Debbie Daughetee

I've done a lot of different kinds of writing -- teleplays, screenplays, short stories, novels, essays.

Now I'm writing an audio drama for the 60s cult classic Dark Shadows. How totally cool is that?

I used to work for Dan Curtis before I actually got a staff job on Dr. Quinn. I loved working for Dan. Not only did he create Dark Shadows, but he produced and/or directed Trilogy of Terror (remember Karen Black getting chased around by the little Zuni doll?), Night Stalker (the movies, not the series) and versions of Dracula, The Portrait of Dorian Grey and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Not to mention he won an emmy for direction Winds of War -- or was it War and Remembrence.

But I digress. When I was 8-years-old I used to run home from school to watch Dark Shadows.

So I was contacted about a month ago to write for Big Finish, who does the DS audio dramas. I turned in two pitches, they liked both but chose a Willie/Angelique story first. I did a treatment. They sent me scripts to study.

Now I'm working on the scripts. It's a combination of a teleplay and a short story. There are only two actual characters (all recorded by the original actors -- so Lara Parker and Johnny Karlan in my episode). The story is told from the point of view of one characters (Willie) so there's a lot of internal dialog.

It's different from writing a teleplay because there are no visuals. So if I want to describe a place or a person, I have to put the words in the character's mouth. And all the monologue part is written in past tense. There's no setting the scene in a descriptive paragraph. It's more like a short story because you're in your character's head, hearing his thoughts.

It is like a teleplay because you are writing established characters and have to be true to their voice. There are some real fans out there who will bust me big time if I make Willie use proper Queen's english.

When there are characters other than the two designated for this episode, their actions and dialog are once again filtered through the POV character. So if I write actual dialog, Willie will be imitating these characters. This seems to go against the show don't tell rule.

In the audio drama I also have to put in sound effects. Josette's theme is one of my favorites. Also the sound of howling dogs whenever Willie starts to remember Barnabas.

There's lots of atmosphere in these scripts. Once again it is written in the POV of the main character. You might be saying that you do the same thing in a short story. But this is different because this is a first person account that is actually going to be spoken by that character. So you're really doing all of the above in dialog -- remember audio drama. No words on a page. No visuals on a screen.

It's a very interesting learning curve. I'm having a great time writing this script. Every day I go back and have to rewrite what I did the day before -- whether it's because I slipped into the present tense in the monologue like I would in a teleplay, or that I wrote some stuff in dialog which should have been in monologue.

Don't you just love learning a new style of writing!

And let me just say once again -- I'm writing a Dark Shadows script! Yippee!

Does anyone else have this problem?

I'm writing along -- have a great time, really into the story, feeling like a WRITER!

Then I come to an end of a section. It could be the end of a chapter or just a break within the chapter. And my minds says, "Okay, we're done." and shuts down.

What the F****. We are not done. I've got 10,000 words to write by the end of March and a piddling 1,000 isn't going to make it.

So I guess I'll go have lunch, and come back to write after. Maybe that will fool my psyche into thinking that it's a new day of writing.

I really appreciated everyone's thoughts on my pevious post about the story in my mother's file cabinet.

I was leaning toward rewriting it -- after the initial emotions wore off. I flew back to Albuquerque in time for Pat Murphy to fly in. She stayed with me for the weekend.

I told her about finding the story in mom's files, and suddenly realized I'd written the story at Clarion West and Pat was my teacher that week. She remembered the story. Okay, that's not quite right. She remembered the symbols in the story. Two big symbols. Two? Oh my god she was right. I was so focused on one of the symbols -- the labyrinth -- that I'd missed the second -- the house. The story is even named for the house.

So we talked about it and some missing pieces fell right into place. So yes, I am going to rewrite the story. The first version was for my mother. The next

As most of you know, I'm in Florida helping my dad after my mother's death. We've been going through things, making surprising discovers like the hoard of silver coins mom had in the back of her filing cabinet.

In that same file drawer there was a folder with geneology information. And in that file, along with birth and death certificates, notes on ancestors, etc., was a manuscript of one of my stories, The House On Hudson Run.

I wrote this story back at Clarion West in 2004. It is about a woman who looses her mom and dad in an auto accident, and returns to the family home, full of grief and regret, to get it ready to sell. In the garden she finds a hidden labrynith. One stone has the name of her mother, one has the name of her grandmother.

