Road Tripping and Writing

I just spent two weeks of road tripping through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California (then back up through Oregon and into Washington).

My husband is "THE Driver" and prefers things that way. I used to fuss over that, claiming I needed to drive, but after several years of marriage to "THE Driver" I'm content with a load of books, my laptop, and the amount of daydream time I get staring out the window. Plus, I have good conversations with The Driver. He's a much nicer driver than I am in many ways - if I'm driving I want control of the radio, heat, and basically everything that's going on in the car. I'm kind of a driver control freak. My husband just wants to drive and the rest is up to the passengers.

During our drive, I read aloud portions of my book to my family, and I discovered something during that time . . . I need to let my characters open the windows, and change the radio station now and then. I've suffocated the story in this last revision, forcing the highs and lows.

 My poor main character has been boxed into a tight passenger corner, not allowed to even open a window and let the sun shine on her face.

However, I need to stay at the wheel, and keep the shift engaged for the wild ride. Plus I need to clean the windows now and then . . .our car became bug spattered so often on our drive that we stopped more often to clean off the windows than we did to fill the gas tank.

The bugs on the windows of my story have a tendency to be massive amounts of repeated words and phrases. My family and I started laughing every time my characters "ducked," "turned," or "breathed." I think I used each of those words at least two dozen times in three chapters. Aagh!

So, I'm back at work, hoping that somehow this story will be the story I want it to be, hoping that when I get done it will feel like this:







My husband says this is how he wishes he could have driven through San Francisco.


Oh, and this is my 72nd day of 100 Days of Revision - I'm going to have to give my revision process more gas to make my goal.