Here's what life is like being married to a writer...
We went on a bike ride yesterday. It was hot and I don't do the heat. But I'm really good at pushing through and pushing myself these days so I insist. We hit our normal 8 mile mark and this one decides she can go farther. How much farther? Well, let's just go to the lake, around the lake and back. That's an extra four miles. Keep in mind I haven't been on a bike for three weeks. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. It was the scale doing the thinking for me.
So I realize about halfway around the lake that I can't do this. Options? Only one. Push through. Because it's halfway so there isn't any cutting it short at this point. To distract myself, I start picturing my current WIP. I'm working through a few problems, picturing more scenes, doing what we writers do best (shout out to Meredith who works through things on her runs).
The hubster? He's what you'd call an "athlete". He's done tris (athlete speak for triathlons) so 12 miles on a bike is nothing. Like a warm-up. We could get back to the car and he could run home. There's nothing he loves more than running in the heat. This means that he is enjoying his ride. Watching the ducks in the lake. Watching the ducks on the shore. Saying 'hi' to everyone we pass (at this point, I'm doing something that should resemble a smile but looks more like a grimace followed by a nod to everyone we pass).
I blurt out, "Warren is going to die!"
That got more than a few strange looks from the picnic area we had just passed.
The hubster puts his hand up and says, "Wait a minute! Don't tell me. Let me figure this out." He loves this game - I say something out of the blue that makes absolutely no sense to anyone but me because I just finished a conversation in my head that we started last week. He can usually work his way backwards to figure it out. It's fun for him and gets me laughing.
"I got nothing," he says finally.
"In my book. Warren is going to die."
"Really? Because I like him."
"Precisely why he needs to die."
During dinner, he confessed that it did make sense and would really "throw a wrench" into things.
To which I said (again), "Precisely why he needs to die."
What about you - killed any Warrens lately? Do you talk writing with your significant other?
Canadian Zombie Babies
11 years ago
I do that a lot when running - my mind mulls over various situations happening in my WIP, or sometimes I'll come up with a new idea. Then the challenge is holding onto all those thoughts and ideas until I get home to write them down!
ReplyDeleteI don't really talk writing with my husband though. He fully supports my writing and reads my blog, but I'm really not a big talker when it comes to what I'm writing.
I'm sorry about Warren.
ReplyDeleteWith a former, now abandoned indefinitely, writing project, I had a character who served a purpose and then after his purpose was served, I knew he had to die, but I just couldn't kill him despite the fact that there wasn't anything else to do with him, so I let him live and followed the rest of his story along with everyone else's and it was like pulling teeth. I hated it!
ReplyDeleteSometimes you have to kill characters off even if you like them because it just works and makes the story more interesting! And I love the name Warren!
Bahahahahaha! That's hilarious!! I love that warren must die. I love how you rationalized it all out too! (this is the new one, I'm assuming? Unless you threw Warren into the other. lol)
ReplyDeleteMy smile would look more like a grimace as well! And yes, I killed a character I really, really liked, because the story could not progress properly otherwise. It sucked, but it fueled the course of the ending.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, that is so cute! And yay for brainstorming while working out! It really does make the time go by faster, and it always helps me figure out the important things. Poor Warren!
ReplyDeleteThrowing a wrench into things makes it...well, maybe not fun...but it is kind of fun. I love that your husband tried to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteI haven't killed any Warrens lately, probably because I only have three characters at this point in the story and they're all important. Of course, this won't stop me from making things difficult ;)
Poor Warren. Did he see it coming? Was it sudden?
ReplyDeleteI've killed a few Warrens. They don't die suddenly. And they almost always see it coming.
Melissa's going to love the fact that you killed Warren. Even more so that Erik liked him. I don't know who Warren is yet, but I can already tell that I will hate you for killing him. Especially if Melissa loves it, then that means I will hate it ;p And she will love it.
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