It's Christmas!

I had plans to blog earlier today and about something important... Yeah. That didn't happen. I did get to go to a kindergarten Christmas program this morning, though. I know you're jealous. In case you're wondering why a school would schedule a Christmas program this late in January, well, it's because we had over a foot of snow the day the program was originally scheduled and so school was canceled. There were many tears shed over the missed program too. The teachers wanted to reschedule, but one of them got married over Christmas vacation and they wanted to wait for her to come back before they did the program.

In any case, today didn't quite go as planned. Lots of things in life don't. I had planned to write today. A lot. But things kept coming up. I started feeling frustrated. I mean, I made a goal to finish this revision by the end of the month and I was doing so well... But then I realized that, while I hadn't done actual writing, the plot had been simmering while I worked on other things. I'd come to some conclusions and had some ideas that would really help the story. The kind of ideas that make my fingertips tingle and make me want to bounce in my chair. Those kind of ideas. That's a lot more progress than I get when I try to push through a scene that's not working. And, yes, I did pause to write down those ideas before I forgot them in the chaos.

So hooray for great ideas! Hooray for ways to work on writing when sitting down just doesn't happen! And hooray because Anna and the French Kiss showed up in my mailbox today! Just in time for Christmas.

Untangling Knots

I've been working on a revision recently and it's been so fun. At least it was fun until the last few days when I reached The Messy Middle. It feels a lot like when I was taking a weaving class in college and had measured my yarn out on the board--all 50 yards or so of it. But I forgot to tie the yarn and, as I took it off of the board, the yarn slipped and instead of having a nice, smooth bundle, I had a 50 yard knot. Have you ever untangled a 50 yard knot? It takes a long, long time. (But it was faster than ordering more yarn and waiting for it to arrive.)

I feel like I'm in the middle of a 50 yard knot at the moment.

It's not pretty, but hopefully once I untangle it, it will be. Just give me some time. It'll be faster than starting from scratch, right?

Anyway, as I've been contemplating my messy middle, I've noticed a reoccurring problem. Okay, there are lots, but this one in particular has been bothering me and it wasn't until last night that I figured out why: I have an almost compulsive need to show the transitions from one scene to another. We're all taught "Show, don't tell" until we find ourselves muttering it in our sleep. So I was doing my best to show what was happening, but scenes felt like they were going on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever.

And I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was wrong and why the scenes felt like they were dragging.

Anyway, last night as I was lying in bed and not sleeping (because that's what bed are for, right?), another bit of advice popped into my head. I have no idea where I heard it, but it's the perfect advice for me at the moment. "Enter the scene late, and leave early."

Readers don't need to experience the car ride if the sole purpose of the car ride is to get from point A to point B. The same thing with breakfast and going to bed and all sorts of other scenes that just bog down the story.

So that's my advice for today: Enter the scene late and leave early.

And now I should get to revising. I'm hoping to finish this revision before February. And February is quickly approaching.

Happy writing!

Assigning Labels

I attended my first workshop a couple years ago. Brandon Sanderson was in charge of our group and he talked a little about his writing process. That process terrified me. I was still pretty new to the writing thing and the idea of plotting and outlining for weeks really intimidated me. I immediately decided I was a multidrafter/pantser instead of an outliner/planner.

Several of us from that workshop group formed a critique group. I learned SO much from that group. We had a really good balance of people and we all grew a lot as writers. There was one thing I didn't learn, though, and that was to trust my own judgment. Since I was a self-titled pantser, I didn't really have a clear direction that my story was going in, and I kept trying to take all the advice I was given. Which meant that this particular manuscript went in all sorts of crazy directions.

And all sorts of crazy directions don't exactly make a cohesive plot.

I decided I would try the outlining thing. It didn't end well. The characters ended up feeling like wooden blocks being pushed and shoved around. Character motivation was practically nonexistent.

So I went back to wandering aimlessly through the manuscript. And by aimlessly, I really do mean aimlessly. I  finished a draft and exchanged it with some friends. One of their main complaints was how much time was spent on an airplane. Surprised, I went back to look at it again and was shocked to discover that nearly a third of the book took place on a plane. Seriously? What was I thinking? (Maybe I was just in serious need of a vacation or something.)

