Poetic Serendipity

Over the river and through the woods

2010-09-13T11:43:00.006-04:00

I just finished reading Bill Bryson's excellent account of walking the Appalachian Trail: "A Walk in the Woods." I'd heard about this book and always wanted to read it, especially given that I live very close to the AT, and have visited the Great Smoky Mountains many time. So when I saw this book on the shelf of my local thrift shop, I snatched it up and clutched it to my chest like a child clutches a bag of Halloween candy. "It's mine!" I wanted to say, although I would've just received some weird glances.

Anyway, funny story about reading this book: I started reading it at the beginning of June and just finished it last week. That means it took me approximately 14 weeks to read one book! Normally, I can finish a book in a week or two. Now, don't get me wrong - this isn't a difficult book to read by any means, it's just that my personal life was in upheaval and I didn't have much extra time for luxuries like reading for pleasure.

That said, I actually really like the fact that it took me so long to read it. Bryson has a lot to say, not just about the adventure of walking the AT itself, but about the history of our national parks and an earnest plea for conservation of those parks, and really, for nature in general. I am a Tree Hugger, and very proud of it. "A Walk in the Woods" told me things I didn't know and was thoroughly fascinating. I often found myself commenting on passages that I just couldn't keep to myself.

Reading it in small pieces over several weeks allowed me to really digest the book and think about it. The book is interesting, thoughtful, and often, laugh-out-loud funny. I highly recommend it. Indeed, this book has given me the itch to read some of Bryson's other books, namely, "The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way," "Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States," and "Neither Here Nor There," about travels in Europe.

It's hard to be really funny and poignant and interesting and relevant, but "A Walk in the Woods" is all of those things.

Everything happens for a reason

2010-08-17T19:49:00.008-04:00

This was supposed to be my first semester of graduate school. I'm getting my Master's in English, so that I can pursue teaching at the college level full-time (currently, I'm adjunct; I'm teaching three courses this semester).

Then, life breezed in and scattered everything to the wind. Financial aid issues, residency issues, course availability issues, time restraints. You name it and I think it was something that I had to deal with. There were tears. There were curse words screamed.

And then I decided that sometimes you just have to let things go, like the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

OR

Let go and let God.

So, I accepted that it would be best to just wait until the spring to start my courses. Now, I feel better.

I can finish editing my book now! It was supposed to be edited this past summer, but I went through some rough things (see post "I'm still alive!") and there was no time for manuscript work. I think this is God's way of saying, "Brianna, I'm giving you back the time you lost to finish your manuscript and get closer to being published."

Thanks, God. You're so much smarter than me and my little pea brain.

I'm still alive!

2010-08-11T09:31:00.006-04:00

My poor blog has been sorely neglected these past few months. Not by choice, really. I had been working hard to make this blog something special, if not for anyone else, then at least for myself.

Then, well....life happened. In a big fucking way.

Want the long story or the short story? I promise you don't want the long story...or maybe you do since you're reading a blog about writing/reading, but I don't have the emotional energy to write it or the physical energy for that matter. I went through the worst period of my life from May 2010 until July 2010. I separated from my husband and moved myself and our two year-old daughter out of the house. We are now in the process of a divorce. My daughter and I lived with my mother for a week; it ended badly. Very, very badly. Then we lived with my sister for two weeks. It ended badly. Very, very, very badly. Then we got our own place, and now things are settled.

I wouldn't wish what I've been through on anyone in this world. I know where the adage, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" comes from now. I've never had to be stronger than I have had to be this summer. But I'm still alive - it didn't kill me. There were times that I honestly wondered if I would have a complete mental and emotional breakdown, but somehow I made it through.

The most bizarre and unlikely thing about the whole ordeal is this. Well, you might not believe me, and that's ok. It's like a movie. What happened to me is incredibly, eeriely close to the plotline of my manuscript I'm editing and hope to publish. Like, incredibly close. Freakishly close. I have to wonder if it's serendipity, or just fate. Or God telling me that everything happens for a reason. I should write a non-fiction companion to my manuscript. It might sell better than the actual novel.

So the central plot of my book happened to me in real life. Crazy, I know. I conceived the plotline and finished the first draft of the book before it started to happen in my real life. Wowzers, huh?

Anyway, it gives me a lot of emotional experience to go on during the editing process. After all, having experienced it first hand, I can identify with my main character even more now.

So, anyway, that's all for now. I cross my heart this blog is not dead. I'm still here and have many more things to talk and write about. Stay tuned.

The little princess who made me a mommy

2010-05-09T08:18:00.001-04:00

In honor of Mother’s Day, a very short pictorial of my daughter’s first two years. I am amazed daily by how she has grown and continues to accomplish new achievements. She drives me batty and makes my heart melt, and often in the same instant.

She has touched my life in so many ways, and although motherhood is the biggest endeavor I have ever undertaken, it is the most worthwhile and fulfilling.

The ABC’s of Writing – I is for Imagery

2010-05-05T20:24:00.001-04:00

I love a book with a good plot, but there is something profound about good imagery. Something that makes the writing beautiful, and sometimes, even Godlike. I recently read Zora Neale Hurston’s classic novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” and though the plot was somewhat slow, her use of imagery in the book was one of the best I can remember reading in a long, long time. I guess that’s a huge reason the novel holds such a special place in people’s hearts. For example:

Daisy…is black and she knows that white clothes look good on her, so she wears them for dress up. She’s got those big black eyes with plenty shiny white in them that makes them shine like brand new money and she knows what God gave women eyelashes for, too. Her hair is not what you might call straight. It’s negro hair, but it’s got a kind of white flavor. Like a piece of string out of a ham. It’s not ham at all, but it’s been around ham and got the flavor. It was spread down thick and heavy over her shoulders and looked just right under a big white hat. -Chapter 6

[Janie] was a rut in the road. Plenty of life beneath the surface but it was kept beaten down by the wheels. –Chapter 7

[Tea Cake] could be a bee to a blossom - a pear tree blossom in the spring. He seemed to be crushing scent out of the world with his footsteps. Crushing aromatic herbs with every step he took. Spices hung about him. He was a glance from God. –Chapter 11

Mrs. Tyler with her dyed hair, newly straightened and her uncomfortable new false teeth, her leathery skin, blotchy with powder and her giggle. –Chapter 13

Morning came without motion. The winds, to the tiniest, lisping baby breath had left the earth. Even before the sun gave light, dead day was creeping from bush to bush watching man. –Chapter 18

Maybe I’m in love with this book, too. After all, who could blame me? This is just a sampling of her writing. The imagery that Hurston evokes is absolutely mesmerizing. Don’t you agree that her words strike a cord? They force you to draw an image in your mind? I have massive respect for Hurston’s writing abilities. I can only hope to evoke such breathtaking imagery in my own writing. She certainly gives one something to aspire to!

Baking Blogfest

2010-05-01T16:26:00.001-04:00

I’m late, but I finally am posting my Baking Blogfest entry! This was started by Charity Bradford on her blog My Writing Journey. This Blogfest is perfect for my manuscript, because a huge part of it involves baking! Such a fun idea.

So here is my entry, enjoy and bon appétit! (note: this is unedited, so there may be a few little issues).

*****

Marshmallows are not my favorite sweet to make. The mixture is thick, sticky and as difficult to manage as a horny Doberman on a two inch leash. But the end justifies the means. With some difficulty I pulled the glossy white mound from the mixer bowl and pushed it into a parchment paper lined dish sprinkled with freshly toasted coconut. More than once I had stolen a bite of the coconut, letting the sweet aroma fill my mouth and nose. I wet my hands and molded the mixture into a perfectly even glossy brick, then topped it with more coconut. Marshmallows are not an instant-gratification sweet. These would need to air dry overnight, and in the morning would be the yummiest confection imaginable. Jade had a particular weakness for these marshmallows, which meant a lot considering she had grown up with access to practically any sweet treat she could ever want.

The dark chocolate cupcakes I had baked were cooled and ready to be filled with the cream I’d made. I took my filled pastry bag in one hand and gently inserted the metal tip into the tops of each cupcake, filling each with a pocket of the cream. Another pastry bag was also waiting for me, this one with buttercream icing tinted bright yellow. I deftly maneuvered the star tip over the tops of the cakes, leaving behind a thick layer of beautiful icing. Aunt Rosie, humming along to a Neil Diamond song on the radio, looked over and smiled approvingly. She had taught me well.

Last Lines Blogfest

2010-05-01T10:19:00.001-04:00

Another blogfest – yippee! I really enjoy these, even though this is only my second. Started by Lilah Pierce on her blog, this is a Last Lines Blogfest, featuring the last lines of a chapter, scene, or a manuscript. What a fun idea! I had a hard time deciding what to use – I didn’t want to use anything that was spoilerish (I know, who cares, right? ) or too confusing. I narrowed it down to two different scenes. Oh, well, sue me. They’re both rather fun, I think. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. These are unedited.

*****************

After lunch Natalie walked past my desk and stopped abruptly. “You know something?” she asked in a snobbish tone. “Your desk is awfully clean.”

“Just trying to keep everything organized,” I offered, wondering at the oddity of such a comment. I smiled my most honest smile and folded my hands in my lap.

Natalie scoffed. “You want to hear my theory on clean desks?” She partially sat down on the corner of my desk, crinkling some papers underneath her. Her knee length gray pinstripe skirt pulled against her thigh tightly. “I think clean desks mean no work. My desk is never organized because I am always busy. When you’re getting things done you don’t have time to straighten. You learn to become organized in here,” she said, tapping her temple, “and you know where everything is.” She paused.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“If your desk is always clean and tidy it tells me you aren’t doing much.” I was speechless. What could my response possibly be? Either I contradicted her or I called myself lazy. Either way, I was going to look bad. She took a deep, contemplative breath and exhaled heavily. “You know, Sabine,” she began, almost confidentially, “I often feel more like a babysitter to my subordinates than a boss.” With that she stood and walked off, pulling papers off my desk and to the floor in the action. I grunted as I bent over to pick up my wrinkled papers. A co-worker named Gavin was beside me suddenly.

“Here, let me help,” he offered. “Sorry about that.”

“Sorry about what?” I wondered, lifting my head slightly to look at him. “You didn’t do anything.”

“No, I mean I’m sorry that you had to deal with that,” he lowered her voice and said. I didn’t know Gavin well at all, only by name mostly, but he had always been polite. “Natalie is probably just under a lot of stress.”

We stood and I placed my papers back on my desk. “Thanks.”

Gavin smiled and his eyes crinkled in reaction. His slightly long sandy blonde hair was hanging in his eyes from bending over and he pushed it aside. “No problem.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his black dress pants. “I don’t work for Natalie, so I don’t really know her that well.” I kept quiet, not daring to utter an unkind word about Natalie. He looked around our immediate surroundings to make sure no one was listening and leaned in. “But apparently she wears skirts to soften her image.” He grinned and a little laugh escaped my lips.

“Thanks,” I said so low that Gavin probably had to read my lips. He smiled again and waved shortly before turning away. I watched him walk off and was hopeful that someway Gavin and I could cross paths again. Having a friend at work would be huge distraction. I settled into my work, ducking my head down and being extra messy despite myself.

***********

There was a painting she’d bought at a flea market that she adored. It was one of those scenic paintings with trees and a quaint little village that makes you long to step into that world. “It calms me when I’m stressed,” she’d told me. “I know it’s not high art, but I like it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” I said. “You don’t have to impress me with the art that you like. I think it’s nice.”

Jade smiled at it again, almost lost in the imaginary scene. “Do you ever wish you could live inside the art, Sabine? Thinking that wherever that is, it’s better than where you’re at?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice faint. “All too often, probably.”

“You always were a daydreamer,” she recalled as if it were a good thing. I wasn’t so sure my rampant daydreams were so wonderful. It only made me sad when I had to acknowledge that they were not real.

