Hmmmm...

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Okay, I changed my mind since Friday's Blog. If I could be anything, I would be a professional tennis player. The travel, the excitement, the attention. And with Wimbledon starting today! Yup, pro tennis player. That's the ticket.

Oops, I changed my mind again. Any of you reading this who know me, really know me, would believe I'm not joking. I'm not! Thirty seconds ago I wanted to be a professional tennis player, but I don't want to anymore. It might be too stressful. I mean, screwing up, choking, is one thing in the privacy of my small world. But choking in front of a crowd of thousands - not for me.

I have a point. And it has to do with writing. Plotting, specifically.

I find plotting a challenge. Not for lack of ideas, necessarily, but for sticking with one idea, one theme over the course of months of writing. When a novel idea comes, a writer must give consider it. Then, there is a choice one makes. The option is to either push it aside (none of us want to have a novel with too many subplots; it may ramble and at the end threads may not be tied). The other option is to embrace it. How many writers say that they started with one idea or a couple important characters, but the Russian hockey player (for instance) that was working as a waiter in the New York hotel just TOOK OVER. It happens all the time.

Now, being an indecisive person, I have decided to change my personality, stick to my guns, and commit myself to ONE THEME, ONE PREMISE.

We'll see.

Rose, dear Rose. You clever and tragic and mixed up main character. I will finish your story. I promise!