Jenilyn M. Tolley

Launch Party for EVERNEATH

2012-01-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

I went to the launch party for Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH yesterday. I've mentioned before how much I love EVERNEATH and I'm so excited that it's now out in the world.

Brodi had an awesome presentation last night about her path to publication. She kept us all laughing, as you would expect if you read her blog at all, but it was also incredibly inspiring. Not only did she bring a list of all the agents that had passed on one of her projects (a list of over 160 agents), but she printed out and laminated all of her rejection letters for us:

I couldn't get a picture of the entire thing, but it took three people to try to wrangle it into submission. It says a lot about Brodi that she didn't give up on writing. She kept at it. She told us that she had more than 10 offers of representation on EVERNEATH and it sold within 48 hours of being on submission. (Which isn't a surprise--the book is awesome!!)

The King's English was absolutely packed last night with people coming out to support Brodi. And by packed, I mean that there wasn't even enough room to turn and talk to the person next to you. It was crazy, but wonderful to see so much support. For years, Brodi has been there to support other authors--it was actually one of the first things I heard about her, how supportive she was of the local writing community--and she deserved it. I don't know how many copies of EVERNEATH were available last night, but I know they sold out of them before everyone was able to purchase one.

My copy, though, is the most special of all. The post-it note to mark the title page wouldn't come off and Brodi accidentally ripped the page. (Who knew that could even be a problem?) She was horrified and I couldn't stop laughing. Random things like that happen to me a lot.

Did anyone else make it to The King's English for the launch party? Have you read EVERNEATH yet? If not, why not? And what has inspired you this week to keep writing?

ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby

2011-11-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I read THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby and enjoyed it. It was a charming and beautifully written story and I was excited to see what he did with his second book, ICEFALL, which I heard was about a Viking princess. How could I not want to read a book about a Viking princess?

I fully intended to go to the book launch for ICEFALL, but I came down with a cold that pretty much destroyed all my mental capacity for a couple weeks and I missed it. I hear that there were Viking swordsmen, too. So sad!

Anyway, I finally had the chance to read ICEFALL over the Thanksgiving break and have been telling everyone I know that they should read this book.

So. You should read this book.

It's amazing. One of the very best I've read in a long time. If you combined KETURAH AND LORD DEATH by Martine Leavitt with THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner (both of which I love), I think you'd get something like this book. But there were Vikings, too, which just puts this into a whole new realm of awesomeness. I stayed up far, far too late reading it.

From the cover:

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

There are so many things about this story that I want to rave about, but I also don't want to say too much about it. To be honest, I didn't even read the cover before starting this book. "Viking princess" was enough to make me want to try it, but if that's not enough for you, check out the music that helped inspire the story, as well as some of the pictures of what the setting looked like. And then go read the book.

What about you? Have you read anything amazing recently?

Tips on Writing Fight Scenes

2011-11-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

I wrote this post about a year ago as a guest post for a friend. Her life went a bit crazy and it never got posted so, with her permission, I'm posting this here. Enjoy!

Stories are all about conflict. But what happens when the conflict turns into a physical fight during a story? I used to teach martial arts and I’m pretty picky about reading fight scenes. Here are some tips I’ve come up with to help write fight scenes.

1. Do NOT describe every single movement. Really. Fights happen very fast, but if you take the time to describe everything, it will take forever. Instead, focus on the beginning of the fight, the outcome of the fight, and any important bits, when something changed for the character.

For example, in The Lion King, when Scar confesses to Simba that he killed Mufasa. That’s a crucial part of the fight scene, so include things like that.

2. Know your setting. Setting plays a huge role in fight scenes. A fight in a classroom with desks is going to be very different than a fight scene in a parking lot. Know your setting. Know what is going to help the fight and what will hinder the fight.

For example, in our martial arts class, we do lots of “no holds barred” sparring. That means that anything goes—there are no rules and there is no official sparring ring. The fighters use the walls all the time to balance off of and to trap their sparring partner.

We changed the rules one day so that anyone who stepped out of the ring lost. That COMPLETELY changed the fighting styles. Kicking and punching became pretty much useless. Instead, it turned into a contest between stances and pushing, with some ground fighting thrown in.

Things also change when weapons are involved. Or on a hill. Or on a roof. Or pretty much any variation in setting, so think about the advantages and disadvantages a setting would have on a character.

3. Know your character. Know their strengths and weaknesses. For example, I am 5’ 5”, I have short legs and a long torso. Most of the guys I work out with are over 6’, which means I have a definite disadvantage when it comes to traditional sparring. I just don’t have the reach that they do.

I do have an advantage, though, if I can get in close and use elbows and knees. In other words, I can hit them, but they can’t hit me because they have too long of a reach. I also have an advantage in ground fighting because my center of gravity is in my hips (like most girls), which makes me harder throw. I also have some extra weight that helps out there. :)

As with character traits, every fighter will have some strengths and some weaknesses. We as writers just need to figure out what they are and figure out how our characters can use them.

4. Have fun with it. Really. Some of the most painful fight scenes I’ve read have been overly serious descriptions that made me cringe. A lighter touch is usually better.

An example of this is The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan, which are a lot of fun.

Happy writing fighting!

Cliffhangers

2011-11-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

I've heard the advice before that you should try to end your chapters with a cliffhanger so your readers will want to keep reading. I have to admit that, while this makes sense, the practical application wasn't really working for me. After all, my stories aren't thrillers and my characters don't find themselves in life threatening situations that often. So I stuffed that bit of advice in the back of my brain to be used only when applicable.

But this past week I've been ~~obsessed~~ watching this Korean drama called Boys over Flowers. I put it in my queue months ago because it looked like something I'd enjoy, but didn't end up watching it that night because I was supposed to be folding laundry and subtitled shows often distract me from the actual business of folding. Anyway, Natalie Whipple mentioned it on Twitter and on her blog last week and I'd just finished watching Season 3 of Merlin and was looking for something, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I could go on and on about what I love about it, but I'll spare you and try to get to my point. One of the things the show does SO well is the cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Now, these aren't often physical cliffhangers (although they sometimes are) but they're mainly emotional cliffhangers. The characters have a decision to make or something has happened to shake the way they view their world...and then the episode ends. And it gets me every time.

I'm now rethinking my own chapter endings and what I can do to up the stakes for the characters emotionally.
Because, really, being emotionally invested in characters is one of the most important things. I know when I'm reading (or watching a show) I can overlook all kinds of flaws when I care about the characters.

What about you? What have you learned recently? Any other good shows out there that I should be watching?

Querying Survival Tips

2011-11-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I found myself at the same event as several other authors, including Sara Zarr. She found out I'd just started querying and, very sympathetically, she put her hand on my shoulder and told me I needed to find a new hobby. I'd previously read the highlights of her keynote address from the SCBWI conference earlier this year and it was obvious that she understands.

Querying is hard. And miserable. But through trial and many, many errors, I've learned a few things that make it a little less miserable.

First of all, Patricia Wrede, one of my favorite authors, has some excellent advice on her blog in what she calls "The Hat Lecture," and I definitely recommend reading that.

So. The things I've learned:

-Don't query during times of emotional stress, if at all possible. Don't query when you're dealing with unemployment, or trying to sell a house, or have a newborn and haven't slept in weeks. And definitely don't do it if you have more than one stressful thing going on. It just makes it that much harder to deal with rejection.

-Read outside your genre while querying. I've found that if I read something in the genre I'm trying to be published in, I'll either be annoyed because mine is obviously much better (I wish!) or flop on the couch in despair because I will never, ever be that good. Either way, it's pretty miserable. I've found that I can still enjoy reading when I read something different, something where I'm not constantly comparing myself to them.

-Get out of the house and spend some time in the sunshine and away from your email. It doesn't need to be checked every five minutes. I promise.

-Find writer friends who understand and will let you whine.

-Find non-writer friends who share other interests. Don't let the writing and querying become your whole life.

-Write something new, something that you're so in love with that the old project, the one you're querying, isn't so important to you. But whatever you do, DON'T think about the possibility of publishing the new project. Just don't even go there. Just write for the love of writing.

-And, of course, lots and lots of chocolate.

What about you? What are some tips you've discovered to help during querying?

It's That Time of the Year Again

2011-10-27T16:24:00.000-06:00

I don't know if you've noticed, but it's almost Halloween. It came as a surprise to me since my brain thinks it's May. How I can think it's spring with this kind of weather, I don't know:

The pond out back after the snow a couple weeks ago. Notice the steam rising up from it?

It was cool enough to almost make up for the power being out all day.

Fall foliage on the mountain. (And our dirt pile

that makes an excellent sledding hill in the winter.)

But apparently it is almost Halloween and I haven't decided what to wear. We have a big family Halloween party on Saturday that's including a wedding, so I really have to wear something festive.

The problem is, my husband doesn't like any of my suggestions. He says I need to think more "mainstream." I guess my ideas in the past have been a little, uh, unusual:

-Dark matter

-A fish stick

-Mad Cow disease

-Vegeta from Dragonball Z (including the spiking my hair, which was pretty long at the time)

-Blossom from The Powerpuff Girls (my husband and his brother were Buttercup and Bubbles, so he can't blame me too much for that one)

Does anyone have any suggestions for a great costume? Or should I just pull out my old Maleficent costume and terrify the little girls in the neighborhood?

The Great Author Hunt and Extra Pairs of Pants

2011-10-13T09:46:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week, I decided to do something crazy and dragged Chersti along with me. Basically it turned into a see-how-many-authors/signings-we-can-see-in-one-day. 200 miles and eleven hours later, I made it home. We'd only been to two signings (although four authors were at one of them) and talked with ten published authors. At least I think it was ten. Counting isn't always a strength of mine.

I didn't tell anyone beforehand what I was doing because:

A) It was crazy.

B) And they would know I was crazy.

Okay, I told Chersti, but only under protest and after admitting said insanity first.

Here's some of the photographic evidence:

Me and Becca Fitzpatrick (author of HUSH, HUSH)

I'm in the back.

Michelle Hodkins (THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER), Chersti Nieveen,

and Elana Johnson (POSSESSION)

Chersti, James Dashner (THE MAZE RUNNER), and me.

And, yes, in that last picture, I am wearing a Dead Elvises guitar pick around my neck, courtesy of Brodi Ashton. I know you're jealous. Brodi has an amazing book coming out at the beginning of next year. I had the chance to read an ARC of it a couple months ago and I love it. I can't wait to have my own copy!

The strangest thing about the day was that, for some reason, Chersti and I both felt it necessary to bring along a spare pair of pants. Neither of us has any idea why, but we needed to have extra pants with us. I don't even know what we were expecting. I mean, seriously, what reason did our subconscious have for needing extra pants? And why did BOTH of us bring them? (And, no, neither of us needed them. Of course.)

What about you? How has your week been? Have you done anything crazy on the spur of the moment?

Happiness

2011-10-06T10:42:00.000-06:00

It's snowing. There's at least an inch on the ground here and I'm cold. I'm also recovering a nasty cold. Very nasty. It's tempting to sit around and whine, but how would that be useful?

It's been almost two weeks since I had the opportunity to listen to one of my favorite speakers, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, address the women in my church. Although he spoke to in a religious gathering, I think some of his comments are useful for everyone, specifically his comments about happiness.

He summarized the story of the golden tickets from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and then he said:

"In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket."

I've been thinking about that a lot these last few weeks. As some of you know, this last year or so has been a very stressful, difficult, and disappointing time. It's so easy to focus on what I don't have (especially when I think that I used to have it) and to let myself wallow in misery.

But despite everything, there are good things that have happened, too. Just because I don't have the "golden ticket" that I really want, doesn't mean that I can't still enjoy things. Just because I haven't found my dream agent or sold a book or whatever, does not mean that I can't enjoy writing. I started writing because I love it (just like the people starting buying candy bars because they loved chocolate) and when I start focusing on those things I don't have (agent, book deal, etc.), I lose the joy I used to find in writing.

And I don't want to do that.

I write because I love it. I love the escape and the stories and the words coming together to form something magical on a blank page. I want to focus on that--what I do have--instead of that elusive golden ticket.

****You can read the full text of his talk here or listen to him speak in his fabulous German accent here.

What Do You Dream About?

2011-09-29T14:24:00.000-06:00

Pretty much everyone has heard the story of Stephenie Meyer having a very vivid dream that sparked the idea for TWILIGHT. I have very vivid dreams, too, so surely there's a good idea for a best-selling novel in them. Right?

Over the last week, here are some of the options I've gathered:

1. I get attacked by a bear and then wake up.

2. I get attacked by a cougar and then wake up.

(I decided to go jogging one morning and set my alarm. Dreams #1 and #2 were the result. Over and over. Perhaps I should explain that we live in a somewhat rural neighborhood with no streetlights and bears and cougars occasionally show up. I still went jogging. And no, I didn't scream when the deer jumped out of the bush at me. And, yes, it was very hard to pace myself after since my brain wouldn't stop screaming, "I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die.")

3. I go to see a play with my extended family. A family member sits next to my daughter and won't move. So I slap them and gather up the kids and leave.

(No, I don't have anger issues. WHY DO YOU THINK I HAVE ANGER ISSUES???)

4. I go to visit someone. They keep hangers in their dishwasher. The end.

Personally, I think #4 has best selling novel written all over it. Or perhaps I should just keep dreaming.

What about you? Have you ever gotten a story idea from a dream before? Does anyone else wonder where their subconscious is coming up with these things?

Versatility

2011-09-27T09:22:00.000-06:00

Gaylene at {unwritten} recently gave me this lovely award:

Thanks, Gaylene!

For the award, I'm supposed to tell you 7 Things About Me. Obviously, these are probably not the 7 most important things about me. I hope!

1. I'm out of practice, but I used to be pretty good at belly dancing.

2. I get terrible Charley horses in my feet unless I drink Gatorade at least every other day.

3. I've since lost it, but my original accent was a strong Southern accent.

4. I am related (both by blood and marriage) to more statisticians than you want to know about.

5. I like to bake and with the severe food allergies in our family, I've gotten really good at modifying recipes.

6. My first job was as a florist, but my favorite job title (although not necessarily my favorite job) was "tracker." I won't tell you what I did, because that would remove all the mystery and glamour from the job.

7. I'm really good with spacial things like packing. I once packed so much stuff into my suitcase that it weighed 48 kilograms (that's about 105 lbs--obviously this was before the weight restrictions). And, no, there were no weights or rocks or anything like that packed inside. I carried it through the London underground and several nice chaps offered to help. I warned them all it was was very heavy. They didn't believe me. And then as soon as they reached a landing, they dropped it and practically ran away. I tried hard not to laugh.

I would like to pass this award along to Emily at The Yellow Wallpaper. She hasn't been blogging long, but she's kept me very entertained. So go stop by and say hi.

Have a fantastic day!

Cinda Williams Chima signing

2011-09-22T13:16:00.000-06:00

A few years ago, some friends and I planned to go to a book signing with Cinda Williams Chima shortly after the release of The Dragon Heir.

Unfortunately, the plans fell through at the last minute and I didn't get to go. It was very disappointing. So I was delighted to hear that she was coming again to the area after the release of Book #3 in her Seven Realms series.

I love hearing other authors speak and getting a feel for them in real life. She'd a delightful person and I'm so glad I had the chance to meet her. As she was speaking, she gave some fantastic advice. My personal favorites were:

-As a fantasy author, you have to believe in your own world.

-Don't believe you have to do everything that people tell you to. Set limits for yourself and your time.

-After reading a book, ask yourself what the author did to make you care about the characters.

-All her books are about transformations, which is what being a teen is all about.

She also announced that, not only is there a 4th book in her Seven Realms series, but there will be two more books in her Heir Chronicles. I enjoyed the Seven Realms books, but the Heir Chronicles were my favorite and I'm so excited that there will be more of them!

What about you? What's some of the best writing advice you've come across recently? Are there any books coming out that you're particularly excited about?

Boys and Girls

2011-09-15T09:38:00.000-06:00

My 6 year old daughter climbed into the car after school the other day and announced with a sigh, "Another boy fell in love with me today." (It's so wearisome to have so many guys in love with her, apparently.)

Me: "How do you know that?"

LittleGiggles: "He told me. I think I'm going to tell G that another boy is in love with me." (G is her kindergarten crush.)

Me: "Um, you know, most boys don't like being told that another guy is in love with you. Besides, how do you know that G still likes you."

LG: "He told J (one of her girl friends) and J told me."

Me (thinking this sounds way too much like Jr. High for my tastes): "..."

Her 8 year old brother: "No one ever falls in love with me at recess."

Me (thinking it's probably because he spends recess pretending to shoot things): "..."

I took several human development classes in college and I was fascinated with the studies about very young children and gender differences. I remember being assigned to a group of three for a presentation: me, another girl, and a guy. We decided we were going to do a demonstration of the types of play discussed in the article and, so we would have equal groups, convinced our professor to be the other boy.

The other girl and I tried to build a house out of Legos (the toddler girls in the study tended to build structures that were enclosing and would bring things together). It was difficult to build the house because the "boys" kept stealing our Legos for their battle. When our professor started throwing the Legos at us, we were both laughing to hard to keep explaining things.

