It’s been a busy week here on the blog. Lots of good news from Don yesterday, CR’s anniversary, Jeff’s new dog, Judy and the tonsils story . . .

Nothing like that to report here. I have been working putting some meat on the bones of one of the story ideas I brought back from Florida. I spent one whole day last week skimming over the other books in the series, making lists of things I should have been making lists of all along: the color of characters’ hair, what kinds of cars they drive, little habits and traits and favorite phrases. After a month of not writing, this was a good way for me to get back into things. It reminded me of who these people are, what they want, and what they’re most likely to do to get it.

After that, I tackled the outline of chapters 1, 2 and 3. As I’ve mentioned before, I usually outline a mystery pretty thoroughly before I start writing. But this time, I thought I’d try something different. I’ve got my outline done for those three chapters and rather than worry about anything else right now, I’m just going to go ahead and write them. Once I’m done, I’ll outline the rest of the book. It seems the best way to jump back in with both feet. The other plus is that when I’m sitting and thinking and plotting and outlining, I often get fooled into thinking I’m “doing nothing.” Of course I’m not. But tell that to my conscience. Or to the calendar and those deadline dates that loom ahead. This way, when I do go back to outlining, I’ll know I have pages already done.

So with those three chapters outlined, I’ve begun. So far, so good. But then, I only started yesterday! As always, there’s a certain sense of trepidation starting a new book. There’s a great deal of excitement, too. With a whole host of plot possibilities open before me, it will be interesting to see how the story comes together.

We’ll see how this new method works, but I remind myself that I never will know until I try. I gave a writing workshop once when someone asked about my writing process. I explained, and the person looked downhearted. “That’s not the way I do it,” he said. “I write any scene I think about, then at the end, I mash them all into a book.”

I explained that in addition to writing, I sometimes teach knitting classes. My philosophy of knitting is the same as my philosophy of writing: if it doesn’t fall apart, you’ve done it right!

A Side Note: A recent guest blogger, Mario Acevedo, is having a contest on his website. Check out the Quick and Dirty Valentine’s Day contest at http://biting-edge.blogspot.com/2008/01/make-it-quick-and-dirty.html

I hear there are prizes!