Words, Gotta Love 'Em

Okay, so I think my friend Heather really hates me. She's always finding these cool things that take up my time. I think she knows deep down that she's going to addict me to yet another thing on the Internet...and she's cackling to herself in a deep voice, "Mwa-ha-ha!"

I can just hear her.

Because she posted the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. That may reveal how unexciting my life is, but I'm okay with that.

It's called Wordle. It's awesome. It creates word clouds with blocks of text you paste in. I pasted in my synopsis for my work in progress, once titled Shadows, now re-titled as The Mirror. Or something. I don't really have a title right now, let's just say that.

But, seriously. How cool it this? C-O-O-L, I know. You should try it out, too. Wordle. Create. Play. Post. Awe-some.




You can see a bigger, cleaner version in the Wordle gallery.

Revisions

I've been waiting for my turn in the blog chain before I posted again, but it looks like it's going to be a few more days. I'm relieved, actually, because I have nothing of value to add--yet. I keep thinking that something awesome is going to hit me. Hopefully, it will be something about writing, and not something like, I don't know, a car or a bus or something. We'll see.

So I've been thinking a lot this week. More than my usual quota of deep thoughts. :D It's time to revise ye olde manuscript again. Just when you think you've got something good, you realize you really don't. I received a great suggestion this week, something I knew needed addressing, but didn't quite know how to address.

Thus, the thinking. I couldn't work on the revisions, because I didn't know how. So I thought and thought and thought about how I could make the revisions without rewriting everything. I can't. Part of the story is going to be lost, well, at least lost to the reader. Of course, I have the original on my computer. But after all the driving and thinking, eating and thinking, making dinner and thinking, I finally concluded that the suggested revisions are A) necessary, B) worthwhile, and C) an incredible amount of work.

So I rolled up my sleeves and tackled the project. The first thing I did was make a spreadsheet where I could write in word counts, POV, and a snippet of the plot for each chapter. I methodically went through the manuscript filling out the sheet with title chapters (yes, they change and I don't fix it), word count for each chapter, each point of view character, and the plot and sub-plots. I could immediately see why the revisions were suggested. I could see places to cut, things that weren't necessary. But I still didn't know how to do what needed to be done.

Several hours of stewage later, I decided that the only way to make the manuscript better was to rip it apart and attempt to put it back together again. And it hurt. A lot. I started yesterday and each scene gets copied and pasted into a new document. Analyzed. More thinking. Stewage over a grape soda or a popsicle, depending on my mood. Then some rewriting. Major rewriting.

I made it to chapter three. Whew, only thirty-three more to go. If I can keep up the pace, this should only take me eleven days...yeah, right. It took me five just to get started, so I'm sure it will be a lot longer than that. Hopefully, every minute will be worth it in the end.

Reading: SABRIEL by Garth Nix.

Freed Up To Write

Finding time to write is one of the things that I think all writers struggle with.  For me, it's been pretty easy--until now.  I have a three-day weekend every weekend, I don't work in the summer, and my husband pretty much lets me do what I want.  So since I started writing, I've been glued to the laptop.  But I've realized that writing can't be the only thing I ever do. So I've been managing my time a little better, and keeping my house cleaner, and making dinner more.  

All of which cuts into the time I used to spend writing or editing. I've come up with some solutions that don't take away from my responsibilities as a wife and mother.  

1.  I write during my 30-minute lunch. I may only get in a few paragraphs, but at least it's something.

2.  I check my email and chat boards as soon as I get home.  My son isn't home from school yet, and my daughter can usually eat a snack and watch a cartoon during this time.  Once my son is home, the computer goes away so I can spend time with the kids.

3.  I write/edit/whatever after my kids go to bed.  That's around 9, and by 10 or so I'm dead tired.  I force myself to stay up a little bit if I have a good vibe, but I pay for it the next day.

4. I haven't volunteered to read someone else's work for about a month.  The time I spend reading and critiquing their work is time away from mine--and from my family. So I've cut down on that.  I still have a couple from a long time ago that need to be done, but they'll have to be in bits and pieces.  I have to keep up on my critique groups and I sometimes do those during lunch, too.

So all in all, I've cut my computer time by several hours each day, but I think I've managed to find a balance between writing and real life.  I haven't been able to meet my goal of 1000 words a day for quite a while, but in the long run, it doesn't matter. I'm still writing every day and that's what counts. 

Critique Groups

So I figured out how to insert Yahoo! emoticons into blogger. Gah. It took me a couple of hours, but it's sweet!



And yes, now you all know how big of a geek I am.

<---And this is for the troops all over the world working to keep the disaster that happened seven years ago from happening again. To my email buddy, Sergeant Joshua Hammerling, currently stationed in the Philippines, thank you.


That aside, I've been thinking a lot about critique groups lately. Are they worth it? What if the advice isn't that good? Does my work really need to be critiqued?