I don't know how many of you had professors throwing Legos at you, but it's an experience, let me tell you.

Even after these classes, I was still surprised to see the differences between my sons and my daughter from a very young age. Yes, there is a lot of variation within genders and a lot of cross over, but there are still some differences. And those differences should be evident in your characters.

For example, a girl would never say to her friend, "I think I might like this guy," and have her friend respond by saying, "Okay," before the conversation went on to a different topic (unless they were 6 years old). Most girls like to talk--a lot (rather like I'm doing here)--and would have quite a bit to say to their friends on this topic. I remember as a teenager talking the topic of boys we liked to death. Seriously. Analyzing it from every possible angle and then doing it again. Of course, in writing you wouldn't want to have a three hour conversation bogging down the story, but they would definitely have to talk about it.

So go look around you,see what you notice, and then try to reflect that in your writing.

Finding the Real Problem

2011-09-13T08:00:00.001-06:00

I recently sang a solo. In public. I should probably get to my point before my hands start shaking again. Let's just say that I don't enjoy being in front of audiences.

As I practiced, I noticed that there was one line that I was always off on. I'd practice the line alone and it would be fine, but as soon as I tried to sing the entire piece, I was off. I couldn't figure out why. Finally I looked at the line before and realized that, sure enough, I was sharp on the high note (which really wasn't high, it was just the highest note in the line) and threw the rest of the notes off.

I tried to write a story once. (I've written several, but this is the only one I've made significant progress in and never finished.) I reached page 150 and realized I'd written myself into a corner. The characters were basically arguing out the dialog in my head about why every single solution I had wouldn't work. I deleted most of it and tried again. Somewhere after page 100, I gave up. The characters were arguing again about there being no solution to the problem.

I started a new story.

The problem wasn't where I noticed everything falling apart, though. The problem came earlier, in the scenes setting up the world and the conflict. I still have the same problem now sometimes. I've noticed that when I'm stuck on a story and can't figure out what to do, it's usually because something is wrong earlier in the story.

I'm getting ready to jump back into a story where I made a similar mistake. I was nearly halfway through writing the first draft and, although I made good time getting the draft out, it felt very bland to me. I finally figured out that my problem was in the set-up and in the choice that my MC had to face. I only wish it hadn't taken me 30,000 words to figure out the real issue.

In any case, I've learned that when I get stuck or have "writer's block," to go back and look at what I've already written. Usually I can find the problem somewhere in there.

Madness and Insanity

2011-09-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

We finally went to see X-Men: First Class. Okay, I finally saw it. My husband went to the midnight showing with his brother and I didn't want to get in the way of their brother-bonding time.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was fun, lots of excitement and cool fight scenes. But, being in revision mode, I found myself wanting to edit. More of this, less of this, etc. I miss the days when I didn't analyze every book or movie, but it does make the ones that I love all that much better when I don't want to change them.

I did enjoy X-Men and I thought the acting was great. It took me a while to remember where I'd seen James McAvoy before. He wasn't dressed like a faun in this movie, nor was he completely insane. In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, he was in a ShakespeaRe-Told version of Macbeth several years ago and he was incredible! One of the best performances I've seen. Admittedly, I don't like thrillers or horror movies, but I thought this was brilliant. It's a modern day retelling of the play and it was so well done. Plus, it had Richard Armitage in it and, yes, part of the reason I wanted to see Captain America so much was because he was in it. (Although they gave him an American accent which is Just Not Right, in my opinion.)

I'm distracting myself.

Anyway, if you want to see an amazing descent into madness and insanity, do check out the movie. (The other ShakespeaRe-Tolds were fun too.)

Mysteriously Moving Rock

2011-09-08T08:57:00.000-06:00

First of all, I am in need of an explanation. There is a large boulder in the backyard, part of the landscaping. It has moved.

How does a boulder this size move? (I should have someone else in the picture for comparison, but this thing is higher than my waist.)

Obviously an earthquake could move it, but none of the other rocks have shifted at all. So why did this boulder, after being in place for over two years, suddenly move?

Even more strange, there are animal droppings beside where the boulder used to be. (I could show that picture, but really, who wants to see that?) What kind of animal is big enough to move this size of a rock? More to the point: WHY? Why would an animal want to move the rock? Any ideas?

In other news, I finally finished my revision! Wahoo! I'd hoped to have it done a week ago, but with the start of school, birthdays, and anniversaries, I'm a bit behind where I wanted to be. I'm sending it out to a couple beta readers and then printing off a copy to read out loud to myself.

How about you? Where are you at in your writing? Anything exciting going on for you? Like mysteriously moving rocks?

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast. You've Got to Make the Moment Last.

2011-08-30T08:00:00.027-06:00

Several years ago, I went to my first workshop. I had no idea what to expect and it didn't take me long to feel like our teacher was The Expert on Everything. Unfortunately, just because he knew everything, did not mean that I understood correctly everything he had to say. Because, apparently, I didn't.

One of the things he said was that one good idea could not make up a story.

Which is true. A story is made up of lots of different parts and one good idea isn't enough to carry it.

But.

There is such a thing as having too much going on, something I'm guilty of. I try to cram too much in and make things happen fast because there is just so much to get to. Plus, there's all the advice to start with action as well. One of my critique partners complained that I'm giving them whiplash. At WIFYR, I lost count of the number of times Louise Plummer told me to slow my story down. But it was a lot.

Apparently this is a reoccurring problem for me that I'm working to learn to correct. That doesn't mean that the advice was bad, it was just not the right advice for me to take.

Which reminds me of another piece of advice: don't take every piece of advice or ever suggestion that you're given on a manuscript.

What about you? What kinds of things are you working on in your WIP? Have you ever received advice that sounded good, but turned out not to work so well for you?

MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER by Janette Rallison

2011-08-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

I love Janette Rallison's books. They're always clean, funny, and make me laugh out loud. MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER is the companion novel to MY FAIR GODMOTHER, which I also love. They're both about a not-very-good fairy godmother and the girls she is "helping."

I loved MY FAIR GODMOTHER so much that I was afraid this one wouldn't live up to it. But I thoroughly enjoyed MY UNFAIR GODMOTHER. In fact, I was laughing about it so much that my husband started asking what I was laughing about and when I'd read him the lines, he'd start laughing too. The lines were too good not to share. This was one of my favorites (from the prologue, so I'm not spoiling anything):

"The skulls on his T-shirt and the holes in his jeans might proclaim he was a bad boy, but his hair asserted he was a bad boy with a standing monthly appointment at Lenora's Uptown Style Salon."

Anyway, this was one of my favorite reads recently. If you're looking for something funny and lighthearted for an end of summer read, I would definitely recommend it. (Or any of her other books, for that matter.)

Decision Making (and Dog Food)

2011-08-23T11:11:00.000-06:00

I went shopping yesterday. I found myself trying to decide on a gift for someone, and this is probably what I looked like as I walked circles around the store:

Let's just say I have a hard time making decisions.

I'm very systematic about it too. Usually my process is:

1. Narrow down to two options.
2. Because I can't decide, I throw in a third option.
3. Eliminate one of the first two options.
4. Still undecided, I reconsider the first option.
5. Because I still can't decide, I throw in a fourth option.
6. And on it goes.

It's worse when I'm stressed and, let's face it, the last year hasn't been the most relaxing and carefree time in my life.

I have the same problem in writing and tend to see too many possibilities for what could happen in the story. Unfortunately, what often occurs is that I can't decide which way is best, or I'm so attached to it the way it is that I don't change it. But I still have the niggling feeling that something might be off. But I don't know what would be best, so I don't change anything.

This is where critique partners can be so valuable. Just like having shopping with someone and having a second opinion ("No, I don't care how sparkly they are, Hammer pants are not the best look for you."), having someone point out what really is wrong and what is working well in a story is invaluable. At least for me.

On a completely different note, I found this picture in my files and thought it needed to be shared. I saw this sign at the Princess Festival last summer and thought it was so bizarre. I'm not sure I understand it. What do you think it means?

Liesl and Liebster

2011-08-18T15:26:00.000-06:00

First of all, congratulations to my friend Liesl who just sold her book to Knopf/Random House! I was lucky enough to read RUMP before she started querying it, and I love it! It's so much fun. Anyway, I'm super happy for her and you can read more about it here. So go congratulate her.

And, while you're at it, go congratulate Jenn Johansson for selling her book in Italy! Today is just full of awesome news!

Also, Liesl was sweet enough to give me the Liebster Award:

The Liebster Award is meant to connect us even more and spotlight new bloggers who, at the moment, have less than 200 followers. The rules are:

1.Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2.Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3.Post the award on your blog.
4.Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the Internet – other writers.
5.And best of all – have fun and spread the karma!

I'd like to highlight the following blogs:

1. Leisha Maw who makes me laugh and helps me not take myself so seriously.

2. Taryn Albright who has so much energy and inspires me to work a little harder.

3. Stacy Henrie who always has warm and happy blog posts.

4. Kelly Bryson who gives fun book reviews and excellent writing advice.

5. Heather Dixon because I love her blog. Seriously, she has the funniest posts that she illustrates herself. (Okay, I'm not sure how many followers Heather has because Blogger isn't telling me right now, but I'm passing the award along anyway.)

Characters and Their Circumstances

2011-08-16T15:05:00.000-06:00

The kids were interested in taking gymnastics, so we signed them up for a free trial class to see if they actually enjoyed it or if it was just a passing whim. There was a boy there who had been in my daughter's kindergarten class. Whenever I visited her class, I was always surprised by how calm, quiet, and on-task he was. So I was a bit (and by "a bit," I mean extremely) surprised to watch him in his gymnastics class climbing on everything, doing handsprings, walking on his hands, and swinging on the high bars. Surprised . . . and very impressed.

But it got me thinking about characters and how we all act differently in different circumstances. This kid was not doing back-flips off of the tables in school, although he clearly could. He acted very differently based on his circumstances, and I don't think this is unusual. I know I act differently if I'm at home eating a late dinner versus eating dinner at a restaurant versus eating dinner with the President. (Not that I've eaten dinner with the President, but I'm guessing I wouldn't act like I do at home. Except for spilling food. I always spill food. It's an unfortunate talent of mine.)

I think part of making a character feel real is making them a bit different in different circumstances. But it has to be understandable. It's understandable that someone would act differently while visiting the White House than they would act while visiting their grandmother. If they didn't act differently, it would say something about the character and their relationship, both to their grandmother and to the President.

In many cases, though, it makes it hard for me to suspend my disbelief when a character treats everyone the same. If the MC talks her best friend like she talks the school principal, I have a hard time believing that the girls are really best friends. I don't want to be told that they're best friends, I want to see it and one of the ways to show it is to show the differences between their relationship and the MC's relationship to everyone else.

What do you think? Is this something you've noticed as well? Or am I completely crazy?

Endless Ramblings About Endings

2011-08-11T10:51:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking a lot about endings lately and what makes an ending satisfying. Part of this is because I'm working on a novel where I completely redid the ending (which I loved, but it didn't work for various reasons) and I'm trying to make this new ending feel satisfying to me even though it's not quite what I originally envisioned.

Here are some things I've noticed about endings, in no particular order:

1. Endings are only truly satisfying to me when I care about the characters. If I don't care about them, then why do I care whether or not they get what they want?

2. There has to be an emotional conclusion after the climax.

Recently, I saw the final Harry Potter movie, probably like most of you. (And if you haven't seen it, you might want to skip down to #3, although this won't be a huge spoiler.) While there were some fantastic things in the movie (I loved Ron and Hermione's kiss), the ending didn't work for me, and I'm not talking about the epilogue part. It bothered me that I didn't feel satisfied with the ending. I mean, I just went through 8 movies and Voldemort is finally gone and I feel...meh. Why was that? I finally figured out that, while Voldemort was defeated, there wasn't an emotional conclusion to that. There were no fireworks or celebrations or anything to acknowledge that WOW! Voldemort was finally defeated!!!! In fact, no one even talked to Harry as he walked past them following that fight. Yes, people died and the fight was long and hard, but they WON! I wanted that to be celebrated or at least dealt with on an emotional level.

3. There has to be enough time spent on the falling action.

I loved the BBC show Lark Rise to Candleford. It was a quiet show without any major villains, yes, but they did so many wonderful things. But the series ending was, uh, not the best. I don't know what happened with the show or why they decided to cancel it, but the final episode felt like a whirlwind of people getting together and left me baffled. It all happened way too quickly, especially for a series finale, and I didn't feel emotionally invested because there wasn't enough time spent on the ending to feel satisfied with it.

4. The ending has to fit the story. If it's a light, fun tale, it can't end with everyone dying (unless the jarring juxtaposition is what you were going for) and if it's a dark, dark story it probably shouldn't end with rainbows and sparkles and spun sugar castles.

I read a book a year or so ago because the premise sounded hilarious. And it was. But then it turned dark and (in my opinion) rather melodramatic. The ending was supposed to be moving, but it wasn't because that wasn't the book I wanted to read. The ending didn't fit at all with the beginning and it just didn't work.

Endings don't always have to be happy, but they have to work with the story and fit the tale.

5. I love endings that bring things back full circle to the beginning, but things have changed. The best example I can think of it How to Train Your Dragon, which is one of my favorite movies ever. I love what they do to make the ending shadow the beginning. Not all endings have to do this to be satisfying, but I think it's really cool when they do.

What about you? What makes an ending satisfying to you?

Kiersten White Signing

2011-08-03T12:35:00.000-06:00

Last night I went to Kiersten White's signing at the Provo Library. She's not very tall, so as a joke, they brought out a red stool for her to stand on (it should have been sparkly and pink, but we can't have everything). Her friends made her stand on it.

Contrary to her prediction, she didn't fall off of it. She did make us laugh, though. A lot. For example, she said that paranormal romance needed to have some humor in it. "There's just death and death and making out in between."

I was nervous about the signing, a side effect of staying for the infamous Markus Zusak signing, but thankfully the line wasn't nearly that long.

This picture makes me think I need a new haircut. Actually, I know I need a new haircut. I think the last time it was trimmed was for my birthday and the egg-frying-on-the-sidewalk temperatures outside have nothing in common with the temperatures in January.

But I'm trying to focus more on the positives in life, so hey, I have something clever written by Kiersten White in a pink pen in my new copy of SUPERNATURALLY!

One of my favorite bits of advice from Kiersten was that she never allows herself to go back and edit while she's writing her first draft. For her, writing-mode and editing-mode are completely different. Editing requires her to pick out what doesn't work, but writing is all about loving what you're writing. The two can't go together. (Unfortunately, I keep trying to make them go together.)

And now for one final quote:

"Books are real life plus explosions. And death-death-making out."

I couldn't agree more.

EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton

2011-07-26T11:05:00.001-06:00

A friend of mine was fortunate enough to get an ARC of EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton. She was kind enough to let me borrow it, and I didn't even have to threaten her. At least not very much.

Isn't the cover gorgeous?

From the back:

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen...

I met Brodi at WIFYR in 2009 and had the opportunity to read the first few chapters of this. They were so beautifully written then, and they've only gotten better. This book is amazing. The voice is so believable and lovely, and the pacing is perfect for the story. Plus, Nikki is one of my favorite heroines. I just loved her and her strength. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say that I loved it!

EVERNEATH comes out on January 3, 2011, just in time for my birthday! (I'm sure that was the intention when they picked the date.)

Reappearance of Frogs

2011-07-21T12:46:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago we had a frog thumping on our bedroom window all night. I thought it was just a nature thing, but it turns out that the frog was a portent of doom. Poe gets ravens, which sounds mysterious and deep and intelligent. I get frogs, which are not.

In any case, I finished the latest draft of my WIP last Friday. Hooray! It's short and a pretty lousy draft, but it's somewhere to start revising from. But there's a problem. Apparently my main character's name means frog in Spanish. I told you the frog outside my window was a harbinger of misery and woe.

Rana=frog (in Arabic, it means to look or an eye-catching object)

This does not make me happy and, even though that's been her name in my head for a long, long time, I can't look at it without thinking "frog" now. And, yeah, this is a retold fairytale, but it's not the Princess and the Frog, and the story of the princess actually being the frog has been done before, I think.

I can change the spelling, but I'm not sure I love the look of "Rhana" or "Ranna" or "Ranah." I can also change her name. A friend came up with a list of similar Arabic names for me and these are my favorites from this list:

Rahila=path guider
Raina=peaceful queen
Rani/Rania=queen
Ranya=conquerer

What do you think? Is this even something I should worry about? Do you like the respellings of her name or do you prefer one of the other names? I want something that's familiar-ish, but still slightly foreign sounding. What are your thoughts?

My NEW Writing Goal

2011-07-13T14:30:00.000-06:00

Remember my goal a couple weeks ago, the one about finishing the first draft of my book by the 16th of this month? I remember it fondly. And it's not going to happen.

Here's the story about that. I was hard at work and making good progress toward my goal. Then, on the 4th of July, as I tried to squeeze a bit of writing in between the barbeque and the fireworks, I wrote this line on page 117:

"I knew what I wanted--I'd always known what kind of relationship I wanted."

