Different Drum

I'm blogging today at Heroes and Heartbreakers, on gritty western romances that might appeal to fans of Hell on Wheels, I've already blogged about the show itself here.

The western US isn't my favorite settting, nor is the nineteenth century as a whole. The Regency era dominates the market, but that's not my favorite, either. Not saying I haven't read books in those settings that haven't resonated with me, because I read for the story first, but plop me down anywhere between the end of the Wars of the Roses and the end of the American Revolution, and I'm a happy camper. Paranormals are huge, but not my cuppa as a whole, though this past summer, I delved deep into Anne Rice's Interview With a Vampire...but the sequel, The Vampire Lestat, starring the author's own favorite character, didn't hold my interest as much, and I have no plans to read the rest of the books in the series. I wouldn't call myself an overall zombie fan, but I've already blogged about my deep and abiding love for The Walking Dead in both televised and graphic novel formats.

Former Monkee, former politician and perpetually independent entertainer Michael Nesmith's signature song, above, seems to fit the bill for today's entry. I can't count how many times I've been the only X in a group of Ys, and I'm okay with that. I like being unique. Right here, my brain flashes back to when a friend I will call L and I were on one of our customary mall excursions. It happened to be October, and I noticed the Halloween store. I can still hear L's voice as I veered in that direction. "Your'e going in there to look for regular clothes, aren't you?" She was right. Hey, I like black. For years, I kept polish on my toes every day but never my fingers, but after figuring out why I had a hard time keeping polish on my fingers, I changed the way I did things and now I get to polish all the nails. It feels more "me."

This carries over to writing as well. Recently, I've found the best way to climb out of a slump is to remember what it it I love about writing. The feeling of picking out the right notebook - mine have to be pretty- and the right pen and leaving myself open to the characters that wanted to come out and play. When I pick up that notebook, my head is in that story and nowhere else. It's a good place, and a place where I need to spend more time. Ditto with my home office, which currently serves more of a storage function. Not stressing; process can be an organic thing, shaping around circumstance and the demands of daily life, but as long as the stories get told, as long as the movement continues from 'once upon a time' to 'happily ever after' I call it good.

How about you? What writing habit may seem odd to others but works for you?