The Accommodating Muse...

Movie Quote of the Day: "You look familiar... have I threatened you before?"--Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

Okay, so "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one of my favorite movies--can't help it. I love "pirate" movies. You know, the swashbuckling kind with lots of treasure and witty one-liners and damsels in distress. Movies like that always seem to inspire me. Sort of like the Indiana Jones movies. Any time there's treasure involved, I'm THERE. (Can I tell you, I REJOICED when "National Treasure" came out.) They don't make fun treasure movies anymore. Sahara was just O.K.--it had too much icky back story. I like it when they FIND THE GOLD. BRING ON THE GOLD!!! (Jewels are cool too..heh heh).

One of my favorite all-time movies is The Goonies, because its about regular kids who find a treasure map (belonging to One-Eyed Willie, a local legendary pirate) and they solve the clues and have all sorts of adventures, and find a whole, intact pirate ship in an underground cavern, complete with lots of treasure. Maybe that movie (I saw it at a young age) is what inspired me the most.

The novel I'm currently writing is middle-grade mystery caliber, and there's a Spanish treasure involved. (Not to mention time-travel, and adventures and famous historical figures) I have to say it: it's been GREAT FUN to write. And I'm nearly finished. I think I'll have the story finished in the first week of August, and then the final edits finished by September 1. Then I'll ship it off to my agent and get his response. Then I'll have plenty to keep me busy--he's expecting my YA novel (yes, the one I only have 14,000 words on--pathetic) sometime this year so I'll get cracking on that as soon as I have the polished manuscript of my mystery off to him.

For some reason, my muse has been so accommodating this month! I've gotten more writing done in one month than I have in the last SIX months--I don't know why I have this sudden burst of energy/creativity/motivation but I have been going like gangbusters and DARN IT, something good is going to come out of it, I hope! I feel like I've been asleep for a very long time and I'm finally waking up--and the sun is shining full-blast on my face!

I got out 3800 words yesterday, I wrote a funny scene where my heroine travels to 15th-century England to try to find her Uncle (who is MIA) and she encounters all sorts of lovely smells and odors. (They weren't very hygienic back then--didn't even have toilets). She's suffering quite grandly on that scale, and I'm having fun with it because she's a total Priss and needs to get her hands dirty somewhat. She'll come out of this one relatively unscathed, but definitely more tolerant.

Well, gotta get going on it! The Muse is waiting!