***Thanks for reading! :)

The Well is Dry and It Needs to Rain

2010-04-28T11:24:00.001-04:00

Seriously.

I got nothin’.

::Yells into the well:: “Helloooooooo!” ::hears echoes::

Damn.

Ok…I have a few ideas (ok, maybe two) for a new manuscript, but they’re spotty and I don’t love them. I’ve been mildly freaking out for the past couple of weeks.

Why is it that I always seemed to have too many ideas, and now I don’t seem to have any??? (Yes, I needed three question marks.)

I need to sit down and start freewriting any and all ideas that come into my head. An exercise.

I will:

1. Write down all ideas. Cliché ideas, cheesy ideas, boring ideas.

2. Read some famous quotes and see if I get inspired by any of them.

3. Browse internet gossip sites and magazines for juicy plotlines.

4. Answer some “What if…” questions to see if any story ideas emerge.

5. Look at some traditional plot lines from fairytales, etc. and see if I could rework or borrow ideas from any of them. (After all, one of my favorite college classes was literary Folklore…)

6. Expand on the best ideas. Elaborate. Add detail, personality, my own take, etc.

7. Determine what themes the different ideas entail. Do I like these themes?

8. Decide what the main conflicts could be with each idea.

9. Let the ideas marinate.

10. Come back to the ideas. Which one(s) do I focus on and still love? Repeat process if necessary.

Crossing my fingers that this works.

To be continued…

The ABC’s of Writing – H is for Hook

2010-04-23T08:37:00.001-04:00

I learned this in college – you have to hook the reader as soon as possible. Preferably in the first sentence. That’s a lot of pressure! I mean, in one sentence, in one measly sentence, I have to write something so interesting, so catchy, that someone would decide to spend his or her time reading on. And it also has to say something about my character(s) or plot.

The first sentence sets the tone and, hopefully, makes the reader want to keep reading. That’s the point, right? I’m sure we’ve all picked up a book before, turned to the first page, started reading, and our eyes glazed over because it just didn’t hook us.

I went to my bookshelves and grabbed some books to see what the first lines were. Some were boring, some were ok, some were great hooks. Here are a few that I like:

“We slept in what had once been the gymnasium.”
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

“Only three people were left under the red and white awning of the grease joint: Grady, me, and the fry cook.”
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

“I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine’s father over the top of the Standard Oil sign.”
- The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

“I first heard of Antonia on what seemed to me an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America.”
- My Antonia by Willa Cather

“We came on the wind of the carnival.”
- Chocolat by Joanne Harris

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.”
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The boy walked on the right side of the road the first mile or two, trying to hitch a ride home after seeing the show in town.”
- Kinfolks by Gurney Norman

“My mother did not tell me they were coming.”
- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

All these lines make me want to keep reading. Some of them are so catchy, I just HAVE to know what is going on (like the first line of The Handmaid’s Tale). Just like writing in general, hooking a reader with the first sentence is an art, and there are many ways to do it well.

What are some of your favorite first lines? Do you think you have a great first line in your manuscript?

How do you know it’s the one?

2010-04-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both…

How do you know if a manuscript idea is “the one”? Since I finished my manuscript, I’ve been thinking about what story I’d like to start next. I have had one idea in my head for a couple of months, but it is flat and I can’t seem to flesh it out. Blah.

So tonight I was in the bathroom of all places, and a new idea struck me. I think I really like it, but maybe I’m just infatuated and I think it’s a better idea than it really is.

Maybe I should wait and see if the powers that be strike me with any more fascinating manuscript ideas. Or maybe I should just take my new idea and run with it.

Usually, I have more ideas than I could ever write, but lately, I’ve been in a dry spell, where I’m kinda panicking that I haven’t had more ideas.

I admit, I’m sweating about it. Where is my muse? ::cries in the corner::

It doesn’t matter how many ideas I have, I guess. In the end, I can only write one story at a time anyway.

How do I know if the new idea is the one?

Maybe I’ll sleep with it, and if I wake up in the morning still batting my eyelashes at it, I’ll know. Eh?

Hmm…

Finally, the first draft is done!

2010-04-14T14:11:00.001-04:00

80,124 words, to be exact.

::dances with abandon in my mind::

There is nothing like the feeling you get when you write the last word in the first draft of your manuscript. Hey, I just wrote a book! It’s something I said I wanted to do, and I did it.

This is the fourth novel I’ve finished, but it is the first I’ve written since I’ve become a stronger writer, and ::knock on wood:: I truly believe that this book will be published.

It took much longer than normal to finish this manuscript. I started in late November, put it on hiatus in December, and picked back up in late January.

I cannot wait to dig into revisions and editing! Does that make me a nerd? Perhaps it’s the English teacher in me. It will be much easier to edit my own writing than my student’s.

And then after editing comes feedback. I’m really looking forward to this stage, too. It’s so exciting to put your words out there for someone to read, and hear their comments.

It’s going to be an exciting year!

I <3 Libraries

2010-04-12T19:21:00.001-04:00

I love libraries because when I was a child, it was the best place in the world. A place where my mother, who had little money, could take my sister and I. A place that said I could read books and watch movies even if I didn’t have money.

I love libraries because as a teenager in high school, the school library was my sanctuary in every sense of the word. I wrote a good deal of one of my manuscripts in my high school library while other teens were hanging out with friends.

I love libraries because I can always find something interesting.

I love libraries because it’s a good way to see where my tax dollars are going.

I love libraries because the rows of book spines are beautiful.

I love libraries because they are calm, peaceful, and welcoming.

I love libraries.

Happy National Library Week! Support your library!

The ABC’s of Writing – G is for Goals

2010-04-12T08:24:00.001-04:00

Goals are what separate the casual writer from the serious writer. A goal wants an end result. It’s surprising that, though I like to set goals, I never had goals when I was writing my first three manuscripts. I might have aimed to write x number of pages, but that was for fun.

With this manuscript, I have never had specific goals. My only true goal through this process has been to just finish. Sometimes I have sat down to write and have only finished a page, other times, I’ve written twenty. It was always progress. Additionally, I’ve kept track of my word count to monitor how much I was accomplishing at a time. Anything over 1,000 words is decent, anything over 2,000 is good.

In my humble opinion, specific goals work for some and not for others. I’m a perfect example. I also humbly submit that if one truly wants to finish their manuscript, they will, regardless of goals they have set. Goals just help us along and keep us on track.

Do you set specific goals, or general goals?

Murder Scene Blogfest

2010-04-09T20:34:00.001-04:00

Started by Anne Riley on her blog, this Murder Scene Blogfest is the first of its kind I’ve participated in! I decided to go for it, despite that I’ve never written a murder scene in any of my four manuscripts. I’m a lover, not a fighter. But still, challenges are fun. Hope you enjoy! Thanks, Anne, for starting the blogfest!

__________________________________________________

No Trespassing

Something seemed different about that day. Perhaps it was that the air smelled different. Whenever the air smells different, he knows they are around. He watches them when they encroach on his territory, but they almost always keep their distance. Wisely so.

He has always lived here, since he was born. The valley and paths are his home, and he knows them well. He also knows the best places to hunt and fish, which he thoroughly enjoys. As he sits and eats outdoors, he listens to the stream rushing through the trees, or perhaps sits in a light rain. During thunderstorms, he is forced inside where it’s dry, but he prefers to sit in the sun and nap.

After waking from a late afternoon nap one day, he heard them. Their footsteps, though light, were no match for his hearing, nor for his sense of smell. At first he was cautious, attentive. Perhaps they were a good distance away and would keep away from him, he thought. Then he heard laughter, and the smell grew stronger. They were lucky that he was still lazy from his nap and wasn’t interested in their unwelcome arrival. He would leave them alone all right, unless they got too close. Still, their presence annoyed him. If he wanted anything to eat, they’d be sure to scare away game.

Then he saw them, coming through the trees. There were two men, not the typical sort that normally stray that far into the woods. Perhaps they were lost, and if they were, they would not be able to count on him to help. He kept low, watching their movements, keeping himself hidden just in case. To get a better look, he crept from his resting spot and moved a few feet in their direction, careful not to step on any twigs or leaves. He waited for a moment for them to turn in the other direction, but they were steadily coming closer to the spot where he was hiding. At first, he had been irritated, but now his temper was flaring.

The men were laughing; it wasn’t obvious about what. Suddenly, one of the men, thin and fair-skinned, noticed him. The man’s body was rigid and still, his eyes not moving. The man was watching him, waiting for him to move, but he didn’t, and neither did the man.

“Dude, listen, leave him alone” said the fair-skinned man.

The other man, wearing a ball cap, walked forward. “He’s harmless. Look at him. He’s just napping.” The man in the cap knelt to pick up a stick, and inched closer to him, the stick extended, his body crouched low to the ground. “Dude, he’s huge,” he told the first man.

“Seriously,” the fair-skinned man said, still watching him. “Keep back.”

“Hey, buddy,” the man in the cap said to him. “Hey, wow, you’re big.”

He watched the man in the ball cap, his eyes narrowed, irate at his brazen behavior. Didn’t the man in the cap know that this was his home? Didn’t the man in the cap know that he hated intruders? Didn’t the man in the cap know that trespassing was not tolerated?

“He’s moving,” the fair-skinned man said, his voice quivering.

“Hey, get out your camera,” the man in the ball cap said. “Take a picture of me.”

“Hell, no,” the other man replied. “Are you fucking crazy? Let’s get out of here.”

“Come on, asshole. Take the picture.”

He was angry now. He was calculating.

The fair-skinned man was inching backward, away from him. The man was terrified. The man in the ball cap was laughing as he called his friend a name and flipped him off. Once his friend was a good twenty yards in the distance, the man in the ball cap looked as if he would go away, but it was too late now. He was a hunter first and foremost. The man in the cap would be too easy to overpower.

In an instant, he leapt from his spot and tackled the man in the cap so hard that he knocked the saliva from his mouth. The man let out terrified shrieks, calling the name of his friend, who screamed as he watched from his relatively safe distance. The man in the cap grabbed at the earth in vain, chunks of dirt imbedding into his fingernails. First, he slashed the man’s back, causing a warm flow of blood to gush, soaking his t-shirt in mere seconds. The man moaned in pain, crying out for his friend.

The man pulled himself along the ground with such friction that his jeans came off and laid in a heap, soaked in blood. The man’s screams grew worse with each moment. It was time to finish him off, no more playing. His jaw opened and he ripped into the man’s throat; the man was instantly silent, his body limp. His friend, however, screamed and cursed up ahead. The fair-skinned man threw up, and limped backward, trying to get away from the scene of his friend’s death.

He stood over his kill, a pool of still-warm crimson blood at his feet. He licked his mouth, the heat from the sun already beginning to dry the man’s blood in his fur.

The ABC’s of Writing – F is for Feedback

2010-04-06T21:03:00.001-04:00

Constructive criticism is to writing what pressure is to coal – it takes something rough and makes it sparkle.

I preach it to my students, and I take my own advice – in writing, 99% of the time you are writing for someone else, so it makes sense to have a few eyes read it before the masses do. Why? A fresh set of eyes – that aren’t attached to the writing like a moth to a streetlight – will be discriminating, critical, and see the kinks in the writing.

I’m all for getting feedback about my writing, and yet I HATE – ok, hate is a strong word…but…I detest criticism. Ok, I don’t detest it, it just makes me terribly self-conscious. But it’s necessary if I want to make progress. It’s never comfortable to have someone tell you they don’t like the way you worded something or that your characterization is lacking, etcetera, etcetera. But pressure turns coal into diamonds, right? We need to pressure ourselves as writer’s – challenge are own vain ideas about how well written our manuscript is – and force ourselves to see its flaws.

I’m a middle of the road self-assessor. I don’t think my writing is terrible and I don’t think I’m the Second Coming, either. I think I’m a solid “good” and beyond that I leave it up to others to decide for themselves.

