This is what I'm doing today ...

... Getting perspective on the plot structure by writing the scenes out on post-its and sticking them to the wall. I've colour-coded the post-its to correspond to the main themes of the book, and this has been really useful. It's great to see at a glance the balance of the themes. Some are more powerful at the beginning of the book, some come into play towards the end as the narrator grows up and starts to be more aware of the complexity of her world. And that's reflected in my Fabulous Wall of Post-It Glory.

Edited to add: I should add that this is how far I've got so far. About a third of the way through. I have two-thirds of the book still to post-it. Can that be a verb?

Edited again to add: Aargh, typo in the title. I'm sorry. I'm going a bit mad today.

In a funk

I am in a really weird place this week, with the election and being ill. The election especially. My whole family has been on edge all week watching what's happening back home in Zimbabwe. Even though the news has been positive, it still brings back a lot of memories and a lot of emotion. Doesn't help that I'm still trawling through those difficult final chapters.

Escaped!

My lack of presence today is because I finally caved in to cabin fever and just left the house! My writing felt stale this morning, I felt tired, and the walls were closing in on me ... so I took to the streets to breathe some fresh air and get some new visuals. I wandered about in the Arts Centre with the tourists, gave people some directions (as always happens when I wander in town), and visited my Mum at her work.

Although I didn't write more than a couple of hundred words today, I did have a productive talk with my Mum, who gave me a lot of material to use for those final few chapters. I also bought three packs of coloured post-its which are going to help with my evil but brilliant plan to clear up my plotting tomorrow ... I'll share it with you then. I'm pretty excited about it. I think it solves my visual problem of yesterday.