I’d say I’m burning the midnight oil but it’s actually long
past midnight. Not only am I not tired, but I’m supposed to be posting in a few
hours, and I’m not ready.
I have a friend who complimented me this past week on posting like clockwork. Come on, let’s face it, I’m not in this blog
alone, and we keep each other in line when it comes to being consistent. Consistency is a good thing. Our followers know when
we’ll have something new up every
Wednesday morning.
But it hasn't been easy. Actually, its dang
hard, and well a few of our posts have been rather short. My last post wasn’t the first time I forgot it was my
turn, and there were a few times where I wasn’t feeling well. Then
there’s all the times where Konnie didn’t have time to write something.
I know of a few of our posts that were little more than a
paragraph or two.
And I know I’ve said this before, but Konnie leads a busy life. I don’t. For me, getting out of the house once a day is hectic, for Konnie that’s a walk in the park. Now days, more often than not, when I call Konnie, she’s either leaving, traveling, or just returning home.
Well, actually, that has changed this last month because one
of her daughters finally got a driver’s license. So instead of Konnie having to
chauffeur her all over town, she can take herself. More importantly, Melinda can
run errands and chauffeur her non-driving siblings instead of Konnie doing it.
Of course, things have changed here too. I did finally get a
new vehicle not too long ago. Meaning, I don’t have to forgo doing things I wanted to do because I
couldn’t find a ride.
So, my social calendar has picked up a few things.
To start with, I’m a member of two different local writing
groups, I’m in a book club, and participating in a group of people who knit and
crochet. I’ve also recently volunteered three hours a week at the local visitor’s
center and I put in the paperwork to volunteer eight hours a week helping scan genealogical
information from old books into computers.
And that’s on top of giving my sister-in-law rides to, well,
most of her appointments, and taking her shopping, helping her out around her
place, etc.
Is it any wonder I’m way behind on things like dishes,
laundry, and doing my editing and writing? Let’s face it, I’m also behind on my
reading for book club, but it’s more because I’d rather read my scriptures or
a Dick Francis novel than the novel the group picked for this month.
It seems, I have no problem reading Shakespeare, but Jane Austin bores me to tears. Of course, her stories read more like a synopsis than a novel, which might have something to do with it. Think about it. An almost 500-page novel, and it reads like a synopsis, as in pretty much all telling.
Talk about deadly dull!
On the other hand, Shakespeare may be in old English but it isn’t telling, or boring. And yeah, I know a lot of
people who can’t understand Shakespeare at all, I’ve never had a problem understanding
it. Maybe I’m just weird.
And if any of you is thinking Jane Austin’s hard to
understand because of all the big words she uses, I’m afraid, I understand her
except for a word or two which are no longer used today. I also understand everyone of her characters has a major case of what my concise writing professor
called Cossellism, i.e. they use several big words when they all mean basically
the same thing.
So, for me, as a modern-day writer, its annoying as well as
boring, and I’m having trouble forcing myself to finish reading it. I’m at the
end of chapter four, and I’ve barely gotten past the backstory. I think. Its
hard to tell, since it’s all telling anyway. And that doesn’t include the info
dumps, which frankly is all the first 3 chapters. One long info dump.
To say the least, if Austin lived today, she wouldn’t be selling any novels.
Not with that writing style.
Anyway, I have a lot more editing to do this month.
Happy writing (or editing) everyone!
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