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Life of a Writer Mom Column September 2002 Column The After Novel Void It’s done. Finished. Although Across Lots will run at Newenglandwow.com into the fall, my part is finished. The book is written. The last serial all packaged neatly and sent to my editor. So what next? Plans called for the rest of the summer off. Maybe doing some leisurely reading on King Philip’s War, in anticipation of Twin Springs, the novel I want to start in the fall. As we all know though, especially those of us who are parents, plans can sometimes go astray. The above scheduled plans were made before I discovered a little talked about aspect of writing, I’ll call it the after novel void. At first, I felt strange, empty, after walking away from a world I had created and characters who I felt had almost become a part of me. For two weeks or so I’ve been taking a break and not. Taking the kids to the beach and on day trips. Luxuriating in long walks and even longer talks with them. All the while though my creative side, unbeknownst to me, was beginning to churn again. The imagination cogs were starting to click again and my fingers started itching for a pen. So in a slow moment, I decided to go on the Web. To find names for the characters in my new novel. After all, I reasoned, how could I expect to work on a novel, if my characters didn’t have the perfect names. Once I had names chosen I would record them and put the book aside until my kids were in school. Sure, right! I settled on a name for my lead male character. Absalom, Abbie for short. If that wasn’t a name that belonged in the 1700’s I didn’t know what was. My creative side was settled again, at least until the next night. I woke up at 2:30 in the morning with a bout of insomnia and the name Absalom stuck solid in my brain. Rather than toss and turn, I decided to get up and work with the name Absalom. To see where this tentative character would lead me. At 4:30 a.m., after two hours of solid writing, I quietly crept back into bed. My only thought as I drifted off for a “before the kids are up” nap? Uh-oh, Here we go again! Carla Charter is mom to Samantha (11), Halden (4), and Mathew (3). In addition to being a mom, Carla is a freelance writer specializing in newspaper and magazine journalism. Among her publication credits are Woman's World, American Indian Report and New England Business Journal. Online she has been published in Scubasource.com and Military.com. She teaches creative writing courses at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Ma. Recently her novel Across Lots has been serialized at http://www.newenglandwow.com. She may be reached at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net. |
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Writing
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