In college, I took a Fiction Writing class and participated in round table critiques. There was always a flurry of butterflies before it was my turn - anxiety that they would all hate it, but also anticipation that they would like my writing. It was uncomfortable, but many times, the comments were right on. It forced me to see that I had made mistakes, that there was room for improvement.

What I tell my students is that there is always room for improvement. I tell them that even my writing can be improved, and I go as far as to edit my emails, as I invariably misspell words or have an awkward phrase or grammatical issue.

When feedback in the form of constructive criticism is given by someone who cares about the writer and is trying to help the writer improve, it is a wonderful tool. And I would venture to say not just a wonderful tool, but a necessary one.

The ABC’s of Writing – E is for Editing

2010-03-31T10:13:00.001-04:00

Ah, editing. A job that never seems done, a job akin to pulling tiny bits of dust off a large carpet. Tedious, but incredibly, monumentally important. Not only important – absolutely necessary (but we all know that already!).

This is a very timely post for myself, as I will be in the editing stage very, very soon (yay for a finished first draft!!!) and it has been a while since I edited a manuscript. There are many ways to tackle editing, and I’m a believer in doing what works best for you, within reason. For instance, some will tell you to cut out X amount of words, but that will not work for me, as I will almost definitely have an increased word count after editing, because I focus on plot in my first draft. So I need the extra detail and explanation. I’ll certainly cut things, too, but I’ll also be adding.

Stephen King says to put away your first draft for a while, and do not look at it. Let it rest. I’ve never done this before, but I think I will this time. I am SO close to the story and the characters that I need a break from them, even if just for a week or two. After that, you pull it out again. What my plan is right now is something like this (of course it is subject to change :D):

Put first draft away for at least a week
Do a quick read-through of the manuscript, not focusing on grammatical issues, but just the story as a whole, making notes where necessary
Do another read-through, this time tackling the biggest issues – plot holes, character development, etc.
Another edit where I will add detail where necessary, cut extraneous words/passages, etc.
Another edit to catch grammar, punctuation, misspellings, awkward and confusing wording, etc.
And then probably at least one more read through to catch odds-and-ends
Start passing out the manuscript to trusted friends who will critique me and give me feedback
Address the issues brought up by critiques
Hopefully at that point, I will be ready for querying. This is the plan for now.

I am really looking forward to the editing process, because for me it is like taking a dull stone and polishing it into a sparkling gem. I get to wash off the grime, dust it off, make it shine. I get to see my manuscript realize its full potential, and that is very exciting.

During the editing process, I also plan on starting research and outlining for my next WIP.

What is your process and what works best for you? Did you start out with one plan and then changed it? What did you learn along the way? If you haven’t started editing yet, what are your plans?
Do you enjoy editing?

A Story in Pictures

2010-03-29T14:12:00.001-04:00

I haven’t blogged lately because I was in Tennessee, where my sister got married. Here are a few pictures and notes from our little excursion. Enjoy!

The first day there we all went to the aquarium. Baby girl was in awe of the “wa-wa” (water) and fishies. But lemme tell you something – a toddler in an aquarium = an hour and a half of her Mommy and Daddy chasing her around while she laughs. :D

I love this little guy (or gal…who knows). I want a pet seahorse.

“Daddy! Wa-wa!” Her expression is priceless.

She looks like she was calm and holding still, but I had the death-grip on her for this photo-op.

*Disclaimer: No toddlers were harmed in the taking of this photograph.

Hauntingly beautiful

My sister and her husband. We all stayed in a house on the mountain (Holy Ear Popping, Batman!) and that’s where they got married. Afterwards, we all went out to dinner, and capped off the night drinking in the hot tub. Not your traditional wedding day, but it worked for her, and we had fun!

The next day, we all went to the Smokey Mountain National Park. The air was a bit crisp, but it was an absolutely beautiful day. (and more “wa-wa!”)

There’s a slightly funny story behind this picture. It was taken while hiking 1.3 miles up a mountain to a waterfall. I had no idea I was going to be hiking up a mountain and was wearing dress shoes. I still did it, though. Round-trip, I hiked 2.6 miles, and have the blisters to prove it. Part of the way I even carried my 25 lb. baby. I think I kick ass.

The aforementioned falls, named Laurel Falls. Very pretty, but we didn’t get to spend much time up there because 1) My 8 year old niece was doing the “potty dance,” and later had to pee behind a rock, 2) baby girl was cold, and 3) my sister and her husband had apparently given up the hike and turned back, because they never made it to the falls.

*************************

Fun times, but we’re glad to be home!

Oh, and to make this post slightly literature-related, I did sneak in a little reading while we were there (Pride and Prejudice, to be exact).

The ABC’s of Writing – D is for Dialogue

2010-03-21T09:15:00.001-04:00

Artwork by Roy Lichtenstein

Dialogue can be an absolute joy to read, if it is done well. It can also be a joy to write dialogue – I personally love writing dialogue. A few thoughts about character dialogue in fiction writing:

1. Listen to how people talk in real life. People generally use contractions (i.e. “I’m going tomorrow,” not “I am going tomorrow.”), and depending on the character, slang, colloquial speech and idioms, curse words, politically incorrect words, poor grammar, and even clichés. It is also perfectly acceptable for characters to speak in sentence fragments.

2. Stick with “he said” and “she said” for dialogue tags. A few other options are “he/she explained,” “he/she added,” or “he/she pointed out,” to be used sparingly.

3. As always, show, don’t tell. No annoying adverbs, such as “she said happily,” or “he replied arrogantly.” Adverbs are Da Debil.

Instead of adverb tags, use actions to convey tone or feelings.

For example, instead of:

“You’re so good to me,” she said lovingly.

try:

“You’re so good to me,” she said as she stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.

or:

She rested her head against his chest and sighed. “You’re so good to me.”

This is showing that she is being loving, not telling.

4. We are not Shakespeare – soliloquies don’t work. Characters should speak about three sentences, max. More than that and it starts to feel like a speech, and that’s not good. If there is still more to say, the character can think it, or at least have a break where another character speaks. The exception is if a character is a rambler by nature, but this should only be done to reflect that particular character talks too much.

5. Character’s speak differently to different people. Case in point: you don’t speak to your mother in the same language and tone as you would speak to a child, or to your significant other, or your boss, right? Characters are the same.

Do you enjoy writing dialogue or do you struggle? What are your thoughts on what constitutes good dialogue or bad dialogue?

Check out this wonderful selection of author quotes about dialogue.

My favorite film bookworm

2010-03-17T20:51:00.001-04:00

Jo Stockton from “Funny Face” has it all: brains, attitude, and beauty. And she LOVES books (philosophy books, in particular). If you have not seen this classic, you must! Put it on your Netflix queue, stat.

You’ll like “Funny Face” if you like:

Musicals
1950’s films
Audrey Hepburn
“Sex and the City'”
Philosophy
Books/Reading
Paris
Strong females

Gah!!! What’s not to love?!

I’ve been a massive Audrey fan since I was about fourteen. This is one of my favorites films in general. What makes me so smitten with her character is that Jo doesn’t just keel over like a nitwit when she is offered the chance to model in Paris. She only agrees to go because she can hang out with the intellectuals in Montmartre. She isn’t about compromising who she is because she’s told she’s beautiful.

Along the way, Jo learns a few lessons - namely, even bookworms like being kissed.

Cue the Gershwin song and dance numbers (“Bonjour Paree!” is my favorite from the film), a flight to Paris, the most amazing gowns EVER, and then of course, Jo emerges from her cocoon, a Bird of Paradise:

(I doubly love this shot: @ the Louvre with Winged Victory in the background – stunning!)

So what did Jo teach me?

Um…books are awesome (ok, technically I already knew that)
It’s not fun to reshelf a room full of scattered books (see pic above)
Pleasures of the mind and pleasures of the eye are not mutually exclusive
Even bookworms can find love

Swoon.

The ABC’s of Writing – C is for Cliché

2010-03-15T21:01:00.001-04:00

Trash those clichés!

Cliché - \klē-ˈshā/ : noun

1: a trite phrase or expression; also : the idea expressed by it
2 : a hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation
3 : something (as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace

I was going to make this post “C is for Creativity,” but that would just be so cliché. I mean, obviously if you’re writing fiction, you’re creative, right? Right. ;) But now clichés – those are a real pet peeve of mine and I try to avoid them like the plague (oops).

A cliché is lazy writing. As in, “This phrase works well for what I want to say, and even though it’s been used a billion times, I don’t feel like thinking of something fresh.” Yeah, I sometimes slip and use clichés, but if I catch them, I edit them. There are a few different ways a person can let clichés seep into their writing: via phrases, situations, characters, and plotlines.

A few cliché phrases:

At the crack of dawn (is it just me, or does this make anyone think of another type of crack?)
Beat around the bush
Dressed to kill
Kid in a candy store
Makes my blood boil
Right up your alley
Taste of his own medicine

Here you will find a fun and very thorough alphabetized list of clichés. There are so many that it’s hard to completely avoid clichés, but being cognizant of their existence is the most important thing.

And check out the Cliché Finder. Just insert text, hit “Find Clichés” and voila!

Cliché situations include characters being partners in chemistry/biology and then falling in love (sorry, couldn’t help myself), or a damsel in distress, or a psychic telling the future but no one believes her, or someone getting hurt and luckily there is a doctor in the crowd. They’re overdone situations. Yawn. It’s easy to think of a new one. Moving on.

Clichéd characters are really annoying. I want to read about someone who could be real, someone unique - not the bitchy blonde cheerleader, or the nerdy brunette girl, or the tough guy with the heart of gold, or the hardened detective whose marriage is failing, or a middle-aged divorcee trying to get her groove back, or the lazy brother-in-law who lives in the basement and plays videogames, or an ugly duckling who is transformed into a beauty and goes to Prom with the QB of the football team, or snotty rich kids/teens/adults, or twenty-or-thirty-something single women living it up in NYC. Ok, all these could potentially work in your fiction, but with a big emphasis on ‘potentially.’ You would need to work really hard to keep the character from coming across as cliché. I would just avoid them altogether and find a more unique character to write about.

Then you have cliché plotlines. But the thing about plotlines is this: in the end, don’t most stories, when you strip them of the superfluous details, boil down to a rather short list of plots? Love, death, journey, revenge, trying to overcome huge obstacles….they all are relatively the same, but it’s the writing, and the characters, and the details that makes the story fresh and new. Just think of this: all the books that have ever been written (in the English language, at least) have been created from 26 letters. That is almost unreal to me.

So while a book plot can definitely be cliche, it won’t be if the characters, style, and situations are unique.

Well, it’s time to call it a day. Time flies when you’re having fun, huh? Until we meet again.

Setting the mood: music and writing

2010-03-12T17:34:00.001-05:00

One of the things I love best when I’m writing is listening to music. Even if I’m not in the mood for lyrical music, I’ll put on classical and turn it down so that it’s background music. It seems to help my creative process; this is one for the anthropologists or psychologists to figure out. But for whatever reason, music and writing have always gone hand-in-hand for me.

I tailor the music to reflect the mood of what I’m writing. So, for instance, if I’m writing a scene involving someone’s heart being broken, I’ll listen to something sad. If I’m writing a fun scene (which seems to happen rarely with this WIP), I put on something a little more up-tempo. Then there are times for mellow music, too.

With this WIP, I’ve been listening to a lot of mellow-jello music. Some of my favorites right now are Rockferry by Duffy (everything I’ve heard on the CD is fabulous); a variety of John Mayer, including Clarity, Heartbreak Warfare, and Belief (ok, so I’m not his biggest fan in the human being department right now, but as far as being a musician, he’s awesome); If I Had Eyes by Jack Johnson; and Babylon by David Gray. The unofficial anthem of my WIP is All I Want by Toad the Wet Sprocket. It seems to encompass what the story is about – longing, discontent, reflection, and a sense of acceptance:

Nothing's so loud
As hearing when we lie
The truth is not kind
And you've said neither am I
But the air outside so soft is saying everything
Everything

All I want is to feel this way
To be this close, to feel the same
All I want is to feel this way
The evening speaks, I feel it say...

