#WIPpet Wednesday – April 03, 2019

Hello and welcome to WIPpet Wednesday, a blog hop wherein writers share an excerpt from their current WIP that somehow relates to the date.  To join in, simply click the blue linky up there to the right.

I didn’t realise until I’d written it but this got kind of long. Skip to the Facing the Music banner if you want to go straight to the WIPpet.

I didn’t even realise until the weekend that last week’s post should have been a month in review post. But in the small paragraph that I did write, I basically did sum up the month of March. “Strong start, bleh middle, reasonable finish” is a pretty succinct summation.

April is also off to a strong start. I’m doing a lot of re-evaluation in regards to goals and particularly blogging. Over on A Keyboard and an Open Mind, I’ve chosen a few book-related blog hops to participate in each week.  I’m also trying to get better at interacting with people on their blogs and social media. I put out the call on Twitter for Australian writers who wanted to do early morning writing sprints and there’s now a small group of us. We even have a hashtag: #6amAusWriters.

I started a new project for Camp NaNo and promptly lost interest after two days, so I’m going to file that away for now and continue with Facing the Music. Between brainstorming for the Camp NaNo project, a couple of days off just because and then the first two days of Camp, I had about five days away from Facing the Music and I think even the short break helped. So it wasn’t all for nothing. I’m feeling much more motivated. This morning I actually finished a scene I’d been a bit stuck in for a little while, and moved on to the next bit. And I’d been trying to find a way to reveal a certain tidbit about a character, and that has finally happened organically in the dialogue. I’m throwing in a bit of the history of the Casyl & Co. Circus, and ended up in a bit of a research rabbit-hole looking up early roller-coasters to see if I could feasibly have one in a quasi-19th century carnival. The answer is yes, I totally can.

I’ve also been thinking about all my open writing projects. I basically have three.  It’s not going to happen this month, but at some stage soon I would like to re-read them all and try to work out what work they each need. They range from small tidy ups here and there to months-worth of work. Working out what needs doing on those and then doing it could easily take me the rest of the year.

For my WIPpet this week, I’ve got seven paragraphs (3+4). The train had to stop through the night due to debris on the tracks. It all seems a bit suspicious, but no one really knows anything and there’s no way they can prove it was a targeted at their train specifically. This is the following morning, in the dining car.

I pulled the handle on the door between the two carriages and stepped inside. Jeremiah Casyl was standing over a group of others. Most of them looked tired, and some looked like they were hearing a rant they’d heard many times before.

“Find a way, damn you!” Mr Casyl shouted. “There will be a show tonight.”

One of the men at the table sighed. “We’re not cutting any corners. It’s already nearly ten in the morning. I’m not opening the gates if it’s not going to be safe for the cast.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to take the lost takings out of your pay,” Mr Casyl retorted.

“Sure you will,” the man replied.

“See if I don’t.” At that moment, Mr Casyl looked up and saw me in the doorway. He squinted at me, and frowned. “What do you think you’re looking at?”

“Sorry,” I said, looking at the other men at the table to avoid Mr Casyl’s gaze. “I just… I came for some breakfast…”

It’s just possible that Mr Casyl’s distinct lack of qualms about cutting corners could be a plot point…

I may not be around next week as I’m doing the final intensive of my Masters degree and will probably be doing required reading on Wednesday night rather than blogging. But the linky will still be there for anyone who is about. Catch you all soon!