Monthly Archives: June 2012

Right Brain VS Left Brain

I have been interested in the whole Right Brain vs Left Brain issue, ever since grad school at VCU.

I am a night person and I do my best visual creative stuff late at night. However… I have recently discovered that I do my best (read – easiest) writing early in the morning?!?

I have been getting up just before dawn, getting dressed, getting online to check the temperature and heading out the door right after 6AM. I like to choose the scene I plan to write and talk to myself about it during the walk.

I get home, fix my coffee and start writing. The scene I thought about on my walk usually comes pretty easily. Many days, I can then move on to the next scene and the next scene after that. At about 8AM or 8:30 AM, I eat breakfast, then depending on my energy level, I keep writing or take a nap. LOL

I have to leave to take care of my Mom at 11:30AM. On a good day, I have been able to write for 3 hours or so. After I get back from Mom’s, if I’m lucky, I am still in write mode. If not, I can plan my next project or work on something else related.

Interestingly, I have yet to be able to write effectively after dinner. I consider myself comfortable with my creative side(s), but I find it fascinating that my visual side and my verbal side have such different creative schedules.

Keep Writing!

Mikayla

Yeesh! Uncooperative Characters

I confess. I am a Plotter. I plan and plan and plan…

My excuse is my two design degrees, because designers are ALL about control.

But, whatever the reason, even with all of my planning, I am finding that there are still a lot of surprises when writing fiction. In the end, I am confident that the story will be improved, but it still throws me when it happens.

Today, I was working on the first book in my Tales of Trio Menage Romance series. The heroes are a pair of brothers — Jamie and Ben. They are fraternal twins, which is fine. They are both hunky, nice guys (cuz I prefer nice guys) but boy, oh boy, Ben is turning out to have a mind of his own.

First off, I named him Davy. Nope, it turned out that his name was Ben. OK, I can be flexible. If it’s that important to him… so, I changed his name.

Today, I was working on a big scene in the middle of the book. Ben suddenly took offense and stalked off. If he weren’t such a hunk, I’d say that he flounced, but, truly… he stalked.

At this point I have NO idea what’s going to happen. I think I’ll still have a menage, but I’m still not sure how. Merry, the heroine was a class act. I was really proud of her.

Meanwhile, I have skipped ahead a couple of scenes until Ben get his head out of his you know what and tells me what he wants to do.

Keep writing!

Mikayla

Happy Birthday, Delaware!

Delaware is 236 today!

I grew up in Delaware and I hope to end up in Southern DE at the beach… I just need to get those proverbial ducks in a row!

Small though it may be, Delaware is a pretty wonderful place!

Happy Birthday, DE!

Keep writing,

Mikayla

Mikayla is a Car Aficionado

The Vehicle Makes the Character

It turns out that vehicles are part of my writing process. Who’d a thunk?

When I am creating a character, an key element of my visualization is what that character drives, and whether or not what he or she drives is important to that character.

At the moment, I have 2 Works in Process where the heroine drive Suburbans. One young lady is driving a 1982 GMC Suburban that is older than she is. The other character drives a 2006 Chevy Suburban with a manual transmission – which will be important to the plot.

And, I freely admit, all of this is a direct result of my beloved 1968 GMC Suburban, Trudy… may she rest in peace.

I, somehow, managed to get on the email list for Gateway Classic Cars. They have two vintage Suburbans up for sale. If I had the money, this one would be mine! LOLOL

1950 Suburban

http://www.gatewayclassiccars.com/displaycar.php?stock=5198&location=STL

Keep writing!