Month: May 2019

My First Novel: Breaking Through (5/12/19)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

A few days after my last post I had a breakthrough. I was working on my daily writing one morning and finally got up enough courage to look over the rough draft of my book I’ve been working on. I ended up editing and rewriting a few pages and before I knew it I had worked my way all the way to Part 3 of my book. I was surprised, after more than a month of struggling I had just slipped back into working on my book. After a couple more days I finished my third rough draft of my book at a local coffee shop. The final chapters still need quite a bit of work and I need to solidify a final ending but the climax action scenes (the most important stuff) is all done.

I am so relieved that I was finally able to break through my wall, whatever it was. The expectations, the stress, the pain of doubting myself and my work. I know there is still more work to be done and I’m barely even close to having a finished manuscript but the progress I’ve made this last week pushes me to continue.

What else have I been up to?

I’m currently reading Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, I forgot that I have read this book before and I get a sneaky feeling it might’ve been last year. I love the way this story is written and Levin’s style is something that I respond to, how he synthesizes facts and real-world events with the otherworldly and supernatural. By grounding his horrifying story with descriptions pulled from the real-world, he creates a foundation in which I can easily find myself falling for the trick of ‘is this possible?’ (of course not).

I”m also reading, Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers. This work feels like a surreal dreamscape interwoven with sex. It is compelling, funny, and a little disorienting but I like Cohen’s writing. His style is different, free-flowing and almost scattered but when I take a closer look, I think it only feels ‘scattered’ because Cohen wants me to think it is.

What I’m listening to:

Thank you for reading and following me on my journey,

-Alina

 

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Summer Waking [poem #396]

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Sun peaks out, summer

waking and getting ready

to burn and illuminate

clouds fluffed float on by.

Enjoyed this poem? Hit that LIKE button and leave a comment below! Thank you ?

My First Novel: Hitting the Wall (5/2/19)

Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I’ve been in denial for a while now but I admit it, I’ve hit a wall. For the last month or so I have barely worked on my novel. Opening the googledoc and looking at a chapter, fiddling with the dialogue in another chapter, I always end up ignoring my book after about fifteen minutes. At the beginning of this year, I would spend hours a day and sometimes a whole day working on my book. Pumping out chapters or reworking them at break-neck speed, trying to get everything down on the page as fast as possible.

But I’ve felt stuck for a while, distracted by everything else going on in my life. I think I’m also distracting myself, starting and finishing new books while I have a whole pile that I’ve been meaning to finish for a couple months now. How does it feel to hit a wall? Like I can’t get anything done and the world is leaving me behind. I just can’t get back on the fast track to finishing my book right now.

There is also an overwhelming feeling of pressure whenever I think about my book. I know I need to work on the ending and solidify each chapter, rework dialogue here and there and round out my characters but I am worried about what comes after. Will I ever have a final product? Is it even worth my time to look for a publisher or should I think about self-publishing through kindle? I think I’m getting too caught up in my doubts.

I feel like I need a reset to clear my mind and get back to it.

My distractions:

Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays

 like my Patti Smith bender, I think I’m gonna dive deep into Didion to keep my mind fresh

Listening to:

good music is always required 

Overall, I already know what I need to do, just write. I’m sticking to my daily writing schedule and for last month wrote over 31,000 words. My daily writing consists of writing 1,000 words minimum a day, doesn’t matter what I’m writing, poetry, fiction, non-fiction as long as it is writing. I try not to make my daily writing into journal entries if I am lacking a focus and this is one of the hardest things to do. I know that as long as I stick with my daily writing, I can eventually get back into the groove of working on my novel.

To all my followers/readers and you, thanks for sticking with me,

-Alina

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