Appreciating the Small Things in Writing

Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn via Foter.com / CC BY

In last week’s writing update post, I was whining about the unfairness of life and having to rewrite large swathes of material because a plot point wasn’t working. Which made me incredibly grumpy and not at all inclined to edit. Well, thankfully, I’m not going to subject you to another depressing post about how everything is against me. I’ve actually made up all that lost ground, and then some. At the moment Snow sits at about 26k, and is ticking along at a steady pace.

One thing I’m finding interesting at the moment is my strange love for the smallest things about my book. A scene where two characters are goofing around making cookies. A side character only present for a handful of scenes. A snippet of dialogue. These are the often the things that I look forward to writing the most, even before the actual main character or the plot, both of which I do love great. Is it just me, or is it normal to get invested and greatly look forward to tiny little elements of the book? (Please tell me I’m not alone in this.)

Small things are important outside of the book, for keeping me motivated to edit and excited about things to come in Snow. Talking to my sisters, who are all amazing people to brainstorm with, and explaining what’s going on with the book to them, working on my Pinterest board, celebrating small achievements with my writing friends, or even sharing excerpts, have all been giving me the little boosts I often need to stay focused on writing. Sometimes the smallest things are worth the most.

 So that’s where I stand with my book at the moment. I still feel like I’m not progressing fast enough, even though I’m on track to be finished by the end of the month at this point, but every day I try my best, and if it takes me an hour to edit half a scene, then that’s ok. It’s improving, and that’s what counts the most. And, because I feel like sharing today, I thought I’d add a little excerpt to this post. This comes from the POV of Nicola, secondary narrator, and a mutant with aquatic abilities.

Even in here, with the air conditioners blasting, there was a touch of the summer heat creeping in. It’d be a perfect day to be out at the beach, paddling through the breakers, and maybe catching a few waves while she was at it. Sun, sand, surf, and maybe a touch of sunburn at the end of the day. An intense longing for life before broke out inside her. Life before the mutation showed up. Life before everything went from manageable to downright agony. Right now, she missed being normal, without the tail and the team. Heh, she might even miss that awful job at the cafe. The smell of salt, the taste of hot chips, the stinging of sand blown over her face by the wind. There were so many things she missed about life before.

Do you ever have little, unimportant things in your book that you absolutely love? How do you motivate yourself when you’re having a difficult time? Do you talk about your books with your family, or do you like to keep it between you and your book?