Nothing's so cold
As closing the heart when all we need
Is to free the soul
But we wouldn't be that brave I know
And the air outside so soft, confessing everything
Everything [Repeat chorus]

And it won't matter now
Whatever happens to me
Though the air speaks of all we'll never be
It won't trouble me [Repeat chorus]

And it feels so close
Let it take me in
Let it hold me so
I can feel it say...

Do you like to “set the mood” when you write? What kind of music do you like to listen to? What music inspires you? Do you have a song that reflects your WIP? Please share!

The ABC’s of Writing – B is for Believability

2010-03-11T13:59:00.001-05:00

Believability - \-ˌlē-və-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun - capable of being believed, especially as within the range of known possibility or probability.

As a writer and a reader, I want to – no, have to – believe what is happening to the character. I have to believe what the character is saying. That is, does the dialogue and action fit what type of person the character is?

When editing, I inevitably come across dialogue that causes me to crinkle my nose and chide myself. “What’s this?!” I think. “This character would never react that way” or “He would never say something like that.” Etcetera. Etcetera.

The longer I write about my characters, the better I know them, just like in real life (haha – “real life”? what’s that? I like living in my book worlds, thankyouverymuch). When I first start a story, I am meeting my characters for the first time, and I do know a few things about them, but it’s only later in the story when they become my true friends, or true enemies. When I know them better, it is much easier to write/edit their dialogue and actions.

By the time we truly understand our characters, we have to say goodbye, don’t we? Well, unless you’re writing a series, in which case their quirks may start to irritate you (maybe like people you actually know coughmymomcough).

The journalist Edward R. Murrow said that, “To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” I totally agree with this. It also leads me to quote another writer, this one a fiction writer.

Part memoir-part writing tutorial, Stephen King’s “On Writing” is full of brilliant insight. Among his advice, King says we, as writers, must be honest about what is coming out of our characters’ mouths. “You must tell the truth,” King says, “if your dialogue is to have…resonance and realism…If you substitute ‘Oh sugar!’ for ‘Oh shit!’ because you’re thinking about the Legion of Decency, you are breaking the unspoken contract that exists between writer and reader – your promise to express the truth of how people act and talk through the medium of a made-up story.”

Which brings me to a discussion I’ve had with my English classes about the novel we’re reading, “Water for Elephants.” It’s a wonderful story that happens to include characters with potty mouths. A few students said things such as, “If there weren’t so much bad language it would be better.” To which I replied that it is the writer’s job to represent characters as they truly are. These are rough working men in Depression Era America. Hell yeah, they should curse – it’s the truth. It’s believable. Writers shouldn’t sugarcoat truth – we’re here to tell a story as well as we can.

I hope I do my characters justice – speak the truth for them, move them not like puppets, but as individuals who make their own decisions.

My job is to make you believe.

YA Lit Has Grown Up: The Hunger Games

2010-03-09T20:34:00.001-05:00

SPOILERS!**********SPOILERS!**********SPOILERS!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the only young adult novel I have read in the past ten months. Needless to say, it’s not a genre I read often. I don’t have anything against YA literature, but when I ~~think~~ thought of the genre, my mind filled with memories of pre-teen series books from my youth, like The Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High (I know, I know!).

I didn’t read much YA in high school, and in college I didn’t have time to read anything that wasn’t required in my classes (hello, English major!). Now, as someone in her twenties, I don’t even go to the YA section of the bookstore or library.

So how did this gem end up in my hands? One of my favorite message boards is The Nest Book Club. It’s Bookworm Central over there and I love it! So, back to the story. There had been a maddening amount of posts about this book called The Hunger Games. My first reaction was, “Never heard of it,” and a shoulder shrug. But I kept seeing the posts. “OMG – HG is awesome!” Or “Can’t wait to read the third HG book!!”.

And, as you know, curiosity got the better of me.

Once I started reading the book, I got a little worried. The subject matter is heavy – teenagers forced to kill one another in a totally depressing, messed up, but fascinating dystopian environment. I didn’t know if I could stomach the bloodbath I envisioned. However, I found that it was not gory or gratuitous at all, so kudos to Suzanne Collins on that. She was still able to create a very real sense of anxiety and foreboding. There were many times that I felt I was right there with the main character, Katniss, as she tried to avoid getting killed.

One of my favorite parts of the story was all the ceremony surrounding these Hunger Games. Collins went into a lot of detail describing the selection of the teenagers, the trip to the Capitol, a flashy parade, interviews, glamorous makeovers, and accommodations that rival a 5 star hotel.

This is a three part series, so I knew Katniss wasn’t going to die – but it didn’t matter. I wanted to know how it all played out. The final part of the Games was perfect – exciting, scary, and surprising. Katniss’s quick thinking saved herself and Peeta, a boy from her hometown who was also selected for the Hunger Games.

The story ends just when Katniss and Peeta return home as the victors of the Hunger Games. And yes, I plan on reading the second book in the series, “Catching Fire.” The third book, “Mockingjay,” will be released this August, and I’ll read it as well.

Now that I’ve read the novel, I have a new found respect for YA literature. For the life of me, I don’t remember there being books like this when I was a teen. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough.

This book didn’t have anything to do with being a teenager in my opinion. It just so happens that the characters are teens, that’s all. There are much bigger issues here than Prom, what to wear to school, and banal gossip. This is a book about primal fears, confronting the unknown, fighting for people you love, and survival.

If you’ve read the book, what are your thoughts?

The ABC’s of Writing – A is for Ambition

2010-03-06T10:34:00.001-05:00

Ambition [am-bish-uhn] – noun: an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. –Thomas Jefferson

Most people have at least some ambition, with people landing on either side of average. There are those who are content to mostly accept life as it comes at them, and those who fight to the death for what they want. A person with a goal to achieve must have ambition. A writer who wants to be published, therefore, must be ambitious.

In an article about ambition for Time, Dean Simonton, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis, who studies genius, creativity and eccentricity, believes “ambition is energy and determination," he says. "But it calls for goals too.”

Anna Clark, in a fascinating article for Bitch, says that there is a “weird fusion of insecurity and ambition, of the feigned nonchalance and quiet competitiveness that’s common in writers of all sorts.”

Ambition, says Clark, “is a slippery creature in the lives of writers of all genders; no one is safe from feeling uneasy about affirming one’s literary ambitions, and insecurity is the devil of anyone who faces a blank page.”

She goes on to say writers, women in particular, are often reluctant to talk about or display their ambition. “To…say that you want to write lasting novels…is to expose yourself to the “who are you to think you have anything to say?” sort of pummeling...” says Clark. “It can be tempting…to write quietly and hope that the work will speak for itself. But by not owning up to her ambitions—whether they are in the public or private realms—a writer feeds the machine that discounts the aspirations and talents of all women writers…It sets an example for other writers that ambition is something to be ashamed of.”

Why are we ashamed of ambition? During Shakespeare’s time, ambition was a dirty word, and though it has lost much of its negative nuances, it still can be considered the sign of a narcissistic, egotistical person. So can one have ambition and still be humble? I think so.

“It would be a mistake to simplify the ambitions of writers, particularly female ones, as solely measurable by big-time accolades, fame, or presence in mainstream media,” says Clark. “There are those, after all, who pursue writing after a career in another area. There are those who return to writing after decades away from it. Many who write simply want to express themselves or create something beautiful. Being uninitiated into the culture of “literary lions” and not winning public accolades doesn’t denote a lack of ambition; it’s simply writing to a different standard. It may be a part of the creation of our alternative to the traditional literary culture.”

Maybe I’m stretching here, but it seems like Clark is saying, do you have to be the biggest, the best, the ultimate – to be a successful and happy writer? The “go big or go home” adage is a black-and-white ideology, and this is a gray world. So, unless I’m going to write the next “Pride and Prejudice,” or “The Grapes of Wrath,” I might as well not even bother? I think Clark would disagree. There is nothing wrong with being just “good.” Being a good writer is no easy task. Being a good writer - hell, even a decent writer - still means that person put a lot of work into it.

Clark also muses, “Anyone who’s stepped into a literary community—readings, performances, writing workshops, mfa programs—will testify to the disclaimers that issue regularly from the mouths of women writers in particular. ‘This is just something I thought I’d try,’ and ‘I’m not really a poet, but…’ are words regularly uttered even by those who made drastic life changes in order to carve out time to write. I prepared for months for a major fiction contest in college, for instance, which I entered five years in a row, claiming to others each time that I just ‘threw something together.’ Later, I applied to a single mfa fiction program, and told no one until I got in. I just didn’t want anyone to know what I wanted most. Perhaps I was preparing for failure: If I said openly that I not only wanted to -be a writer but that I worked hard at it, my ambitions could be judged against external rewards—and easily dismissed when I missed out on them.”

If you eventually attain the goal of getting published and have mediocre results, does that mean you aren’t successful? I disagree. Obviously, we all want a Bestseller (and I would argue with anyone who was contrary about this point – we all want to be published so people will read what we write), but I think it’s also ok if that doesn’t happen. It will stay a goal, something to attain, but that doesn’t mean anything less doesn’t count.

Ultimately, says the Time article, it’s “that multiplicity of possible rewards--that makes dreaming big dreams and pursuing big goals worth all the bother. Ambition is an expensive impulse, one that requires an enormous investment of emotional capital.”

I am ambitious and I have dreams as big as they get, but will my world be crushed without attaining them all? No.

Do I have a good chance of making it “big”? No.

Do I still believe I will be successful and make it big? Damn right.

In my book, ambition (within reason) is not something to be ashamed of.

What do YOU think?

A Short Classroom Conversation

2010-03-04T15:53:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel like I don’t make a difference. I think everyone feels that way from time to time. I often feel like that with my students. Teaching college English is trying – I’m not teaching students who are English majors, so many of them dislike reading and writing.

I chose “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen for our novel this semester. Last semester I used Edgar Allan Poe (to coincide with The Big Read), but it didn’t go over so well. I needed something that would be fun, funny, and exciting. WfE seemed to fit the bill.

I’m so glad I chose this book. We’re about halfway through the novel, and the students seem to unanimously enjoy it.

Today, one of my students, a young girl, told me, “I really like this book.”

“Good!” I said.

“This is only like the fourth book I’ve ever read that I liked. All the books I read in high school were ick.”

“The more you read, the more you will appreciate the classics,” I told her.

“Yeah. I really like this book. I want to see what’s going to happen.”

I didn’t think I’d be blogging about our conversation, but I think it’s important. “Water for Elephants” may not be the best book of all time, but if it encourages one student to read, if she enjoys it and sees reading as fun and not burdensome, then I feel as if I have climbed Mt. Everest.

Is reading a dying hobby?

2010-03-03T12:48:00.001-05:00

Those were the days – reading in the garden. 18th century.

I think not. But there are definitely causes for concern about how frequently the general public reads these days. After all, this isn’t the 18th century, when there was no electricity, internet, email, or television. There are so many forms of instant entertainment, how can the novel compete?

Writing is definitely not a dying hobby – I do know that, for there is an abundance of exceptionally gifted writers. But is there an audience to read what is being written? And if there is, is that audience shrinking?

The National Endowment for the Arts conducted a reading study in 2004 and another in 2007. The study from 2007 is titled To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence and can be found here. There is also a more succinct Executive Summary available.

In the study, Dana Gioia, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts says, “There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans.”

Gioia goes on, “How does one summarize this disturbing story? As Americans, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (it is a shameful fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.)

