I had a deadline for April 1, 2009. The follow-up to Fragile was to be turned in. Except about mid-February, the book was still fighting me. I had this idea for the story and about 1/3 of the way through it, I realized the hero needed a different heroine. Now the one I was giving him…he wanted her. But she wasn’t right for him. I started getting these glimpses of this other heroine…now she was right for him. But I ignored it.
And what happens? The story bogged down. The heroine just wasn’t working for the hero, no matter how much he thought he wanted her. So I trash the story in January and start rewriting. From the original story, there is exactly one line that is the same in the finished version. One.
That’s a lot of rewriting, yes? I had 2 words. I needed 90,000. By mid-February, I had…oh, maybe 50k. I also had edits coming in left and right, and a vacation coming up (the week before my deadline-what was I thinking?). And the damn story just wouldn’t come. Even though the new heroine was working for my hero, and for me, the story wasn’t coming.
About two weeks before my vacation, I decided one morning that I wasn’t going to keep writing at home. For some reason, I decided to go to Panera Bread and write there. Write, munch on a bagle, write. And it worked. There were no distractions-other than other bagle munchers and the lure of wireless internet access. But there was no laundry. There was no TV. No toys laying around that I had to pick up. No mailbox. No list of errands glaring at me from the corner of my eye.
It was just me, the laptop, the bagle…and the story. I spent about four or five days writing at Panera Bread and I got the story up from 74k to 95k.
I don’t have a depressing workspace. I have nice pretty blue walls, I have my iPod close by, I have a big windows, an office full of books, both the kind I read for pleasure and the kind I use for research. And normally, I can work at home just fine (usually).
For some reason, though, this story needed a change of pace. And now I’m hungry for another bagle…damn it.
Shiloh
Oh I love Panera Bread. Their food is fantastic. Love the broccoli cheese soup and the tomato one is pretty tasty as well.
Glad the change of scenery worked for you. I used to do my homework there while working on my degree.
Sometimes a little change is all it takes. I’m glad going to Panera worked for you. 🙂