I stared at it. And I knew I had a problem. Big problem. As in the entire book was pretty much wrong. Okay, the main character was fine, and her parents were fine, but everything and everyone else? Yeah. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I shut my laptop and told my husband I couldn't finish it. I had to brainstorm and rewrite the entire thing starting at the end of the first chapter. He was a bit concerned--after all, the reward for my finishing was going to see the Captain America movie when it comes out. Anyway, he asked why I felt like I needed to rewrite the whole thing. I explained it to him and he agreed that, yeah, I needed to rewrite it.

Don't misunderstand me, I love having epiphanies that make my story better, I just wish they would come more conveniently sometimes. :)

In any case, I'm putting that story aside until I can recreate the characters in my head. But to keep myself motivated (i.e., to go see the movie) I have a new goal that I've been working on. I'm rewriting another manuscript. The story was too unfocused, so I'm cutting it in half and fleshing out that part of the story line. My goal is to reach 50,000 words by Saturday night and then spend next week adding in scenes that I missed. Right now I'm at 42,000 words, so I should be able to make it.

If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's the need to be flexible sometimes. I could have kept writing the first WIP and made my goal, but I would have been frustrated because it was all wrong and I knew it was wrong.

What about you? Have you learned anything lately?

Nocturnal Visitor

2011-07-06T12:34:00.000-06:00

Last night as I lay in my bed

With thoughts of dreaming in my head

I heard anon the gentle bumping

Of something at my window thumping.

I asked my husband beside me,

“Forsooth, my love, what could that be?”

(It’s only late at night when I talk like that.)

He said, “I know not, but I think it’s a bat.

A crazy bat who is coming for thee.”

I flew to the window and peeked to see.

I saw not bat, nor skunk, nor crow.

I didn’t see even a hint of snow.

But there in the shadows, still as could be,

I saw two eyes peering straight at me.

Just one small frog—such a tiny sight—

That had given me such a giant fright.

My newfound friend thumped through the night

But he was gone with dawn’s first light

And bleary-eyed, I hate to say,

I still have many words to write today.

Writing Goal

2011-06-30T15:52:00.000-06:00

There's an idea kicking around in my head that I really want to write. It makes me excited to think about and daydream about and I can't wait to see it come together. But . . . I promised myself I'd finish the manuscript I'm working on first. So I've decided that I'm going to finish writing the first draft by July 16th. I currently have 25 pages. (Well, I have 85 pages, but I'm switching POV, so I'm not sure how many of those I can count.) I also have a pretty solid (for me) outline.

It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

I'm trying something different with this draft. At WIFYR a couple weeks ago, someone mentioned that writers fall into two kinds: take out-ers and put in-ers. In other words, writers either overwrite and have to edit down or writers underwrite and have to flesh it out. I'm the latter. I always end up with skeletal drafts and have to flesh them out. This time, I'm trying to write more in scene and do less summarizing as I go. I'm hoping this will be a take-out draft.

How are your writing goals? Are you working on anything new and exciting?

Some Thoughts on Critique Groups

2011-06-23T09:17:00.000-06:00

My sister recently asked me about critique groups and whether or not she should try to find one. By "critique group," I'm referring to a group that gets together in person on a regular basis. I think every writer needs to have someone read their work, but there are some advantages to a regular critique group over a manuscript exchange when the novel is done. Vice versa is also true.

I've been part of a few different groups over the years and here is why I like a regular critique group:

-The feedback as you go. It allows you to make plot corrections before you spend all the effort on the entire novel when something in the beginning doesn't work.

-The encouragement and support. Having others encourage you to keep going when you hate your WIP is something that has helped me a lot.

-The discussions often help me come up with better ideas, even if it's not necessarily something we talked about. Plus, I love having a captive audience for brainstorming.

-Lack of guilt. I have a hard time asking people to read my work (seriously--it takes me days to work up the courage to ask someone), but with a critique group, they expected me to submit things, so it wasn't as hard for me.

-Hanging out with writers. Because hanging out with other writers is awesome.

Some potential frustrations from critique groups:

-Manuscripts submitted late and still expected to be critiqued. No one wants to be mean to their friends, so it can be hard to enforce "rules."

-Sometimes your styles don't mesh. The first group I attended had a few loud--and rather harsh--people and their comments often crushed me.

-Sometimes getting feedback as I wrote derailed my original idea and, as I tried to incorporate too many suggestions, I lost sight of where I wanted the story to go.

-Sometimes I needed more critiqued than we could do at a single session.

-A regularly scheduled meeting can become inconvenient during busy times.

Critique groups can be wonderful, but only if they work for you and help you improve. The best groups point out the problems, but leave you excited and inspired to fix them. Since every writer is different, what makes up the ideal group for each person varies. Also, life is very changeable, so group dynamics will change and sometimes having a critique group won't fit into your life. And that's okay. It's a lot easier to go with the changes than to try to keep forcing something that doesn't work.

Fortress of Suckitude

2011-06-14T13:51:00.001-06:00

So, I'm attending Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers this week. It's been fun, but as everyone who has ever attended a conference before knows, it can be rather draining. And sometimes, just sometimes, your self esteem takes a dive. Especially after you've been critiqued.

I've decided that, in cases like this, every writer needs their very own Fortress of Suckitude. My personal Fortress would require the following things:

1. Lots of chocolate.
2. Comfortable couch with lots of pillows and blankets.
3. Facial tissues, for all the weeping and wailing.
4. Chocolate.
5. Lots of sappy, old movies.
6. Ice cream.
7. Deep jetted tubs with bath salts, bubbles, and other assorted things.
8. Dozens of roses.
9. Chocolate.
10. Did I mention the chocolate?

So, what would you have in your Fortress of Suckitude.

2011-06-09T15:00:00.001-06:00

I've written and deleted a couple blog attempts. It's not a promising beginning. Part of it is probably because it's summer vacation now. All the kids are home and making life more interesting. I should take that as an indication that I'm going to be even more inconsistent over the summer. Sigh . . .

Yesterday, I met with my writers' group for the last time. We hadn't met for a while (the end of the school year was crazy for everyone) and we wanted to meet before people moved. It was so good to see them. There is something that inspires me whenever I sit down and talk with other writers. I love that feeling and I'm going to miss having a regular writing group.

I'd be moping about it, but next week I am going to Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers (WIFYR). It's going to be fun to spend the week with other writers and also learn from some very talented authors. Is anyone else going to be there?

I'm hoping that I'll have some time next week to fit some writing in. Things have been a bit crazy and I haven't been writing much, but I'm finally to the point where I love my story again. For some reason, when I hit page 50, I struggle to keep writing. I'm past that point now and I'm looking forward to actually finishing this manuscript. Or at least finishing the first draft.

Does anyone else have a point in a novel that they struggle? Any suggestions for getting past that point? Any suggestions for what to do with kids on a blustery and rainy summer day?

Utah Festival of Books

2011-06-04T21:12:00.000-06:00

I spent several hours today hanging out at the Utah Festival of Books. I brought my camera and forgot to use it, so I have no pictures of the event. But I promise I was there! There were lots of amazing authors there: Brandon Mull, James Dashner, Kiersten White, and Aprilynne Pike, just to name a few.

There were a few bits of advice that really caught my attention, so I thought I'd share.

Rick Walton's advice to aspiring authors is to "Give up. Unless you can't give up, and then do the work." He went on to say that almost everyone he knows how is serious and does the work gets published.

I was walking past the tent that Ann Cannon was speaking in and overheard what she was saying. I was so interested that I had to sit and listen to the rest. I'm sad that I missed it all. Anyway, the bit that I heard was actually something that Shannon Hale had said to her. "Jealousy is like drinking poison and expecting it to hurt the other person." I liked this because sometimes it's so easy to look at the success of others and be jealous and bitter, but it never hurts them. It only hurts us.

When a panel was asked what the difference between a good writer and a great writer, Brandon Mull said, "A great writer knows karate." So there you go. Go out and learn karate.

My favorite incident of the entire day was during Brandon Mull's speech when he was "shot." He was talking about how deeply he was involved in his book at the moment. He knew all the scenes by heart. He said something to the effect of, "I could tell you all the scenes in the book, but my editor would probably shoot me." Just then there was a loud bang. Everyone in the audience jumped as this girl's balloon animal popped. Brandon started making jokes about the snipers his publishers had following. It just was classic timing.

Anyway, how was your weekend?

Happy Endings

2011-06-02T16:03:00.000-06:00

I love happy endings, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to have them happen in real life. Today was one of those days and this is that happy ending:

I know, I know, you're thinking that the backside of a cow isn't a happy end for anyone to be at. But if you look closely, you'll see a pair of adorable calves. They were born around 7 p.m. last night and the mother appeared to forget that there were two of them. The owners managed to guide the forgotten twin back to his mother last night, but this morning he was laying in the grass and didn't get up at all.

We watched and worried about it all day. In the early afternoon, the neighbor went to check on the calf again. I didn't want to get in the way and be pushy, but I decided to just go ask if she needed help. As I talked to her, I started petting the calf and fell totally in love with it. This whole farming thing is new to me. I asked if I could bring my kids out and she said yes, just be prepared to back off in a hurry if the mom happens to show up. (Since the mom hadn't shown up all day, no one was particularly worried about that happening.)

So I brought out the kids. It took about two minutes of the adoration of small children before the calf was up on his feet.

The neighbor and I managed to persuade him to head to the other side of the barn where his mom was basking in the sun. The two of them were reunited and they all lived happily ever after.

Or at least I hope it will stay happy. There's always the chance that the mom will forget again, but I hope not.

What does this have to do with writing?

Well, not much. But I do like happy endings.

Book Review: Wolves, Boys, and Other Things that Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler

2011-05-26T13:06:00.000-06:00

I love a good title, and this book by Kristen Chandler has one of my favorites. From the first time I heard the title WOLVES, BOYS, AND OTHER THINGS THAT MIGHT KILL ME, I wanted to read this book. And it's a good one.

And no, it's not about werewolves.

Synopsis: When KJ Carson is assigned to write a column for her school newspaper about the wolves in nearby Yellowstone National Park, she’s more interested in impressing Virgil Whitman, the new kid in school and the photographer assigned as her partner, than in investigative journalism. But before long, KJ has a face-to-face encounter with a wolf that changes her and the way she thinks about wolves. With her new found passion for protecting these controversial animals, KJ inadvertently ignites the fuse of the anti-wolf sentiment in the community. First Virgil is injured during a town parade, and then her father’s store is set on fire in retribution. To stop the escalating violence, KJ follows Virgil to the cattle ranch of the most outspoken anti-wolf activists in town, against her father’s will. What she discovers there threatens everything and everyone she cares about.

In KJ’s fierce and funny attempt to make peace between the wolves and the people that despise them, she must first face her own long-held fears. It’s terrifying, but then, finding yourself always is.

1st Paragraph: Wolves don't actually howl at the moon. Mostly they howl at each other. I'm a girl, so I get that.

Review: There were many wonderful things about this book (the setting--including a place I used to live!, the voice, the distinct characters, etc.), but my favorite thing is how real this story felt. It honestly felt like the events that took place actually happened and that it is KJ's story. It's not something that could have happened to anyone, only to her. That's something I find hard to do and Kristen Chandler does an amazing job!

What about you? What have you read lately that's impressed you? Why?

The Strangest Creatures

2011-05-24T12:43:00.000-06:00

For the last few months we have been living in a somewhat rural area tucked up next to the mountains. We've had ample opportunity to observe all kinds of animals who come to visit the pond and the surrounding pastures. There have been deer, pheasants, wild turkeys, terns, geese, hawks, and calves. (Okay, the cattle aren't wild, but the calves have sure been fun to watch. Especially when they try to chase the geese.)

But the strangest creatures of all are the engaged couples.

For those who don't know, engaged couples are two beings with one beating heart between them. They are fond of cheese and posing for photographers. Since some of you might not be fortunate enough to frequently observe engaged couples in the wild, I thought I'd share some of my favorite stories and photo poses.

One of the couples posed with her standing on a ladder and him lying at the base and gazing up at her. It did make me wonder: Just what is he looking at . . . ?

Another couple decided that it would be romantic to hold hands and frolic barefoot in the lush green grass. The lush green grass of the cow pasture. Um, do they know what cows do in cow pastures? Because I do. That's why the grass is so lush and green. (That and the fact that's been pretty much constant rain for the last few weeks.)

Most recently, a couple arrived in rather vintage dress. He wore dark pants, a white shirt and suspenders. She wore a dress and obviously inadequate footwear because he insisted on carrying her around so as not to sully her feet. She did her part, though, and carried the umbrella over the two of them. After they reached the pond, he ferried her around in a canoe while she reposed delicately under the umbrella.

So, has anyone else had any strange wildlife sightings? Or seen any people doing strange and inexplicable things? Better yet, has anyone seen the sun recently and can assure me that it still shines somewhere in the world?

Obsession Confession

2011-05-19T08:00:00.004-06:00

First of all, a HUGE congratulations to my friend Liesl who just announced that she has an agent! Wahoo! I had the opportunity to read an earlier draft of her manuscript and I loved it, so I'm super excited for her. Yay!!

I often find it hard to read in the genre I'm writing in, particularly if I'm revising. I find myself far too critical of the book and I don't enjoy it. But I still love reading and I still want something to read, so what to do?

Sometimes reading outside the genre works. And I don't mean going from YA paranormal to adult paranormal. It has to be more of a change than that. Lately I've been ~~obsessed with~~ enjoying some manga series. I guess it counts a different genre, but I love that I can read in genres I enjoy without setting off my internal editor. Plus, I've been surprised at how much I've learned about writing from reading them.

Seeing the story in a visual format has taught me a lot about pacing. It's a lot easier to see how lengthening a scene adds to its impact. It's also a lot easier to understand the "enter a scene late and leave early" thing. Rarely is there a lot of set-up for a scene and I've realized that the set-up isn't needed. As a reader, I get what's going on and I don't need it explained anymore.

I've also learned a lot about character development. I know it's easier to "show" something with a picture, but I'm surprised by how little it takes for me to get a clear idea of each character and what makes them different.

Action in a story is very important. I’m guilty of often having heads talking in a blank space. That’s not interesting. It’s much better to have characters doing things.

One of the other things I appreciate is that manga often sets up situations where tension is inherent. Like having a scholarship student at a very elite school accidentally break a vase belonging to the school's host club. The boys in the club make the student act as a host until the debt is paid off. The problem is that the scholarship student is a girl. (Ouran High Host Club) Or having a girl stay with three guys who turn into animals from the Zodiac whenever they're hugged by a member of the opposite sex. (Fruits Basket) Both of these stories have tension already built into the story because of the situation.

Plus, manga is fun (at least the ones I like). Sure, there are serious moments, but they also poke fun at themselves and they make me laugh. And I like to laugh. For the most part, manga does a good job of balancing the serious with the silly and I really like to do better with that.

I also love the artwork. I shouldn't be so surprised by how much I like the pictures. After all, I loved The Last Unicorn as a kid and was, ahem, a little too interested in Dragon Ball Z for a while. I even dressed up as Vegeta for Halloween once, complete with spiking my long (at the time) hair. And, sorry, I can't find the pictures of that. Anyway, I'm surprised it took me so long to try reading manga.

And did I mention how nicely the books fit on my elliptical? Plus, they're the perfect length for me to read while I exercise. How can you beat that?

On a negative note (so you don't think I'm a totally obsessed fan-girl), I've realized how much I dislike flashbacks, especially long flashbacks. I understand that they can be necessary, but I don't enjoy them and prefer them to be as short as possible. Tell me the story that's happening now.

One note about manga. There is manga written for every age and every interest. Literally. So if you tend to be prudish (like me), just know to be careful. I pretty much stick to the stuff written for teenagers. It's what I like best anyway.

Playing

2011-05-17T09:09:00.000-06:00

I tried to blog last Thursday, but there were technical issues, as I'm sure many of you noticed.

Last night I finished a revision of my stepsister story. I meant to have it finished on Saturday, but as I neared the end, I realized that several scenes were out of order. It sounds simple enough. I mean, reordering cards is easy enough. Reordering scenes, though, especially when the scenes build on each other? Yeah. Not so much.

But really, the main reason I didn't finish was because I was playing. And it was worth it.

Friday, my husband and I went to see the movie Thor and thought it was tons of fun. It seems to have been the movie of choice for a lot of people last weekend, so I don't think the movie choice was that unusual. I do get the feeling that my choice for a favorite character from it is unusual. I liked Loki best. I mean, sure Thor was hot and all (and I totally expected his shirt to get strategically ripped off during one of the fight scenes, but it never happened), but his character and actions were pretty predictable. Loki was just more interesting to me. So there you go. I'd say more about it, but I don't want to spoil the plot. (No, no, stop looking at me and asking, "What plot?" I swear there was a plot there.)

On Saturday, I took my oldest two kids to see a production of Seussical. The plot was baffling (I spent a lot of time staring at the stage thinking, "huh?"), but the acting was fantastic. I didn't know it was possible for a human to move so much like a bumbling elephant. But, yeah, I'm still not sure about that plot. Since I tend to be a character person, this was a good reminder that it's important to have both strong characters and a strong plot.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? How is your writing going?

