He Says, She Says…

Greetings:  Well, we’re now into our second month of having our blog site, of being ‘citizen journalists’, and this process has opened many different doors for us both.  With that in mind we thought we’d tackle the idea of what this means to each of us, taking on the subject of ‘Social Networking’.

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

End? Who was I kidding?

What are meanderings except aimless wanderings of body or thought? Today we’ll meander through a few of the thoughts surfacing in various forms in this brain and life experience that is me. Let’s see where it takes us, shall we?

In addition to the joy of starting my day with this delightful man, my husband Mike – the other half of M&M’s Musings – I also woke up to a lovely message from Abraham:

You are all perfect and expanding; you are all adored and worthy; you are all here having your exposure to experiences and doing the best that you can from where you are. You have not been sent here in a test or trial; you’re here as creators as part of an expanding Universe.

Excerpted from the workshop in Fort Collins, CO on Saturday, June 19th, 2004 #288

Don’t you love it when you awake with positive thoughts running through your head and heart and starting your day off on a natural high? I certainly do!

Remember my post called Journey’s End? (If you’ve not read it yet, check it out here.) I spoke about the completion of my Nanowrimo experience. End? Who was I kidding? The intense and focused attention to writing that consumed me during the month of November has shifted to the even more intense editing and rewriting. What began as the first 3 tentative chapters of a novel have been replaced by a Prologue and 4 chapters of sound text. Am I pleased? Yes! Are these chapters complete? Not at all!

What I’m working on now is considered the second draft – the original writings being the first. I’ve been advised there may be a 3rd, 4th, 5th +++ drafts. Yet the excitement continues for me as this 2nd draft is adding meat to what was a thin skeleton of ideas and storyline that I jotted down in a hurry to fill up the required 50,000 words of some form.

Now, having met that initial goal, I find myself truly look forward to spending quality time with my characters. They’re telling me more about their pasts. They’re sharing the personal development that has brought them to where they find themselves in the context of the story we’ve chosen for them. There is a richness here I had never expected. And when I think I’ve been enriched beyond measure, well, they up the ante and there is more and more to be found – new surprises each and every day that I commit to sitting at my computer, challenging my brain, my fingers and my imagination to reveal the best of what we – these characters and I – can all pull together.

My life is full. It is rich. I am loved and I have the blessing of being able to give love in return.

In Light & Laughter & Love,

Marcia

Journey’s End

One minute before midnight, Saturday November 28th, 2009. Exactly one month to the minute that I have spent every waking moment thinking of, planning for, contemplating, jotting concepts and ideas on sticky notes, and living the life of characters outside the realm of my own reality. I have felt their pain, heard their cries, laughed at their humour, been challenged by their limitations and been awed by their amazingly powerful, multi-dimensional spirits. They have filled me up and consumed my every thought word and deed for twenty-eight straight days and nights. Four complete weeks of total and utter absorption in something other than me and my own life – often even to the exclusion of my husband who has so recently joined me here in Victoria after so long an absence between us.

Today I completed the project to which I have dedicated these many hours, days and weeks. The goal was to write a novel. The commitment was to make that novel a minimum of 50,000 words. I made that commitment and kept it. I not only met it, I exceeded it by 2,855 additional words. The majority of my day today was dedicated to the final two chapters. Forty-two chapters in total, plus an Epilogue, shall one day fill a book with the story that has unfolded before my own eyes and to the amazement of even my own creativity.

I laughed often at my own foolishness as I would sit here at my computer with the intention of taking my characters to certain places, or giving them specific opportunities or introducing them to new concepts in very controlled and guided ways – my ways. The laughter would erupt from me because, like a child, each character had his or her own idea as to what they wanted to do, where they wanted to go, who they wanted to meet or with whom to interact. My suggestions that they behave in certain ways was immediately overruled in favour of their own perceived objectives and they went where they wanted and did what they pleased, in spite of me. Yes, it made me laugh to think of my own foolishness to believe that I had any power at all in the revelation of this tale that took on a life of its own.

