Research

I am really having trouble finding time to write. I know this is a common problem for writers, since not many support themselves with writing alone and must have other jobs, not to mention families, hurricanes, beconning donuts, and the like. But now it's the end of the year thing, and with one child in the upper school, one in the lower, and one in Kindergarten, presents to be made for teachers, (class teachers, music teachers, sport teachers, handicraft teachers) year-end recitals, plays, parties, stuff to be made and brought to the parties... Well, I'm feeling a sense of panic. Especially since we are going nowhere this summer and I will have the kids home every day for five weeks and you can all imagine how much I will get done with 3 kids who are are too old to nap and too young to really be independant. And if they did take naps, they would stagger them just to spite me. (ok ok, I'm getting grumpy)

So why did I title this entry research? I've been thinking about two things, lately. One is, how to find these gatherings more interesting, since I'm basically an asocial git. What I mean is, I really have trouble dealling with large numbers of people at once, especially since the split second processing lag caused by my non-native-speakerness means that by the time I've thought of something to say, someone else has *just* started saying it. So. How do I improve my attitude toward these, shall we say, intrusions into my writing time? Consider them research and observe. There are a wide variety of interesting people - children and adults- present at these things. How do they stand? How do they talk? About what? Actually, around here, villiage gossip being what it is, what they *don't* talk about can be just as interesting.

The other thing is my ongoing fascination with just how long it takes me to get to know my characters. I research so much about them- know so much more than is ever written, read up on aspects of them that I later decide are not really part of who they are and are cut entirely. And even taking all this into consideration, I am still awed by the amount of time it takes- a year sometimes, or more- from the first tentative inspirational flash inside my head until that character has become three dimentional enough for me to write the story, to know what I will cut, add, what that character will do. How they will react. Who they really are. And there is simply no hurrying the process. I wonder if it takes everyone else this long.