Writing #littleloves

Hello lovely readers, 
A few weeks ago I posted a #littleloves post to update you all on what's going on in my life.

This is like that but with a twist. In my post "Questions while being stuck" I wrote I was going to take a break from blogging. Well as soon as I got back from my trip to Paris I couldn't wait to sit down and write a blog post. I have done and re-done this post a few times but it didn't feel right... so here I am trying again. 

Working on

Lately I have been feeling stuck in my story. I have introduced two new characters Leopold Brashware and Violet Harper. Leopold is suppose to be a romantic tension for Mattie but eventually he will be useful in helping Mattie discover her true feelings for Kelby. Violet Harper, is Mattie's maid in London. I want to grow her character and eventually I want them to end up like Anna and Lady Mary (Downton Abbey). 

Tobey Regbo who play's Francis on the CW Reign is my inspiration (at least in looks) for Leopold. 

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I love Anna Smith, she is full of good advice for Lady Mary.

Thinking About

I am going to make Violet Harper a bigger character and I actually want to have her help Mattie run away to elope with Kelby. So I am going to have to change a few details of the story. 

I have started with a fictitious acknowledgement page...

but maybe I am the only ones who reads those. 

If this story ever gets published perhaps I will have to work with my editors on layout. 

Re-writing

  I feel I have re-written my beginning a thousand times (okay more like five) and its only in it's first draft, but I want it make sense for the story. 

I have usually been the kind of author who gets struck by inspiration and I just go from there... needless to say this path has not lead me to finish any story.

I originally started Mattie's story years ago but then I got distracted by other work "Sisters of Pine Haven" and put Mattie out of my mind. 

But she keeps coming back to me...so I feel determined to finish it. 

My original start was in 2009 (link to that post)   

but it originally started with a free write I did that same year when I first started this blog in order to share my stories

  Link to that post

This blog has gone through a lot of transitions since then but at the heart of it is my desire to write. 

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 Planning Ahead 

Even though I am still re-writing the beginning of this story I have sketched out the epilogue of my story... is that weird? 

It doesn't feel weird it actually feels good because in knowing the end I know where I want to take this story and it has some direction to it.

Why am I stuck?

I wish I knew. 

One reason I think I am stuck is because as much as I think about my writing... I need to make time and actually write. DUH! 

Also as I said I am the kind of writer who usually gets struck by inspiration and from there I just go. However with this story I have plotted out an outline and actually know what I want to happen but yet I let my characters move in the way they want. Which is good and useful but sometimes it throws new things or people at me... for example Leopold. 

 On a personal note: I also think I am stuck because I don't really know that much about romance. I have dated but mostly mostly what I know about romance comes from movies and books. So I feel I don't know how to move Mattie forward in the romantic plot line and therefore I feel stuck. 

However, I find confidence in thinking about Jane Austen, she never married and yet she wrote some of the most romantic stories (I my biased opinion). 

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Pic above is from the movie Miss Austen's Regrets

What to do now?

With all that said and done I think the real challenge will be for me to actually push through and write this story.

Writing will only happen by doing... so I say this ahead of time sorry friends and family if I seem absent to the world, but I am trying to follow my dreams and I hope you will understand. 

Watching

 

All these #little love post have a watching section and I felt I had to share something...

Since getting back from Paris (I will not get tired of saying that) I binged watched on Netflix (maybe another reason I haven't been writing) and I came across the show When The Heart Calls it is a sappy Hallmark Channel original show based off of a Janette Oke book. 

Even though it is sappy and the lines are cheesy I can't help but squeal. It feels like the perfect video escapism. 

 Video above is a fan made video: "Jack and Elizabeth | So Close"

Song: "So Close" by Jon McLaughlin. (Originally from "Enchanted").

Link to video 

Okay that is all for now. 

Hope you guys have a good day.