Tuesday 24 August 2010

I See 'Blank Space People'

I'm sitting crosslegged at the crossroads. Behind me, Fred lies spattered on the highway, his middle grade guts dangling from a tree in the surrounding woods. We tried, Fred and I, but we've spent the past couple of weeks boring each other and getting nothing done at all. So we're parting ways...Perhaps...Probably. Gosh but it's hard to let go.

That noise you hear is me sharpening my knife pencil.

The pre-iced path to my left leads to a place that is grim and cold and needs to move the focus of its location and maybe, just maybe, I don't want to bore myself with another rewrite when I ache for something new to love.

The prickly path just ahead is a creepy sci-fi YA and I swear if I see one more agent/editor twitter that they're looking for just the sort of thing that this wants to be, I shall yodel... I mean scream. I'm wondering how I can cryogenically freeze the world while keeping myself warm in a little heated bubble so I can get the darn thing out before they have a hundred-million identical subs. More than ever, I'm convinced ideas pour from the sky hitting half the population at once.

The mountainous path to my right takes twists and turns through history and takes murky steps into the future, it needs research-research-research and is probably more a novella and most definitely not YA and well...Aren't I supposed to be attempting to get an agent etc etc infinitum.

Or maybe, I'll just continue scaring at the blank screen. If I look hard enough perhaps I'll start to see faces.

16 comments:

Rabid Fox said...

If you start to see faces, you're still sane. If those faces talk, you're still sane. If you talk back ... sanity might not be for you.

Cate Gardner said...

Crap, and there was I about to buy an 'I'm Sane, Honest' t-shirt. Wonder if they take returns.

Alan W. Davidson said...

It sounds like your brain is in overdrive and is going in several directions at once. Wouldn't the British suggest having a wee cup of tea and a biscuit. There...do you feel better now? Perhaps you need to substitute vodka for tea, and an entire cake instead of a biscuit. Relax for a while...back to work!

Aaron Polson said...

The imagery in this blog post is top notch. The first paragraph helped me remember All Quiet on the Western Front.

Poor Fred.

Anonymous said...

"I'm convinced ideas pour from the sky hitting half the population at once." It sure seems that way, doesn't it? With all the YA fervor right now, I'm seriously thinking about revising my manuscripts in a BIG way...

Unknown said...

Go in the new direction for the Sci-Fi YA thing. As you are writing it, you'll probably head off into an overlooked tangent that will hook you for the sell. Because you are one talented individual.

Simon said...

Sorry to hear this, Cate, but if you were getting bored to death with each other it's probably for the best. It's a rotten feeling when a project falls apart on you, but now you're free to move on. Keep plugging away and you'll get there- a lot of us believe in you.

(And are expecting signed copies when you hit the big time. Not to mention dinner invites.)

;-)

K.C. Shaw said...

Poor Fred! Gutted and all alone!

Write what interests you the most. At least you'll have fun with it.

Tyhitia Green said...

Cate, I know how you feel. I'm working an adult urban fantasy, but my YA, and middle grade ideas are howling to me as well. :-/

Go with what you love--and that'll be the one. ;-)

Andrea Allison said...

Don't you know its proper etiquette to not leave the roadkill in the middle of the highway? Poor Fred...

I say stick with what you want to write. As soon as they announce what they want, the flood gates will open and push them to want something else later. Sometimes it works in your favor to be different.

Cate Gardner said...

Alan, your comment left me dizzy. :D

He was a slacker, Aaron.

Go for it, Milo.

The YA will probably win, Jeremy. I think, I mean... I'm hopless at making decisions.

Simon, it was either he kills me or I kill him. I won - yay.

Don't make me pity him, Kate.

Tythia, but I love them all.

Apologies, Andrea.

Barry Napier said...

with all of those ideas, how can you possibly be staring at a blanks screen???

Get to work!!! :)

Fox Lee said...

"Or maybe, I'll just continue scaring at the blank screen. If I look hard enough perhaps I'll start to see faces."

That sounds like an idea right there : )

Cate Gardner said...

Yes, sir. Gulp.

You have a point, Natalie.

Katey said...

Nat has a good point--matrixing is a strange and awesome phenomenon!

Sometimes I need to move on. Maybe I'll come back to the idea that's not working. Maybe I'll have one of those irritating middle of the night revelations that makes me get up, stumble to my computer, and jot it down. Maybe I'm done with it.

I don't know, but I don't think you can make a wrong choice here. All the options seem excellent.

Bobbie Metevier said...

I hate when this happens. You're writing something, everything is going well and then it starts to go wrong . . . starts to FEEL 'wrong'.

It happens, and I think it happens for a reason. This story was not meant to be told . . . at least not right now. There might be something you have to learn or discover first.

Or, if you're like me, it could all be hormonal. :)