At first I thought it was a headache, later I realized the characters from my novel pounded at the locked door to my brain in an effort to escape their suffocating confinement. During my time back in the US I kept pushing them into the background as I made small mental notes about their desires to end up on a page of A4 paper. For those of you in the US, A4 paper is standard stock in other countries. It’s slightly narrower and longer than the 8½ X 11 that you are used to. All that clutter in my brain led to a block concerning the novel I am working on. I had “lost my train of thought.” The fun of being with family and friends kept me away from the keyboard. The only writing I had done, updates for this webpage and that was far and few between. The minute I realized this, the “headache” faded and my characters started screaming again. Unfortunately when I went to work on the next chapter, the storyline had become muddled in my head. Now, I am rereading the first 80 chapters in the hopes that the story will come to life in my head again.
It’s fortunate that I’m doing this. Several areas need to be expanded and I had forgotten some important incidents in the
first of the book. An important clue for Detective Rodriguez lies hidden in a file, a couple of characters need to spend a little more time together one afternoon and Lourdes needs to start sitting on a bar stool in her investigation of the drug trade are just a few. I am getting my groove back though. The clutter is being organized, the characters seem to be happy for the moment and the story line is fresh in my brain once again. I hope to back in the saddle again by the end of next week.
I’m very happy to be back in Peru and settling back into my life here. The writers’ group met on Thursday. We talked briefly about our writing but spent most of the time catching up. It was nice to see them again and next week we will return to our critiques. Katrina will be first up with something she is working on, then a short story by Victoria and finally, something by me. My friend Kathy has joined the group and is starting to write articles about her travels. I also hope to expand the group with some new members but so far, no takers.
I made it to a couple of movies this week. The first was “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” starring Sarah Jessica 
Parker. The movie had its funny moments although the plot was very predictable. I give it 3½ Llamas but it’s certainly not worth the price of admission at a theater. Rent it or buy it if you are a big fan of her acting. The second movie was “In Time,” starring Justin Timberlake. Although I think he is growing as an actor, he still has a way to go. The plot of the movie was very interesting but in the end I think the movie was a comment on the growing disparity between the rich and the poor. I give it 3½ Llamas also and once again recommend that you rent or buy the movie. There’s nothing about it that screams “big Screen” to me.
Time to get back to the 50 chapters I need to read before starting in on the book again. Hope you all have a great weekend and remember; “the brain is a muscle too, exercise it.”