I'm really not sure if every day I will report when I have finished a chapter in the Highland book, but so far that is exactly what I have done. I'll be honest with you, completing each chapter, and in consecutive order with how the outline runs, has been both challenging and rewarding. I want to find new methods to write and I want to find new words to include. I have the means to do that; and as any author, I use other works to inspire me for this or that sentence, feeling, message, segway, etc. I don't ever, and I will never plagiarise, but I am never above using an angle or a thought that may have inspired another author. I have and will use their work in the allowed and creative way of remastering or rephrasing in order to keep the sentiment of the statement. We all know that there is nothing new under the sun, and since we should know that this statement was made long before the printed word, I think we're good if we choose to honor others with their first thoughts as long as we give credit or redesign the caption.
Let me explain what I mean when I say remaster or redesign a caption. For instance, if I want to describe the rain falling effortlessly outside the window of a hut or cabin at night, I may read a chapter in a book written over 200 years ago and the author of the passage may have said something like: "Sweet elegance fell without sound from the heavens which once secured its weight" I could change that to something like "In silence, the heavens opened allowing splendid drops of life to replenish the land." In both cases, the rain fell quietly. This was the intended thought behind the writing. I choose the rose while another may choose a thistle, but the beauty, strength, and lure of both buds and the lands they carpet have caused many men to go to war to protect such grace. Did you like that? I wrote that. If someone wanted to use it they could read it, rewrite it, use it, and I'd be honored. If they wanted to actually use my words, they could put quotation marks around it, give me credit, or at least not say they wrote it. See how it works?
Chapter 7 was about the hero when yet a boy, and how he is first introduced into the book's main thesis. He is found at the right place, but at the wrong time, and he suffers a great beating for it. The beating is a message and/or warning to rival clans who would dare try to remove the newly-wedged scoundrels who have claimed the area for their own. In the chapter, he is hurt but returns home. He is given to panic and forgets to clothe himself, thus exposing his body to the villagers who are both shocked and concerned. He is shown love and guidance by his elder cousin who has been given charge of the boy. He is made a permanent point of humility for the reader and will be a relatable character throughout the book; one whom the reader will route for and want to defend in future pages. I love writing.
Tomorrow we will see the families gathering and traveling through waterways, land, and by carriage from Glasgow to Edinburgh, as they trek their annual and/or semi-annual trip to the larger and more robust city of commerce to deal with traders and vendors for what will remain their predominant source of income to sustain them for months and seasons. In some cases, we see a few pounds earned and in others, we will see an enormous fortune created and exchanged for promises of more merchandise and wares from our crafty and creative villagers who live just south of the Clyde to the west of the artisan city of Glasgow; the land of the Campbells, Arthurs, MacLeans, and Kessocks. Fun times.
Fun times indeed. More to come. Every day about 2500-3000 words per chapter. Since there will be between 30-33 chapters we are talking about 90,000-100,000 words, and I will end up adding another 20,000 so I will need to also retract that many in order to keep the numbers where they need to be. It's both challenging and rewarding as I mentioned...and it can be a really cool way to dive into the study of the yesteryear writers I love.
Photo Credit: Thriftbooks.com (John Mackay Wilson)
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