An Unedited Beginning

Okay people, be gentle.  This is an unedited introductory part.  I don't know if this is going to be the story I thought it was.  I have some other bits written but it looks like more of a journey of self and family.  Who knows!?

Prelude to a Greeting

Book dust swirled lazily in the beams of late afternoon sun arching in from the library's entry door. Cadence sat quietly at a table near the front of the large room trying in vain to force another few pages of her dissertation out of her head. It had been a frustrating day of stops and starts – moments of brilliance bookended by hours of insertion and deletion.
“I suck!” Cadence hissed to herself, pushing away from the table, and standing up. Her bleary eyes scanned the room, noting the few sad souls such as herself left in the seventies-tastic room.
“Looks like everyone is out enjoying the gorgeous weather before it gets gawdawful hot,” she thought ruefully to herself as she stretched her aching back, “Here I am, sitting on a Saturday afternoon in the library.”
She glanced down at the mess of books, notes, and stickie notes covering her table, sighed, and began to sweep her mess into a large canvas bag. Flicking her computer shut and shoving it on top of the rest of the mess, Cadence scanned the table one final time and then made her way out into the sunshine.
Outside, the surly graduate student was jarred by the pleasant atmosphere. A group of young guys played Frisbee Football on the lawn while other scattered groups moved to and fro in the warm spring breeze. It was early April and the humidity had yet to fully embrace the city center. Cadence slowed what had been a rapid pace borne of a desire to escape the clutches of the library and strolled slowly through campus. The Saturday afternoon air was heavy with the smell of fresh-cut grass and the beginnings of summer. Try as she might, Cadence could not keep a smile off of her lips as she threaded her way through the rest of the student body. The dissertation could wait, she thought, it wasn't like the world would suffer unless she completed her work today.

* * *

Hours and Hours Wasted!

And I don't really feel bad about it!  :-)

I was planning on doing some writing on vacation.  I was going to sit down and clack away on my cute little laptop.  I was going to be able to come back and post some paragraphs - maybe even a chapter or two.

I didn't.

Instead, I slept, indulged in family, relaxed in the sun, listened to music, and read.  It was sublime!  I had no idea that I needed that much of a break.  Work had spun me around so much over the last few months that I had no idea which end was up and how much sleep and peace I lacked.

So instead of writing diligently, I ignored the stories in my head and rested.  I spent a total of 15 minutes on my computer the entire ten days.  

I come back to this computer and this blog rested, tan, and ready to go.  I played around with some poetry last night but nothing worth posting.  I have also spent some time trying to figure out a few things about my protagonist.  Here's what I've got so far:

She's a graduate student whose having a bit of a writer's block problem while attempting to finish her dissertation.  Her study is interrupted rather fortuitously by a family tragedy and a family celebration.  She's chosen to drive across the country to see family and sort a few things out.  She hopes this will jump start her research and help her find her path.  She's also hoping, though not out loud, that this trip will help her come to terms with her "quiet crazy" family.

I know she has a friend named Jane who is in her field of study though much closer to completing her work than the protagonist.  I know she stays in contact with friends and family via text, phone, and social networking (not unlike myself.)  In fact, I'm having a hard time sorting out how she is not like me and how she is like me.  I'm writing what I know and I'm trying to get down on paper some of the awesome turns of phrase that have come up in conversations with my friends without making this a rather odd story weaving together marathon conversations and the like.

It is a complicated affair to give birth to a character who is separate from myself while sharing all of my life experiences and all of her own.  I love complicated affairs!  ;-)