Writing Outside Your Box

I'm trying something dangerous and new and, dare I say, I like it;-)  Get your mind out of the gutter, people!  What I meant was, I'm trying a different approach with my writing.  My day job and the ins and outs of my everyday life as a wife and mother kept me from writing much the last few weeks.  Work, the Flu, basketball and gymnastics all consumed my time but the ideas were still whirring about in my head like a persistent little bumble bee.

As the one or two of you reading my blog on a regular basis know, I'd gone back to a previously written manuscript I'd shelved.  Immediately, I saw all the things I did wrong and tried to re-work it chapter by chapter.  Only, I just couldn't get excited about it.  I didn't lie awake at night in bed thinking of new plot lines.  I didn't obsess about the characters.  I just wasn't feeling it.  When that happens, I have to stop.  If I'm not excited about what I'm writing, why would I expect anyone else to be.

So, I tried something completely new and different for me and unexpected.  I...wait for it...tried first person point of view.  Wow!  Can you believe it?  I know, big deal, right.  For me, it is a really big deal.  I've thus far always used third person because I wanted to be able to see the characters from the outside.  What they looked like, how they reacted.  With first person though, I finally feel like I'm finding my voice because it is my voice.  The character is a woman in her thirties originally from a small town.  A situation draws her unexpectedly back there.  That's where the similarities end but I'm able to relate to what this would be like for her and I'm easily able to put myself in her head.  So far, it's really working for me and I'm excited to do it.  It may not work.  It may go down in flames tragically but for now, I like it.  My writing is exciting me again and that's all I can ask for.  :-)

Oh yeah!  Song of the day:  Stay by Rihanna and Mikky Ekko, hauntingly beautiful and her voice never sounded better!