“With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market,” Gioia says. “Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting.”

This study is the reason the NEA program The Big Read was created. I have spoken of the program before, as I have served as a Program Coordinator for over two years now.

But the fact that we have to create a national program to encourage reading? It is disheartening. My hope is that the love of reading can be resurrected in our society. With each new book, with each new, emerging author, there is a chance to reach a reluctant or lapsed reader - to spark the fire.

That spark is within each writer and each story. If you know a child or a reluctant reader, encourage them, pass along a favorite book, and let them catch you reading.

Poetry in nature

2010-02-26T10:56:00.001-05:00

I like to dabble in photography – my husband bought me a new Canon for Christmas, and while I have not read the usage manual to figure out everything it can do, I still get some good shots out of it. I took these after a big snow a couple of weeks ago. It was a tree full of robins, and I thought they were beautiful.

This is nature’s poetry, and it makes me happy.

I can’t wait for the blooms of spring to arrive so I can take some shots!

Never enough time

2010-02-24T13:24:00.001-05:00

There is never enough time to read and write, is there? I would be blissful if I could do nothing but read and write everyday.

I am a huge fan of the original Twilight Zone. They are some of the best short stories ever written, in my opinion. One episode that strikes a cord with me is “Time Enough at Last,” one of the most enduring episodes of the series.

Warning: Spoilers! So if you’ve never seen this episode, don’t peek and go watch it!

My name Henry Bemis. I like to read. In fact, I want everyone to just leave me alone so I can read. Now shoo. Go away.

What a surprising turn of events! There’s been a nuclear holocaust while I was in a vault at work. It seems I am the only survivor. Not good. Not good at all.

But wait! Eureka!! Of course - I can read! There is time to read at last! Yippee! I can read, read, read all day!

Weeeeee!!! I like books!

But, wait…how could this be? I’ve dropped my glasses and stepped on them. It seems they’re broken now. I can’t see anything. No! Curse the Fates! :::cries:::

I understand Henry Bemis, myself. ::Sigh::

Can you keep a secret?

2010-02-23T17:07:00.001-05:00

My WIP character's secrets, that is. I’m glad I’m not them – they have some major stress in their lives, and frankly, it sucks to be them in a lot of ways. Eek. What am I doing to my characters?! I’m a bit sadistic when it comes to my characters, but aren’t all writers?

I started to wonder - if my characters were real and did things like kept journals, had Facebook and email accounts, what would they be thinking? What would they say to their friends? What kind of day are they having?

So I decided to do a fun post, imagining the things my characters are thinking. Their thoughts reflect where they are in the manuscript right now (I’m about 50-60% done with the manuscript). Have fun trying to figure out these cryptic notes!

Let’s eavesdrop, shall we?

_____________________________________________________________

Sabrina (Protagonist) – email to Jade:

Things went from bad to worse last night. If this doesn’t get resolved, I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s bad. Work has me so stressed that I feel nauseous when I’m there. And class? Well, I don’t even want to get into that over email…

_____________________________________________________________

Ryan (Sabrina’s husband) – Facebook status:

When everything is shitty, just smile and nod. That’s what I do.

_____________________________________________________________

Jade – email to Sabrina

I have chocolate underneath my fingernails and have been looking at paint chips for an hour. Fun, huh? Trying to pull this project off is like trying to build Rome in a day. I’m scared, Sabrina. This has got to work.

_____________________________________________________________

Rosie – journal:

How have I let this happen? How could I do this to her? How could I have been so so wrong? Can it be saved? All I have are questions, and not one damned answer. I’m too old for this, I can’t change the past, and I wish I could.

_____________________________________________________________

Finn – Facebook status:

I like her. Big uh-oh. HUGE uh-oh. Like, you have no idea, uh-oh.

_____________________________________________________________

Natalie (antagonist) – email to ?

I’m worried she knows about us. I have a feeling, and my feelings are always right on. Shit. Do you think she would be ballsy enough to try to out me and tell anyone about us?

_____________________________________________________________

Bonnie – email to Ron:

You don’t think he would actually leave, do you? I know he thinks about it, but you don’t think he would actually do it, do you?

Ron – email to Bonnie:

I don’t know. After all we’ve done for him? I’m sorry about what happened, but I don’t know what else to do.

The Road

2010-02-20T13:42:00.001-05:00

Review of The Road by Cormac McCarthy

*****SPOILERS! *****SPOILERS!*****SPOILERS!*****

This blog isn’t a true book review blog, but I just had to write about this book. It’s the kind of book that begs to be discussed, pondered, and refuses to truly leave you - like a ghost that lingers.

This book was depressing, but I knew that going in. Even after I put the book down, I was carrying it with me as I made dinner or went to the store - things the characters could not do, at least not in the normal sense. When I read about the people who were cannibals, I was so shook up I didn't know if I could read on. Then later, there was a baby roasting on a spitfire, to be eaten. I think I kept on like the characters did - not because I knew that it would end well but because I hoped it would.

As a parent, this book had me asking a lot of questions of myself. What if I were ever in a similar situation with my child? Could I do what he did? What would I do differently, or the same? Would I want my child to live in that world? Right now I say I would not ever want to live under those circumstances – but what we think we will do and what we will do are often two separate things.

I think that the man was a wonderful parent - a mix of protector, comforter, and teacher. I don't see how he could have done things much better. He gave his child hope, but never really lied to him.

Throughout the book, the father told his son that if something happened to his father, the son was to shoot himself in the mouth. As heartbreaking as this was, I understood why the father wanted him to. Sometimes death is preferable. When the father was dying, the son begged him to not leave him, but his father told him that he couldn’t “hold my child dead in my arms.” The father dies and the son is found by a man who takes him back to what I assume was a group of “good guys.” But what if the boy wouldn’t have found anyone? What if he would’ve been enslaved, or killed, or any number of horrible things? I don’t know what I would do in that situation.

The ending was about as good an ending as one could expect in a novel about a post-apocalyptic world. It seemed realistic but hopeful. However, I wonder how they could go on living for much longer – no food except the little that can be scavenged. No animals to hunt, no ability to grow anything. McCarthy doesn’t speculate on what might happen in the future for the survivors.

I wish he would've given more information about what happened, just for pure curiosity. I wonder what McCarthy thought happened - nuclear war? Some kind of weather catastrophe? A huge asteroid? Who knows - I know that wasn't his point.

I wrote my “Meadow Scene.”

2010-02-19T07:54:00.001-05:00

Those of you who have read “Twilight” will know what I’m referencing. In short, the author of the series said that she had a dream about about a pivotal scene in “Twilight,” and it all started from there. I had a somewhat similar experience with my WIP.

When I was still thinking about the storyline and the characters of my WIP, I had a very clear vision of a particular scene – a very pivotal scene, between my female protagonist and a “love interest” (although the term doesn’t quite encapsulate their true relationship). The scene played again and again in my mind as I was writing the book. I finally came to this scene in my manuscript.

It’s funny that it turned out slightly different than I’d imagined, but I think it turned out really well . My fingers couldn’t type quickly enough – as if I were a court stenographer merely recording the words down that everyone else said. I was a bystander, an interloper in their conversation. I felt anxious, excited, and nervous right along with my protagonist.

In the past, I’ve written stories where my excitement was high in the beginning, but in time it began to wane as the manuscript bore on. I have not experienced that with my current WIP. I desperately want to tell the story, to see how my character’s deal with everything, I want to see them succeed and “rise to the occasion.” I don’t know if they all will have a happy ending, at least not in the “and they lived happily ever after” sense. I’m writing in a way that is as close to real life as possible, and that means people get hurt, have pain, and sometimes things don’t end well. But I still want them to be happy. That’s part of the adventure – not knowing exactly how it’s all going to end. I don’t think any writer ever knows exactly what’s going to happen.

Literature That Changed My Life: Adulthood

2010-02-17T11:55:00.001-05:00

This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list – these are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. However, I think this is, for the most part, all of the books that have had a profound effect on me thus far. These are the books I haven’t forgotten and never will. Most of the reasons are simple. My approximate age when I read the book is in parentheses. I’m separating the books into different posts – one with books from childhood, one from my teens, and then one from post-high school.

Price of Honor by Jan Goodwin (20)

This is the first book I can remember that horrified me. I was a young college student and read this in my Women’s Studies class. The brutality and censor that the women endured was almost unbearable to read. One of the images that still lingers in my mind was a devout, good woman who was in her sixties, I believe, who was imprisoned for nothing and repeatedly raped. This book popped my proverbial “bubble” that I’d lived in. I was “blissfully ignorant” or maybe just not fully aware of the horrors of the world. Ignorance is rarely, if ever, bliss, in my estimation. Ignorance means we are too scared to face the truth and do something about it. This book told me the truth.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (20)

This is another book I read in college. Love. I recently decided to teach this novel next semester, and I hope to get some great discussions out of my students. This book imagines a future where women are useless unless they are fertile - a world of declining birthrates. A world where woman are forbidden to read. It is scary and prolific. Atwood is an amazing writer, and probably my favorite. This book is a must-read.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (20)

One of my favorite books, ever. I love this one even more than Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Another book I read in college, this novel is set in a dystopian future where everything has changed. Atwood doesn’t like this book placed in the science-fiction genre, because the things in the book are not “made-up,” but taken from scientific research that is actually going on in reality. She merely imagines the future. It is amazing. I cannot recommend it enough. Go read this book. It will blow your mind.

The Bible (ongoing)

Like most Christians, I was introduced to this book at a very young age. I read verses not fully understanding them. My mother and Sunday school teacher encouraged me to read, and I did. As a teenager, I got away from it, but as a college student, I had the opportunity to take a Bible as Literature course, and I jumped at the chance. What I loved about the class was that it focused on the literary aspect – the stories, the journeys, the characters. To say I enjoyed it falls short. It was discovering The Bible in a new way. Even for those who are not Christian, it doesn’t change the fact that The Bible is probably the greatest story ever told and worth a read.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (24)

I was not looking forward to reading this book, dense and devoid of a single female character. The thought was appalling. I was in my last semester of college when I had to read this book. I had read Melville’s “Typee” before this, and very much enjoyed it (and highly recommend it), but “The Whale” was a whole other beast (pardon the pun). Nevertheless, I read the book, and although it is not my favorite, it taught me to appreciate literature and find the redeeming qualities, which this book has in spades. This is one of the great American classics and it earned the title because of the great story and characters. “Moby-Dick” forced me to go outside my comfort zone. My professor that taught the novel was perhaps my favorite professor I ever had. And that makes all the difference.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (read for the first time @ 19, taught for the first time @ 25)

Another favorite that I first read in college. The real reason that this is on my list is because it is the first novel I ever taught. My first semester teaching college English was overwhelming. One of the English professors suggested I teach a book that I loved. This was a great choice – not too difficult and a great story. Kingsolver’s voice is so likeable. The protagonist, Taylor Greer, whom I love, sets out from Kentucky to get away from the lack of opportunities. I can relate, as I was born and work in Kentucky. Sometimes we just want to get away from home. Teaching this book in my first semester is something I’ll never forget.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (26)

I have a habit of buying classics (or books in general, really) and then getting around to reading them in my sweet time. I had a copy of this for a few years when I was offered a position in a National Endowment for the Arts program called The Big Read. Communities choose from a list of classic literature and create a program around it. This was on the list and I plucked it from my shelf and began to read. If you love historical fiction, or a good romance, memorable characters, or just a beautifully written story, this is a must read. Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize for a reason. Her story is so gorgeously written, it is an absolute pleasure to read. I have a forever bond with this novel. You won’t regret reading it.

