Focus

Here is the prime condition of success: Concentrate your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. — Andrew Carnegie

I'm focused on NaNo. So focused, I can't settle down to do anything else. I can't even read because I can't find a book strong enough to pull my thoughts away from my own gestating story.

I suppose this is good, right?

I tried to work on editing Liv -- I have a couple of scenes I need to add -- and I tried it again yesterday and ended up with three paragraphs that were absolute crap. It was all a bunch of passive voice telling:

The day passed slowly. The dog had fun. The phone didn't ring.

Nothing like it should have been:

Liv's foot tapped the leg of her chair while she stared at the phone, willing it to ring, and more importantly, willing it to be Mike.

Or whatever.

So I stopped working on it. Again. I kept thinking about the character profile I needed to complete for my hero and the scene ideas I had for the NaNo novel.

When I sat down and worked on the profile for Benny/Ben/Benjamin (he is many things to many people, LOL) it flowed. It was as though his past was just waiting for me to write it down. Before I started, I had little idea of who he was, but as I answered the questions my finger typed the answers without hesitation. He's a pretty interesting guy, and mature for his age -- though you wouldn't guess it based on his job or his wardrobe.

But, dang it, I really want to get the edits done on Liv before November 1st. I have a little more than a week and only about thirty-five more pages to go through and three scenes to add. It's not out of the question.

I just need to adjust my focus.