After such loving, joyful, sometimes painful and always touching interaction with these beautiful characters that became real within this story, I wrote the last of their adventure today. At precisely 6pm PST in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, I, Marcia Mae Nelson Pedde typed the magical words The End upon the page before me. A novel had come to a finale. There was resolve, revelation, learning, and immense potential for the future. Mystery was unveiled, issues dealt with and there was closure.

The next phase of my role in this journey is the editing – structural and fundamental recovery of lousy prose, horrid punctuation, and improvement to the grammar. What was written as an introductory chapter I already know is going to have to be totally overhauled. As I mentioned earlier here, the story line I initially intended as I began this novel took on a life of its own and went in an entirely different direction. As a result the first chapter has the prime characters living and acting in places and ways that were no longer effective for them in the new roles the characters themselves wanted to experience.

Does this sound odd to you? If you are an artist in any medium, you will likely understand exactly what occurred to me through this creative journey.

Yet my prime reason for writing tonight is that after all that has occurred today, I’m feeling sad – maybe even a little lonely. This day was filled to the brim writing over 4000 words. I finished the novel, submitting it to the Nanowrimo.org website for word count and validation. My joy and exhilaration generated through an amazing feat of loving commitment was shared with my husband, family and other supporters who journeyed with me through all of this. The high of it all, the pride, has been replaced this evening with a sense of emptiness. My characters have gone to bed. They sleep. They’ve earned that rest, having worked long and hard for it. So have I.

However, rest eludes me. I miss them all. Their chatter in my head is gone. The voices are silent. Their planning, scheming and laughter no longer fill my mind; no longer spew out from my fingers on to the computer screen.

I come to the computer this evening to write. The muscles must remain exercised – even if it is merely those in my fingers and between my ears – yet they must be worked. And so I choose to come here to share my emotions and my journey with you, dear reader.

Thank you for caring enough to peruse these words. May you understand what I am choosing to share with you. Should you not, I thank you for taking the time to listen anyway to the ranting of a woman who loves to live with creative abandon.

In Light & Laughter & Loss,

Marcia

50,000 Words!!!

Hi Folks: As mentioned in a previous post, Marcia has been busy this month typing away at a (minimum) 50,000 word novel for Nanowrimo. As of 2:08 p.m. today, she reached her goal!! She’s not finished the book yet, and I’m sure she’ll have much more to add, but I’m so proud of her I had to share…

Love,
Mike.

Marcia’s Meanderings

Hello Dear Ones!  Marcia here.

Wherever it is on this beautiful globe that you call home, a warm welcome to you.  Thank you for stopping by!

This month of November is an exceptionally busy one for yours truly. As a registered contestant in the Nanowrimo competition – that’s the National Novel Writer’s Month – I’m to complete a minimum of a 50,000 word fictional novel – that’s 1667 words per day, every day during the month of November. What a challenging and joyous journey this has been and continues to be!

Currently I’m just over 42,000 words with 5 days left to complete the basic requirement. Does that mean I’ll have a book finished come November 30th? Not on your life! December is editing month. Everything I’ve completed by then, whether it is magnificent or simply awful, perfectly honed or grammatically ineffectual, or potentially there may be a section or two with horrific punctuation – however the story has unfolded by then, December’s the time I get to play with the flow, structure, formatting and tweaking of whatever I’ve recorded this month.

Even so, look for more of Marcia’s Meanderings on a regular basis come December. The skills I’ve gained from the dedication to this writing process have been invaluable for me. I’ll continue to use and fine tune those skills here on M&M’s Musings, hopefully, and intentionally, for your enjoyment.

Create a fabulous week for yourself! Mike will be posting regularly in the interim, and I’ll post more again after December 1st!

M

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BTW: Here is a synopsis of my novel:

Title: The Power of Grace, Hope and Joy

Three women and their penultimate behind-the-scenes techie are about to venture into the world of seminar presentations on topics near and dear to their hearts – yet their hearts are testing them on the very topics they wish to teach.