I’ve been writing a little piece about my writing journey. It’s not quite ready but here’s a teaser.
It was inspired by this reptile:
The Desert Tortoise spends 75 % of its time underground. And when it does come out it has an average cruising speed of .2 mph. I saw one blazing across the desert a few years ago.
I’ve been moved by reptiles a few times in my life. The most harrowing was having two big fat rattlesnakes buzzing at me while I was on a backpacking trip in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. They were about five feet away and luckily did not decide to use my lower leg as a pin cushion.
Getting close and cuddly with those rattlers was way more scary than being bitten by an alligator lizard. Yeah, that happened to me once, too. Sunk its sharp tiny teeth into my pinky. That was all twenty years ago, but it’s still fresh in my mind.
You can tell a vicious dog to go home. You can scream at a black bear and it’ll most likely leave you alone. But you just can’t reason with a reptile.
I’ve been plugging away at a new WIP and am about 50K into a first draft. I’m guessing I’ll wrap this puppy up in another 10 to 15K but it’s behaving more like a reptile than a mammal so we’ll see.
How about you? What are working on this week? And, has a reptile ever inspired you to do something? Sing? Dance? Run?
My daughter got bit by an Iguana once. It inspired her to run for sure! Anyway, my writing tends to behave like a reptile most of the time too. I’m working on revisions this week and catching up my blogging.
Well–living in Florida has given me a huge hatred for any reptile–alligators and snakes rate high on my list.
Sounds like you are close to getting done! Congrats!!
I just finished the romance I’ve been working on and now hope my CPs will like it better and will find some beta readers before I start any querying.
Terri, you are really moving on that WIP. Good luck!!
I was fascinated by the alligators when I visited the Everglades last winter!
I saw an ENORMOUS rattlesnake in Griffith Park years ago. It must have been a solid eight feet long, and I and one other hiker kept a healthy distance away as it crossed the trail between us. It inspired both awe and respect, actually – it was SO beautiful, but so formidable and dangerous at the same time. I thought about that snake for a long time.
I’m still in the very early stages of my new Frankstein-inspired MG work-in-progress – researching, reading Frankenstein books, brainstorming. Fun stuff.
Mike, the Rattle Snakes I saw were monsters too. Only they were coiled up. I still think about them. We were bush-whacking across a steep hillside.
A Frankenstein-inspired MG. Sounds like kick. Have fun!!
Congrats on reaching 50K! Almost done! And no, I don’t run into many reptiles – thank God. I think snakes would totally freak me out!!!
Thanks Laura. I hope you don’t see any snakes!
After the start of the first Gulf War, my son, then in 6th grade, became upset about the fate of the sea turtles in the Gulf of Kuwait. I bought him a semi-aquatic turtle at a pet store, we put together an aquarium and he learned to care for it. We later brought it all the way from the South, where I was in grad school, to Alaska, wrapped in a wet towel in a cat carrier. Eventually, we donated it to the office of the IDEA program here, and it delighted the home-school kids who came into that office. I think it went on to another school somewhere.
What I learned from the turtle: keep your water clean; if you can’t walk, swim (or vice versa); there’s nothing better than the sun on your back; persist; persist.
Thanks for sharing that story. That turtle has touched a lot of lives!
Reptiles are pretty cool creatures. The yellow-spotted lizard inspired me to write, in a round about way.
I loved HOLES when it came out and I was in seventh grade. The way I discovered the lizard had a role as a character in the book was epiphanitastic for me. I had never given any thought to the motives behind books before that and it changed the way I read.
It took a long time for my love of reading to manifest itself into a love of writing, but I am glad I am on the journey I am on.
Jon, that’s a cool story about your experience reading Holes. Good luck with that first draft.
what a fantastic post! I’m a total reptile NUT. I do frog surveys every year for the Ontario frog count. I’m also amazed at turtles too – though dealthy afraid of them in the water.
Love how you’ve compared it with your wip. so clever.
Frog surveys sound like fun. I wouldn’t want to swim with snapping turtles!
