Last night was Earth Hour and dedicated my hour to working on Never. I jumped forward again to continue a part that I had left behind months ago. It was productive, and it felt good, but it didn’t flow as much as I was hoping. Thank God for editing.

Here’s an excerpt.

I was wounded. I was about to respond, but I caught the driver looking at us in the rear view mirror, an eyebrow inappropriately lifted. Instead of saying what I wanted to, I let it rest, temporarily. I’d have to ask her if she thought this was a mistake when we got a moment alone. I ached to be closer to Renata, but retreated to my side of the car. It was already beginning, the show we’d put on for others. We were already broken and we were only ten minutes in.

Focus is my new thing. In a world that rewards the multi-taskers, at least with praise but not always with riches, I was one of the many. That’s what used to be my thing.

I thought I could write a book…

And write a second book at the same time…

And be a freelance web developer…

And be a photographer…

And be a blogger…

And be everything. And do everything.

But now, I am single minded. I approach each task with as much attention as I can possibly give it. For the past two weeks I’ve been thinking to myself that I have to pick a primary direction for my other eight hours (the ones when I’m not at work). I’ve had a lot to weigh with all of my pursuits and relatively good talents. To make a long story short, I’ve picked writing. My stories, particularly the Renata and Ryan story, lingers in my mind every single day, and I’m always living inside it. It feels only natural that this pursuit, which is my favorite, be the one thing that I take on. The one thing that gets my focus.

You can learn more about E. Jamie at www.ejamie.net.

Since I’ve spent the last few months in Renata land, I have to say that I miss her counter-part, Ryan, immensely. I miss writing for him and as I suspected earlier, I really believe that he is the one that drives my story. Every now and again, I spend an hour or so going through the later part of my story that is already written to spend time with him and hear his voice in my head again.

Sometimes I fear that Renata is simply delusional in these beginning chapters, and that she completely self-absorbed. I think I’m so freaked out about keeping my word count low that I don’t afford her the time to be concerned about other people, which makes her come off as the most annoying friend ever. As I write this out, it occurs to me that I could definitely fit that into this final chapter I have to write. I could have her recognize at her rock bottom just how bad of a friend and sister she’s been. I could have her start to give a damn about what’s happening in every one else’s life.

Even though I have already written the Renata and Ryan’s first encounter and subsequent romance, I can’t wait for her to actually get there — meet him. Not because I just want to get passed this hurdle, but because I’m excited for her to experience it. It’s fun to write her story right now as she makes all these silly promises to herself that she will not keep, and for her to have no idea that Ryan is coming into her life, or that he even really exists for that matter. She only has the slightest hint of him, but that hint was meaningless at the time and it won’t occur to her for quite a while.

So after I finish this all important final chapter for Renata’s part, I get to write for just Ryan. He too will absolutely have no idea what’s about to happen in his life, or that Renata is coming. I’m so intrigued by writing this part. Since Ryan is going to be in LA, and he’s become a pretty famous guy in the meantime, I’m going to have to do some research, and a bit of celebrity gossip observation, to get an idea of what’s realistic for him. Ever since I gave up celebrity gossip for lent back in 2008, I don’t pay attention to it very much. I forgot just what the paparazzi cares about, and where exactly they like to strike. I will be honest and tell you that I’m not overly looking forward to going back to places like TMZ and the like. It just rubs me the wrong way, which I’m sure sounds odd considering one of my characters is supposed to be famous. Oh well, that’s how it goes I guess.

More than anything, I have to convey that Ryan is exhausted, paranoid, and lonely. And I’ve got to get him on that plane to London so he can meet Renata.

Speaking of London! I am going to London in September for a week. I’m thrilled about this because the majority of my story takes place there, and I so look forward to seeing things first hand. For example, I realized a month ago that I stupidly forgot about customs in my airport scene. I have Renata and Ryan unboarding an airplane, picking up bags, and getting in cars as if it was just some domestic flight. I’ve been through customs before in Ireland, Mexico, and obviously back in the states. I’m sure I could write it off like “They passed through Customs without any trouble,” or something, but I’d love to actually know what that experience is like, and sure enough I’m going to get to experience it and note it.

Hopefully, I can also get away to Oxford for one of those days, since part of my story takes place there as well. There are so many things that I’ll be able to observe and write about in such a better way now. I can’t wait!

Words written: 4,166
Setting: Seattle
Perspective: Renata’s Narrative

Favorite part:

I walked to work the next morning like a changed woman. I saw my city through different eyes. Every corner café had new potential for an experience I could have with Jack Rook. Every building I passed spoke stories through me that I could tell him, personal and historical. And every person I passed was like a point of light, shining and obvious as they lit my way to work. Their own smiles bouncing off of mine.