Finishing First

2011-05-10T13:22:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I worry that I will never have another idea for a novel. Sometimes I have way too many story ideas. I keep telling my husband all the story ideas and finally he said, "Those are great. But why don't you finish the one you are working on first."

I know I'm not the only one who gets distracted by those Shiny New Ideas. It's hard when I'm discouraged by a revision and wonder if it's even worth finishing. But I'm going to finish this revision first. I promised. In fact, I'm going to finish it by the end of the week. It will still need some smoothing over, but the major things I plan to change will be done by Saturday night.

I hope.

How do you deal with those Shiny New Ideas? How do you keep working on a WIP when you're feeling discouraged about it? Any advice?

Decisions

2011-05-05T11:37:00.000-06:00

I have been staring at the screen for about ten minutes and can't decide what to blog about. So I'm going to blog about making decisions.

I am terrible at making decisions. Going into a restaurant and looking at a menu is almost a traumatic experience for me. My mental dialogue is something along the lines of, "What do I want to eat? I don't know. Will I like this? I don't know. Oh, I like this . . . but will I like it at this restaurant? I don't know. And what about this? It might be better--I just don't know!!"

I have a sneaking suspicion that I might be overanalyzing things.

I have a story right now that I adore. At least I adore many parts of it. There are a few things that aren't working and I have to decide how to fix them. The more minor things aren't causing me that much of a problem. I can handle fixing those. There is one major thing though that I've been thinking about for a couple months.

The story has elements of a couple different fairytales that, in my mind, worked together. It's not so clear on paper, though, and I've come up with several different options:

1. I can split up the tales and make it two separate books.
2. I can split up the tales and change them a bit to make them more middle grade (it's currently YA)
3. I can try to strengthen the middle and make it a more cohesive story.
4. Cut out the first half entirely and focus on the second.
5. I can give up on it entirely.

I have decided to do most of these things at least once within the last week. So much for not second guessing myself. The thing is, I think any of these ideas would be good (except for giving up entirely). I can see it working well and picture the scenes and I like aspects of the way each of them would work out.

It doesn't make deciding any easier.

I remember a discussion I once had with and equally decisively-challenged friend on a writer's retreat. We came to the conclusions that it wasn't what was decided that was important, it was making a decision and sticking with it. Because, really, the choice between different story directions is often like choosing between spaghetti and lasagne (unless you're allergic to milk and then I don't know why you went to an Italian restaurant to begin with). Both are good options and you should choose the one you like best, not the one that you think someone else will like best.

(While typing this post, I came up with an idea that I think will solve some of my problem. I'm pretty excited about it. But, never fear, I'm sure I'll change my mind by tomorrow. Sigh. I think I need to give myself a stern talking to about sticking to my decisions.)

10 Things I Learned on Vacation

2011-05-03T08:28:00.002-06:00

We are back from our excursion to San Diego where the weather was gorgeous, the wedding we attended was lovely, and we apparently missed out on quite a bit of snow.

I always seem to learn something new every time we travel. Here are 10 things I learned on our trip:

1. The best—and dare I say only?—color for a H3 Hummer is pink.

2. Any line that I get into will immediately stop moving.

3. The part in my hair enjoys getting sunburned and then peeling. I’d get a hat, but I come from a family of big headed people and I am no exception. Hats do not fit. Now, if only my brain was big enough to match . . .

4. If you want people to be relaxed and happy at your wedding, hire a comedy troupe to perform first.

5. Always carry food in my purse or else my 3-year old will start shouting during the wedding, “I’m hungry to death!” despite the snack he ate on the way.

6. The weather enjoys taunting me. We planned for only a couple hours at the beach. The weather was bright, clear, and sunny the entire time except for those two hours when it turned stormy.

7. Walruses, particularly the one at Sea World, are terrifyingly huge.

8. Beaches are made of sand. If you take small children to one, you will be bringing the beach back home with you. Seriously, how can so much sand attach to clothing?

9. If you’re standing on a cliff and say, “I should follow my dreams,” your dress will be ripped right off of you, but it’s okay because you’re wearing a wet suit. Or at least that’s what happened in the show at Sea World. I'm not sure I recommend that in real life.

10. Yellow yaks never yawn. At least not that we saw. Maybe you need a Yolanda for that to happen.

What about you? Did you learn anything new last week?

Of Mice and Me

2011-04-21T09:31:00.000-06:00

I don't like mice. I really, really, really don't like mice. The first time I had to deal with mice actually inside our house was shortly after we purchased our first home and the same week I found out I was pregnant with #2. The two things did not mix well.

And then there was the mouse in the wall incident a few years later. If you've never experienced this, it's something along the lines of this:

scritch-scritch-scritch, patter-patter-patter, THUNK, patter-patter, scritch-scritch-scritch, THUNK.

It's repeated all day and all night. Until the mouse dies. Inside the wall. (Shudder.) This incident happened at the same time our deep freeze died and we discovered bags of rotting chicken inside. It was July and the temperatures soared. It was unpleasant, to say the least.

I blame the mouse.

To make me even MORE paranoid, another mouse fell down the same wall in the same spot a few months later. My husband was dispatched to seal up any holes around the house. Or anything that might look like a hole. Or anything that might someday remotely resemble a hole.

I have a hard time falling asleep now if I hear anything that sounds like it could possibly be a mouse in the wall. Things like twigs scraping against the house in the wind and eyelashes against my pillow. Last night it was the light rain. I knew it was the rain, but every time I heard the light pattering, I jumped. Needless to say, it wasn't a restful night. But at least it wasn't a mouse!

In other news, I'm going to be out of town next week and won't be blogging. I hope you all have a wonderful last week of April!

Book Review: ENTWINED by Heather Dixon

2011-04-19T12:57:00.000-06:00

For several months, I was in a bit of a book funk. It seemed like nothing I read struck any chord with me and I rarely finished reading anything.

Things have changed.

Lately, I've been having a hard time putting down books. One of my recent reads was ENTWINED by Heather Dixon.

I love fairy-tale retellings and this is a gorgeous version of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." Heather created a cast of characters that I adore--from the King to the Keeper, from Lord Teddie to the magic tea set. ENTWINED is charming, delightful, heart-wrenching, and everything a fairy-tale retelling should be. I loved it!

Excerpt: “Azalea remembered the frigid air, how the rosebushes scratched, and how they had to huddle together for warmth. The ballroom radiated gold through the frozen panes. The girls pressed their noses on the glass and oohed at the dancers, especially Mother, who danced like an angel.

“They had fallen asleep right there in the rosebushes, burrowing together like mice. When the girls were discovered missing, Mother had stopped the ball and made everyone—including the musicians—search for them. Prime Minister Fairweller had found them. Azalea had awoken in shivers to see him holding a lamp over them and frowning.

“The girls had pelted him with snowballs.”

Heather is hosting a coloring contest on her blog to win a copy of ENTWINED. She also has a more boy-centric coloring page here. I love Heather's pictures--all of them make me smile. The deadline for the contest is Friday, so pull out the crayons and paints and get coloring!

The Highest Praise

2011-04-14T08:34:00.000-06:00

I am trying to write a Middle Grade novel. I've never done this before and my internal editor keeps shouting at me how completely awful it is. But I'm still trying and, when I stop worrying about whether it's good or not, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

My son asked to read it the other day. He's in second grade and reading has been a struggle for him this year. I think the main problem he has is that he's not interested in the books and if he's not interested, he's distracted.

Anyway, I intended the book for someone a little older, but when he asked to read it, I let him. Of course I let him! He sat down with my laptop and started reading. I pretended to do something else, but really, I was watching his reaction. I expected him to get bored soon, but he didn't. What's more, he actually laughed out-loud! Yay!

He read until bedtime (it was only about half an hour, but still, him voluntarily doing that was a big deal) and then, when he handed the laptop back to me, he had to sit and tell me what had happened. I thought that was cute since I have a pretty good idea what happens in the books I write. Most of the time.

His reaction to my story makes me want to finish it, no matter how bad I might think it is as I write. Because, really, is there any higher praise than a reluctant reader wanting to read more?

Have a wonderful weekend!

LDS Writer Blogfest: "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Bo?"

2011-04-12T07:47:00.001-06:00

I love when General Conference comes around every six months. I love feeling refreshed and inspired to try to be a better person. And I love the feeling that I can do it, that I can be a better person.

One of my favorite talks was "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" by Elder Lynn G. Robbins. In this talk, Elder Robbins spoke about the difference between to be and to do.

"Be begets do and is the motive behind do.”

I am the sort of person who tends to get caught up in getting things done. I want to check things off, move on to the next project, and be done with it. While this is great for some things, it doesn’t work for other things and tends to make me frustrated. I forget to think about why I’m doing certain things.

Like having family dinner.

I believe eating together is important, but I have a tendency to want to hurry, hurry, hurry get-dinner-over-with-and-move-onto-the-next-thing. I forget that the doing (the actual eating) isn’t as important as being together and spending quality time together.

“Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done.”

I think the main reason this talk struck me so hard was that it made me slow down and think about why I’m doing so many of the things I’m doing. Most of the things I do are because I want to be a certain kind of person, but when I forget about the being and focus on the doing, it never ends up well. I end up getting annoyed with the kids for talking instead of eating and telling too many knock-knock jokes.

Another thing I loved about this talk was the focus on parenting (although it can apply to any relationship). He quoted Carol Dweck as saying, “Never let failure progress from an action to an identity.”

This is wonderful advice for parenting, and wonderful advice for life in general. Just because someone, ourselves included, fail at something, does not make them failures. Nor does it mean that they always fail at doing that thing.

“Disappointing behavior, therefore, should be considered as something temporary, not permanent—an act, not an identity.”

Like Elder Robbins, I believe that we are all God’s children. That is our true identity. I believe that God will help us as we strive to become more like the Savior—to do the things He would do and become as He is—and that gives me hope.

Other writer’s participating in the LDS Writer’s Blogfest:

Annette Lyon: “Desire”
Annie Cechini: “The Spirit of Revelation”
Ben Spendlove: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Chantele Sedgwick: “LDS Women Are Incredible!”
Charity Bradford: “LDS Women Are Incredible!”
Jackee Alston: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Jenilyn Tolley: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Jennifer McFadden: “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”
Jessie Oliveros: “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”
Jolene Perry: “It’s Conference Once Again”
Jordan McCollum: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Kasey Tross: “Guided by the Holy Spirit”
Kayeleen Hamblin: “Become as a Little Child”
Kelly Bryson: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Krista Van Dolzer: “Opportunities to Do Good”
Melanie Stanford: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Michelle Merrill: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Myrna Foster: “Opportunities to Do Good”
Nisa Swineford: “Desire”
Sallee Mathews: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Sierra Gardner: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Tamara Hart Heiner: “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”
The Writing Lair: “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”

Book Review: Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith

2011-04-07T08:05:00.003-06:00

My friend Chersti Nieveen was fortunate enough to win an ARC of Emily Wing Smith's new book at the Utah Book Bloggers social at the beginning of March. And by "win," I mean that she fought her way through the crowds, trampling the small children in her wake, and emerged victorious with the book in her hands. Back When You Were Easier to Love comes out on April 28th, but Chersti was kind enough to let me borrow the ARC.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this. Was it a romance? Was it a coming of age story? Just what was it? I'm still not sure how to classify it. It definitely has romantic elements. The main character definitely learns and grows and finds herself in the book.

My first thought on finishing this was, "Well, that was cute." But I don't like the word "cute" and I don't think it's powerful enough to describe this book.

In any case, I closed the book and went about my day. But I kept thinking about the book and thinking of more and more things that I liked about it. "Ooh, I like that . . ." "Oh, I liked that, too!"

So there you go. This is one of those wonderful, quiet books that makes you think and smile and laugh and ache. And can I just say that I love the title?

Happy reading!

Markus Zusak, Carrie Ryan, and Zombies

2011-04-05T08:42:00.000-06:00

I planned on getting a lot of writing done in March and I did--just not as much as I'd hoped. But I went to some really awesome events including the Utah Book Bloggers social, Markus Zusak's signing, and Carrie Ryan's signing. I don't personally have any pictures of these events because if I bring my camera, I don't take pictures and if I want to take pictures, I don't have my camera. I should really work on that. Anyway, my friend Chersti Nieveen has pictures of both the Carrie Ryan signing and the Markus Zusak signing. And, yes, the zombie apocalypse has definitely been a subject on my mind.

The thing that I loved the most about meeting these two amazing people is how genuinely kind and humble they were. Markus Zusak was obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable by the thunderous applause he received just by walking into the room. And even after signing books for hours, he was still thinking of the people who had come to see him. He wouldn't even eat until he'd signed everyone's book.

I forgot to take notes at Carrie Ryan's signing, but here are some of the things I wrote down that Markus Zusak said:

"You have to have bad things happen because they give you the best stories."

"I don't have a great imagination, I just have a lot of problems."

He also said that he's not a writer because he's some sort of brilliant person with lots of imagination. He's a writer because he tries to do the simple things well.

One of the simple things he tries to do is include details. He told us a story about him and his brother growing up to demonstrate the details, things like the color of the cooler and the fact that they sat on paint cans while they ate lunch. Those details made us believe him and believe that the story was true. The details you give in a story help you to own the story and convince others that it's true.

He rewrote the first 80 pages of The Book Thief between 150-200 times. He also thought that this would be the least popular of his books by far. Much of this book is based on experiences his parents had growing up and this book means the most to him.

If you are willing to try and fail, then you will get there.

You're a writer when you would be willing to write the next book knowing that it would never be published.

One thing that doesn't come across in my notes is just how funny he was. My very favorite thing he said was telling us about a beginning to The Book Thief that did not work. It was far too creepy-stalkerish. It began with Death saying: "This is the story of a young girl. Do you like young girls? I do. Then again, I like everyone."

Anyway, how was your March? Did anything fun and interesting happy for you?

Blogging Break

2011-03-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

This morning I visited one of my old neighbors. She majored in theater in college and was radiant and gushing about this play that she's in. She's now a mother of four beautiful children and it's been a long, long time since she did a play. Seeing how happy she is over this opportunity just reminded me how important it is to find something in our lives that's rejuvenating and that we love doing.

For me, I love writing. But I get too sucked up in the "other stuff" of writing. The stuff that stresses me out. So this month, I'm going to take a step back and focus more on writing. I won't be blogging much and I'll probably try to avoid the internet as much as possible. Life has been crazy and stressful of late and I really need to refocus my energy. I'll see how it goes.

But for now, Happy March!

Enjoying Today

2011-02-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law said something to me yesterday that got me thinking. She said, "Don't get so caught up in the waiting for something to happen that you don't enjoy today."

I know I often get trapped in the mindset of thinking that things will be great when I have an agent or things will be great when I'm published. When I start thinking that way, I don't let myself enjoy the things that are great today because there are many great things about today.

It's so easy to look ahead and wish for other--an ostensibly better--times. I'm not an expert, but it seems like one of the keys to happiness is to let yourself enjoy the now.

What about you? Is there anything you are enjoying today that you'd like to share?

Conference Tips

2011-02-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time last weekend at LTUE. Right now I'm feeling pretty rejuvenated and ready to start writing again (unlike a week ago when I slammed my laptop shut and announced that I was quitting). Also, I didn't embarrass myself nearly as much as I did at LDStorymakers last spring in my ill-fated boot-stalking incident. Since I have a history of embarrassing conference incidents, maybe I should make a list of things I recommend trying if you want to make sure that you humiliate yourself, if only in some small measure. The list would go something like this:

1. Stalk authors/agents/editors. And make sure you're very nervous when you talk to them. It also helps if you have a migraine too. Migraines and nervousness will ensure that you have an encounter that you can look back on and cringe forever at.

2. If you should be so lucky as to go out to lunch with an editor that you want to submit to, make sure that you can't eat anything in the restaurant. Pulling out a box of crackers always makes you feel professional. (But, seriously, a restaurant that doesn't have anything without cheese or dairy products? What's up with that?)

3. Bring a baby to the conference and then let them scream--as hard as they can--for at least 10 minutes before taking them out. (Did you know that babies' screams are pitched just at the right level to make adults crazy? I learned that in my human development classes in college and they were reaffirmed on Saturday. I nearly had to leave the session and the baby wasn't even mine.)

4. Always sit in the middle of a long row. That way if you start feeling ill or bored or whatever and have to leave, you have lots of people to climb over and by the time you finally make it out of the room, everyone is staring at you.

But it might be more helpful to share some of the things I've learned that have made my conference experience better. Also, since I tend to be a pessimist, it might be best if I focus on the positive instead of the embarrassing.

1. Talk to people, and not just to the published authors and editors. Talk to the person who sneaks in late and sits beside you. Not only will it make the conference more enjoyable, but you never know what will come from it. I ended up sitting by a girl on Saturday who invited me to attend the next class with her. I hadn't planned on going to anything that hour and that class that I attended with her was the best class that I attended. It might not have been so great for others, but for me, it was exactly what I needed to hear and I'm so glad that I went to it instead of sitting in the halls and pretending to write.

2. Make sure to drink enough water and take time to eat, and eat something besides sugar. Seriously.

3. If you're like me and have a tendency to get migraines at conferences, be proactive about it and take pain medication before you're ready to pass out.

