story – Page 7 – Anjuelle Floyd

Last Edits, My Personal Best, and Being Present…

Leave a Comment / ...the writing life..., Musings / Anjuelle Floyd

The past two weeks have been a blur.

I’m in the last stages of editing my novel, The House, that is due out later this year, and times have been quite interesting.

It’s funny what happens when you reach a point of having to let go of a book and “put it out there” so to speak.

For me it’s a scary time.

And particularly so, since I’m self-publishing. My first work, Keeper of Secrets…Translations of an Incident” a collection of short stories, was brought to print by a traditional publishing house.

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Of Intermediate Regions, Hunger and Thirst…

1 Comment / Articles and Essays / Anjuelle Floyd

There stands an intermediate region in the life and structure of a novel, that place between crossing the border of the opening and beginning and entering into a series of actions that lead to the penultimate center of the journey.

It lies between the edge of that vast new world of survival that constitutes the protagonist’s path of growth and transformation, the steps she or he makes towards achieving their goal. It is a land filled obstacles of varied sorts, and the ultimate crisis that manifests profound change.

This area operates much like the night before that big game, the minutes ticking up to giving one’s debut concert. For writers this can function much like reading one’s novel for those last times wherein we institute final edits towards bringing the work to its brightest hue

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Of Perseverance, Remaining Open, and Characters that Embody Our Change…

3 Comments / Articles and Essays / Anjuelle Floyd

Perseverance in completing that first draft it the first act of embarking on the journey of evolution we undergo each time we craft a story.

Thus we focus our energies and concentration on towards typing each word so that we might complete each sentence, craft every paragraph, shape each scene.

At this time, we, the writer must not fall under the spell of judgment and self-criticism of what we write.

Our goal is to remain open to the words coming through us. We must turn off the internal editor and write.

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Dear John, A Daughter’s Wish and Moments of Awakening…

Leave a Comment / Musings / Anjuelle Floyd

My daughter recently stated that she hopes that my husband and I live to a ripe old age and that we die together, much like Noah and Allie in the movie based on The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks. My daughter had just finished reading Spark’s novel, now a movie, Dear John.

That’s the great thing about reading books. They awaken us to parts of ourselves, hopes dreams and wishes, and those held for us by loved ones.

That my daughter, not yet 25, could offer me such a gift I find astounding. Most children, and rightfully so, want their parents alive for as long as possible.

Saying this to my daughter, she responded with, “I can handle my life, take care of myself as long as I know that you and Daddy are together somewhere in the universe, even if I’m not with you.”

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Of Clarity and Understanding, Guide and Map, Epiphany and Plot…

Leave a Comment / Articles and Essays / Anjuelle Floyd

Reaching that point where the protagonist has made the change, we, as writers feel differently.

We see the world of our novel from another level.

Ideally we come to hold those dimensions of personality regarding our central character(s) come in greater clarity and understanding.

And yet this is also a place where we can get to know ourselves better as individuals, not simply as persons who write.

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Of Dilemmas, Alice in Wonderland, and Shifts in Consciousness…

1 Comment / Articles and Essays / Anjuelle Floyd

There comes a time in every story or novel when the main character stands in the midst of her or his dilemma like Alice does in Wonderland.

The protagonist ponders, How do present circumstances differ from my immediate past?

This place, like that of Alice in her wondrous, and yet frightening Wonderland sits between the time of order in the life of the main character, then shaken by chaos and the present time of having begun the journey towards adapting to the change required by the moment of upheaval and the need to survive.

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Of Long Weekends, Discipline and Time for Dreaming…

Leave a Comment / Musings / Anjuelle Floyd

This past weekend was a holiday weekend. I relish long weekends. They give me more time with my husband and children.

The greatest challenge of any writer is finding enough time.

Time to write and time with family and friends.

The true writer writes. She or he doesn’t talk or dream about writing.

They develop a discipline unique to their psyche and life structure that allows for the writing, crafting, revision and ultimate completion of a story or novel.

Each stage of creating a literary work requires time. Time given to the very writing and re-writing of the piece, and then there is the time given over to gestation, allowing our ideas and words to percolate and perhaps metamorphose.

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