It's about letting go of grief and embracing the joy of life. The entire thing is based on my life with my grandmother and mother. The house on Hudson Run is the house I always look back on as 'home'.

I sent it to my mother, because it dealt with my grandmother's death of Lou Gehrig's disease. Actually it deals with generations of women's pain. My mother read the story and called me. She said it was like I had been inside her head and heart, that I wrote her feelings with such perfect accuracy. She couldn't believe that I could capture her pain so well when I was only 9 years old when my grandmother died.

I never sold that story. I'd been thinking about pulling it out and reworking it again.

Finding the manuscript in my mother's files made me stop and think about why we write the stories we do. There is a lot of emphasis on sending them out to be published -- and I'm a huge proponant of that. That's a good thing. We spend so much time and energy on our work we should get it out there so other people can read them.

But that's not why we write the stories. We write because we have something inside us that really needs to be expressed, even if it never seems the inside of a magazine or book.

And maybe, just maybe, we write stories because there's someone else who needs to read it, to be moved by it, and to help a healing process.

I sent my mom most of my stories. Well, not my horror, but my spiritual (as opposed to religious) work. I wrote about my grandmother and her garden in another story which was published in After Hours many years ago. Mom didn't keep those manuscripts.

So am I going to rework The House On Hudson Run? I don't know. I sort of feel like it's fulfilled it's purpose. And yet it's against my nature to just let a story go without trying to make it better and get it out there. What do you all think?

As many of you know, I'm writing some audio dramas for Dark Shadows. I'm totally jazzed about this. I loved DS, loved working for Dan Curtis and love the fans with whom I've become acquainted.

I was sent some scripts. They were great -- right up my alley. A combination of short story writing and television writing. Very atmospheric and creepy.

But now I have to come up with some pitches. So I order videos and start having a DS marathon, which I'm totally enjoying. The acting was really good -- even allowing for the flubbed lines and the problems with shooting a live tv show in the 60s.

So I wrote up two pitches and sent them off. One of them I questioned sending because it was too close to the original show and the people at Big Finish are looking for -- well, I'm still figuring that out.

I sent the pitch anyway. The first pitch was way better, much more creative.

Which one did they flip for -- right, the second pitch. And with their notes on it, I'm flipping for it as well.

You'd think I'd learn this lesson by now. When Danna (my writing partner at the time) and I were pitching for Murder,She Wrote after it had been on the air for 10 seasons, we came up with a list of ideas. I had one -- a vampire comes to Cabot Cove. I didn't want to pitch it. I thought they'd never go for it. But Danna talked me into it. And yes, they bought it. The next season we pitched a ghost ship sailing into Cabot Cove harbor. They bought that one too.

So many times we writers try to out-think the people, whether they be editors, producers or whatever, who are going to buy our work. And you know what? You can't. If I hadn't sent in that second pitch I'd probably would still work on the second one, but they wouldn't have been as excited about it and who knows if it would have actually made it into production.

So the moral of the story is, send your stuff out. Don't try to second guess what the people out there buying want. Yes, look at guidelines and read the magazines. Don't send a horror story to Analog. But if you find yourself saying, "Oh so and so wouldn't like this," slap yourself up alongside the head and send that puppy out. You just never know.

I was contacted by Big Finish to submit ideas for Dark Shadows Audio Dramas. This is so exciting. I was a fan as a kid, and ended up working for Dan Curtis during my early television years (for those who don't know, he created DS).

So they sent me several scripts, which I very much enjoyed. And I'm working on my pitches.

But I want to talk about the scripts. They very different from television scripts. They're more like short stories writing in the first person point of view. There are always 2 characters, and the story is narrated from one character's POV with dramatized scenes scattered throughout.

The writer also scripts in some sound effects and music for emphasis and atmosphere.

This is such a great fit for me. It pulls from both of my skills and feels a lot like playing rather than working! Now I just have to come up with some pitches they like, and I'll be golden.

Can you tell I'm excited?

You can check out Big Finish at Bigfinish.com. They also do audio dramas for Stargate Atlantis and Dr. Who, as well as some other shows I haven't heard of -- them being a British company and all.

I'm so happy the holidays are over. Going to Florida for Thanksgiving and my Dad's B-day, then turning around and going to Texas to spend the Christmas with Paul's family, ended up being just too exhausting. My mother is still going downhill, my father needs surgery and 93-year-old grandmother had bleeding behind her eye which detached her retina. She had surgery and is now doing well.