4. Bring a light jacket. Some rooms are cold and some are hot. I don't know what makes the difference, but it seems to always be that way. Especially in the summer when the rooms are sometimes over air-conditioned.

5. Be optimistic. Expect to learn something and to have fun. And if someone doesn't have time to talk to you in the halls, don't assume that they hate you. (Unless, of course, you're stalking them and in that case, you should probably back off.)

Well, now, who's ready for the next conference? I won't be attending any until Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers in June. It's a great conference and if you write for children, I highly recommend it.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

2011-02-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Today, tomorrow, and Saturday, I'm attending a science fiction/fantasy conference called Life, the Universe, and Everything. I'm pretty excited because I didn't think I would be able to make it. We were supposed to be moving out of our house today, but since we survived the crazy move two weeks ago, I don't have actually have to move today. Hooray!

The first panel I went to talked about the best and the worst writing advice that people were given. My favorite thing that was said (besides James Dashner jokingly tell us all to work on our jealousy) was Mette Ivie Harrison making the comment that the very best advice for one person might well be the very worst advice for another person. She used herself as an example and said that outlines do not work for her, but they work wonderfully for other people. I love that recognition that we are all different. We all like different books and we all work differently. We should try different advice and, if it doesn't work for us, don't do it.

Anyway, this is a great conference and if you happen to be here, do come and say hi. Have a happy weekend!

The Perils of Journal Writing

2011-02-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

I've decided that my journal is possessed. Possibly not by a malevolent spirit, but something definitely mischievous. It might be my fault, though, since I bought the journal for my husband after he expressed a mild interest in writing in a journal. When he didn't write anything in it for several months, I stole it.

And now I'm being punished for it.

See, it all started about six months ago when I wrote my first journal entry on Friday the 13th. I made the passing comment that I hoped it wasn't going to be bad luck starting it on that date. Now, I'm not a very superstitious person--it was merely an idle, passing thought and I didn't think anything would come of it. After all, my husband had just had his appendix removed, so what else could go majorly wrong?

Two weeks later, my husband's boss shut down his branch of the company. And on it has gone.

But this isn't going to be a list of what's wrong in my life. This is what is wrong with my journal.

I've been noticing a trend lately. After we accepted the offer on our house, I started panicking about all we had to do and, to calm myself down, I wrote in my journal that it would be okay because we were moving nearby and, if we needed to, we could get everything moved out in two days. This turned out to be overly optimistic, of course, but a few days later, our closing date was moved up until two days away. Not only that, but I found another entry where I'd expressed my frustration that we still had a couple weeks to wait before we closed and I just wanted to get it over with.

So, yes, my journal is being devious and playing games with me. I don't know what to do about it. The journal isn't being purely evil (like Tom Riddle's), so I can't just stab it with a basilisk fang. Assuming, of course, that I had one. Which I don't. Strangely, even with all our junk, we don't have a basilisk fang. Weird, that.

It would be cool if I could convince my strangely influential journal to, say, get me an agent and a 7-figure book deal and a house completely impervious to zombie attacks, but I'm not sure how to manipulate it and if I tried, I'd likely end up with something I didn't really want. Like a million zombie-agents attacking me in a house.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with a possessed journal? Before I try something silly and end up triggering the zombie apocalypse?

Making Changes

2011-02-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

I know I promised to blog on Tuesday and I didn't. My apologies. I apparently had an overly optimistic view of how much time it would take to pack and move our things.

Who knew we had so much stuff???

As we moved, I thought about some of the similarities between major changes in life (like moving) and making major changes during a revision. I don't know about you, but major changes of any kind are not my favorite things. In fact, I try to avoid them. But sometimes major changes are inevitable, particularly when you know that they're the best decision for you or for your story.

But knowing it's the best thing does not make the actual doing part any easier. Both are still a lot of work and stress and sometimes even involve blood, sweat, and tears.

Some things I learned moving that can apply to writing:

1. Give yourself plenty of time because it will probably take longer than you expect. And, for some reason, when you panic and start to run around screaming, it doesn't actually help anything. Not that I did that.

2. Divide it into manageable tasks. I can't tell you how many times I walked into a room and stopped in dismay because there was no way that I could get it organized and packed up. It was impossible and, quite frankly, paralyzing. But if I said I was just going to pack the shoes in that room or something like that, I could actually get it done. It's the same with revisions. If I tell myself that all I have to do is fix one of the scenes, I can usually do that and more, but tackling the whole thing at once is overwhelming.

3. Focus on what you're doing. Since it was my house, anyone who came to help asked me what to do, which would completely derail my train of thought. I couldn't remember what I was doing. This was a small price to pay for moving help and I'm very, VERY grateful for everyone who helped to pack, move, clean, or watch my kids! It doesn't work so well for revisions, though, and tends to waste time as I try to remember just what it was that I wanted to fix. The thing that works the best for me is to make a list as I'm writing and revising of changes I need to make instead of going back and changing them repeatedly.

4. Give yourself some time away. We probably could have moved a little bit faster, but we didn't have to and by giving ourselves a break in the evening (when it was freezing, dark, and often snowing), we had more strength in the morning. Same with writing. If I try to revise straight through the day, I often get burnt out and am less productive the next day. Plus, I've found that some of my best ideas for revising come during the times when I'm not writing or thinking about writing.

5. Get rid of stuff. All those things/scenes that you've been keeping because you might need them or because of supposed sentimental value. Yeah. Get rid of those because you really don't want to be lugging them around. I know because I'm really bad about throwing things away. I kept Valentines cards from elementary school for years. Sure, there was some sentimental value attached those, but not nearly as much as the table runner embroidered by my great-grandmother. The important thing is to decide what is really necessary and valuable.

There are, of course, some differences between moving and revising. Like revising doesn't usually involve me losing all my pants. Oops. Fortunately, my husband found them or else that would have been really embarrassing.

In any case, I'm hoping for a much more relaxing weekend than the last one was. What about you? Do you have any fun plans? Like that one holiday on Monday that I completely forgot about until yesterday?

It's Thursday...

2011-02-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

I made a goal to blog consistently on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Well, it's Thursday and I can't quite think straight. We found out yesterday that our buyers wanted to close on the house tomorrow. So we're frantically trying to pack and move. I'm sure it relates somehow to writing, but I'm too busy sneezing at all the dust and trying to figure out how to keep my kids from unpacking all the boxes. I'll be back next week though.

Have a happy weekend!

Conferences and Pay It Forward Contest

2011-02-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

First of all, it's February and that means that Life, the Universe, and Everything is right around the corner. LTUE is a fun, inexpensive sci fi/fantasy conference at BYU. This year, it's February 17-19th. Which is kind of a problem for me because we're selling our house and close on the 18th. I doubt that I'll be able to move and go to a conference at the same time. I'm not very good at multitasking. To anyone else who is local, I would definitely recommend this conference if you write in those genres.

Registration is also open now for another of my favorite conferences, Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers. The conference is geared toward authors writing anything from picture books to YA. It also has classes for beginning writers and advanced classes. This conference has been one of the best things I've done for my writing. Not only has it helped me by becoming a better writer, but I've met some of my best friends and critique partners at this conference.

Right now, Shelli at Market My Words is hosting a "Pay It Forward" contest on her blog with an amazing prize. Part of that contest is to recognize someone for giving back and I would like to recognize Chersti Nieveen. She was the assistant in my class the first year I attended WIFYR and we became friends. She is one of the most supportive, encouraging people I know. She's always been there for me when I needed help brainstorming or something critiqued. She never even complained when I sent her the billionth draft of my appallingly awful query letter. She's always enthusiastic and encourages me to keep trying when I'm on the verge of giving up completely. What makes her even more impressive is that I know that I'm not the only person she goes the extra mile for. Chersti is absolutely incredible!

Is there someone who's been there for you and helped you? If so, go enter the Pay It Forward Contest and thank them for what they've done!

Happy Tuesday!

It's Christmas!

2011-01-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-01-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

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?

Proof of My Lack of Personality

2010-12-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

This morning we packed up the Christmas tree and all of our decorations. It always makes me a little depressed that Christmas is officially over, but I also love it because (okay, you're going to question my sanity now) I like packing boxes. I don't really like the work part of it, but I love rearranging shapes to see just how much stuff I can get into a box.

I'm good at it too. Once, before all the weight restrictions and everything, I flew home from London with a suitcase stuffed with 48 kg of stuff (that's about 105 lbs). The lady checking me in was surprised I could lift it. And, yes, there were some funny incidents as I dragged it through London of very nice men offering to help me up stairs with it. They usually dropped it and ran as soon as they possibly could. They had no idea what they were getting into.

I also am the one to pack the trunk whenever we go on vacation because I can always get more stuff in it than my husband can. (It drives him nuts.) So, if you're my neighbor and wondering why he's not the one out there, it's because I love doing it. And every summer on our annual ~~shopping trip~~ family vacation to Park City, I always look at the pile of stuff and think, "There's no way this will fit back into the car." And every year, it all fits. Also, there is a certain satisfaction in proving people wrong when they look at what I just bought and the size of my car and tell me it will never fit. Yes, definitely satisfying.

Yeah, I'm weird. I know.

So, what's the point of all this? There's no point, really. It's just that I've been thinking about character a lot lately. I'm writing a contemporary novel of sorts and I realized as I outlined it (Yes, I outlined. And, yes, you can be shocked about that.) that the main character is going to have to carry the novel. And I'm intimidated.

I thought about myself, since--supposedly--I know myself fairly well and I looked at what made me me. Now I can make a list of characteristics (impatient, know-it-all, dependable, too fond of chocolate), but I realized that they weren't all true all of the time (except maybe the chocolate). Yes, I'm impatient, but sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm dependable, and sometimes I'm not. Which left me with no personality at all.

So then I looked at weird quirks that might make me more interesting--or at least different from others--like I have to have my socks adjusted perfectly and that whole packing thing.

But lots of quirks do not a personality make--they just make it seem like the writer is trying too hard.

And that left me, completely personality-less, and wondering how I could possibly create a believable character when I'm not even sure I'm believable! (At least I know I exist, thanks to Descartes.)

Anyway, I've heard that with dialogue, writers should mimic reality. It seems to me that we have to create characters the same way. Most real people are inconsistent and wishy-washy and all that, but not all the time and not about what is important to them. The important thing with characters is to make the reader understand the why of what the character does. We need to know why that character--with their traits and quirks--would do what they do.

And, yes, I do think some quirks are important. Everyone has something different that they are passionate about and everyone has little things that irritate them. And everyone has that one book that they got for Christmas and found themselves stroking and thinking, "It's mine. My own. My preciousss."

Okay, maybe the last one is just me.

Anyway, what do you think is the most important consideration when creating a character? What's the best bit of advice you've received about creating a character?

Have a wonderful day and a very happy New Year!

2010-12-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last week, a friend received a rather confusing message from an agent. One that required much discussion about, "What does this mean?" Every minute angle and possibility we could think of was discussed.

After a while, she said, "Gah! This is worse than dating!"

The conversation was a lot like discussing what guys could possibly have meant by the things they said and did.

I've heard the analogy before that finding the right agent is like dating. But I've gotta say, I'm glad they differ in some ways. Can you imagine what dating would be like if every relationship ended with a form rejection?

(I have to add that I sincerely appreciate form rejections for the closure that they give and I'm grateful for the extra effort agents take to send them. I just don't think they'd be, uh, an appropriate way to end a relationship.)

Dear Potential Spouse Candidate,

I regret to inform you that your voice and ideas do not appeal to me. Keep in mind that someone else might feel differently. I wish you the best of luck in your continued search.

Sincerely,
Moving On

Dear Potential Spouse Candidate,

I'm sorry, but your particular qualities do not meet my current needs. Best of luck looking elsewhere.

Sincerely,
Moving On

Dear Potential Spouse Candidate,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to consider you, but I'm afraid that you are not the best fit for me at the moment.

Sincerely,
Moving On

So, yeah, here's to form rejections . . . and to the fact that they have an appropriate time and place.

Handsome is as Sparkly Does

2010-12-16T13:45:00.001-07:00

Last summer, my sister gave me her Burger King toy. It was this ring:

Open it up, and inside is Edward in all his sparkly goodness.

She gave it to me to make me laugh, knowing that I'm firmly Team Jacob. Edward vs. Jacob is not even a debatable subject.

Anyway, since it was a gift and I love my sister, I have, of course, cherished this ring. (And by "cherished" I mean that I didn't throw it away, but instead set it on my shelf to gather dust.)

My five year old daughter found it yesterday and informed me there was a guy inside.

Me: Oh, is he handsome?

Her (giggling): Yes!

Me: Why?

Her: Because he sparkles!!

My husband (sinking lower in his chair): . . .

The Hopelessness of Napping (at least today)

2010-12-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

My arm hurts. That's not the point of this post (assuming that I ever have a point), but it was rather the impetus. Anyway, I think I slept on my arm wrong and, since my husband was home, I took advantage of the opportunity to rest in bed with a heating pad.

As you might imagine, heating pad + bed + right after lunch = very, very sleepy.

I kept drifting off, but two of the kids were running around like banshees. Which did not equal happy sleep for me. So I got up to ask them to play more quietly. I'm not sure I got that far before I just had to know why there was marker all over their faces and necks.

And people say that it's when kids are quiet that you should worry! But at least they were washable markers and came right off.

The worst part about it? I didn't get to take pictures. I wanted to--I really wanted to--but if I did, I would have started laughing and they would have decided that they were being funny instead of being naughty and then there would have been no end to the markers. Grr.

After washing them off, I tried to go back to bed. And, of course, the phone rang. Sigh. So now I'm finally coming to the conclusion that napping is completely hopeless.

Sometimes in writing, I think there's a point where you have to know when to quit. Not when to quit writing, but when to quit revising and to give it a break. There's a point--at least for me--when I've worked at it so long that I can't see the problems and trying to revise it is as frustrating as trying to sleep with marker-covered banshees howling at the door.

I think I'm at that point right now. So I'm going to give it a month or so before coming back to it with fresh (and hopefully not so sleepy) eyes.

What about you? What do you do when you get really frustrated with a manuscript? How do you cope?

The Essence of Romance

2010-12-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

I came across this video earlier this week and thought it was a nice way to start out the week. Or end it. Or anytime in between.

I realized after watching it that, not only have I seen most of those movies, but I own more than half of them. Which got me thinking about why I like BBC period pieces so much.

Okay, part of it is the costumes. I love the clothing (although I prefer Georgian and Victorian to Regency, if you really want to know). I have also been known to buy books solely because the girl on the cover was wearing a pretty dress.

But I think an even bigger draw for me is the romance.

Oscar Wilde once said that "The essence of romance is uncertainty." Of course, I know going into Pride and Prejudice that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are going to get together in the end. But they don't know that. I love the little things that keep them guessing. The looks across the room, the zings as he helps her into the carriage. Those little things--that uncertainty--is a big draw for me.

Unfortunately, that's a hard thing to do when writing. Personally, I think you can only pull off that kind of uncertainty when you're really close to your character.

It also helps if you have handsome men running around in costumes.

But what about you? What kind of movies do you like and what draws you to them? (And, yes, I do like other movies, these just happen to be on my mind this week.)

The Poetry of Queries

2010-12-07T10:04:00.001-07:00

I think I'll write a query in verse
Because it can't sound any worse
And now with that, here I go
Here's hoping that it all will flow.

Dear Agent, won't you read my novel?
Would it help if I got down to grovel?
Let me tell you about it here
And hope a request will soon appear
For my fairy-tale retold
About a young king with a heart of gold.

In a distant future time
Lives a princess who likes to climb
Dancing, though, she hates to do
Because it made her feel like poo.

(Hmm. Maybe I should work on that particular rhyme.)

She's trapped up in her father's ship
But it's nothing like a vacation trip
Because someone built the engines wrong
So she must dance the whole night long.
And this prince straight from her dreams
Might not be all that he seems
The sight of his awful, scaly tail
Makes her tender heart quite fail.

She escapes, but then those cursed fates
Stick her with a man she hates
When she becomes a pauper's wife
With a future full of poverty and strife
Then pirates capture them as loot
And make her clean the garbage chute.
Her demon prince appears once more
And drags her onto the dance floor.

Will she find her Happily Ever After
Or be stuck dancing with a monster?
To find out what her fate will be
I'm afraid you'll have to go and ask me.

How I Feel About My Query Letter Attempts

2010-12-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of Those Days. You know the type. The ones full of things like cleaning the floors for a house showing only to have the kids prove again the old adage that "A clean floor is an accident waiting to happen." Actually, that might not be an old adage, but it should be. We've had proof of that in our house over and over and over again.

But today is a new day. And I'm trying to work on my query again. I'm not very good at writing queries, but I take comfort in the fact that they're at least getting better. They are no longer so bad that, as my husband put it, revising them is like trying to operate on someone without any bones--it's impossible to know where to even start. So, yea for being past that point!

Anyway, I drew a self-portrait of me working on my query (and no, I don't have a scanner, so I'm stuck with taking pictures of my brilliance):

Yes, this 100% accurate of how I look. You can even ask my kids. And now I'm going to go gather up all the chocolate in the house to give me courage and comfort as I make yet another attempt.

