Friday, March 27, 2009

Mishaps at the Dentist

I went to the dentist to get my last crown and after having a shot of Novocaine because the tooth next to it is really sensitive and then doing a temporary fit of the crown. The dentist left for a minute and it ended up being several minutes and I thought oh this is not good. So when they got back I was not surprised there was a problem. The lab made the crown for the wrong tooth. They ended up used the one they made as a temporary crown even though it doesn't quite fit. I need to wait another week for another crown. I sure hope that it all works this time. Its been quite a saga so far.

More journal pages.

















March 26

















March 27

















March 28

Writing

I was organizing things to do my taxes and found that Sarah has sent me a hard copy critique of a part of my novel. It was a piece my writers group had critiqued last year. They were all pretty nice but Sarah treated it like they do in one of her classes so it was full of red pen. Some of the suggestions others had made and she had new ones. Some I agreed with an others I did not. As I sat looking at it and how much needed to be done with this small amount the enormity of actually the task completely hit me. Like if I can't write several thousand words well than how can I expect to write the pages needed for a novel.

So yes that inner voice reared its ugly head once more. This time I didn't dwell in the pit though. I came up with a plan, actually I have 3 plans to improve my writing.

1. I am revising the piece and I plan to work on it over and over until I am satisfied and then I'll send it out for a critique again.

2. I am choosing a book to go through to learn from. I will look at how the author develops her major and minor characters, and how she moves the story along, setting, plot etc. I plan to work on one chapter a day. With 13 chapters it will take me a couple weeks but I will have learned a lot by then.

3. I want to write a short story so now I am making a list of some ideas that I have and then I will choose one and go for it.

I feel good about these decisions. We were out driving when I fleshed out these ideas and I couldn't wait to get home to start writing. I think that's a good sign.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Baby steps are good Kate - figure out how much is really reasonable to do in a day (or a week ... or a month) and just focus on that much. You can do it!!

Kim Mailhot said...

Hi Kate !
I have had my fair share of dental sagas (mostly based on the panic attacks I used to have before getting in that chair !) and I know they are a royal pain ! Isn't it amazing what we come through in this life ?
Your journal pages are so expressive, in image and in words. I read about how you have a hard time feeling like you fit in in your community. Another thing we have in common ! I am so thankful that I have found this community in Blogland where I know I belong ! If I can find it here, it has to be out there in the "real" world too, doesn't it ?

Good luck with the writing plan ! Making a plan and sticking to it sounds like a fine way to get to your goal. Have you daydreamed about what your world would be like when you have become the writer you want to be ? In my experience, those daydreams are sometimes the key to what path to take to make them come true !

Have a sweet spring weekend !

Janet said...

I think I could write a book about my experiences with the dentist! I hope your dental work turns out good and there are no more mishaps.

Your journal pages are so cool! I'm going to try to continue doing one a day even when the class with Kelly is over. And I may take it again in May. I've really enjoyed it.

I think your writing plan sounds good. But then since I don't write I can't be much help in that area! I would just shut up the inner voice and go with the flow. It seems to work for me with art.