Whew! I really used to love the holidays.

But now Paul and I are back home and I feel like I'm getting my life back. I finished the rewrite of my dragon story and set it off to Fantasy magazine. I'm rereading my novel and making some polishing changes. At least I'm still enjoying the story and the characters. And I'm rewriting another story to submit to my short story writing critique group. So I'm feeling quite accomplished after so much time away from the keyboard.

This has also been a time of surprises. Out of the blue I was contacted by some old friends from my days on Prodigy when I was part of the Dark Shadows board. I worked for Dan Curtis (who created DS) and he asked me to get on and ask a few questions of the fans. It took a while and a phone call from Jim Pierson, who handled all Dan's DS work, to convince the members that I really did work for Dan. But I made some great friends there and even met some at a convention.

I lost track once I got staff jobs writing for TV. I simply didn't have the time to keep up. Now, out of the blue, Craig Anderson found me and convinced me to sign up for Facebook in order to get back in touch with my old friends. And guess what, one of them happens to be brother to Bob Angell's half sister. Small world!

To go a long with my last post, I was talking about my reaction to ending my novel with my Plotbusters critique group. It was an interesting conversation with Pari Noskin Taichert saying she had the same kind of reaction each time she ended a novel.

Then Pati Nagel sent out this link:

http://tinyurl.com/6j6luy

It's a terrific article about the psychology of finishing a novel. Thanks, Pati!

So, what did you do today, Debbie?

Why, I finished the new ending of my novel.

You did! Congratulations..

Why thank you. It's kind of strange, though. I don'te really feel like I actually finsihed it. Now I know I've got some cleaning up to do and everything. But geez. I finished it. Shouldn't I be celebrating or something.

Why aren't you?

Um... I'm really happy. I think it's a kick-ass ending. Much better than the old one.

So why aren't you celebrating?

I think I'll go get that Red Stripe out of my refrigerator and celebrate right now! In honor of Bob Angel, Jeff Spock and all my other CW pub crawlers! Yay!

I had a great writing day today. I'm redoing the climax of my book and I was hot, hot, hot. I love it when you have something planned out, and then the characters come on the scene and off they go into places you never dreamed! YAHOO. What a great time. I just love writing on days like this.

But I'm blasting along -- eleven new pages in -- and I suddenly realizing I'm flagging. I'm still writing, but I've now become somewhat impatient to be done with this particular scene, which means I'm cutting corners. Oops! Not good. Don't like it. Bad writing.

So I stopped for the day. In the middle of a sentence. I actually do that a lot because it helps me get back into that hot place I was in early in my writing session. But sometimes it's just hard to stop, you know? You love what your writing. You love what's coming out of you and you just want it to keep coming, and coming and -- eventually you run out of fuel.

Anybody else have this experience? Do you have to force yourself to stop writing because you just know you're no longer in the zone, no longer doing good work?

Okay, so Erin pinged me and said it's been too long since I've posted. And yes, Erin is right. It has.

Let's see. Paul is doing great. He's out of town this week testing the software he's been working on 7 days a week for the last 6 months. The tests are going great, so that is a good thing. AND he's healthy. That's even better.

My mom went way downhill again, but it looks like she's coming back -- again. Paul, Max and I are going to Florida for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad have 3 little dogs so it's going to be a zoo. But they insisted we bring Max so...

I haven't heard back from Ginjer regarding my novel, but I didn't expect to. Since I'm completely changing the ending, I'm sort of counting on it taking a couple of months.

But the writing is GREAT! The end of the novel is so much better and I've found new enthusiasm for the book. Now a second book (in the series) is knocking at the door and I'm taking some notes for when I have time to work on it.

I found a new doctor (my old doctor left) who actually listened to me and got me back on my meds. I'm taking very low dose anti-anxiety drugs. I went to a new doctor who started out our conversation with, "We can only take care of 3 things today. You'll have to make an appointment for anything else."

She also refused to renew my prescription for the anti-anxiety meds and wouldn't listen to why I need them and that I never used anything like this before in my life. I hated this doctor so much I wanted to put a hex on her. But I didn't. I did get my flu shot. I guess that's something. I got a new referral for the heart stress test I was supposed to take once I got rid of my shingles. And I got a referral to a pulmonary doctor for my lung check-up. She didn't touch me. She didn't look at me. She didn't care about me at all.