Eek!

Making Assumptions

2010-11-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I was making breakfast. My 3-year old wanted to help, so I gave him two slices of bread to put in the toaster. I turned away, listening for the sound of the toast going down so I could move him away before it got hot.

But the toaster didn't turn on.

Curious, I turned to see what the problem was and discovered that he had taken the two slices of bread and jammed them into the same side of the toaster. Even worse, it was homemade bread and turned into a wonderful, crumbly mess.

And it was completely my fault for assuming that he would take two slices of bread and put one in each slot of the toaster. Sure, in my mind two slices and two slots = 1 slice per slot, but I'm not 3. I don't see the world in the same way he does and he certainly doesn't see it in the way I do. And I shouldn't assume that he would. He's coming from a different place and has a different perspective.

I'm really bad when it comes to making assumptions about things.

One of the things I love most about reading is the chance to experience life through someone else's eyes and to see that different perspective. Everyone has their own view on life and I think those small variations are part of what makes characters so interesting. But at the same time, it can also be frustrating as a reader when you can't understand why a character made the decision they did.

Right now I'm starting to revise a novel that I'd put away for several months and I'm realizing that part of the trouble I had was that I didn't justify the main character's decisions. I assumed that because her reasons were so clear to me, they'd be clear to the readers. Apparently, this wasn't the case, particularly when it came to which of the two guys she chose at the end. After exchanging manuscripts, a friend even told me, "If this had been an actual book, I would have thrown it."

Um, yeah. So the wrong guy then?

I guess I shouldn't assume that people will understand why my MC picked the guy she did and I should actually tell them why she made that decision. Because I promise there were reasons.

Also, while I'm giving myself advice about not making assumptions anymore, I should also mention that cutting out words in a query and assuming that the meaning will still be clear is probably not the best idea. Really. Sacrificing clarity for brevity is not a good idea.

And now I should probably go check on the loud thumping sounds coming from upstairs. I'm assuming that that isn't a good sound and that's probably one of the few assumptions I'm safe making.

Happy Tuesday!

Seeing What's Important

2010-11-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

My 5 year old recently brought me this picture. Can you tell what it is?

It's a water bending scroll so she can be Katara from Avatar: the Last Airbender. See how it's been rolled up (and probably sat on, but that's beside the point.) If you follow those simple directions, you too can water bend.

The drawing bug has been going around our house. For the most part, the kids have been making "decorations," which means they cut small pieces of paper, draw on them, and then hide them somewhere in the house. (Is that what I do with decorations? Hide them? Well, if I made them, then, yeah, probably. But I don't make them, so where do they get this from?) Anyway, it makes it a lot harder to keep the house clean while we're trying to sell it when we find little decorations everywhere. In closets. Under the couch. In my bed...

I've also been drawing a lot. I know this will come as a shock to some of my relatives who know just how long it's been since I last spent much time sketching. And, no, I'm not very good, but I'm enjoying it and I'm seeing the world differently. Basically, I'm seeing it like a cartoon. I should insert a drawing of me grinning wildly here, but I'm not quite ready to display my artwork.

And that's not really what I meant. In looking at the world and thinking how I would translate that to paper, I'm noticing what's important about what I'm seeing. Sometimes the setting is important, sometimes the action is important, and sometimes it's something else.

Description in writing is something I struggle with. My first drafts feel like heads talking in bare, empty rooms. And sometimes they even move to another bare, empty room. It's all very exciting.

One thing I've noticed with drawing and studying other's drawings is that they focus on what is important to the scene taking place. The same thing is important with writing. The setting--however amazing and beautifully described--isn't interesting unless it relates to the characters and what they are doing at that moment. At least that's my opinion. So take it for what it's worth. (There should be another drawing of me smiling here, but there's not. Maybe next time.)

Talent

2010-11-15T09:36:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking about talents a lot lately, in part because I had to teach a lesson in church about talents a week ago. And, no, it didn't go well. Halfway through, my 3 year olds' teacher brought him in because he'd bonked his head. He was, uh, less than helpful with the teaching. Here's an example:

Me: So, everyone has different talents . . .
Him: MOM! I want to draw a picture for you! (And, no, he hasn't yet learned about volume control on his voice.)
Me (in a whisper): Okay, draw me a picture.
Him: But I can't draw! I can just scribble!
Me (in a whisper, starting to sound desperate): Okay, scribble me a picture then.
Me (in a normal voice): So, everyone has different talents . . .
Him: MOM! I scribbled you a picture!
(I take the picture from him)
Me: So, everyone has different talents . . .
Him: MOM! You didn't say "Thank you." Say "Thank you," Mom!
Me (muttering): Thank you . . .

Anyway, so, everyone has different talents . . .

I really believe that this is true. Everyone has different gifts and different things that they're good at. But I also believe that we can develop and improve if we want to. Very few people start out at a virtuoso level with anything. And, in fact, I don't think innate talent is necessarily a prediction of how good you can become at something.

I taught martial arts for several years. I don't talk about it a lot because I really don't look like a martial artist. At all. Trust me, though, I'm better than you think--especially at ground fighting. And I'm better than I look because I worked hard at it. I had absolutely no natural talent and was awful when I started. I had the flexibility of a brick and felt like a complete idiot most of the time.

I did have a few things going for me, though: I was determined and I learned forms easily. I worked my way through the ranks and, when I began teaching, I noticed a few things.

Mainly, the most obviously talented people (i.e., flexible) tend to drop out. A few of them stuck with it for a while, but most of the time when we had someone come in who could do a head-high front kick on their first day, they'd drop out before three months were up. (Also, usually the flexible people had the least amount of control and tended to hurt people.)

Basically, what I noticed was that talent didn't necessarily equate to success and just because someone was talented at controlling their kicks didn't mean that they were less talented than those people who could kick higher.

Just because someone else is talented doesn't mean that you are not.

I guess that's my point to this rambling--just because someone else is talented as a writer doesn't mean that you aren't. (And by "you," I'm really talking to me.) Just because someone else has a brilliant dystopia doesn't make my light-hearted novel any less worthy of merit. They're different, and neither is better than the other.

(And by "worthy of merit," I mean "not bad enough that I need to drop it--and my computer--off of an overpass onto the train tracks and watch the train smash everything into obliteration.")

Also, people can have different strengths within the same area. To go back to the martial arts thing, I was the forms expert in the studio, another person could teach power and stances, and someone else was talented at weapons--and the only one who could use a three section staff without killing himself and everyone else around him. We all had the basics down, but each of us had an area that we excelled in. If all I looked at was my lack of skills with a three section staff, I'd get pretty depressed.

So don't do that. Don't focus on the negative and the talents that you feel you lack. Celebrate your strengths--because we all have them--and work on your weaknesses and we'll all get better together.

Happy Monday-ing to you all!

Expectations

2010-11-12T14:43:00.001-07:00

I'm in the middle of reading a series. I planned to go to the library today and check out the rest of it. There was a flaw with this plan, though: someone else checked the books out. Which promptly sent my mood spiraling down into the depths of despair.

It got me thinking, though, about how much our expectations affect the outcome. I expected to be able to check out the books. After all, I had all of the previous ones and people read series in order. Therefore no one else should have wanted those books when I wanted them. (Okay, yeah, there are a few issues with my logic, but it's been a long week.)

Most of the times when I've been upset, it hasn't been because something truly awful has happened, it's been because things didn't go according to my plans. Like kids throwing temper tantrums so we don't get out the door on time. Things like that.

A couple months ago, I picked up a book at the library. It was one I hadn't heard anything about, but I was completely amused by the premise and in the mood for something absurd and happy. The beginning perfectly matched that. The ending, though, was an overly emotional, slightly nauseating love story--the kind where their abusive childhoods are swallowed up in each other's love. Definitely not what I was expecting and it frustrated me. The premise of the story, as well as the beginning, promised me something lighthearted and funny. But the book did not deliver.

Okay, I'm probably a little harsh on the ending. But it was so far from my expectations that I ended up hating it. (Which is probably why it was pushed to the side and ended up with papers on top of it and so I didn't return it to the library and had to pay a fine. That didn't endear the book to me either.)

I guess what I'm saying is that we need to look at where we're going with our WIP and make sure that the beginning matches the end as far as expectations. Now I don't mean that everything should be predictable, but it should fall within the realm of possibility with the tone and set-up of the story. You never want your readers to say, "What? That doesn't make any sense!"

Well, I'm off to moan and mope away the weekend since I don't have my series to read. Is anyone else doing anything more exciting than that?

Some Advice

2010-11-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Me,

I know that you like to read, but really, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Do you honestly think you can make the ending happier by staying up all night to finish? (And do you really think YOU are going to be happier without any sleep? I thought not.) Also, that black stuff on dinner last night? Yeah, no one likes it very much. In the future, try not to read and cook at the same time. And the reading while styling your hair? Yeah, let's do away with that too and maybe you'll be fit to go out into public. But only if you promise to talk about something other than that book.

Sincerely,
Yourself

What's in a Name?

2010-11-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is expecting her first baby and we've been talking lately about baby names. Mostly appalling combinations that no one would ever use, but it's got me thinking about names. Specifically, naming characters. And, even more specifically, an issue I'm having at the moment.

Naming characters is always an interesting experience. Some characters get their names immediately, others go through several iterations before I find a name that really fits that character. In the previous novel I wrote, I named the two boys temporarily after two of our martial arts students and those names stuck. I tried to change them, but nothing else worked. Like naming children, it seems that each character has names that fit and names that don't and the process of finding the right fit varies for each character.

I thought I did fairly well picking out names for my characters in my current manuscript. I even researched the meaning for each name and to make sure it fit my character concept.

I've run into a problem.

The hero of the story has a nice, dignified name. And then in waltzed his sister and gave him a nickname. And it stuck. So for most of the story, he's referred to by his nickname. However, there are times when I want him to refer to him by the full name--times when he's trying to be dignified and responsible and would see himself in that way.

But how do I do that?

I've read books before where the character has a nickname and I get confused. I have to stop and think, "Okay, who is this again? Oh, yeah, the main character." It's embarrassing, so I don't want to do that to anyone.

To me, nicknames are a very personal thing. If you are willing to respond to it, then part of you has to identify with that name. It has to mean something to them, even if it's the name that an obnoxious sibling gave to them. During high school, there was a period of time where I called my brothers "Stinky" and "Smelly." They knew which one they were and they actually answered to the name. My older brother said "Smelly" was okay because he did have a nose and he did use it to smell. I haven't figured out yet why my younger brother answered to "Stinky" or any of the other nicknames I gave to him.

But I digress.

So, what is your opinion of nicknames in books? Do they bother you? Do you even notice them? Would it bother you if a character viewed themselves with a different name in different situations?

Revising and Selling

2010-11-05T10:09:00.000-06:00

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holla boys, Holla boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

And what should we do with him? Burn him!

So, we put our house up for sale last week and, being me, I've noticed a log of similarities between selling a house and revising a novel.

1. Both take work. I knew that when I started. However, in both cases I misjudged just how much work they would take.

2. You have to fix the big problems before fixing the little ones. It doesn't matter how sparkly clean the floorboards are if you can't actually see the floor. Similarly, it doesn't matter how amazing a scene is if the character's motivation to get them to that scene doesn't make any sense.

3. Sometimes you are too close to things to see them clearly. That's why writing groups and realtors are important. When our realtor did a walk through of our house, he told me to stop worrying about the closets and the state of the garage--no one notices them anyway. Instead, he recommended shampooing the carpet. I hadn't even noticed the carpet unless it had toys piled on top of it. It's the same with my manuscript. People point out things that I never noticed because I'm too close to them.

4. The more you work at it, the more you feel like you need to do.

5. Both projects are easier when broken down into small, manageable parts.

6. Both involve stress and sleepless nights and sometimes the strange suspicion that you are crazy for doing it at all.

Anyway, do you have any exciting plans for Guy Fawkes Night tonight? We've celebrated for the last few years, but it snuck up on us this year (probably because we were distracted by the fumes from all the cleansers or something). Alas. Perhaps next year.

Obsession, Obsession, Obsession (or in other words, I might need help)

2010-11-02T15:16:00.001-06:00

I admit it, I have a bit of an obsessive personality. When I find a book I love, I want to read it all and not have to do anything else until I have finished it. When I find a show that I love, I want to watch all the episodes at once. This is one of the reasons I don't watch T.V. that much--I get sucked in and stressed because of the lack of resolution.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it), last week we started watching a show on Netflix called Fruits Basket. It's an anime show that's been dubbed over in English--at least it is on Netflix. (You can also watch it here on Hulu in the original Japanese with English subtitles.) Anyway, I can't get enough of it and have started researching how to draw anime because I want to draw all of my characters now and that style is really speaking to me right now.

But first I have to finish the show. We only have five episodes left, I think. I love the characters. I love the relationships. I love that it makes me laugh and that it makes me hurt for the characters too. (I will admit, it does leave some rather important questions unanswered though . . .)

Okay. I just had to get that out of my system. Because I'm obsessed and can't finish watching it now--it's not a show for kids.

Moving on . . .

My sister, who is one of the staff members of Segullah, asked me to advertise these writing contests: http://journal.segullah.org/contests/

There are some restrictions for who can enter (I, for one, am not eligible since my sister is staff), but there's a cash prize for the winners and the winners will be published in the Segullah journal.

(Just in case you were wondering if my obsessiveness is a new facet of my personality, the title of this blog post is almost a direct quote from my journal from when I was 16. And that was the sum total of the journal entry.)

The Story Behind #4

2010-10-25T20:40:00.009-06:00

There was some interest in hearing the story behind my random fact #4 from last Friday's post. The summer I spent hanging out in dark rooms with married men and drunk rats. Drunk pregnant rats. (Did I mention that the rats were pregnant?)

Okay. So, here's the story:

When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor. So much so that I decided to prepare early. I wanted lots of extracurricular research activities on my resume when I applied to medical school. The summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I was put in touch with a professor at BYU who agreed to let me help with his research project. (He also told me my hair was the color of a sorrel mare. Which doesn't have anything to do with this story, but it's something I've never forgotten. No 16-year old girl wants to be compared to a horse, even if he meant it in the most flattering way possible.) Anyway, we were studying the effects of alcohol on the mother-rat's activity level as well as the fetus's brain and secondary sex characteristics.

(And now you're asking yourselves how I ended up an aspiring writer, aren't you? You can read about that here.)

For the experiment, we had to work in dark rooms since rats are active at night. The lights were turned on for the rats at night so that their schedules would adjust. We had a huge table marked off into a grid and we would count the number of squares that the mother-rats touched during the set amount of time--I forget how long it was. Some of the rats didn't move at all--they just bobbed dizzily about from drunkenness. There were always 3 of us so that we could average the results and all of the other students (both graduate and undergraduate) were male and married. Hence the dark rooms with married men and drunk rats.

I also learned during this experience that there are such things as rat guillotines. Just in case you weren't disturbed enough by now.

7 Random Things

2010-10-22T18:57:00.000-06:00

I won an award for my blog! This is from Krista V. over at Mother. Write. (Repeat.) She does the most awesome agent interviews!

I'm now supposed to tell you seven random things about myself. So here it goes:

1. My husband and I were born in the same hospital in North Carolina. Not only that, my parents bought his old crib for my siblings and I to use, so we shared the same crib as babies.

2. There are seven letters in my first name because my parents wanted it to be a prime number. That's what happens when both your parents are statisticians.

3. I have been to 17 different countries. (USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Vatican City (yes, it is a country), Czech Republic, Monaco (our train stopped at the station there so it totally counts, right?), Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt (only to the Sinai Peninsula), in case you're interested.)

4. I spent the summer between my junior and senior year of high school in dark rooms with married men and drunk rats. Now don't you want to know what we were doing?

5. I used to think it was physically impossible to survive in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. What can I say, we lived in Montana. I also thought that when you got your driver's license, you were assigned a color of light to go through on. Because that would work so well . . .

6. I went to the emergency room once after bobbing for apples.

7. I set off the fire alarm FIVE times while making dinner on Tuesday. Because I am that talented.

I want to pass this award on to some people who have inspired me in one way or another through their blogs:

Nikki Mantyla
Brodi Ashton
Karen M. Kruger
and Tami at Captured Moments by Tami

Found Things

2010-10-21T11:35:00.000-06:00

Things have been crazy in my house. We've been trying to sort through things and pack stuff up in preparation for trying to sell our house. We're finding all sorts of hidden treasures (and lost of dust, but let's not talk about that bit). Anyway, I found this poem today and I just have to share. It's by Donna Ducarme.

Fear.
Afraid of self,
afraid of knowing,
running, hiding,
going nowhere, fading fast.
Then Stop.
Turn and see.
Turn about and face it.
It? Me.

Myself, my secrets, my soul
Growing, dreaming, dancing,
going, going someplace,
anywhere, searching for meanings
& motives & reasons why
learning to fly, to soar again like
before, before fear made me run.

I have no idea where I came across this. It's written in my handwriting, but like I was in a hurry and I just had to have these words. I hope you like them too.

