Leap Year

On the verge of February 29, I am at long last returning to my blog. Writing is work and within this venue I have a structure to use that can get me back into the practice of doing it. I love the feeling of a day that melts into phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs! I have missed my predictable schedule in the "office" and look forward to starting the next chapter in Elliott Rat, as well as work on another Henry-related story... in other words, getting back to a "predictable schedule!"

Interesting to me is that research for this next project has been rewarding, while creating the dialog, the narrative, and the prose has not. My mind wanders in fiction but stays targeted in non-fiction. So, that is what I have been doing mostly... reading about Concord in 1827, its clock makers, printers, cobblers, farmers, manufacturers, ministers, tradesmen, hat designers, carriage makers, and...of course... its young Henry David Thoreau. There is actually very little about the young boy who would become an admired philosopher and naturalist. But, between the lines of history there is a great deal to suppose. The stuff of good historical fiction. Add a little mystery, the grotesque death of his schoolmaster, and you have a good story. What could have been in his past that caught up with the soft-spoken Mr. Jacoby? Perhaps a little smuggling during the War of 1812? Did someone track him down and avenge a wrong done some 15 years before? Ten-year-old Henry, his older brother John, and their friend Lizzie Hosmer will team together to solve the mystery... I feel like Nancy Drew all over again!

Creating a plot for this new book has been a welcome diversion from THE BOOK. My rat is mired down in transcendental malaise, and it helps to put his story aside and then pull it out about every other day. Writer's block? Not exactly. More like writer's "cramp." With different projects on the table, I can pick up each one with a fresher eye. I hope!

My editors, Bernie and Ollie, are asking for a morning break. So, it's outside into the cold but sunny day we go for squirrel hunts, bird sightings, and springer springs in the garden! I think I'll mitten my hot cup of tea while indulging them in their morning jaunt away from the writer's desk... Then, it will be back to work!