I saw gigantic turtles in a zoo once, and I was fascinated with them. I learned that something or someone considered slow and ponderous can actually be beautiful.
The last laps of a wip seem the longest. Anytime I’m close to the finish line, time becomes ridiculously slow.
Medeia, that’s what I’m experiencing this week. It’s like downloading a program. The first 90 % of it moves right along, then it says you have very little left but the last 10 % takes forever.
Paul, your analogy makes me wonder how “Zen” a turtle is about his journey to…anywhere. Does he look ahead and see how far he has to go? and know that he simply can’t move that fast, so cultivates patience and being-in-the-moment-ness?
I know that’s what I have to do, because when the end is in sight, I want to BE there, and I have to work extra hard to keep myself in the one-step-at-a-time, calm mode of getting there.
Thanks, Carol. I hope to finish my Tortoise Writing Journey Post soon, but it’s just not done yet.
Hi Paul!
Nice little blog you’ve got here.
Reptiles definitely inspire me. I love to sketch and paint them. All those patterns and skin types are fascinating.
Right now I’m revising the last 3 chapters of a MG steampunk, and there are a few reptiles around, to be sure.
Good luck with that first draft!
Hi Lily, Thanks for stopping by. Good luck with your revisions!
Thankfully I haven’t had too many run-ins with reptiles. My current WIP is moving along pretty smoothly, which is scary. I have a feeling when I go back and look at this rough draft it is going to need a LOT of work!
Alissa, I’m my first draft will need lots of work too. I’m glad yours is moving along!
I love the analogy! So perfect. My current WiP was so reptile-like. Until yesterday – when I coaxed my mc out long enough to get a lot of work done!
Thanks, Christine. I hope you have another non-reptile day today and get lots of writing done!
It seems like you were just starting this book, and look! 50K! Wow!
I love turtles but am not a fan of snakes. They really give me the creeps!
I regret that I’m so not down w/reptiles. Might have been the gardener snake (harmless) that wrapped up my leg to my thigh when I was barefoot and in shorts as a kid.
Oh, but sea turtles, so calm, make me bliss out.
This week… chugging along w/out guests.
I’m not a reptile fan, although I enjoy the symphony provided every night by the hoard of tree frogs in our marsh. Snakes don’t bother me (there’s a story on my blog about one encounter: http://wp.me/phaYw-Eh) but I’d rather not come across one unexpectedly as you did.
My newest wip is in limbo while I revisit the revisions on an older one, but they are almost done… just having someone do a last critique for me. I’m glad to hear you’re making such good progress, too!
Sorry, Paul. When I checked that link it apparently has the bracket included and I got an error message. Maybe this time it will work: http://wp.me/phaYw-Eh
Ha! I’m definitely moving .2 mph with my revisions. But it’s a good .2 mph. Solid. And moving forward at any rate is a wonderful thing. So glad that those snakes left you alone. I come across a few snakes when I run, and even though they are harmless ones, they still get my heart pumping.
I’m plugging away and making progress, much like the tortoise. Congrats on being at 50K. I clicked on my word count yesterday and I was just over 41K.
An iguana in my fifth grade class inspired me to bring it strawberries. Does that count? 🙂
I actually thought I had commented before. But guess not. I have been too close to a mama grizzly but never a dangerous snake. I am so much more afraid of snakes! And I know all about reptile wips! Good luck .
You never cease to amaze and fascinate me, Paul! Um, no, I can’t say as a reptile has ever inspired me, though I have had some interactions with some (namely my brother’s geckos that were so voracious, they would bite chunks out of the oven mitts we needed to wear to feed them or do whatever in their terrarium.)
What I’m working on? A revision on my MG sci-fi (lots of fun to work on), querying for a YA paranormal, and thinking it’s time to get back to work on my half-way done first draft of a YA dystopian. Lots, lots to do. Wouldn’t have it any other way!
That’s one serious tortoise!
My pet tortoise is tiny in comparison and the only thing he’s inspired me to do is go to sleep! lol