I was going to write about multi tasking and how I am writing Silence of the Lambs Wool, while preparing to do promotion for Yarn to Go. At the same time, I’m trying to update my website and work on the pattern for the next Yarn Retreat mystery.

All the while I knew the edits for For Better or Worsted were going to come any day. I just didn’t know they would come today. Or that my editor would need them done and back to her by sometime next week.

So, multi tasking has just become single tasking with all focus going on those edits. I’ve read her letter and most of it was glowing, but there are some changes she suggested and I am confident she is right. Except sometimes changes have a domino effect and suddenly lots of other stuff no longer makes sense.

I stopped at Trader Joe’s to make sure I have enough cat food to last the duration. The last time I was down to such a short deadline, I didn’t leave the house and ate whatever I could scrounge up, which meant things like cream cheese and sliced almond sandwiches. But when I ran out of cat food, I had to go out. I might be able to get by on sliced nut sandwiches, but the cats can’t.

I picked up some people food, too. I have enough clean clothes to get me to next week. Now I’m ready to push everything aside and go through that manuscript

Wish me luck.

Why Can't The Stupid Butler Do It?

I would never drive around a foreign country -- or certain parts of New Jersey -- without a road map and GPS. So why do I ever think I can write a book without an outline? This absurdity comes over me every once and awhile. Usually when the project's editor doesn't make me do one. Seduced by an attitude I do not recommend --half laziness, the other part, plain cocky -- I jump right in with only a slim story concept to guide me. I clip along for a chapter or two, then stall out at some plot point crossroad, end up in a dead end, or swerve right off the page, all together.

"Why do write mysteries anyway? Why am I twisting my pathetic brain in a knot?... Why can't the stupid butler just do it?" This is what I yell at the ceiling in my office. No one ever answers me.


Even though the answers are easy -- especially, the the last one, since I have never written a book with a butler in it. Probing a bit deeper, the real answer is that I have abandoned my process. If you "Stick to your process," as the little yellow stickie on my forehead advises, all goes well.
A truth I have discovered after more years of writing than I'm willing to admit.

My process is the trusty little row boat I have built by hand, through trial and error. It keeps me afloat and gets me where I need to go. Not without some sweat and effort on my part, granted.
But once I get the oars into place and get comfortable in my seat, the movement soon becomes mindless and automatic. Something I don't have to think about.

Which brings me to the second truth I have learned lo these many years --- thinking and writing
are two different things. Another stickie on my forehead says, "Don't think. Just write."

Maybe when I'm writing an outline, I'm thinking. When I'm writing the book, following the outline, I don't have to think. This is not to say that I never deviate from the outline or get new ideas while I'm writing. In a way, having the outline there allows me to do more of that. Because I'm working from the finished vision.

It's the difference between trying to describe a house from a quick pencil sketch. Or a full blue print. Better yet, one of those three dimensional models with spongy green trees, curtains on the windows and tiny plates laid out on a tiny table. Maybe a pair of slippers by the bed in an upstairs room? I can just see it now.  An outline creates this entire world for me. It is real and complete. And I can come and go, observe, listen and report, as I need to.

It's a white rabbit stuffed into my top hat. Not visible to the rest of you, yet. But I know it's down there. I can feel a heart beat and see a nose twitch. All I have to do now is pull it out.

Do you have a writing process...or one for some other creative work? I'd be interested to hear
how other writers and artists manage this.

  

Malice and More

I’ve been back in town for only a few days after a wonderful trip east.

First, I went to Malice Domestic, which, as always, was a fun event.  I think the panel I was on, along with Betty Hechtman, really went well.  I enjoyed it, at least.  It was about the film industry and how we use it in our stories, and I had a great time explaining how OODLES OF POODLES centered around rescued poodles playing rescued poodles in a movie being filmed--and how I was able to mention that “No Animals Were Harmed” thanks to the American Humane Association.

From Bethesda, Maryland, I went to my old hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the Festival of Mystery presented by the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in nearby Oakmont, and it, too, was delightful.  I also caught up with some goings-on with my relatives in the ‘Burgh, including getting to know my cousin’s 70-pound Goldendoodle lapdog.

Then on to Ohio, where I got to see my older son, d-i-l, and adorable grandson Elliott who’ll turn 1 year old in a couple of weeks.  I spent Mother’s Day morning with them and with my husband, b-i-l and wonderful m-i-l, then traveled home to L.A. in time to have Mother’s Day dinner with my younger son!

The trip was nearly two weeks long, and although I missed my dogs I had a great time.  But I have to say... it’s really good to be home now.  Especially since I have a lot of writing to catch up on as well as panels and other events here in L.A.!

How about you--did you enjoy the last two weeks as much as I did?