Vegetarian non-fiction (several titles, ongoing) (17-now)

[I have not yet read “Eating Animals” but it is on my to-read list]

Reading my first book on vegetarianism changed my life profoundly (sadly, I cannot remember the title of the first one I read), more so than anything I have ever read before or since. Being a vegetarian is one of the defining parts of who I am morally, ethically, and as a concerned human being. I gave up red meat at sixteen because I suddenly felt disgusted by it. I ate white meat for another year. I became a vegetarian at seventeen and have never looked back. NO, I do not miss meat, because I know the truth about where it comes from, what it means morally/ethically to produce it cheaply, and I know what it does to our bodies and our planet. I cannot eat meat for these reasons. Life changing, life altering, eye-opening – yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck (26)

This is by no means the definitive book on the subject of green living/housekeeping, but it does the job. What is “the job”? Well, for me, it did the job of scaring the shit out of me. I found myself reading it almost unstoppably, disgusted with all the chemicals and neurotoxins that are rampant in our everyday products. I would gasp out loud through this book, saying to my husband, “Oh my God! Listen to this!” or shaking my head sadly, feeling like a fool for blindly trusting these mega-companies. As a mother, these things are incredibly important. I do not want to use dryer sheets on my baby’s clothes when I know they contain a KNOWN neurotoxin. No way. I don’t care how good it smells. Or that SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate), a harsh detergent, is used in practically every commercial shampoo. Or that most baby shampoos contain a numbing agent – yeah, that’s why they’re “tear-free.” There’s much more, but I’ll stop there. After this book, I made it my mission to switch over to as many all-natural, chemical-free home products as possible, most often buying from small companies that love the earth and have wonderful eco-practices.

Now that I’ve told you my list, share your books with me! I’d love to know your must-reads or books that changed your life.

Literature That Changed My Life: Teen years

2010-02-15T11:09:00.001-05:00

Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine (11-13)

I think most children go through a stage of reading fluffy series books. Some never stop reading these types of book. They are fun, after all. I also enjoyed The Babysitter’s Club and some Sweet Valley High. No shame in that. It got me to read. A lot. I read the Goosebumps series voraciously. I couldn’t get enough. I owned quite a few and read many others from the library. They were creepy and slightly scary without being overwhelming. These books were escapism for me, and I knew that when I read I could forget about the burgeoning pre-teen angst that was bubbling below the surface. With these books, I became a constant reader.

The Poetry of Langston Hughes (13)

The poetry of Langston Hughes is the first I can remember loving. Being introduced to poetry for the first time is akin to gaining sight when you’ve been blind – or smelling fragrant flowers for the first time, or seeing the most beautiful sunset of your life. I am in awe of great poets, who can say SO much in just a few words. It’s amazing. As I’ve grown, I’ve read much more complicated poetry (The Faerie Queen, anyone?) but I still come back to Hughes, who was the poet that opened my eyes to that sunset, who held those flowers under my nose and told me to breathe in deeply.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (14)

For some reason, I can’t remember the details of reading this book, although I know it was in school. I can remember some of the story, but not the details. This was the first classic I read, which added a whole other layer to my knowledge of literature and my experiences as a reader. The language, the dialogue, the plot, the setting – they were memorable, moving, and flawless. Catherine and Heathcliff are highly complex characters, something that was new to me. They are neither all good nor all bad. I need to do a re-read of this book because I cannot remember it well enough. At this point, it would almost be like reading it for the first time.

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare (15)

My first Shakespeare. And so a love affair began, in which I was smitten with his words, and intoxicated by the plots and characters. Shakespeare has no equal. I wonder if he ever will. I did not read Shakespeare begrudgingly as many high school students do. I loved it, delighting in the romanticism and language. Romeo and Juliet is not my favorite Shakespeare play – I have two, actually – King Lear and Othello. But really, claiming a favorite Shakespeare play is beside the point – they’re all excellent, and I love all that I have read (maybe ten or twelve?). There are still a few of his plays that I want to read, and I will begin them with high expectations, which surely will be exceeded.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (17)

This novel showed me what it means to be passionate about literature. My junior year English teacher taught this novel, and her passion was something I’d never experienced before. She was so animated and excited when she talked about the story and the characters. Could literature really inspire such passion? I did not know if it was just her at the time, but now I know that yes! great literature can make us want to shout it from the rooftops. I have a few of these books myself – I get so worked up and giddy at the mention of them. I love my English teacher for all her over-the-top love of this novel. It changed the way I looked at literature forever. And it doesn’t hurt that I love the book myself.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (17)

I read this book in my senior year Political Science class. My teacher picked out three mega-classics for us to read – 1984, Lord of the Flies, and Fahrenheit 451. Thus my introduction to dystopian literature. I’d never imagined a reality where reading wasn’t allowed. This book made me appreciate my literacy and my freedom to read what I choose. This book is powerful and deeply affecting. It resonates even now, years after I first read it. What is the main message of this book? I think it’s to appreciate what we have, to never, never take it for granted. Thank you, Ray Bradbury.

Next post: Literature that changed my life from post-high school! It keeps getting better!

Literature That Changed My Life: Childhood

2010-02-14T12:20:00.001-05:00

The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone (5)

This is the first book I can remember reading over and over. I’m sure there were others, but I hold a fondness for this one. I have always loved Grover. This book was all about confronting what scares you. In the end, there was nothing to be afraid of. The famous FDR quote, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” sums up this book nicely.

Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary (8)

This is the first book I can remember picking out and owning. I remember very clearly my mother and me at my elementary school. We were having a book fair and my mom said I could get a book. This was a HUGE deal to me, because we were poor and it was a rare occasion that I got something for no reason. It wasn’t my birthday that I can recall. I felt so special as I looked over the books, thinking that I could choose one book to be mine. Beverly Cleary is as good a choice as any at that age, and I devoured the book once home. That memory is imprinted in my memory as if it happened yesterday. I can see the hallway, the tables with books, the sun streaming through the windows, my mother beside me. The memory makes me very sentimental and if I thought about it enough, I’m certain I would cry.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (8)

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not,” says the Lorax, a ~~man~~ little fellow after my own heart. The Lorax still makes me swoon – not in a romantic way, but in a “You’re my hero” way. I was a very sensitive child who was deeply concerned about the environment. I still am, and I’m a damn proud, certifiable Tree hugger, thankyouverymuch. The Lorax was and is still able to explain to children how the treatment of the earth and trees directly affect us. It was an important topic then, and it still is today. In my humble opinion, The Lorax should be on every child – no, every person’s bookshelf.

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle (11)

Don’t you just love this cover?! Dark, scary, fascinating, fantastical – all things children are interested in. This was a book I read in school, in fifth grade to be exact. I remember receiving the copy, looking at the cover image, and thinking how odd it looked. Not to mention, this book was long (talk about subjectivity!). As I started reading the book, however, I was drawn into a fantasy world where nothing was like my world. How mind-blowing this was as a child! My creative mind exploded with possibilities. I can’t imagine the profound impression that it left on me at the time, but I know it was monumental. The book introduced me to great literature for the first time. This was what books could be. Transformative. It made me really think. I hope that one day my daughter will enjoy this book.

The American Girl series

I fell in love with this series as a child – my favorites being the Felicity, Kirsten, and Addy series. These were the first books I can remember reading that were historical fiction, which is probably my favorite genre still today. The girls might have been my friends, I imagined. What things would we do if I lived in her world? We wouldn’t watch television or go to an amusement park, that’s for sure. When my daughter is older, I fully plan on buying the series and reading them to her.

Next time: Literature that changed my life – the teen years!

And on the first day, I created my characters.

2010-02-03T21:08:00.001-05:00

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve written three previous novels, none published (by choice). It’s not that they’re terrible, but they are not publishable as they are and I don’t want to revisit those stories. They are all narrated by teenagers and I have moved past that stage of my life and do not want to write about it.

So, about plot. With those three novels, I did plot, but very little. I decided major characters, their basic backgrounds, major personality traits, and knew the main plot(s) of the story, but that was about it.

Before I began work on my current manuscript I spent a good amount of time really plotting. I had seven single spaced pages of major character sketches and the important plot lines.

Sadly, approximately 25,000 words into my manuscript, my hard drive crashed and the plot/character sketches were lost. Thank God I had sense enough to back up the manuscript. I recall a good deal of the character information, but not nearly all of it. I’m terribly upset by this, but such is life.

I have found that I much prefer setting down detailed info and plots before the story is begun. If I don’t keep myself on track, the plot is likely to drag more slowly and I want to keep on top of things, so to speak.

Recently, I read “On Writing” by Stephen King – a fabulous book for writers and non-writers alike. He is of the opinion that one should not worry much about plotting it all out ahead of time. I just don’t think I can do this myself. I think it comes down to a writer’s style. I have the major plot points listed so I can keep track of them as I’m writing.

This is not to say that things don’t shift, because they certainly can/do. Characters always begin to make their own decisions and that’s fine, but the main plots are still going to follow the same path – the character just might get there by different means.

Personally speaking, having my plots and characters firmly set in my mind before I started my manuscript has made a big difference in the quality of my writing. This is personal opinion, obviously, and a biased one, but I still believe it.

Do you plot and do character sketches? What’s your M.O. as a writer approaching a new work?

Congrats to the winner of my book giveaway!

2010-01-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

True Random Number Generator Min 1: Max: 8 Result: 6 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Original Post: http://poeticserendipity.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-need-to-make-space-on-my-bookshelves.html

Congrats, Jenn! I’ll be sending you my copy of “Night” asap. Happy Reading!

I’m sure I’ll be doing more book giveaways in the future, so stay tuned, and if you don’t already, follow me!

Doubt

2010-01-29T13:29:00.001-05:00

It ain’t just a Meryl Streep movie.

My belief in my abilities ebbs and flows. I’m sure it’s natural. However, Doubt, like a monster under my bed, living off crumbs on the floor, will eventually pop out and make me duck my head under the covers.

Most often I feel doubtful of my writing talent when I read about how difficult it is to get published. Of course, this is nothing new. I’ve always known this would be a difficult journey. That doesn’t make it easier. I wonder, “Am I good enough?” I wonder if the literary greats ever wondered that. I wonder if they ever sat in front of their working manuscript and felt doubt.

If someone told me today that I would never be published, I would not stop writing. It is part of me, I love it. And if I didn’t write, the ideas would just begin to compact in my brain until it burst open. I am already dying to start on what I think is going to be my next novel. That’s the way it always goes. There is always the “next thing.”

To combat the nagging doubt, only one thing really works for me. Ignore it. I have no way to know how this will all turn out, so why make myself suffer? I’m going to write the best manuscript I can, polish it till it shines, and work my rear off to get an agent. I just keep doing what I do.

Do you ever have doubts about your talent, abilities, job, or even things like being a parent or spouse? I think we all have doubts. What do you do about it? How do you try to overcome it?

Photo used with permission.

Do what you love and love what you do.

2010-01-25T16:22:00.001-05:00

For the past two years, I’ve had the good fortune of being a Program Coordinator for a program through the National Endowment for the Arts called The Big Read. This is a grant-funded program where chosen communities present a program to their public based on one great book. The first year we chose Edith Wharton’s beautiful and moving “The Age of Innocence,” and the second year we chose “Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe.”

Before I go on, a little about The NEA: (from their website): “The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education.”

The Big Read “is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.”

We are applying for our third consecutive grant, and this year we have chosen Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon,” a classic crime novel if there ever were one. I’m nearly finished reading it, and the dialogue is pitch perfect for the late 1920’s. The character of Sam Spade is a sarcastic, witty, mouthy tough-guy, and I love him for all his overt masculinity. His voice is a big change from the female narrators that dominate the books I read.

When a community is awarded a grant, they create and coordinate a program with events and activities centering on the book, as well as distribute free copies of the book. During our Poe program last October, our relatively small community distributed over 2,000 free books! That is an astonishing amount of reading going on!

This is why I love this program, and I proudly serve as the Program Coordinator in my community – I don’t do it for the money, but because I believe in the message it sends. Reading is incredibly, monumentally important. It is the crux of free thinking and education, and hell - our future.

