Maybe I Don’t Have Writer’s Block

EVIDENCE

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Fragments from Scribblings entries re 

Earthbow or The Gryphon & The Basilisk (2009)

"I am currently supposed to be reading: two manuscripts belonging to fellow writers, assorted extracts also from fellow writers, Earthbow for additional typos to be corrected, my family memoir manuscript to see if it's ready for querying agents, a number of books I've started over the last few months but never finished, friends' blog entries & assorted emails from various lists. I have been awake for approximately five hours and the only reading tasks I've done have been reading and stowing emails, writing my previous blog entry about this past Monday and beginning this one.

"So that means I've been busy with other important stuff, right? Not entirely. I put the crock pot in to soak with hot water and detergent and its temp turned to warm a while back but I haven't cleaned it out yet. I had a bit of a ragged prayer session. I had breakfast--2 cups of coffee & some slightly stale bran with cranberry granola cereal. And I've played with two pesky cats more than two cats actually deserve."

-----  Scribblings, Feb 5 2009

~~~~~

"Once I get my act together--it's only after 2 p.m. Sunday, I hope to spend the day continuing editing more of "Earthbow". I still have hopes --diminished hopes--of completing the edit of the first half of the manuscript before the end of the month. Three days. It would be a lock if I hadn't discovered that additional passages of the manuscript were missing from the printed and carefully bound master copy of Earthbow. For some reason, Coris scenes keep slipping through a literary black hole. Arrgghh!"

-----  Scribblings, March 29th, 2009

~~~~~

"I found two more sections of my "Earthbow" manuscript that were missing from the WORD documents on the computer. Rather first I discovered that something was suspiciously missing here and that something was suspiciously lacking there. THEN, I spent a while looking through WORD files on the desktop. Then I gave up and delved into print-outs from the early 2000's. Then I went back to the typewritten manuscript version and finally found a total of nearly -40- pages that were missing in those two locations. (That's 40 pages, double-spaced so it isn't quite as bad as it sounds.)

I was so glad to find those sections, I can't even begin to express my relief. One involved a battle that I most definitely didn't not want to recreate. The other was the second half of a scene from the antagonists' POV plus the first half of the following scene from the protagonists' POV. Do not ask me how it is possible to have lost such an odd combo of pages."

-----  Scribblings April 12th, 2009   “Things Always Come in Two’s … except when they don’t”

(2)

Emails Sent During National Novel Writing Month 2005

From:  SherryT

Date:  2005/11/07 Mon PM 02:18:16 EST

Subject: A Surprise re Gryphon & Basilisk

"I’ve been rummaging through manuscript fragments, trying to find the first two volumes of the Gryphon and the Basilisk, because I needed the name of a town. Rummaging, because the two volumes were typed--not keyed in on a computer or word processor--so I have no computer files for them.

"Once I found the correct boxes with the G&B manuscripts and got the name I needed, I poked around through some of the loose stuff in the bottom of the box. I confess I was trying to delay getting back to NaNo-speed-writing G&B volume 3.

"Anyway, I ran into a submission for a UD writing class. It was the original Chapter One of the original Volume One of The Gryphon and the Basilisk--dated September 1982. 

"I thought that I began Seabird* in the early 80's but this pushes it all back a bit. There's no way I wrote Seabird -and- Earthbow between Jan 1 1980 and Sept 1982.  I must have started writing the books in the late seventies. No wonder I get so utterly weary of trying to get Seabird published. Yeah, I've only tried for a total of maybe 4 years – a couple years back in the 80's and the rest over the last few years. Still, it seems like I've been doing this my whole life.

* I actually wrote Seabird between 1979 & 1980

"That's all for the moment.

"SherryT

"p.s. Can I -scan in- chapters from G&B volumes 1 and 2 and use the results toward my NaNo count?   ;)  

       No?  ...grumble...

~~~~~

Found old G&B discs!

Email to writer-friends

Date: 11/26/2005

"No one asked me the "traditional Thanksgiving question" and I actually had an answer this year.

"I'm thankful for finding a couple discs of data I didn't know existed.

"As some of you have heard (repeatedly now), I wrote Seabird, the first draft of its sequel i.e. Earthbow, and 2/3 of The Gryphon & the Basilisk (sequel to Earthbow) without stopping between them. The G&B sequel was also supposed to be one volume but--as I was writing things down--I realized it was more likely to end up as three books.  I got to the end of the G&B vol.2 manuscript the better part of twenty years ago. And stopped.

"During this National Novel Writing Month, I'm writing as much of G&B vol.3 as I can squeeze in during the time allotted.

"Even before this NaNo, I was sure that The Gryphon & the Basilisk volume 1 existed only in a typed hard copy and that volume 2 existed only in hand-written sheets. For years I've kept one copy each of volumes 1&2 in my freezer to protect them. (The hard copies don't fit in my tiny fire-proof lockbox and my bank perversely refuses to have safe deposit boxes.)

"I’ve been inputting stray files into my new computer today--the better to lose NaNoWriMo. When I finished inputting what I knew I had in the container, I checked the discs in my lock box to see if anything on them needed up-loading. Mixed in with the other discs was one labeled G&B vols 1&2 !  It seems that back in 2002, I scanned in all the typed sheets of volume 1 and I transcribed almost all of the chapters of volume 2.

" I have no memory of having done this but I’m -very- grateful!"

~~~~~

Maybe I did write The Gryphon and the Basilisk volume 3 but dropped the disc into the cookie jar along with the sugar cookies! Phew!

If only I could find my cookie jar...