Dreaming

Life has been waaayyy too busy lately. Two half-time jobs does not equal one full-time job - especially when one of them is actually a busy full-time job in itself. So I'm overtired and cranky and frustrated and my brain has been ready to explode for weeks - and no, I'm not getting much writing done. By the time I get home, let the dogs in, bring wood in, get the fire going (it's winter here), make dinner, eat dinner with DH (about the only time I see him), and then sit down at the computer, it's 8.30 at night and my brain goes, "Who, me??"

But the good news is... looks like I'll be able to do the PhD I want to do, which is connected with romance and internet things, so it will actually make a link between my writing and the permanent day job. Surfing the web will be a legitimate activity ;-)

And... the night before last - or rather, the 5ish in the morning yesterday - I had a dream which gave me a great idea for a story. A number of my stories have developed from strong dream scenes, so this is not unusual for me. This one will be a sequel to the ms that won the Valerie Parv Award - that first one isn't finished yet, but the ideas that I've had since yesterday for the second one are actually really helping my thoughts for the first. I can see some more possible layers and intricacies for the plot - along with perhaps a curly twist at the end. To be honest, I'd been a bit stumped on the first one; I had a plot outline, great main characters but something wasn't quite 'jelling' right, and I wasn't feeling confident that I could make it work. There's still some detail to work out, but the excitement for it is back again.

I've roughed out the first couple of pages of the second novel, which is enough for me at this stage to get some ideas churning and some shape to the characters, and now I'll leave it and get back to the others in the queue.

Less than two more weeks of the second mad job... I may get a life back after that.