Some of my favorite events for our Poe program were our Kick-Off event at a local cemetery chapel, a Mourning Tea, Masquerade Ball, and a POEtry Reading at the college where I teach English. We will hear back about our new application for “The Maltese Falcon” in April. If we are awarded a grant, we’ll start on the program in late July.

I’m sharing some of my pictures from the Tea and the Ball. Enjoy!

My husband and I at the Masquerade Ball. Fancy, huh? :D

The Raven (or a fake Styrofoam bird, whatever.)

My boss’s lovely wife, who I must say had the best costume at the ball.

At the Mourning Tea. I LOVE the candle drippings. So very Poe.

Research – a love/hate relationship

2010-01-22T08:26:00.001-05:00

I actually do love to research, because I love to learn new things. However, when I’m writing and I need to research, it really cuts into my actual writing time. For instance, yesterday I was doing some research on Sri Lankan mining (totally random and it actually is not part of the plot or setting of my novel, so go figure) and I spent over an hour getting the information I needed. It took me almost two hours to write . . . wait for it – TWO pages! I felt really depressed when I realized how little progress I’d made. But if I may say so, those two pages are pretty good, and interesting. I like to have interesting, random information in my writing. As a reader, I enjoy those bits immensely. A little after that, I whipped out about four pages in a half hour, so I suppose it evened out.

Just for fun, some other things I have already researched for this novel and probably will research in the future for it: contracting/building , chocolate, Egyptian art, architecture/architects, business owners, various international names/surnames (a lot of time spent on this!), gardening, herbs, China, wood varieties, Mexico, company employee policies, and many other topics I am either blanking on right now or have not yet researched. Sometimes things just pop up, and I suddenly have the need to do the research on something very random (like Sri Lanka).

But it really is fun!

Except when it takes two hours to write two pages . . .

Profound gratitude

2010-01-19T19:18:00.002-05:00

Is what I felt today. I was sitting in a very quiet house, alone with my writing and music, and stopped. And thought. How lucky am I, really? I am spoiled. My husband is so supportive of my writing and without him there is no way I could pursue my writing this way. There are plenty of writers who work a full time job, come home to more work, then late at night try to cram in an hour or so of writing. That’s damn hard.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not some lazy bum who hauls her kid to daycare and sits around all day in her jammies writing a few words here and there. My writing is not a job per say, but it’s definitely not just a hobby. I take it seriously.

So I wanted to put my thoughts down in writing. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to write during the day instead of being exhausted because I’m up writing until midnight.

I am grateful to have the ability to freely read and write. When I think of how widespread illiteracy is around the world, my heart hurts. Not to mention the people who are unable to read or write what they want because of religious or political persecution or ridged dictatorships. Being able to read and write is something we usually take for granted.

The written word is the most wonderful thing ever “invented” by man. The ability to reason and think is what separates us from the animals.

Now, go read a book. :D

Weeeeeeeee!!!!!!

2010-01-18T12:26:00.001-05:00

Hot damn! I just did an overhaul of my intro/first chapter. It is SO much better. Like, seriously, the beginning was kinda crappy, now it just makes me smile. The first page – no, the first paragraph, no the first sentence, really - has to be good, has to grab the reader, or else it’s going to get tossed. I wasn’t loving my first page before, but I rethought it, read some info on good beginnings, and really shined it up.

I’m not really jumping up and down because the baby is taking a nap. But I am in my mind - weeeeeee!

Chasing one dream means putting other dreams on hold

2010-01-18T09:20:00.001-05:00

I’m feeling frustrated, confused, and wondering if I’m making the right decisions in my life. My biggest dream in life for at least ten years has been to be a relatively successful published author. I am currently pursing this goal with all my heart. It means everything to me.

But to work on this dream, other dreams must be put on the back burner. Such as working on my Master’s degree. Ok, sure, I could work on my Master’s degree while trying to get published, but I’m not about to burn the candle at both ends, so to speak. I know that it would just set me up for being burned out and exhausted. That is not the person I want to be. So perhaps next year I can work on my Master’s, but for now, it has to wait. It truly makes me sad, because I love to learn.

Another dream that may be put on hold is moving into another house. There is nothing wrong with the house I currently live in, but my husband and I would like to move closer to the city, and upgrade to a bigger home. A move could happen this year depending on a couple of factors, but my lack of a full-time job really puts the burden on my husband. I have always felt guilty about my selfish desire to write and be published. It is a dream that promises nothing, guarantees nothing. Its outcome is entirely unpredictable.

That brings me to the third dream that is being put on hold. A baby. Our daughter will turn two in the spring. While being a parent is the hardest job ever, she brings an indescribable joy to our lives. Everyday I feel more ready for another baby, but it just is not practical or a reasonable wish right now. Our house is too small for a family of four to be comfortable. And you already know our standing with a new house.

My choices have set off a domino effect – each consequence affects something else. In a parallel universe, my life would be totally different. I’d be working full-time, with a decent salary, a bigger home, and perhaps pregnant. That is not the world I live in.

Perhaps this diatribe shows how deeply I am committed to my dream. It is something I can’t argue against, it’s like, “I have to do this.” Ironically, I’m still sad that this is the path I’m on. I feel pulled down this path by an invisible cord that will not allow a detour. Perhaps I’m not pulled so much as guided by God or fate or whatever you want to call it. I don’t know. All I know is that if I decided to live that parallel life, I would always wonder, always second guess, always feel cheated that I had not TRIED. And for me, that is a life I cannot live.

Adventures in Toddlerworld or Why I don’t go to the library anymore

2010-01-16T09:12:00.001-05:00

I love the library. The rows and rows of books ready to be plucked off the shelves and read make me happy. The history, the smell, the discovery. Old and new, every genre, all yours to take home for a couple of weeks!

I stopped going to the library around the time my daughter was born. I was too busy being a new mom to read, but as she got older I began reading again. I read, but I don’t get my books from the library. My new “library” is Goodwill, a place where I can go and browse the shelves and pick up one or seven books for just a few bucks (and bonus is that they are used which = more eco-friendly! Yay for saving trees!). Now I have shelves of books at home and it’s like my own mini-library.

Yesterday I must have been feeling brave, because I decided to take B to the library. I spent 99% of the ten minute visit running after her. Add to that the fact that she pooped twice while we were there. Yeah. Not so much fun. She was tearing through the library, running into the offices and into the Library Director’s office (a business acquaintance, so that wasn’t embarrassing or anything.) and making noise wherever she could. I was attempting to look at a Sarah Dessen book while trying to hold onto a 20 month old who was squealing and writhing with a fiery passion.

Dude. Forget it. I’m not going to try browsing at the library with her until she’s a teenager. Henceforth, B’s experiences at the library shall be limited to toddler Lapsit visits.

You never forget how to ride a bike (or write a novel), right?

2010-01-14T19:45:00.001-05:00

Today marked my triumphant return to the world of literary writing, after a self-imposed hiatus that lasted too long. I skimmed my manuscript, editing along the way (I edit constantly) and finally started writing some fresh stuff. Right now I’m at 143 pages (or 35,000 words, using Word Count, not really the correct literary way of doing it, but whatever) which is good, but I still have a way to go. Anyway, at first, getting on the proverbial bike again was a bit overwhelming, but in a few paragraphs, I was moving smoothly along, and even got “in the zone” until I had to leave it to pick up the baby from daycare. Being “in the zone” is elusive for me, and I would think many other writers. Being in the zone means the words are coming quicker than I can type them. This is a wonderful “problem” to have. I love it when this happens. I have been known to time travel while in the zone – I look at the clock and it’s 9:00, I glance down, then back up, and suddenly it’s 11:00. Pretty cool.

So I have made a tentative goal of twenty pages a week, which would be eighty pages a month, and 240 in three months. This means that if I stick to an average of 20 pages per week, the manuscript will be finished by May.

Now I know 20 pages per week is nothing to brag about, but it’s a realistic goal for me. This semester I’m teaching two sections of English at the college where I work, and I also work part time at a museum (though my job there will be on hiatus from February-June). Then there is the fact that I am a Mommy first and foremost. It is impossible to write when she is awake.

My plan is to finish the novel by the beginning of May and start to query agents. I’m excited to finally do this. This is the fourth novel I have written in ten years, and the first novel I really believe I can get published. I’ll keep things updated on here. Wish me luck!

I need to make space on my bookshelves! So, take one!

2010-01-07T21:41:00.001-05:00

I have quite a few books…in fact, I have more books than I have room. I LOVE my books like some people love their pets. One day I will have the space to store them all in one room, but for now, I have to creatively cram them on the shelves. So I think it would be good to purge a book (better than nothing!). So I thought I would do a giveaway of one of my books I’ve read that I can part with without crying. Not only will this give me room for a new book (hehe) but it is eco-friendly to “recycle” books instead of buying news ones, and I strive to be very eco-friendly.

So here is a list of some books I own and would like to pass on to the next reader. Leave a comment telling me which one you would like the most and one eco-friendly thing you currently do or plan on starting this year. I recommend a Goodreads search for books your aren’t familiar with. Keep in mind that these are used books - not new, therefore, depending on the book, it may have some wear. I’ll do a random drawing on Saturday, January 30 and send the book to it’s new home. Getting cozy with a good book is one of the best things to do in the winter!

Totally narcissistic interview with myself

2010-01-07T08:43:00.001-05:00

I found this list of questions online and while you may be mildly entertained or interested by my answers, I also thought it would be fun to think about these just for my own interests. So…maybe not so narcissistic after all!

Where are you from?
the Midwest

Tell us your latest news?
I’m writing a book. Fiction. Contemporary. I’m approximately 1/3 of the way through it. That’s about all I’ll say right now!

When and why did you begin writing?
I began to write when I was very young – about five or six. And because I love to write. It is cathartic and exciting and enjoyable and thrilling and euphoric and frustrating…

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I used to feel guilty about calling myself a writer or an author. But then I started to think about it. I AM a writer. I have written novels and poems and papers and short stories. Why shouldn’t I call myself an author? A person is not an author on the condition of being published or famous. A person is an author or a writer if they are an author or a writer. Does that even make sense? So I guess I considered myself a writer/author when I was a teenager.

What inspired you to write your first book?
I just had all these story ideas cramming my mind and I would think how great it would be if it was a real story on paper. So around 16, I started writing a short story. After a while, I thought, “This isn’t a short story anymore, I might as well…write a book? Heck, why not.” So, I wrote my first book at 16. Longhand! (And I still have the books I wrote it in as well as the manuscript I gruelingly typed out on a dinosaur of a “computer.” That’s a story for another time…

Do you have a specific writing style?
Mine?

How did you come up with the title?
The title is pivotal for me. I will agonize over it, and have been known to change a title several times. When I started writing my current novel, I kept trying to come up with the PERFECT title, because I kept thinking, “Well, hopefully this will be the book to get published, so it has to fit like Cinderella’s slipper.” And I was driving one day, and I heard the title on the radio – and I broke into a huge smile, and I just KNEW - “This is the title for my book, without a doubt.” And it is perfect!

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
It depends on the story I’m writing. With my current novel, I think my main message is going to be about marriage. What is a marriage? What does it mean when your marriage starts to age and change and when one of the people in a marriage changes? - especially a young marriage. And temptation. That is a big part of this book – what do you do when you are married and yet there is someone so tempting, so wonderful, that you are there on the precipice ready to throw your marriage away for this “grass is always greener…” long-shot. And inevitably, my stories always are about love. But I’m not just talking about romantic love, but love of self.

How much of the book is realistic?
I always draw somewhat from personal experiences. I don’t make a character someone I know/have known, but they might have shades of people I’ve met or know. And as far as reality v. fantasy, my novels are realistic in that the things I write about could very well happen to someone.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Many of them are drawn from real events or experiences. But most of it is fictional.

