There I was, writing along, singing a song—well, not actually singing–but I was cranking out the pages. And then, to paraphrase Dr. Seuss. Bump! How that bump made me jump! And I’m so close to the end, too. I’m at a plotting impasse. I’ve called my editor for an emergency consult, so hopefully, I’ll jump the bump. Tomorrow or the next day. Which means maybe I stay down at Tybee a little longer than I’d originally planned. Not a bad thing, except I miss home and hubby—and junk buddies. And I SO want this book done. But you can’t hurry fiction. So here I stay, for the time being. In the mean time, on Tuesday, when things were going well, I finished my morning page quota in time to sneak out to an estate sale. It’s totally a very tiny world, because while at the sale, I discovered it was being held by an ollllllddd college buddy from UGA. BD, (who is still an amazingly talented photographer–and he even teaches digital photography–gotta sign up for a class) and I worked together at the Red and Black (that’s the college paper), and then later, we free-lanced stories out of Savannah together for the Atlanta and Jacksonville newspapers. The house was BD’s late mom’s house. I bought a swell lavender chenille bedspread, and some cool ’60s banded ice tea tumblers, and an aluminum water pitcher, all of which will go in the booth at Maisy’s Daisy. The bedspread had some weird orange stains, but after four washings, including an Oxy-Clean soak and extensive Oxy-Clean spray-on stain removal, all the orange went away. What the ??? is in that stuff? I wish I could buy stock in it, I love it so much. While my mind was in a stall pattern today, I took my new finds, plus the rest of my Brimfield goodies, over to Maisy’s Daisy, where Susan, the Seaside Sister madam, has promised to make it all look yummy. In the meantime, here’s a peek at the goods, which I styled here at the Mermaid Cottage I’m hiding out in. Check out the amazing egret/heron barkcloth pillows I picked up at Brimfield. Also, the cool old black and white 1920s beach snapshots. Tonight, I went to an book-signing for my friend Polly Powers Stramm, at the Trends and Traditions Framing Gallery, in Ardsley Park. Another example of what a small world it is, I used to work at the Atlanta Constitution with the owner’s father, the late, great, Tom McCollister, a wonderful sportswriter and all around sweet man, who we lost too soon. And of course, Polly is an old pal from waaaay back (we’re talking 30 years here) when I was just a baby reporter at The Savannah Morning News. I bought a copy of Sentimental Savannah, her collection of columns written for the Morning News, to put in my “local library” which I’m planning for the beach house. And now, just to tease you, here’s a sunset I shot from the Back River the other day. By the way, today the weather was so beautiful. Breezy, with just the slightest hint of fall. It’s a great time to be at Tybee…if only I could jump that bump.
As a novice writer I often wonder how you professionals get over that bump. I have stopped many a story in the prime of its life for jus that reason. I couldn’t get over the bump. Well that and I suck at dialogue. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your treasures with us. I love seeing what you find.
Don’t know about other writers, but when I hit a bump, I just back up. I take a walk, a bike ride, a nap, a junk break, a junk-food fix. And then I go back to work. I grit my teeth and power through all the roadblocks (most of which I’ve set up myself), until I’m through. And I know, altho it probably sucks, I can always go back and fix the sucky parts. You cannot fix, however, what you have not written.