So I found a new doctor who, instead of taking me off the medication, talked me into staying on it until all this stuff with my mom is resolved.

So, now I'm caught up. Well, except I want to talk about a book I read recently. Maybe I'll post about that tomorrow!

Happy new moon everyone. Did you know that last month we had a black moon -- which translates to two new moons in one month. Very unsual. Blue moons -- two full moons in one month -- are rather common. But not black moons.

Anyway it's new moon once again and time to set those goals.

I did well last new moon. I wrote two essays -- one for the Clarion West Newsletter and one for the Stonecoast Newsletter. I sent the first 50 pages of my novel and a synopsis out to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace.

And that seques into this new moon goals. First, thank you to Michaela Rossenburg Herman and Ellen Neuborne for proofing the first 50 pages for me. And thanks to Sandra McDonald for looking at my synopsis.

Sandra asked me some key questions about the synopsis that made me realize the end of my book wasn't really working. So I took some questions to Plotbusters (my novel crit group) and we had a wonderful converstion about the book. And I ended up throwing out 11 chapters. Oops. Actually throwing out is a rather large statement. Some of the content can stay, like dialog. But mostly it's a do over.

As I looked at what Sandra gave me and at my notes from PB, is was able to outline a whole new ending for the book. So then I wrote my synopsis according to that outline.

But that means I've got a lot of writing to do this new moon. I've already rewritten two of the 11 chapters. 8 to go. But I'm feeling hot and reenergized now that I actually know what the theme of the book is about.

And that was the problem folks. That is what Sandra made me realize. I had all the plot worked out -- but the theme went askew somewhere. Now I feel like I really have a book -- a story that holds together and is satisfying, and a protagonist who, with all her flaws, really learns something about herself and the world. Cool, huh?

My essay for the Clarion West Newsletter is based on the blog entry I did on collaboration. I truly feel that I found the center of my book due to the people listed above. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And one more thing. I did a paper on Barth Anderson's "Patron Saint of Plagues" in which Bart states that he threw out something like 10,000 words in the middle of the book because he realized he needed to make a chance. Jim Kelly, who was my mentor at Stonecoast at the time, commented on the paper, asking me if I thought I could make that kind of decision. Well, I guess the answer is YES.

So my new moon goal is to rewrite the end of the book and have it read just in case Ginjer asks for it. What's your' goal?

The new issue of SHIMMER is now available at www.shimmerzine.com. This issue has my story "The Girl Who Lost Her Way". For those of you who have seen the rough draft of my short film, this is the story I adapted.

I read a few of the stories so far. The M. K. Hobson story is fabulous. As is the Tinatsu Wallace story. You can get a taste for the issue here: http://www.shimmerzine.com/2008/08/07/issue-nine-spring-2008/#more-200

A very cool thing that Shimmer does is make author pages, where you can go and read all about how the story in the issue came about. My autor page is here: http://www.shimmerzine.com/2008/08/07/issue-nine-spring-2008/#more-200

Okay, enough shameless self promotion. On to Mad Max.

Max thinks I'm dense. I've been noticing this over the last week or so. He decides he wants something, I decide not to give it to him, but he thinks I don't know what he wants and keeps trying to show me.

So this morning I was eating cereal. I'm loathe to admit it, but I actually made him a little pyrex bowl of cereal as well. I like to eat my breakfast in my big oversized chair while watching the TODAY show.

Max finished his in a flash, of course. I ignored his attempts to get at my bowl. So finally he jumps down, gets the pyrex bowl in his mouth, carries it over to me and jumps up on the chair, placing it in my lap. I don't know what Paul was thinking when he got a smart dog.

A while back I talked about collaboration and what I considered to be collaboration among writers.

Today I want to talk about the importance of regeneration.

We writers endlessly discuss when we write, how much we write and the important of meeting goals. But we almost never discuss the important of just leaving the writing behind and letting the energy flow back into our bodies and our minds.

As most of you know, Paul and I have a new Jack Russell puppy. This means I'm getting up early in the morning. Paul gets up early, takes the puppy out, then I have to get up and mind the puppy. But I'm not going to get into the fact that this was Paul's idea and I'm left to deal with it while he goes to work!

