Duck! Incoming! (Ideas, that is)

Here's the problem. I'm 3/4 done with my WIP, which was November's NaNo (see glossary for decoding). Probably more like 13/16 done. It's hard to tell because I've skipped over chapter breaks this time around, but we're nearing the end.

I'd like to go back and finish my pseudo-vampire story, which stands at around 250 pages. I dropped it to start and finish The Apprentice Fairy Godmother (currently at an agency). Why drop a sexy, sizzling book about a vampire slayer and their purchasing agent? (artificial blood, anyone? Chocolate? Tanning lotion?) Because I was persuaded (influenced) last spring that vampire stories are (pardon the pun) dead. The market is oversaturated, etc. Ho hum.

Really? That's not what I'm seeing on the bookshelves, but maybe I'm not as smart as the people in the industry. Aren't we (writers) always told to write something different, fresh? I think a vampire story without a vampire as either the hero or heroine is pretty damned fresh. Which is why I'm going to return to it in about a month.

In the meantime, while cleaning out vast amounts of writing debris, I found a title I'd scratched down eons ago. Immediately, characters and plots started churning in my brain and a next comedy is taking shape. I'm going to write it. After I finish my dark fantasy. After the vampire story. It may be May (cute!) before I start.

What say you all? How do you keep the next WIP at bay while maintaining interest in what needs to be finished?

And forgive the parathesis, there was a buy one get one free sale at Target.

Here's a treat for you

I've been remiss in updating my progress on "The Spell Breaker." I am on pg 291 (from zero on Nov. 1. No chapter breaks, so it's somewhere over 300.) As with the last two books, I have no idea what is going to happen when I start writing every night. Frustrating? Indeed. This I do know:

Character arcs are arcing

One of the villains will die and one will live

A secondary character will die

The heroine will find what she's been looking for all this time

There's a battle comin'

This picture is Rue, by the way. She's got spunk. And awesome hair. And a baby on the way, but I didn't know that when I started writing. Oh, those surprises. Don't you love 'em?

Jump, jump!

The visit of an energy healer to our RWA group today, and her talk of making a leap of faith reminded me of this passage, which I read last night:
"Come to the edge."
"We can't. We are afraid."
"Come to the edge."
"We can't. We will fall."
"Come to the edge."
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.
-Guillame Apollinaire

Keep track of the coincidences in your life. If you write them down, you'll be amazed at how often they occur.
Just saying.

Okay, God, I get it.

Cryptic, God, very cryptic. I ask for signs and I get 1111 and cash registers. But, Sunday, the first day without a wakeup chime, I finally got it. 1111 = One. You know the rest.

Nice job, by the way.

Hello, I'm here

Cosmic forces are trying to contact me, but they punk out after one ring. For four out of the last five mornings, I've woken up to either a phantom cell phone ring or the doorbell. Not my regular cell chime, and no footprints in the snow outside the door. This morning, the image was my husband opening a cash register drawer. Now, either lots of angels are getting their wings, or something cosmic is in the works.

Come on, fate, knock harder. I'm listening.

What part of discontinue don't you understand?

I know they have a script they have to follow, but how many times do I have to tell AT&T I no longer require their land line? Or any optional services (a forwarding email for $20, an alternate phone line, etc, etc.) or that the line does not connect to internet, Tivo, a respirator for my dying dog or that no one else in the household (Santa?) is going to fight my decision to disconnect from a service that only brings bill collectors for family members not living in this state or a law enforcement officer selling tickets? For this I pay a half-day's wages? It especially irked me when she asked how I was going to stay in touch with family members. I waffled between semaphore and smoke signals but went with it wasn't her business. Jeez.

In other news, I've been on a cleaning bender. The simple task of putting away the Christmas decorations morphed into cleaning out the teeny, tiny storage area. That sequed into taking care of the dozens of craft magazines, travel magazines, etc I've collected over the last decade. Why did I move them with me? I have to split them up when I toss them or risk a lawsuit from the garbage man for physical duress.
Now that I have all the important articles/patterns ripped out and filed, I feel better. Of course, there's still all the minutae I've collected for each story, none of which is collated into one binder. That's my next project. God, I love long weekends.
And yes, I am writing. I finished a hot love scene and am starting to look toward the big, black moment. My goal is to have the vomit draft down by Jan 31st and the final within a couple of weeks. My first drafts are clean, but there's always something that crops up that needs to be referenced to earlier. Like Rue's pregnancy. She wasn't pregnant at the beginining, but the Girls kept nagging me, so, about page 150, it was first mentioned. Hey, they thought it seemed important to the plot.
What has been the biggest surprise your characters have thrown at you?

Get your groove on

I'm looking for ideas to get back into the writing groove. You know, when you've found the place where you are a conduit to a higher power. Words write themselves. You look up, and two hours have passed. Your fingers can't move fast enough, and you're making handwritten notes on scrap paper so you won't lose a thought.
I had this last night. After I went to bed. I was brilliant. The ideas sizzled. The phrasing was poetry. The ideas flew. I'd laugh at my own wit and remind myself not to forget a certain idea.
This morning? Butkus. Should have got up and at least found a piece of paper. All I have left is this weird dream that had less to do with my WIP and more with a displaced Mayberry.
So, how do you stir up the creative juices?