Anyway, I put the manuscript away for a while and wrote something else. I didn't officially "outline" it, but I had it plotted out in my head and it turned out so much more cohesive. (Although most of it takes place on a spaceship...)

I'm currently trying to revise that multi-drafted, aimlessly plotted story again, but this time, I know where I want to go with it. But more importantly, I learned something about my writing process and what works for me. I learned that I am not a strict plotter, but neither am I a pantser. I'm somewhere in the middle. I have to know where I want the story to go and to have a basic outline, but I also have to have freedom to explore a little. And I'm okay with being label-less. It works for me.

What about you? Does one way work better for you than the other?

Finger-Painting

One of the hardest things about being a parent is letting my kids make their own choices. I have a tendency to be bossy (and if you're related to me, you don't get to comment on that) and it's hard to let go, even about the little things. Like science fairs.

My son decided to participate in the upcoming fair, so (of course) his little sister wanted to do it too. And she wanted her project to be about finger-painting. Which sounded, um, not very cool or scientific to me.

I made other suggestions. Because I am wise and all-knowing.

She was adamant. And cute. She did a finger-painting project.

She and her 3-year old brother each painted three pictures and asked her dad and her grandparents to guess which pictures she did and which one her brother did.

And it's been a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Only 1 of the 6 people asked could correctly identify all the pictures.

Can you tell whether a 3 year old boy or 5 year old girl painted this picture?

Anyway, this experience has made me think about my characters. You see, much as I like to imagine myself as wise and all-knowing, I am not. And so when I want to force the characters to go into a direction that they might not chose so that they don't make a stupid mistake, I'm really the one who is making a mistake. I am taking away learning and growing experiences from the book in my effort to force the characters into not doing things that I think are silly or stupid.  In short, in forcing them to learn from my experiences instead of from their own. And that doesn't usually make for a good book.

So go ahead and let your characters make the decisions that might turn out badly or make things uncomfortable. Because that's what life is about: learning and growing and occasionally admitting that you aren't always wise and all-knowing.

Picture Books and Me

Lately we've been catching up on Psych episodes. Neither my husband nor I had seen any of them before we were convinced to try Netflix (which we love). Anyway, one of the recent episodes was "Tuesday the 17th." It's a parody of sorts on the slasher movies and it terrified me. TERRIFIED. There's a reason I don't watch scary movies, and this wasn't even a scary movie! (There may also have been a lack of sleep at the time, so don't think too poorly of me!)

The episode ended and our conversation went like this:

Me: What was that?

Him: The heater turning on.

Me: Are you sure? Maybe there's someone in our house?

Him: It was the heater turning on.

Me: WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!

Him: It was the heater turning on.

I hid in the closet anyway. Did I mention I don't like scary movies?

So it was a surprise to me when I wrote a really disturbing Halloween counting poem last night full of things like digging up graves and cutting out spleens. My husband said it made him feel physically ill. It's the sort of thing to read to your kids if you want them to cower in the corner. And then you can tell them what "Ring Around the Rosies" is really referring to. And show them "Blink" from Dr. Who.

Yeah, so, apparently picture books aren't my calling in life.

But that's okay. I'm in the middle of a revision of a YA book that I haven't looked at in at least six months and I'm having a lot of fun. It's like revisiting old and well-loved friends, which I guess I am, in a way. I had a hard time putting it away--I had all sorts of ideas for how I wanted to fix it and I just wanted to get to them! The thing I discovered was that those ideas got better with the simmering. So in case you were wondering, all those people who say to give each manuscript some space, well, they're right and I'm so glad I tried it. (I don't think you need six months of space. That's just how it worked out for me.) Anyway, I'd been a writing-is-drudgery slump and I'm back in the writing-is-fun. And that's a wonderful feeling.

