I wanted to take a few moments to explain why I've more or less disappeared online the past month or so.

Part of it has been working on the grammar and creative writing text books I talked about last month. The rest, I haven't been able to talk about before now. You see, beyond working on textbooks, I've been hired on by Foster Academy to teach English and Science for the high school students. Having learned from past experience, as soon as the text books arrived, I started working on preparing lessons, assignments, and the like between teacher work days spent helping set up the building.

Remember how I said Icarus was going on the back burner for a while? Well, I still can't tell all the details about the massive project mostly responsible for the delay. Sorry. However, I've been asked to turn the back to basics grammar and composition course and the creative writing course into full workbooks for a local school.

Considering I've yet to finish writing the back to basics course and need to add lots of exercises, more in depth information, and additional articles to the creative writing workbook, you can imagine how much work this is. That's on its own without this other, larger, project I can't speak about at the moment. So I just plain don't have time to work on drafting Icarus right now, and I won't until these workbooks are finished and off to the printers.

One of my biggest goals for this quarter was to finish the Icarus rough draft, but plans have changed.

It's not something I can really talk about at this stage, but I'm helping on a big project that will be ongoing. I might talk about it once things are more settled, but suffice to say the most intensive part of it will take place over the summer this year. Because of this, my time is going to be very limited. Things here on the blog won't change much, if I can help it, but I'm going to have to put drafting Icarus on hold until at least mid-August.

I apologize for the "secrecy," but rest assured, I'll let you in on what's going on when I can.

Have you noticed the slow down on writing Icarus that's happened lately? There are a few different reasons for that. I can't get into all of them, but here's what I can tell you about the reasons I can discuss right now.

Planning has been more than a little tenuous for the past couple of months for a couple of different reasons. Ill family members, a large project that may or may not happen dependent upon any number of factors, and the usual spring health issues for those of us with allergies meant plans could change any time. Honestly, that's still an issue, although a lesser one now. Because of this, I've been working on what absolutely has to get done on any given day first, projects that are more time sensitive next, and I've been working on longer term projects if there's time left. Obviously, I haven't had a huge amount of time left over for Icarus the past few weeks.

To be quite frank, I've only kept up with regular posting on this blog and the one over at Contented Comfort because I've set aside time on Saturday mornings to write and schedule them for the week. Eng Family Vlogs hasn't been quite as fortunate, although that has as much to do with my phone's camera glitching so much and often we were forced to break down and invest in an actual camera again as it does time management issues.

​It's the start of a new quarter, so it's time to see how I did meeting the goals for last quarter and state those for the spring.

The first quarter of 2017 was something of a mixed bag, as usual. Some goals were easily met. Others were failed. So let's get into it.

Have you heard the advice about taking a break between steps in the writing process? As with many things when it comes to matters of art making, there are multiple schools of thought on the practice. Some say it's a waste of time. Others say it's essential. Some prefer short breaks or "pauses," and others believe anything less than months at a time is the same as just plowing through.

Personally, I hold to the pause method. One, just because that's the way I've always worked on an instinctual level, but also because I've learned I need those pauses to produce better work.

Writing their rough drafts exemplify love/hate relationships for authors. When the words come easily, and the scenes blossom full of life and color, it's exhilarating. It's a rush like no other. Other times though, each scene is hazy if you can see it at all, and the words dance just out of your memory's reach. That's when composing becomes difficult and procrastination in all its forms becomes tempting.

I've hit the point where Icarus becomes hazy. Oh, I have it fully outlined. I know what is supposed to happen, but it's all new territory. For most of what I've written in the rough so far, it existed in the old version The Writer's Hood printed back when it was still a thing, or at the very least, I'd worked through scenes in my head over the decade since the e-zine's closing. Having lived for more years and seen more of the world if only through documentaries and news broadcasts changed much of what I'd planned. The entire last half of the novel is brand new, which is just part of why I hemmed and hawed so much following reaching the halfway mark.

One of the most common things I've seen writers be asked is what their writing schedule looks like. Do you write at set times? Do you have a daily word count goal? Do you write every day or when inspiration strikes?

Each writer has a different answer. We're all different people, so what works for one might not work for another.

Still, I've recently made a slight alteration to my writing schedule that's made a huge difference in my productivity, so I thought I would share.

Originally pubished on The Tekaran Lady blog April 16, 2008.

One major drawback to both my love of music and beginning the prewriting stages for The Icarus Project is that I now seem to constantly have “Never Too Late” by Three Day’s Grace stuck in my head. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like the song. It’s haunting, and even more so if you’ve seen the video. I have, but I try to put the video itself out of my head. As a mother of a young girl who is expecting another daughter in a matter of weeks, I find it disconcerting to say the least.

I first heard the song, oh I guess it was about two and a half months ago now, and The Icarus Project immediately popped into my head. Those of you who read the original when it was being published on The Writer’s Hood likely remember the desperate situation of the surface survivors and the desire of the main characters to save them. As such, “Never Too Late” has embedded itself in my mind as a type of theme song for the developing series, and I can’t seem to shake the melody.

It comes in handy when I sit down to work on Icarus, but it’s rather annoying at other times, especially when I’m trying to get into the rewrites for Succession. The tone of the song doesn’t fit with that one at all.

Anyone have ideas about shoving a song out of your mind without getting another stuck in its place? I'm open to suggestions.