In Which I Momentarily Lose Touch with Reality and Ask for Advice

2010-10-19T10:14:00.000-06:00

First of all, the lovely Karen Kruger is hosting a weekly critique on her blog. Go check it out. She also does great book reviews.

So go look at Karen's blog, then back at mine. Then look at Karen's. Now back at mine . . .

Ahem. That's a scary do loop to get stuck in.

So, a couple days ago, I finished reading my WIP out loud to myself. I'd heard other author's recommend it, but I dragged my feet about it. I knew it would take SO long, and it did. But it was a really good thing to do and I highly recommend it. I found missing words, misspelled words, and extra words. I also found sentences that were understandable when reading silently--I knew what I meant, at least--but completely incomprehensible when reading them aloud. There is the occasional untouched page in my binder, but those are few and far between. Much more common are the pages that looked like I played Jackson Pollock with my pen. It's rather humbling. And exciting because it's fixable!

I've been going through and making the changes over the last few days, but I still have some more major issues that earned Post-It notes to tell me that I had some sort of problem to fix. Some of them are Big Problems (although I figured out how to fix the biggest Big Problem yesterday while I was brushing my teeth) and some of them are small decisions. But I'm not good at making decisions. One of the ones I'm struggling with is what to call the Sultan in my story when someone is addressing him directly. Should it be "Your Eminence," or "Your Excellency," or "Your Supreme and Most Exalted Majesty"? I just don't know. So I'm asking you. If you could make everyone call you by a ridiculous and fancy title, which one would you choose? Which would make you feel the most important? Please weigh in on my most desperate quandary.

Taste

2010-10-14T14:27:00.000-06:00

I was talking to my neighbor the other day and she mentioned that she loves oatmeal-raisin cookie dough, which made me laugh. I like cookie dough and I like oatmeal-raisin cookies, but the dough is nothing but slimy disgustingness. Blech.

Everyone has different tastes. I know someone who refuses to eat pasta. There are people who won't touch seafood. No one is surprised by these things. Everyone tastes things differently and has different preferences. Some people, like me, find cinnamon a very strong spice and other people can eat it practically plain. It's normal and no one thinks that much about it.

Sometimes, though, I get stuck in thinking that everyone should have the same taste in books. Part of it might be that most of my friends that I exchange books with have similar preferences for books (which kind of makes sense since we're trading together). Unfortunately, that sometimes makes me think that everyone has the same taste and when another book is popular and very different from mine, I start thinking that no one would like mine.

Yes, I admit to being silly sometimes.

Most people, even if they love a food, don't eat that one thing and that one thing alone. Lots of people like lots of variety. Yes, some people do enjoy oatmeal-raisin cookie dough, pasta, AND seafood. But not only that, for every person that doesn't like pasta, there are many people who love it. There are fans of all genres.

Does this mean that your book will sell? Maybe not. But don't decide that it won't just because someone else's book did.

(As a side note to the gushing of my last post, Avatar: the Last Airbender is also proof that Luke Skywalker did finally turn to the Dark Side--Mark Hamill does the voice of Fire Lord Ozai. And, yes, I am a nerd.)

In Which I Gush. A Lot.

2010-10-12T13:55:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday, my siblings and I (sans the one who lives on the other side of the country) got together to celebrate my dad's birthday. During one of the moments were the kids were not wreaking havoc on my parents' house, my sister, my brother, and I got into a discussion of our favorite shows.

To my surprise, neither of them had ever watched Avatar: the Last Airbender (the cartoon, not the movie).

I consider this to be a travesty of the worst sort. How could my own brother and sister have not watched this show? Obviously I hadn't been gushing about the show enough. Because it is awesome.

Why do I, at my age, love this show?

1. The characters. I adore the characters. All of them. Good guys, bad guys. They all have fleshed out stories and are so real. They all have strengths, they all have weaknesses. And I love them all. I laugh with them, I ache with them, and I cheer for them when they succeed. I could go on and on about the characters, but maybe I'll wait until you've all seen it. Go on. Go watch it.

2. The dialogue. It's witty and fun and makes me laugh. A lot.

3. The magic system is super cool. I'd go on about that, but I'd start drooling and ruin my keyboard.

4. Male/female dynamics. I know this is a soap box of mine, but I get tired of shows where either the girls are the smart competent ones and the boys are idiots or the shows where the girls are stupid, sappy, saccharine creatures in constant need of being rescues. This show doesn't have either issue. The girls are strong fighters and so are the boys. And what's more, they actually work together.

5. Do I really have to come up with more reasons? Because if I do, then I'll start gushing about individual episodes and the brilliance of them and the specific characters. And you don't want me to tell you about the hotness of Zuko and the wit of Sokka and the cuteness of Ty Lee--you need to experience those on your own. So, can't you just take my word for the incredible awesomeness that is this show?

6. Okay, fine. One more reason. It's just so much fun! And don't we all need a little more fun in our lives?

Perfect Pitch

2010-10-07T16:54:00.001-06:00

Dear Agent,

Look at my book, isn't it neat?
And my main character--isn't she sweet?
Wouldn't you think it's the tale, the tale that has everything!
It's got dragons and demons aplenty.
It's got space ships and pirates galore.
You want princesses? There's at least twenty.
Don't you care? It'll be big deal . . .
Do you want more?
Do you want to see where my plot is heading?
And, at the end, will there be a wedding?
Skimming around all those (what do you call them) scenes,
Meeting her prince and the sparks will fly
And then every bad guy will (what's that word again?) die!

Where will they dance? Where will they cry?
And will anyone get a black eye?
Just wait and see, and you can be part of my world!

Sincerely,
Me

Tune in next time for more musical advise: "I think I'll try defying brevity and you can't edit me down!"

How Everything Revolves Around Writing

2010-10-05T15:04:00.001-06:00

I almost called my daughter's best friend my main character's name today. Oops. Apparently, I have a one track mind. To demonstrate this narrow minded feat of mine, I will a couple things I saw recently and what they made me think of.

1. The main road near my house, the one that has been under construction for the last few billion years (or at least it sometimes feels like that) was finally paved last week. And there was much rejoicing. This morning, though, we began feeling the familiar foundation shattering tremors. And, yes, you guessed it, they are digging it up AGAIN. (And now I understand why the government spends so much money on road construction . . .) As I watched them, I thought about how we sometimes have these scenes that we love and think are completed, but then we realize that the scene is wrong for the story and we had to tear it out.

And, yes, I did just tear out a scene that I loved. How did you know? It was one of those scenes where the hero and the heroine are forced together and sparks fly. The hero was saying all these witty, obnoxious things that made even me want to slap him. Did I like the scene? Yes. Was I rather proud of myself? Yes. Would that character in that situation ever do those things? No. Absolutely not.

I didn't completely tear out the scene though. First, I tried to tone him down and told myself it was good enough, but (as one of my critiquer's pointed out), he was still way too mean, at least for him in that situation. I, like the construction workers, had tried to tell myself that the scene was fine and it was okay to pave over and move on. But it wasn't. It still needed to be fixed. So I tore the pavement up and fixed the scene. At least it's cheaper than tearing up a road, right?

2. Our house is in the foothills facing a tall mountain. Occasionally people will ride dirt bikes up and down the mountain. Anyway, my sister-in-law dropped something off on Saturday night around 9 p.m., nearly two hours after sunset. To our surprise, there was a car trying to drive up the mountain on a road that has to be practically vertical in places. The car got stuck, backed up, and--much to our amusement--tried again.

Sometimes writing feels like this. Trying to drive up a steep mountain in the dark. The problems in our manuscript seem insurmountable and sometimes we can't do anything other than back-up and try again.

See? Everything in my life revolves around writing.

Or maybe it's just today. I finished another draft and have decided to do something completely crazy. I just printed out my manuscript (it's still warm as I write this) and I'm going to read the entire thing to myself. Out loud. Yep. Crazy. Wish me luck?

Careers Paths Not Taken

2010-09-17T09:43:00.001-06:00

During my last semester of high school, I took a drafting class. I have no idea what credit requirement it filled, but it's not the sort of thing I would take for fun. I did have a lot fun in the class, though. And not only because the teacher let me do pretty much whatever I wanted as long as I got the assignments done. (Very convenient for me that my mom had been his teacher for the last--and hardest--class he took in college and she helped him out a lot.)

The class was an odd assortment of people--everything from not very bright freshman (I can say that because this one kid actually stuck a paper clip in a socket to get out of watching a movie in 8th grade. Like I said, not very bright) to brilliant seniors like me (I never did anything so foolish as to stick a paper clip in a socket. And if my husband ever tells you the story of me electrocuting myself on the stove, try not to believe him). A couple friends of mine were in the class, which made things fun. And they enjoyed laughing at me when I asked them things like, "What do you do in the bathroom?"

I should stop to think about possible multiple interpretations of things before I speak.

Anyway, the point of this is that I did take a drafting class once, and I enjoyed it.

I realized last night that I am SO not an architect. I love looking at house plans. I love home shows and visiting castles and things. I always have. However, I apparently cannot design castles, at least not very well.

In my revisions last night, I came to a description of a palace belonging to one of my characters. And the description, well, let's just say it wasn't very good. I had bits and pieces in my mind of what I wanted it to look like--things that could show just how arrogant and self absorbed this person was. But those bits and pieces did not come together. At all.

So I spent last night trying to draw this castle and make it work with what I was imagining. I am not an artist. After several attempts, I managed to get something with an extremely wonky perspective (apparently I should have paid more attention during those vanishing point projects in sixth grade), but kind of sort of works. At least well enough that I can get a basic description written. And, as I said, it did make me realize that I am not, in fact, meant to go back to school and have a brilliant career as an architect. Good thing I figured that out before wasting all that money!

Finished!

2010-09-14T10:09:00.000-06:00

I went to a book signing over the weekend for Kiersten White's debut novel, Paranormalcy, which hit #7 on the New York Times Bestseller list. And no, I can't show you any pictures because all morning I kept telling myself I needed to remember the camera. And so I forgot the camera. I'm talented that way.

I promise I was there. You know, that person sitting in the front row saving a seat when most of the audience was standing. A seat that stayed empty the entire time. Yeah. My friend made it just in time for the closing applause. So, sorry to anyone there who thought I was just totally rude. There really was a warm body intended to sit there. Please don't hate me.

Ahem. It was fun to see all the other writers I've met at conferences and to meet Kiersten, who is as adorable in real life as she is on her blog. Really, a very cool, funny person. And her book is a lot of fun, so go check it out. Unless you like vampires who are sexy, then it might not be your thing.

In other news, I finished my draft and there was much happiness. I celebrated by falling asleep on the couch. But, now that I worked through my issues from last week (lack of foreshadowing), I'm feeling pretty good about it. Yea!

I also started trying to pack up some of the books in our house and, uh, there are a lot of books. Almost enough to use them for bricks and build a house. Sigh. I should probably start culling the non-essentials. If there is such a thing as a non-essential book. Okay, I guess I don't really need TWO copies of Multivariable Calculus, but other than that . . .

Closet Malfunctions and Braiding Mishaps

2010-09-09T12:45:00.000-06:00

My closet had a malfunction a few days ago. Every single item I pulled out of it clashed with everything else in it. Really. My husband will back me up on that. Anyway, I spent a lot of time looking in the mirror and busting up. I should have thought to take pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it that it was bad.

I suppose I'll just have to add "clothes matching" to the list of things I can't do--things like make microwave popcorn and spell my own name correctly when signing official documents.

Anyway, after I managed to find something that almost-but-not-quite matched, I went to help my daughter do her hair. That day I planned to French braid both sides together and put a flower barrette in her hair. After all, I can do it to my own hair (or I could before I cut 10 inches off), so it shouldn't be too hard, right? Anyway, I braided one side, then the other. No problems. It was turning out just as I imagined it it would. But then I tried to tie the two sides together together and everything slid out of place.

This scenario repeated itself. A couple times.

I was thinking about that braiding incident this morning as I was working on my revision. I'm almost to the end and, up until this point, it felt like everything was coming together perfectly. Now as I'm trying to tie up all the loose ends for a satisfactory conclusion, it feels like everything is slipping through my fingers. Just like those braids did.

Ack! Am I the only one who feels like this? And how do I know if it's all in my head or if it really is falling to pieces? Any suggestions?

Reasons That Need Exploring

2010-08-23T09:13:00.077-06:00

I used to watch a TV show called Due South and, yes, I admit I started watching the show because I thought the main character was cute and because I've always had a thing for Mounties. After an episode or two, I kept watching because I really enjoyed it. (And the main character was still good looking . . .)

Anyway, Benton Fraser (the Mountie) often said this when he met people:

"I first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of my father, and for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture I've remained, attached as liaison with the Canadian Consulate."

For some reason this line has been on my mind lately, mostly for the "for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture" bit. And, of course, when I think, I'm often thinking about writing.

One common complaint about novel beginnings is info dumps. You know, where the character monologues about their entire life up to this point. I think this quote is a good rule of thumb for information to include in a novel beginning. What reasons DO need exploring at that juncture? What things does the reader need to know at that point?

Last night I met with a new critique group for the first time. Two of the four of them questioned my first section, and one of them even asked if I needed it. I put it in for a reason, but now I'm questioning it. Much as I love the section and what it reveals, is it necessary at that juncture?

I guess it's time to get out the knife and go after those darlings, isn't it?

Things I've Learned This Summer

2010-08-20T09:09:00.000-06:00

1. Novels sometimes benefit from you taking time away. Gardens . . . not so much.

Well, not unless you are growing weeds or something. And, let me tell you, I got some spectacular weeds (in addition to the sunflower/bean and voracious pumpkin plant) during that month where I didn't weed it at all.

2. Never leave a three year old alone in the kitchen with a running mixer. Not even for a few seconds.

I was making bread and while it was kneading, I washed the stove and the sink. (See! I do housework sometimes.) I decided it was time to wash the rag and was about to take it down to the washing machine when I hesitated. My 3 year old had been "helping" to make the bread and had been standing on a chair to watch it knead for several minutes. But then I decided he'd been so good and I'd only be gone for a few seconds. So I ran downstairs to the laundry room.

Screams issued from the kitchen. In the few seconds I'd been gone, he decided to make a tower of vitamin bottles and dropped one of them in the bread dough. And the mixer was trying to beat it in. Vitamin enriched bread, anyone?

I had to rescue the bottle and wash it off before he'd believe me that everything was okay.

3. Boys and girls are different.

Yeah, I knew this, but it kept cropping up this summer. Over and over. Things like my daughter coming home from her first swim lesson disappointed that no one told her how cute her new swim suit was. Her teacher was a boy, along with everyone else in the class. As if any of them would say anything!

And another conversation between my son and daughter when we drove past a sky full of paragliders.

Daughter: That looks like fun.
Son: Yeah! If only they had guns too, it would be awesome!

Yeah. Awesome. Paragliders with guns. I shudder at the thought.

4. How to get teenage girls to sleep so you can sleep while sharing a cabin.

Earlier this summer, I spent a week up in the mountains sharing a cabin with 11 teenage girls and 3 other leaders. And the girls Did. Not. Sleep. They giggled and giggled and giggled and then tried to take naps the next day.

(And, yes, I did chase one of them around the cabin to keep her from taking a nap the next afternoon. She proceeded to draw a portrait of me with horns and fiery eyes. And then fell asleep in someone else's bed so I couldn't find her. Argh.)

Anyway, a leader in another cabin is a storyteller by profession. She said she turned out all the lights and then told them stories. She suggested turning out all the lights but my flashlight and reading them stories (I brought several picture books with me). We tried it and it worked so well! They were all asleep immediately.

In case you're ever in a similar situation, trust me, you will want ideas on how to get them to sleep!

5. I should never agree to do anything. I have some weird idea that I am awesome and can do way more than I think I can do. And then I fall short and feel terrible. Sorry to anyone I've promised something to and then not followed through on.

6. Find a hairstylist you like and then trust her (or his) judgment.

And that's probably enough said about that. Except, being me, I always have a story and just can't stop talking. So I'll say that the lady who cuts my hair is married to my high school biology teacher. She teaches at a local beauty school, but also has a salon in her house and I still feel silly going to "my teacher's" house.

But at the same time, it's amusing to remember when they got married and his style went from completely mismatched to pretty stylish. We all (meaning the girls--because boys and girls are different) got a good laugh about that in high school.

7. Construction is inevitable.

The main topic in our neck of the woods is how much we hate the construction. It's bad. I took the kids to back to school night last night and discovered that, to take them to school on Monday, our path is going to look a lot like those Family Circus cartoons--the ones where the kid could have taken a direct path, but didn't. Except in our case, we can't take a direct path. Because they've torn up all the roads. Everywhere.

I so wish I was exaggerating about that, but one of my kids asked recently, "Mom, what are we going to do if they destroy the entire world?"

I was preparing for a zombie apocalypse, but it turns out that I should have worried about a construction workers apocalypse. So I ask: are you prepared? Are you ready for the construction workers to come to YOUR neighborhood?

Adventures in Gardening

2010-08-17T08:23:00.000-06:00

I planted a garden this summer. It's the first year we've had a garden since we were married. We tried last year, but the plants didn't survive the late snowfall. This year we actually have plants!