Anyway, yesterday we were up -- before 5:30 to my great chagrin. Paul went to work and Max and I napped on my big chair. Then, as usual, Max wanted to go outside and sit in the early morning sun. This is somewhat of a routine for us now. And something I wouldn't do without him (I'd still be snoozing). I enjoy this morning time very much. It's a wonderful meditative time (if Max isn't running around trying to eat everything).

On this particular day, the sprinklers had gone one early and the grass was wet. So I sat back in patio chair, my feet propped up in another chair, and Max in my lap.

Have you ever seen a diamond ring sparkling in the sun? When the sun hits it just right, you get a burst of colors. Not really a rainbow, though all those colors are present, but a radiant burst of color that is impossible to describe.

This is what happened to the water droplets in the backyard grass. I sat there and watched as first this one, then that one, burst into all colors until it chose one. Some chose gold, some silver, some blue, some red. Okay, so I know that the angle of my head actually chose the color of the water droplet. As I slowly turned my head, the colors would change. But that's not the point. The point is that my backyard was populated with diamonds until the sun finally stole the away.

The beauty of this fed my soul. And yet if it wasn't for Max, I would have either been in bed, watching the Today show, or up at my computer.

A author friend of mine once told me she'd gotten stuck on a section of your novel and had to give it some time. When her husband came home and found her stretched out on the couch reading a book, she said to him, "I know it doesn't look like I'm reading right now, but I am."

I know it didn't look like I was working while I was enjoying the beauty in my backyard, but I was. I was regenerating -- and that, my fellow writers, is just as important as meeting an arbitrary word count.

So, Happy New Moon. I have goals I am setting. At the top of my list is to remember to give myself some time to just breathe, enjoy the beauty surrounding me, and let my body, mind and soul have some regeneration time. I don't think Max will let me forget.

First, the fish. As some of you already know, when Paul and I moved into our rented house, we were shocked to discover there were 41 goldfish in the small, backyard pond. They'd survived being abandoned for 2 months (the property manager had no idea). We cleaned the pond, fed them, then let the pond freeze over for winter under the assurance that the fish would be fine. They were.

But, there were way too many fish for the pond and Paul started making fertilizer comments. So thanks to several friends of mine in Albuquerque, I found good homes for 34 of them. Paul wanted to only keep the 4 big ones but I insisted we keep a few more because I liked their color -- 2 olive green, one orange with olive markings that made it look like Groucho. And one just decided he wasn't going so he got to stay because he was so spunky.

So, what happens? The two olive fish have turned orange. One has turned completely. The other still has just a little olive on its back. Groucho is turning white. His whole face is white right now. I'm crazed.

The writing is going well. I'm having so much fun finishing up my novel. I do, however, find myself a little reluctant to do so and I find that very curious. Is it because I am having such a good time? Am I afraid I have to move on to the next phase, i.e. sending it out? Am I afraid I'll have to start a new one from scratch? I don't really know what it is. Once I sit down and work, it's great fun. Everything seems to be coming together quite nicely. So why am I reluctant to finish. Curious. I've never felt this before.

I have also rewritten one of the stories that was part of my write-a-thon goals. It was actually one of my Clarion West stories so it's been waiting a long time. I'm taking a break from it for a day or two so I can go back and do the polish.

So I'm meeting my CW goals.

Tomorrow, Paul and I are becoming parents! Yep, Paul went out and got us a Jack Russel Terrior puppy. He comes to live with us tomorrow. He's 13 weeks old. I'm so excited. So you'll probably be hearing puppy stories ad nausium after today.

So today I'm happily working on my novel. I'm closing in on the end and I'm totally excited and inspired. I have a character who is surprising me everytime I come back to her. I thought she was more of a device than she ended up wanting to be. She's literally (in the novel) transforming into a new and unique being. So I'm really into this, her pain, her changing thought process, her memories, her loyalities -- and the computer turns off. OFF!

Now I'm on battery back up so this IS NOT supposed to happen. I later discovered (thanks to Paul) that the breaker on the back-up blew. Can that happen? Should that happen?

So I know I've saved some of it. I save regularly -- but I was really hot so I'm not sure how much I saved.

Now the pain pills must be really mellowing me out, because instead of panicking, I simply go downstairs and get on my laptop and start writing. But I don't want to go back to that part that I was writing because I knew I saved some of it and I would have slipped into frustrated anger if I tried to recreate it.