On Being a Princess

One of the first books I remember loving was The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye. I'm sure I loved princesses before that. I remember drawing pictures and telling stories for hours on end about what I was drawing. And playing dress-up. Because, really, who doesn't want to be a princess? Or a knight? Or a king or queen? Lord or lady?

Well, yesterday, I got to be a princess again.

(And, no, it's not just because it was my birthday, although I certainly felt like a princess with all the calls and emails and gifts. I feel so special!)

After coming home from lunch and shoe shopping with my mother-in-law, my 5-year old insisted that I needed to play princesses with her. And I had to dress up. But what to wear??? Because a princess can't just dress up in any dress--it has to be special. So I pulled out my old high school dance dresses and we dressed up as princesses. (And, can I just say that those old dresses do NOT fit like they used to? 'Cause they don't.) We had a ball and a princess tea party. Most importantly, we had fun.

Lately "fun" has been a bit lacking. Writing hasn't been fun--I'm too caught up in revisions and stress and fretting that I'll just never been good enough. I'm also worried that I'm just too old to become a writer. That I write the wrong things. (I've TRIED writing serious, deep, dark stuff and it just will not stay that way!)

And that's not even going into some of the other stresses going on right now. Like the fact that it's January and January has a propensity to be dark and dreary and miserable.

It's so easy to let all the fretting overwhelm the fun, but that's something I want to try to avoid. I want to make sure to have some fun and light in my life. Fretting about things doesn't help anything. So I'm going to put on that old dress that doesn't quite fit and dance anyway. Because it's more fun to be a princess.

Unreachable Goals

A few weeks ago, I set a goal with a friend that we were both going to write 5000 words a week. Yes, we decided this a week before Christmas. Because we're sensible that way. Needless to say, it did not happen in December.

I started this week out with good intentions, which is probably part of the problem. We all know where good intentions lead . . . Anyway, I was going to write every day. EVERY DAY. I managed about 100 words on Monday. (This beginning is trying to kill me!!)

The day passed and then, right after the newest episode of Castle (is it so wrong that my day revolved around Castle?), my youngest started crying. I went in his room and he proved--all over me--that his grumpiness was not just tiredness, but rather a flu symptom. Sigh.

Three days later, he's still miserable and tired and, to use his phrase, a LOT grumpy!

So I am still at about 100 words this week and not sure I can get 4,900 by Saturday evening. And, as another writer friend pointed out this week, stress and tiredness sap all creative energy. So is it even worth the effort to try to plow through even though it might be exceptionally cringe-worthy, or should I just assume that tomorrow is another week (or whatever) and give up on this week? How does your writing process work? Do you set goals for yourself or are you more flexible? And, most importantly, how do you feel about the show Castle?

Books of 2010

Last year some people were talking about their goals. It seems to be a common theme in January. Anyway, several of them had a goal to read a certain number of books over the course of 2010. I'd never even thought about doing something like that. I read because, well, it's just what I do. I read. But I was curious to know how much I read. So over the course of 2010, I recorded the books I read.

I read 101 books last year. Of course, 23 of them were graphic novels and pretty short. But even if I combine them all into one, I still read 78 books last year. That isn't counting manuscripts I critiqued for friends. Some of them were rereads because sometimes books are even better than comfort food.

Anyway, out of those books (discounting the rereads) my favorites were the following:

DRAGONFLY by Julia Golding. I loved watching the two main characters, with their very different backgrounds and religions, learn to get along and to fall in love.

HEX HALL by Rachel Hawkins. This made me laugh. A lot.

THE DEMON'S LEXICON and THE DEMON'S COVENANT by Sarah Rees Brennan. I love these characters! (And the kiss in the middle of TDC is one of my favorites.)

LEVIATHAN and BEHEMOTH by Scott Westerfeld. These books have amazing world-building. I will admit, it did take me a while to get into LEVIATHAN, but I thoroughly enjoyed it once I did.

MATCHED by Ally Condie. I love the love triangle--and that both boys are so nice!

Also, I have to add that I loved the FRUITS BASKET series. I know they aren't to most people's taste, but I loved them. I also love the artwork in them.

What about you? Did you read anything last year that I should add to my Must Read list?