time off – Nancy H. Doyle

Update: July 20th, 2014

As I emerge from off the radar isolation, I have good news! Finally, my first draft is complete. Revision here I come. And, this time, I have plenty of room to expand the plot, build the world, and lavish love on my characters.

Also, while taking a break, I (with the patient help of my niece) opened Dropbox my PC, and now all of my writing is available on each of my devices. Not exciting to those of you who have used Dropbox for years, but for me it’s a reassuring new treasure.

Oh, and I started a new book. While my sister, niece and I were playing tourist in Nederland, CO, I gravitated to the local and regional book section in Nature’s Own. House of Rain – Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest by Craig Childs levitated off the shelf into my hands. Its subject will serve as invaluable inspiration during revision, but its writing has already given me an unobtainable but wonderful goal to strive for. Mr. Childs’ prose is so beautiful and lyrical, I was riveted from the first paragraph. It’s not often a book really impresses me, but I’m recommending it twenty pages in.

My off the radar time has been productive, to say the least. Maybe I should do it more often.

How about you? If you have some time off, what do you plan to do with it?

Photo: Foter

Yep, I’m going off the blog radar…temporarily. A week, maybe two.

Company is coming from Florida. My sister and my niece arrive tomorrow, and it will be up to me to show them the beauty that is Colorado. When you live in a gorgeous location like this, playing tour guide is no small task!

I’m sneaking up on the last two chapters of first-draft. Yes, I know I’ve said that for almost a year, but this time I really mean it. I’m tired of waiting around for my muse, so I’m completing this draft without him. Today I’m working an important scene in which two adversarial female characters unite for the first time as they discuss another main character, a man…of course! This scene answers questions, presents others, and proves things are not always what they seem. Then it’s on to the final chapter.