Then I remember something Paul told me about writing software. Programmers simply don't write code in a linear fashion. They write pieces then fit them together later.

Well, this works for me right now because I while I know what is going to happen (kinda) in these last chapters, I'm not sure of the order. So when I turn on my laptop, I start a new file and start a different scene from a different POV. And guess what? I really got into it and had a great time! Because I didn't pressure myself or stress myself out to a) recreate what I'd just lost or b) figure out what happens next.

So it's been a very good writing day. When Paul came home and fixed the computer for me, I discovered I only lost one page of writing. That sounds like a lot -- but for me its rather minor. The most difficult part about starting a new chapter is, well, getting started. Since I have that out of the way, tomorrow I can go back to that scene, read what I have, and drop right back into the chapter.

And now I have two chapters already started and that's a great psychological advantage for me.

This week I turned in 3 more chapters of my novel to Plotbusters, my novel writing group. It will be very interesting to see what they have to say since a) it's raw first draft -- hasn't even been read over and 2) was written under the influence of pain killers. Whoo hoo. Could make for an interesting read.

This takes me up to the point where Vicki meets her father (remember they guy who called me an idiot!). I'm thinking I have about 5 more chapters to finish, but you never know with characters like mine that are so strong-willed. And, of course, I'm still on pain killers. So, we'll see.

In holding with the Clarion tradition, I also read and commented on a friends screenplay and another friends novel. Both were excellent, so it was easy to get my reading done this week.

Some producers here in New Mexico contacted me with a television show idea so I also ended up writing a 2-page, single-spaced pitch this week. That was actually a lot of fun, since this is the kind of show I've never worked on. Heck, I never THOUGHT I'd work on. But now, as my life changes, I'd really like to do. More on that when/if anything happens.

So I'm still suffering with pain, had signed up a month or so ago to speak at the local Science Fiction Club about my movie and my writing. Paul took me last night and played techie so that we could show my rough rough rough cut on a big screen.

This group of people were really great and I had a wonderful time. They responded well to my movie and several people knew CGI people to whom they are willing to introduce me. Whoo hoo.

But the best part is that at least half the people there were Dark Shadows fans. So after I did my presentation and asked for questoins, we spent a lot of time talking about what it was like working for Dan Curtis, the actors (Lara Parker narrates my film), and the future (Johnny Depp would like to play Barnabas Collins). I had so much fun.

Also, my friends and fellow plotbusters Sally Gwylan and Pati Nagle with her husband Chris came to support me. It was so great to have people I actually knew in the audience.

My only regret is that I totally faded and was feeling quite ill by the end of the evening and was unable to accompany them out for coffee afterward. Ah well, Bubonicon is only 6 weeks away so I'll get a second chance to see/meet all those people again.

So, a good week even though I'm still dealing with pain, fatigue and some nausea.

This week I don't have any reading to do -- so I'm planning on forging ahead on the novel. I also discovered I don't seem to have the short story I want to rewrite on my computer. I know it's backed up somewhere, but I remember something Pat Murphy told us during my Clarion West -- She talked about the days before computers (which I remember well) and how when you were revising a story, you had to type the entire draft again. When doing that, you didn't feel like typing in stuff that doesn't really add anything to the story. So this week I also plan on typing in the story to prepare it for rewriting. Of course, what writer can resist rewriting while typing in a draft?

I really hate it when one of my characters calls me an idiot.

I'm working on the climax of my novel. Vicki is going to meet her father, who she thought was dead and who happens to be the villian of the book, for the first time. He's taken up residence in a defunct movie theatre. He's kidnapped her aunt to get her to come.

So I have this great big movie screen and Vicki walking down the aisle and I think, wouldn't it be cool to have a film of her aunt bound and gagged on the screen as she walks to the front. Cool visual. Then she walks up and her shadow blocks the image as she turns to yell up at the projection room. But her father isn't there. He's in the wings. And he says...

And he says...

I'm get stuck here. What does he say?

Well, actually he has a lot to say about how I'm such an idiot. He's meeting his daughter for the first time. He wants to convince her he's not really a villian. He wants her to share his vision of the 'philosophers stone' (did I mention he's an alchemist). He wants her to love him. He really wants to be her father.

"So, idiot, why would I play a movie of her aunt bound and gagged as she walks into the theatre?"

"But it's such a cool visual and great metaphor for Vicki about how ropes and tape can't kill her spirit and.."