We do have one surprise, though. I planted green beans, but only one plant in that row grew, much to my disappointment. And it didn't look quite right. I let it grow anyway, just to see. It's been a long time since I grew beans, so maybe I just didn't remember what they looked like . . .

Yeah, it's a sunflower, not a bean. Seriously. One of those huge "I am going to devour you because my flower is bigger than your head" sunflowers. Am I the only person who plants beans and gets sunflowers? Whatever happened to that whole "reaping what you sow" business?

I also bought a little pumpkin plant for the garden, naively thinking we'd get a little pumpkin or two for the kids from our darling little pumpkin plant. I've never grown pumpkins before and for some reason thought they grew to, oh, three feet in diameter. No, no, pumpkin plants are enormous. The thing stretches from one end of the garden to the other and drapes over the sides (we live on a hill and our garden is terraced above the yard). I think the plant has also eaten some of the other plants, like the Swiss chard, because I can't see some of them anymore when I look out the window. It's time to wage war against it, but I have to confess, I'm rather afraid of it. It grows inches every day and, well, would my neighbors think I was crazy if I gardened with a sword?

Why I Decided to Write

2010-08-03T15:23:00.000-06:00

I didn't always want to be a writer. Oh, sure, those writing assignments in high school were always my favorite. Even now, all these years later, I can still remember in freshman English, Mr. Williams had a numbered list for setting, the character's occupation and a personality trait. We chose three numbers and then based our stories on what he told us. I ended up writing about a meticulous homeless person in an aerobics class. Oh, what fun I had writing that!

But I didn't want to be a writer. I was going to be a doctor and I did everything I possibly could do that related to science. And then it came time to register for classes as a freshman in college and I felt like it was the wrong path for me.

And so I floundered around a bit, changed majors far too many times, and eventually graduated. And then I had to find a job. I ended up getting hired to do dental research because I knew how to use a scanning electron microscope. (Hooray for the extra-curricular activities in high school!) One of my coworkers was also a voracious reader and I loaned her my copy of Die For Love by Elizabeth Peters.

In this novel, the main character (after solving a crime at a romance writers convention) decides she needs to write bodice rippers. My friend and I were discussing this as we washed dishes in her microbiology department (because being a scientist is almost as glamorous as being a stay-at-home mother) and somehow she came to the conclusion that my calling in life was to write bodice rippers. So to bug her, I started writing a romance novel where the main character had her name, which she found suitably appalling. Anyway, the joke was on me because I started writing and got hooked. I loved it and I didn't want to stop.

(And for the record, it was a very tame romance novel and nothing at all like a bodice ripper. The characters kissed. Three times, I think. Scandalous, I know.)

What about you? What led you to where you are in your life? What made you decide to become a writer?

Book Review: The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

2010-07-27T15:14:00.000-06:00

You know when you read a book and it just blows you away and you can't stop thinking about it and you just want everyone to read it so you can rave about it together? Yeah, this was one of those books for me.

The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

Excerpt:

Gerald lifted a hand and the lid of a bin rose and spun in midair like a ninja’s star, missing one of the boys by an inch and striking sparks off the wall.

“Funny how these freak winds happen,” he observed in his friendly way.

The boy who the bin lid had almost hit took several steps back. Gerald gestured easily and the lid rose again, quivering in the air.

A slow, small creak came from the darkest corner of the alley. Even the boy being menaced by the airborne bin lid turned his head to see the rusty old drainpipe peeling itself from the wall.

The bin lid was pinwheeling in the air now, a blur of silver. The drainpipe was bowing toward them, tall and thin, looming out of the night like a spindly, starving giant who had finally spotted food.

Gerald laughed indulgently as if he was showing them all a trick, as if he’d just produced doves from his sleeve rather than killer drainpipes.

“Run,” he suggested.

Review:

This book is the second in a trilogy. I enjoyed the first one, and this one took all the great things from The Demon's Lexicon and made them better.

What can I say? I laughed. I cried. (Although the latter may or may not have been the cold medication . . .) Mostly, I couldn't put it down. And when I finished, I sat my husband down and proceeded to tell him everything I loved about it. He was thrilled. Or something.

A friend recently said to me, "You read books for the relationships, don't you?"

Yes. Yes, I do. And this was a terrific exploration of relationships with characters that I absolutely love. Not just romantic relationships, but all kinds. Parent-child, sibling, friend. And, okay, there's lots of romance in there too.

But, seriously, I loved what Sarah Rees Brennan did with POV's in this series. The Demon's Lexicon (book 1) was told from Nick's point of view and The Demon's Covenant (book 2) was told from Mae's point of view. In both books, I'm amazed by how much I love all the characters when seen from the POV of someone else.

So, if you're in the mood for something dark and gripping, give this series a try.

Characters We Love to Hate and Why I Struggle to Write Them

2010-07-23T08:00:00.006-06:00

A couple people commented earlier this week about characters that they loved hating. This is actually a rather sensitive topic for me, so I thought I'd blog about it and you could tell me to stop being silly.

See, when I first started writing, I joined a writer's group. I knew nothing about picking a writer's group and just started attending one that a friend went to. They were all older than I was, had been writing longer than me, were louder than I was, and therefore their opinion was more valuable than mine.

I started working on a novel with a brat for a main character. It was based off of a fairy tale and the girl was supposed to be awful, but learned her lesson over the course of the story. I had SO much fun writing her. It just made me happy to delve into that obnoxious side of me.

Then I brought it to critique group. And they trashed it. No one said anything positive about it, they just told me how horrible she was and how you could never have a main character like that and I had to change it because it was just plain awful. Awful, awful, awful.

This was my first experience with critiquing and I was devastated.

I went home and ripped my story apart. I changed the main character into the most milk-soppy person you never wanted to meet and went from there.

I learned a lot writing that story, but I never loved it like I did with the first main character and it will never again see the light of day. Which is probably good.

The thing that really got to me was that a couple months after I changed the main character, one of the guys in the group--one of the quieter ones--looked at me and said, "Why did you change your main character?"

I shrugged and said it was because everyone hated her.

Then he said something I've never forgotten: "But I loved hating her."

(This was the first in a very long string of lessons to try to teach me not to listen to everyone's advice. But that's another story.)

Now, I can understand not wanting the POV character to be completely dreadful, but that whole experience is still haunting me. My current WIP is full of selfish, stupid, crazy people. Who is going to want to read this? Do you really enjoy reading about characters you love to hate? Who are some of your favorite characters that you hated?

Just so you know...

2010-07-22T19:52:00.002-06:00

I write like
Oscar Wilde

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Falling In Love

2010-07-21T08:00:00.067-06:00

In my last post, I talked about the importance of character in hooking readers. But what makes a reader fall in love with a character? Here are some suggestions I've heard over the years:

1. Show them doing something altruistic. I went to a writing conference with Brandon Sanderson a couple years ago and he told us that we could always tell what character we should like by how they treated the dog. If they petted it, we should like them. If they kicked it, though, we should be wary.

Of course, the dog bit makes me think of The Young Victoria. We first see Sir John petting the dog and then, as his true colors are revealed, we see him kick the dog out of a fit of temper.

In any case, the first time I fell in love with Katniss from The Hunger Games was when she volunteered to take Prim's place. That's a powerful moment. And, if you haven't read The Hunger Games, you should.

2. Show something that the character loves, but can't have. In the movie She's the Man--which is an amusing take on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night--the main character loves soccer more than anything. And the girls' team is cut.

Pretty much everything that happens in this movie comes as a result of her desire to play soccer when she doesn't have a team anymore.

3. Have a character that readers want to be friends with.

I love opening a book and feeling an immediate connection with the main character. The most recent example of this is Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins.

I was immediately pulled in by the character's voice. She was frank, funny, and, yes, I stayed up far too late reading it. There was an incident where I hid out in the bathroom giggling over it, but perhaps it's best not to talk about that.

4. Make the character attractive. This doesn't refer to just physical attractiveness, though. To me, it's much more interesting if the attractiveness comes from their personality.

For example--this time a real life one--my kids are taking swim lessons right now. Their teacher is a teenage boy who is, I'd say, average looking. Nothing to really drool over, but not repulsive. But watching him and the way he pays attention to the kids, encourages them, and listens to and answers ALL of their questions (which, as a stay-at-home mom, I'm really impressed by), he's a lot more attractive than I originally thought. And that kind of attractiveness is a lot more interesting than the slobber inducing kind. A lot less wet, too. Well, apart from the fact that he teaches swim lessons, but whatever.

The best example from a book that I can think of is Kent from Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn.

What about you? Do you have any suggestions for making a character appealing for a reader?

The Importance of Character

2010-07-19T14:01:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, my husband and I went to see Inception.

Amazing movie. I left the theater wanting to see it again. Immediately. Plus, it has one of the coolest fight scenes ever. I have to admit, it took me a while to figure out what was going on. But that didn't matter to me because I'd already been hooked and was willing to go with it.

What hooked me? The characters.

(For those of you who have seen it and want to know the exact moment I was hooked, it was the phone call between Cobb, Phillipa, and James.)

Something I've realized about myself is that I'm much more willing to go through a story with a character I love even if the plot isn't as strong as I'd like (which was not the case with Inception, just so you know--the plot was fascinating as well) than I am willing to go through a great story with someone I don't like.

I like to look at movies to see what they do to make me fall in love with a character because movies can't fall back on explaining things. They have to show it. If they try to tell me why I should love the character, it doesn't work. Of course, it's much harder to show a reader why they should love a character than it is to show the same thing in a movie. But that's what makes writing so much more fun, right?

So, what about you? What makes you fall in love with a character?

Writing and Camping

2010-07-06T12:49:00.000-06:00

I spent several days last week holed up in a one room cabin with eleven girls between the ages of 12 and 16, along with three other leaders. Crazy as it sounds (and minor drama episodes aside), we had a really great time. I even enjoyed climbing up a rope ladder, running across a suspension bridge, and jumping off.

I should mention that I don't like heights. I really, really don't like heights. I even get vertigo going down stairs sometimes, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Even if I do look convinced that I'm going to die in the picture. Which I was. But I was also entertained by the idea, planted by the missionaries running the high course, that we were being chased by a huge gorilla, because that's what happens in the movies.

And, whew, I made it safely away from the gorilla.

Between running from imaginary gorillas and then chasing one of our girls around the cabin (so she wouldn't take a nap and stay up all night...again...laughing at nothing), I did have a few minutes to work on my novel. I knew I couldn't have a laptop at camp, so I did sometime I've never tried before and printed it out.

(I haven't done it before because I don't like "wasting" so much paper.)

As far as revising goes, printing it out is The Best Thing I've ever done. Seriously. Looking at the printed word is very different from looking at a screen, and I am a lot more critical of printed words. I didn't make it through more than 20 pages, but I have ideas how to fix the issues in those pages, especially where it drags. I hadn't even noticed the dragging until I had it printed and I could see how many pages were spent on my main character wandering aimlessly alone by herself again and again and again.

Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it can be better--lots better--and I can see that now.

I know everyone else has probably already figured this out, but if you haven't tried printing out your WIP to edit it, I highly recommend it. You can even print it it out back-to-back, two pages per side to save paper, but try it. Believe it or not, it'll be almost as much fun as running across bridges while you're chased by rabid gorillas.

Being a True Princess

2010-06-24T11:30:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I accompanied a group of True Princesses on their perilous quest to defeat the evil Snow Queen and her three sisters and restore peace to Cinderella and her prince's kingdom.

First, we vanquished Spring by helping her "grow" flowers (after, of course, she kindly released Aladdin and, um, the other prince, who were trapped in her tangled vines).

After Spring, the True Princesses fought Summer and convinced her that princesses were nice to people. The Princesses said the magic words and the beast and the mermaid became human again.

Then came the Autumn Robber. And, really, can you get a cooler name than that? Plus, she had a sword, which always makes things more fun.

And then the girls faced the evil Snow Queen. Fear and ice filled the air as the battle raged. Or possibly it might have had it not been, you know, June in a desert. Anyway . . . Fortunately for our heroines, the various princes and princesses the girls met on their quest were there to help and, in the end, the Snow Queen was convinced of her erring ways and decided to be good again.

Ah, I love a happy ending, don't you?

(And, as a bit of trivia, the Snow Queen was played by the daughter of Janette Rallison, who is one of my favorite YA authors. Her books make me laugh and have happy endings. At least most of the time.)

This quest was part of The Princess Festival, a fundraiser for a local charity. My sister and I took our girls and they had lots of fun. In addition to the quest, they got to play crocodile tag with Peter, Tinker Bell, and Wendy--after "flying" through the clouds to Neverland. See the clouds? And the crocodile hiding under the bridge?

There was also a rousing game of Captain Hook says, played with... Captain Hook! (Are you surprised?) There was a pretend tea party with the Wonderland gang and a treasure hunt for the girls, which ended with a prince trying the slipper on their foot and pronouncing them a True Princess. My daughter was thrilled to hear that she's a True Princess and has informed everyone of that fact.

Anyway, this is a girls only event, but I highly recommend it--even if only to see the house and grounds that the festival was hosted at! Really and truly amazing!

What Happened

2010-06-21T13:56:00.000-06:00

Contrary to what you might be thinking, no, I have not been eaten by sharks.

Although if I had to be eaten by sharks, this giant prehistoric one would be a much more interesting way to go that the normal run-of-the-mill kind of shark. Although, really, I'd rather not be devoured at all, not even by something as painless as summer vacation. Which is what actually happened to me. And my deciding that we weren't going to laze around every day and do nothing didn't help things. Silly me--what was I thinking???

So between chores, museum visits, spur of the moment family vacations, birthdays, writer's conferences, and Arabic lessons, life has been a little crazy. I haven't had time to write, much less blog about writing. I wish I could promise to be better, but since I'm going to be leaving on Monday to spend a week holed up in the mountains with teenage girls as one of their "leaders," (me, who grew up in a house where "camping" consisted of setting up a tent in the backyard or even the basement--hey, I lived in Montana for years and some of my earliest 4th of July memories involve snow) the blogging probably isn't going to be as frequent as I might want it to be.

And moving on...

I spent the last week at a conference called For Young Readers and had a great time. I was in a workshop with Brandon Mull and I have to say that I'm really impressed with him, not just as a writer, but as a person. Our entire workshop was full of wonderful people and we had a great time together (although some of us might not look like it in the picture).

I'm in the front (aka, the short) row, second in from the left in the purple and black shirt and jeans. Surprisingly enough, my eyes are actually open, which rarely happens in pictures.

I also have to say that one of my favorite moments was when my friend Joel (in the back row wearing glasses and standing next to Brandon) walked out of the women's bathroom, glanced sheepishly at the group of girls standing in the hallway and said, "Oops." He then went in the correct place. Yeah, apparently going in the wrong bathroom as an adult still gets you as much mocking as it would when you're a kid.

There were a few things I learned at the conference that really opened my eyes and made me think about things differently. One of them came from Alane Ferguson as she was doing a flash critique of first pages during one of the break out sessions. She said that, once you've picked a metaphor, you need to stick with it. For example, if you're comparing something to fire, stick with fire terms, like lit, burn, or what have you. But once you've picked fire, you can't start using water terms, like wading. I had never thought of things in that way before. So there you go.

It's been a few days since the conference and I'm still going through withdrawals/recovery. It's amazing that something so mentally exhausting can be missed so much.

And now I should probably go put to use all of the great suggestions from last week and start revising my story before girls' camp next week makes me forget everything I learned.

Point of View

2010-05-26T09:21:00.000-06:00

I meant to blog about this earlier in the week, but it didn't happen. For one thing, our dishwasher decided to self-destruct. Even I, as non-technologically minded as I am, know that billowing smoke from a dishwasher is a BAD thing.

And, of course, this happened right after having neighbors over for dinner in an attempt to prove to ourselves that we are not, in fact, completely anti-social.

Anyway, there was substantial time and effort spent in purchasing a replacement for the burnt out appliance. And trying to get rid of the smell.

(Note to self: buy more candles.)

I've been thinking a lot about point of view lately, mostly because I'm not sure what I want the POV to be in the novel I'm working on. Right now it's in multiple, third person. Should I change it to first person? Single POV? I just don't know. So I've been thinking about it and looking at the books I'm reading to see what works and what doesn't.

Most of the time when I'm reading, I don't pay too much attention to the POV unless it bothers me, like spending time in the head of a character that I don't care for. Recently I read The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.

This story is told in 3rd person from Nick's point of view. I thought the author did a remarkable job of showing what everyone felt through Nick's eyes, often without Nick even understanding them. Or even understanding what he himself was feeling.

Like the following:

Nick turned his gaze from the window to Alan.

"This is different," he said. "This is you."

Alan looked terribly pleased for a moment, and Nick realized that his brother had taken this as one of the ridiculous, sappy things Alan was used to saying all the time. Nick had only meant what he'd said. It had never been his brother before.

It's pretty apparent, though, that Nick really does mean it the way that Alan interprets it, he just doesn't know it.

I love the dynamics between the characters in the book, but it wouldn't have had nearly the impact if it hadn't been shown through Nick's VERY unique viewpoint instead of the other characters. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who might want to read it, so I won't say anything else about it.

But now the question is: how do you know what POV is best? Any suggestions?