So I am stuck. Not in the sense that I don't know what to write next, cause, believe me, I have many ideas, but I am such in how my character transitions from one thing to the next. Here is the last paragraph I have written: "Turning around, she leaned against the counter and took a minute to survey the disheveled state of her new home. It had already been a month since she moved into her one-bedroom house, yet the majority of her belongings still sat, untouched, in their boxes." After this, I want to go through a written montage of how she opens her windows and gets to work however the movement and the details in between the actions seem out of place. For instance, I was going to flow up the previous paragraph with: "Releasing a small sigh, Aisling navigated her way towards the bay windows and threw open curtains, setting a flight the light layer of dust that seemed to coat everything...." And after that, nothing. I have nothing. I know that I want her to start unpacking have no idea how to initiate it...
I would drop into a more distant telling mode. Something along the lines of: That afternoon she worked her way through all the boxes, the trunks, the cases and the bags. They all disgorged their contents, to be sorted, organized and put in their proper places. I think of this kind of shift as a pulling-away of the POV 'camera' to a long shot. You could then begin the brief individual stages of the montage: Sweaters blouses and pants went on hangers in the roomy closets, makeup supplies were sorted into drawers and cabinets, statues went into the many courtyards... " Ok, it fell apart there toward the end. It's just a random example.
Don't try to navigate it like stage directions. The effect of her bouncing from one task to the next is probably what you want. I mean, if it's drudgery, then you really don't want the reader to experience it as the character would. You want to step up the pace from and pop from one task to the next. I'm reminded of Bill & Ted when they clean house to the William Tell Overture, but high-speed like Benny Hill. (I guess I never noticed that Freud had the hose attachment and got it stuck in his mouth. What is wrong with that guy! haha)
Right. I sort of played with the idea of her starting her first pile of boxes and then cutting a to a few hours later when the boring stuff was done. The unpacking is supposed to trigger the next scene which is her getting ready to go to the store (where the story really starts) and as she gets ready the reader would have a better description of her.
I think a distant telling passage is a good idea and appears to be the intent of the OP, and is the way to go unless someone wanted it to also serve some 'showing' purpose. For example, if it were written ABOUT me, it would probably be something like: "He sat in an open space amidst the untouched boxes and began the tedious task of emptying and sorting the contents of each. He pulled the closest one to him containing forgotten mementos and obsolete stationery. Hey, what trophy is this? Second place? I would have won state if I had just played King to d4 ! By 5 o'clock he had finished the first box and established himself as the CEO of a leading robotics firm that no one had ever heard of. His eyes glanced at the next box, but he was starting to get hungry..."