"So I do something so stupid that reinforces her feelings that I'm evil. You're truly an idiot."

Okay. I'm an idiot. The visual is out. Dad wins. This is why I hate daily word counts. I write. The characters throw it out. Sigh.

Sorry I've been so absent from my blog. Last week I ended up in the hospital with a mysterious pain (appendicitis? kidney stone? ovarian cyst?) But it ended up being a painful viral infection. Good news is no cutting or chemo. Bad news is it hurts like a sob.

So I'm behind on my writing goals for the write-a-thon. But I'm home now and started writing yesterday. I polished a story that wasn't part of my goal (but what what I could handle doing) and sent it out. So I'm feeling pretty good about that.

While in the hospital on an IV drip and no food, I couldn't read or write. Not surprising. But what is surprising is that I suddenly came up with a complete restructuring of a screenplay I wrote a year ago and have set aside. I haven't been thinking about it or anything. And suddenly I wake up understanding the mistake I made and how I want to completely restructure the thing.

So I ask you, when is a writer NOT working? Ever?

Yes, I, too, am doing the Clarion Write-a-thon this year. Kate blackmailed me into sending in a picture. I'll post the website address when I get it.

My goal this years is to finish my novel, The Dead of Winters. I'm currently at 61,000 words. I'm hoping to hit at least 80,000.

I also plan on revising 2 short stories and submitting them. I think it's always a good plan during a write-a-thon to actually get work ready to send out. Otherwise, without that goal, it may languish for another 6 months!

So I'm looking for sponsors. I'll keep you up to date here and on the Clarion West Forums. Last year I didn't do much blogging because of school. But now that I'm an official MFA, I have more time. Except that I'm teaching two classes in Effective Essay Writing for the University of Phoenix online. And I still have two clients for whom I need to write and submit. But I promise to blog this year.

Okay, now with that out of the way, it's time for Debbie's philosophical thoughts on writing.

As most of you know, I've been struggling with setting writing goals. Should it be daily, weekly. Should I be writing 3000 words a day or a week? What? So I settled on a New Moon goal and that is working pretty well for me.

Now I want to attack thoughts about having a disciplined time you sit down an write. I see the reasoning behind that and pretty much adhere to it. But not always.

When I lived in Santa Fe I used to walk in this pretty little area where I could see squirrels, rabbits, prarie dogs, birds, even a coyote once in a while. And the flowers were so beautiful in Spring and Fall. I tried to walk early morning because that's when all the critters were out. If I waited too long, it'd just be me and the juniper and pinion.

But now I live in Albuquerque and the nearest walk is Kinny Dam. I've walked there several times in the early morning. I've been disappointed because it's not that pretty, there's trash and plastic bags and no animals except for birds. Not even lizards.

But yesterday I had a slow start, and went for my walk after 10:00. As I descended into the now dry dammed area, I was taken back by the beauty. All the bushes had little white, lavender and purple flowers on them. Now I know I saw these flowers before. Were there more of them? Or was I looking at it through different eyes? (I love these kind of questions)

So I contined to walk, pondering why things seemed so different. When I startled two huge jackrabbits. Then there was a third. A fourth. And latter in the walk, a fifth.

There were lizards scuttling into the underbrush as I passed and humming birds flitting among the flowers. It was like a different place. All because I walked a little later than usual.

My assumption that Albuquerque would be like Santa Fe was wrong -- even thought it's the terrain looks similar and the animals are the same kind. But there is a 1000 foot difference in elevation.

What, you may be asking, does this have to do with writing? I started thinking, as I continued my walk and discovering even more bushes with white, trumpet flowers, that maybe sitting down at the same time everyday to write was limiting. I wonder if we're missing something by not varying when we write -- at least sometimes -- just to bust any wrong assumptions we may be harboring. I wonder if a certian character may not be a morning person and has more to say in the afternoon or evening. I wonder if a writer would look at his work with different eyes, and see beauty where yesterday there was only trash.

Personally, I spend a lot of time letting things stew in the primordial ooze of my mind. I write in the mornings and early afternoons. But when I'm chewing on a problem, I sit down anytime and just freeflow write about the plot or from the POV of a certain character. It works for me. I suddenly startle the jackrabbits of an idea. I see the beauty of what I've accidently laid down in earlier chapters.

I wonder what other writers think about this? Do you write at one time of the day? Would you experiment with other times?