Gwen Hayes’ book of the same name. This lays out the romance in terms of four parts: Set up, Falling in love, Retreating from love, Fighting for love. Each of those parts has five steps that progress the reader through the story. (If you think that romance novels are too formulaic, there are beat sheets for your favorite form of literature as well. We have expectations when reading a story).

The problem with my original story is that the happy ending has to happen by Christmas (it’s a Christmas romance, after all). As the romance started less than a week before Christmas, the plot had no time for them to pass through the stages between doubt and breakup. I suppose I could have collapsed them, but part of the fun for the reader is to pass through those stages. It’s not only part of the plot, but gives the reader a satisfying emotional roller coaster.

So I am rewriting the story with a protagonist who can stay a little longer. Not even that much longer — she’s got two more days to be there. The days are important, not only for the timing of the novel, but for what can happen during those days. Because their getting together time is not as close to Christmas, they have time to do things together before the male lead (an executive chef) has to buckle down for the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day buffets. This is in closer keeping with the original plot. It’s not romantic if they don’t get to enjoy some courtship.

I wrote the first thousand words yesterday. I think this will be a better book, although I won’t be done by the end of November. At least I won’t spend all my writing time grumbling about how it’s not working.

Keep Writing

I’m having to abandon the current Kringle (Christmas romance) story because of encroaching improbability. The way I set it up, romantic developments are supposed to happen in hours rather than days, which is just too rapid. There is no way to stretch out the time the book covers, because the female protagonist is a schoolteacher and would not get to the Lodge sooner than she has. Nor could she afford to stay there for two weeks; a week is expensive enough. The relationship needs to be resolved by Christmas. There’s just no time for the two of them.

This has been happening to me lately; stopping in the middle of a book and not feeling it. Here, I’ve not been feeling like writing for a very good reason: The book is untenable. I can resolve this with some plot tweaks, including a protagonist who can arrive at the lodge a few days earlier. Maybe a writer on a writing retreat. That would be writing what I know. I already have someone from the last book in mind.

Today I have to keep writing, even if I’m not doing NaNo, even if I’m having to start from scratch. This is my flow activity; I need to keep it in my life for my health.

October

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite month of the year? Why?
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In the American midwest, our summers are too hot and our winters are too cold. Our springs are rainy and last little time at all. But we have autumns, which have fiery trees and comfortable jacket weather. And the highlight of autumn (or fall, as often said in the US) is October.

Autumn colors peak in about the second week of October. The skies on a cloudless day are a clear blue, a backdrop to the orange-red maples and the rusty brown oaks. Time seems to stand still as one looks at the trees.

The tempermental rain in October pelts the ground with abandon, or mists the pavement. The fallen leaves turn sodden underfoot. They smell of endings, of which October is a glorious reminder.