© 2009 Rochelle Michael

So now I’m at the beginning and I’m laying groundwork for how my characters find each other over the Atlantic Ocean. And I’m developing their personalities, so that separately they turn into people that will behave a particular way when they do meet. I was dreading this task for a long time, but now that I’m in it, I’m actually really enjoying it. Developing Renata is a lot of fun, and it’s so important to the story. When something really bad happens to Renata, she transforms into a new person. Without transforming, she would have never met Ryan, and even if she had, he would not have felt as strongly attracted to her as he does. But her transformation also works against her in their relationship, since she has a hard time trusting in his love. And the same goes for Ryan. He too undergoes a transformation in parallel to hers that changes his life completely, allows him to meet Renata, and also works against him in their relationship.

Obviously, I’m encountering the exposition obstacle. How does an author do it without being completely subtle in an obvious way or just completely obvious (“My name is Renata, I live in Seattle, am divorced, 28, and like marshmallows”)? I’m trying my hardest to make it fit in naturally, so that the story flows. I’m trying to think of it in terms of how someone actually gets to know a person when they meet. You don’t get the whole story up front. So bits and pieces get revealed through the first few chapters. We’ll see if that’s successful. I think one of my worries is that a reader won’t successfully “see” my characters. I see Renata and Ryan in my head all the time. I see their surroundings, their homes, their clothes, their facial expression, everything! I often forget that a reader doesn’t have the same vision, and that if it’s important to me that a reader sees these characters as I see them, then I need to provide more details about their appearance and their setting. I’m still not sure if it is important to me though. One thing I love about reading is the image I develop in my head. It’s like I’m there and sometimes I get a little miffed when the author disputes that image. So I think a balance is fair.

Anyway, since finishing my book is one of my goals for 2009, I’m a little bit surprised that it’s already June and I’m not nearly where I want to be with it. I obviously need to spend some quality time working on it and not just dabble with it here and there.

Words written: 573
Setting: Seattle
Perspective: Renata’s Narrative

Favorite part:

“Follow me,” she said hastily as she brushed past me. I put the sunglasses I was modeling back onto the rack and followed behind her into Alistair Apparel’s most luxurious dressing room. Not only did I have a blood connection to one of Seattle’s trendiest boutiques, but I had a professional one as well. I was on a first name basis with Vlad Alistair, a designer and the proprietor of the boutique. JD Designs was hired to rebrand the label, shop, and website, just in time for a three-city expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Aspen. Since a pair of jeans started at $250, and my closet of clothes looked more like Gap and less like Guess, I had never actually bought anything at Alistair Apparel, even though Marianna was constantly teasing me about my bland wardrobe. Mari, herself, was always up on the latest trends, and spent the majority of paycheck to adapt to it. So tonight’s trip into the boutique had Marianna far more excited than it had me. I was now in her world and she was going to enjoy every moment of it.

© 2009 Rochelle Michael

So since I don’t have much else to report, I thought I would post my own “8 Things Meme” after reading Calistro’s, on her blog Writing About Writing. So here goes…

8 Things I look forward to

1. Hanging out with my dad this holiday weekend and grilling food with my new grill.

2. Finishing my book.

3. Seeing the Terminator movie.

4. Going to Europe.

5. Being skinnier.

6. Finish knitting Mike’s socks.

7. Eating Mexican food on Friday nights.

8. Cuddling with my cats.

8 Things I did yesterday

1. Met up with my college friends for dinner at the Cherry Cricket.

2. Watched the Nuggets beat the Lakers!

3. Sent my sister another chapter of my book to read.

4. Made up a quiz about myself and posted it Facebook, after doing a quiz about my sister.

5. Fell asleep before midnight.

6. Got the bottom of pants wet from walking in the rain.

7. Ventured into celebrity gossip land for just a few minutes and then backed out.

8. Made someone a strawberry and banana parfait.

8 Things I wish I could do

1. Go on vacation next week.

2. Buy a house.

3. Get a whole new wardrobe.

4. Be tidier.

5. See my out-of-state friends.

6. Run the Bolder Boulder.

7. Relive my college years.

8. Juggle.

8 Shows I watch

1. Heroes

2. Lost

3. Days Of Our Lives

4. How I Met Your Mother

5. Seinfeld

6. House Hunters

7. Saturday Night Live

8. The Daily Show and Colbert Report

If you’d like to do this meme too – just steal it!