What books have most influenced your life most?
As a child, “A Wrinkle in Time” was mind-blowing. I don’t think I ever thought of books the same after I read it in fifth grade. Now one of my favorite books is “The Age of Innocence.” Wow, Edith Wharton really knocked that one out of the park. But I must say, there are still SOOOO many books I want to read, so I don’t feel totally satisfied answering this question.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Probably Margaret Atwood.

What book are you reading now?
"Night” by Elie Wiesel, and “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. I think my next one will be “Jane Eyre.”

Do you see writing as a career?
Yes! I hope that it will be my career very soon.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
No. I was born with stories in my head, and they continue to cloud my reality, but in a good way.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Ok, ok. My main character is a working mom in her twenties grappling with her marriage, her career, and her relationship with a guy she meets who she falls for (which, you know, complicates things). She also is trying to help keep a family business from going under.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
I want to strike a good balance between description and dialogue. I try to give each of my characters a real voice. One that feels like a real person. That is my goal.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Deciding to end the story how it really needs to end, as opposed to how a reader would like for it to end. I have to be true to the characters, and sometimes that’s hard, because you want a different ending for them.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
With this current book, I’ve really been taking a good look at my own feelings about marriage. It’s been interesting and insightful.

Do you have any advice for other writers?
Never think you aren’t worthy of being published. For one, I believe that if you work hard enough and want it enough, it WILL happen. Secondly, I’ve read some crappy literature, so if they can get published, it really comes down to persistence!

Raising Imaginative Children: Part 2 - Reading

2010-01-05T10:14:00.001-05:00

When Bella was just a few weeks old, I found out about a literacy program for children. And it was free! The program is called Imagination Library and it was started by Dolly Parton. Children enrolled in the program receive one new book in the mail each month until they are five years old. Bella has so many nice books already because of this program. It truly is wonderful, and we both enjoy getting a new book to read. All the books are carefully selected by a committee, and they have all been great books. [Pictured is Bella ‘reading’ “The Little Engine That Could” – the first book in the program.]

I have always encouraged family and friends to give Bella books as gifts for her birthday and Christmas. She loves to be read to, and more recently has been pretending to read by herself! By surrounding her with books, she is becoming a book lover already (and I’m sure it only helps that Mommy usually has a book, too). I want Bella to be a life-long reader like me. Reading is one of the most wonderful things in the world, as far as I’m concerned. And when you factor in how many people in this world do not have the access to education and are consequently illiterate, it becomes so much more meaningful to be able to read. Most of us take it for granted.

Reading gives us so many things – it allows us to see things from a new perspective, it can entertain us, it educates us – a book can even change your life. For instance, when I was a teenager, I stopped eating red meat. I became interested in vegetarianism, so I read some books on the subject (though I don’t remember the titles of any of them – it was too long ago). Those books told me the truth about the commercial meat industry and the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. I was forever changed. I do consider those books I read to have been life changing. Becoming a vegetarian led to many other positive changes in my life. Now, my daughter is being raised a vegetarian, and I could not be more sure of my decision to raise her this way.

Some of my favorite books growing up were the “American Girl” books (historical fiction is still my favorite genre!), “Goosebumps,” “The Boxcar Children,” Judy Blume, and “A Wrinkle in Time.” These books allowed me to escape, and that was an essential thing for me as a young girl with a whole lot of angst-y emotion.

There is nothing like going into a quiet library or bookstore and taking your time browsing. I get a high from it. And holding a book in my hands, turning over the pages, and smelling the fibers is a complete sensory experience.

What were your favorite books as a child? How did they make you feel and why were they important to you?

Raising Imaginative Children: Part 1 - Art

2010-01-04T16:12:00.010-05:00

I don't know how to raise an imaginative child - but I do know how to foster creativity and imagination in a child: art and reading (says the girl who has a degree in English literature and Art History). Some of my favorite memories of childhood are going to the library and working on art projects. I want my daughter Bella to experience these things as well, and she is taking to them beautifully.

Art is so wonderful because there are no "rules," no guidelines to follow, no way to mess it up or "do it" incorrectly. How wonderful! Over the years I have enjoyed working in such mediums as sculpture, drawing, watercolor, acrylic paints on canvas, and photography. These are ways to express yourself without words. Art is cathartic.

For Christmas, I bought Crayon Rocks for Bella. She loves them, and so do I. Remember when you were a kid and all your crayons would break, one by one, until you had a bunch of short stubby pieces that were inadequete for coloring? These crayons solve that problem, and they're super easy for little fingers to grasp. Brownie points for the fact that they are sustainably made from soy in the USA.

If Bella asks to color, I always let her pull out her pad and crayons and scribble for a little bit. It may seem to some that she isn't really doing anything , but her imagination is in overdrive, and she is learning and growing. When she is a little older, I plan on purchasing an art easel so that she can paint as well.

The first thing I ever wrote was a series of stories called " Magic Baby." I was about six years old, and I drew pictures for the stories. To this day, I still am a hopeless art lover. One day, my dream is to have a studio for art and an office/library for writing. Gotta have dreams, right?!

"Kinfolks": Shining a realistic light on Kentuckians

2010-01-03T20:02:00.009-05:00

Photo: Hazard, Kentucky in the 1950s. Pictured here.

In December, I was working at a book fair sponsored by the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center, where I work as a Program Coordinator. This is an annual event that takes place in Maysville, Kentucky and showcases authors from all over Kentucky and southern Ohio.

Upon entering the book fair, I happened to notice the first table, which sat unattended. There were a few copies of the novel "Kinfolks" setting there. I thought for a moment - that title sounded very familiar. Aha! "Kinfolks" was a novel that one of my students had read in another class and she mentioned how good it was. I was temporarily disappointed, thinking the author had not been able to make it to the fair, but minutes later, an older gentleman took his place at this table. I approached him when no one was talking to him and told him how excited I was to meet him. His name is Gurney Norman, and he happens to be the current Poet Laureate of Kentucky.

Mr. Norman and I conversed for several minutes about his book, which led to discussing my teaching at the local college. He is a creative writing professor at the University of Kentucky, and I mentioned to him how I myself am a writer. It was very fascinating to talk to an established writer who is so respected. He mentioned that the stories in "Kinfolks" were written over many years. We talked about teaching and writing. I enjoyed every moment. He is a very kind and polite man, interesting, and a good listener.

Now it may seem that since I met the author and he even signed a copy of his book for me that I would be biased in my opinion of "Kinfolks," but I can say without hesitation that even if I had never met him, I would still rave about his book. I completely enjoyed each one of the ten stories.

The stories span about two decades in the life of a boy named Wilgus Collier. The tales center around his "kinfolks" and seemingly everyday happenings, but the language is so captivating, and the stories and characters so believable, it doesn't matter what is actually taking place. Mr. Norman takes the reader on an entertaining trip to the hills of eastern Kentucky circa the 1950s-60s. Sometimes the stories are sad, often touching, and even laugh-out-loud funny. He humanizes a group of people who are often labeled as mere hillbillies. What a reader from outside this area will discover is that Kentuckians - "hillbillies" - are much like themselves, albeit they often use incorrect grammar. As I was born in Kentucky, graduated from college in Kentucky, and now work there, I consider myself a Kentuckian, even though I do not live in Kentucky.

Kentucky is a beautiful state of rolling hills, creeks, and valleys. Read "Kinfolks" - I promise you won't be sorry.

Theories of Writing

2010-01-01T19:25:00.003-05:00

There are two basic theories of writing that I know of. One theory says that your writing is a task to be done, scheduled, and stuck to, no matter what. You set aside a time to write, and you write, no matter what. This is the method I know many well-known authors ascribe to, and it was also preached by my college fiction writing professor.

The other theory, perhaps not as popular, says to write when creativity strikes, when you are inspired by some divine power. If you have writer's block, let it pass until the creativity returns. This is the method I prefer. Perhaps I prefer this method because I am still a writing novice and I have not yet learned the lessons I need to learn about writing. I am a passionate and emotional person. I have always felt that my craft is at its best when I am inspired and filled with passion to write. There is always a nagging suspicion that my writing is subpar if I force it out of myself.

Perhaps I just need to be more disciplined and force myself to set a writing schedule. Nevertheless, I have completed three novels, so writing on a whim seems to work for this author!

All the pages I have turned this year

2009-12-31T16:24:00.011-05:00

I set out to read more in 2009, and I did, but I still didn't read as much as I'd have liked. My final book tally for the year is 19. One away from an even twenty - boo! If I remember correctly, my goal was to read about 25 books, so I did fall short, but in my defense, I had a very hectic fall semester and holiday season. So, I guess I should make a goal to read 25 books in 2010.

Last year I discovered the website Goodreads and fell in love. You can search practically any book and read information and reviews on it. Not only that, but you can sign up for a free account and keep track of books read and books you want to read. I love it! Now I can easily keep track of all the books I've read and want to read. I can also look back and remember how well I liked a book, because it prompts you to rate each book. You can also write any comments you have about a book.

So here is what I read, in the order that I read them this year, starting with January:

"Chocolat" by Joanne Harris ****
"My Antonia" by Willa Cather****
"Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier***
"A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest Gaines***
"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen**** (Jane Austen makes me swoon)
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald**
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee****
"The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets" by Eva Rice****
The Complete Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer****
"Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom**
"This Lullaby" by Sarah Dessen***
"The Dress Lodger" by Sheri Holman***
"The Nanny Diaries" by Emma McLaughlin* (HATED this book - I forced myself to finish it)
"Great Tales and Poems" by Edgar Allan Poe****
"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen****

(Star ratings are out of 5 stars possible. I'm pretty stingy with 5 star ratings and didn't have any this year.)

Thinking about warmer days...

2009-12-30T19:14:00.006-05:00

Because it is very cold out, and I am not a fan of cold weather. I love the beauty of a fresh snow, and I can appreciate the feeling I get from taking a deep breath of crisp winter air, but I prefer a nice, non-humid 70 degree day with a few wispy clouds and lots of sun. This is one of my favorite photos from a family vacation to Lake Michigan during the summer of 2009. Savor its beauty and daydream a little with me.

It's a Circus in There!

2009-12-30T08:50:00.002-05:00

I have been reading "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen off-and-on for a couple of months now. I had to put it aside during the end of the fall semester when things got hectic and the holidays were nearing. Recently, I've picked it up again to finish it.

The novel, which follows a traveling circus during the Great Depression, is what I will be using in my English classes during the spring semester. Each semester we take a break from the textbook to read a novel. It's my favorite part of the class. In the past, I've used "The Bean Trees," "Maisie Dobbs," "Chocolat," and the tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe.

I've only been teaching for two years, so I'm still very much so learning and figuring out what the students like best. I try to find a book with something for the girls and guys. Poe didn't go over so well, especially for the girls. They found the subject matter morbid and the language difficult. Still, I think they all found a unique appreciation for Poe. I really enjoyed reading some of his works I'd never been introduced to before, including my favorite story, "Ligeia," as well as "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Did you know Poe's detective Dupin was the inspiration for Doyle's Sherlock Holmes? It's true!

So we shall see how WFE goes over in the coming weeks. I think that the students will enjoy the history and the realistic characters. I know I do!

Picking back up

2009-12-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

Last summer, I began writing my fourth - or fifth? - fiction novel. Characters were sketched, plot lines were decided, and the first words were typed. After 150 pages or so, my writing took a break, for the fall semester began and I was busy teaching with my English classes at the college where I work, a baby, and a part-time job at a museum. I always planned on picking back up at the beginning of the year, and here I am.

This blog serves as not only a way to keep myself motivated, but to share my love of the written word.

I shall finish writing my current novel in 2010 and will begin the process of becoming published. Optimistic, am I? Yes, and don't try to rain on my parade. There is no room for negativity. I only know one goal - becoming a published author.