I've been in a "live" critique group for five months now. We meet every other Thursday and critique the next segment in our novels. It's fun. I have a good time. And when two or three of them say the same thing, I know I have some work to do. I appreciate their insight, their fresh eyes. And we've become friends over the five months.

I've also been a member of online critique groups. My first one brought me down, and my heart would pound every time I posted. I just knew it was going to be ridiculed and torn to shreds. I ended up leaving, but it taught me one thing--how to have a thick skin. And that's essential in the publishing world. So I thank them for that.

I'm still in an online critique group. The people are fabulous, a couple of them actually write in my genre and their advice is invaluable. The best part: they're honest without being snarky about it. So I've come to the conclusion that critique groups are good--if you can find one that is filled with like-minded people. To me, that's people who care about good writing, helping others without expecting anything in return, and improving their own craft as well as yours.

My live crit group is fantastic. I love them all. My online crit group have become my support through good writing, not-so-good writing, personal drama, and most of all they make being in a critique group worthwhile.

Crit on!

Reading: STORM FRONT by Jim Butcher (The man can write!)

On The Blog Chain - How Real Are Your Characters?

It's time for the blog chain again. It's my turn in the rotation. I'm pretty late in the round and you can follow the chain from the beginning by going to Leah's blog. The Astute Abi posted just before me, and the Creative Cole is next. All of the amazing blog chain gang links can be found in my sidebar.

The topic for this chain is: How real do your characters become? Are your characters real people to you? How much do you really know about them?

I had an interesting conversation with my sister-in-law early in the writing process of my first novel. I was telling her about the main character, and I suppose I was a little over-excited about him. She interrupted me and said, "You act like this person is real."

I didn't know what to say. I was shocked she didn't realize he was real. At least to me. And I'm hoping that he will become real to others as they read the book, too. I think that's the ultimate goal as an author—to create characters readers can't stop thinking about. And to do that, you have to evoke an inner emotion. So I start with the inside of my characters, and work my way out.

As I think about the story I want to write, a character develops in order to grow and change during the tale. I know how they would react to other characters, situations, and dilemmas. I know their past and future, even if they don't. I know what they want, even if I don't always give it to them. I understand why their story is being told, their deepest desires, and their heartache when they can't have what they desire most. I may not know if they enjoy snow skiing, but I know why they need to tell their story, and what drives them to do the things they do.

So much of what I know about my characters doesn't even make it into the story, but has formed them into the character they are. If there's something I need to know about a character at a particular place and time, I think about what I already know about that character, and make sure whatever I invent for them is consistent with who they are.

When I write, I watch the story like a movie, the characters telling me what they feel, want, and need. Just as in movies—or real life—my characters don't always know everything about each other. But I do. I feed the reader, and the other characters, little bits of information they need at the moment to move the story along.

To sum it up, I know my characters from the inside out. In the beginning it doesn't matter what they look like, their favorite food, or if they wear glasses. I start with characters that need something, want something so badly they're willing to die for it, or just have a deep desire to love fiercely. I believe those inner feelings and desires are what make characters real. To me, and to everyone who loves to read.

Don't forget! Cole is next! Check out her thoughts on characters.

Movies From Books

Status of my Life: In Between. Really. That's a city in my WiP.


I love Harry Potter. I really do. I was super excited for the movie to come out right around Thanksgiving. And now it's been moved. *sigh* I guess I can wait until next summer to see the next installment. But, man I was disappointed.

My only consolation is that Twilight was moved up in it's release date. Although my birthday is on December 11, and it would have been wicked cool to see the movie the next day as my present. *double sigh* But seeing it just before Thanksgiving will be good, too.

There are a couple of other movies-made-from-books I'm looking forward to. The Tale of Despereaux comes out on December 19, and Inkheart starring Brendan Fraser comes out on January 9. So I guess I have something to keep me entertained while I pine for Harry. :D

Reading: A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Libba Bray. Still. It's great, but the reading time's been on the low end for a while.

Buying Books

There's nothing better than buying books. Nothing.

My husband and I went to the BYU bookstore today and bought four new books! I love getting new books. We bought the second book in the Cronus Chronicles by Anne Ursu, The Siren Song. I'm going to start that one first. A lover of anything Nancy Farmer writes, I bought The House of the Scorpion. My husband's already claimed that one. The next two will be brand new for both of us. Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening by Michael Carroll and The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. They are both the first in a series and I'll see if I like them enough to buy the next in the series.

There were so many more books I wanted. Like Libba Bray's Rebel Angels, the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty. But I decided I better finish the first one before I buy the second one. I wanted Ninth Grade Slays by Heather Brewer, but they didn't have it. Nor did they have Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr. Oh, and The Final Warning by James Patterson. They had that one, but it was hardback, and expensive, and I already had four I was dying to have...so I didn't get that one either.

Reading: THE SIREN SONG by Anne Ursu

Which Character Are You?

Status of my Life: Trying to even out my real life with my virtual life. It's a challenge. Busy working on my novel, Placeholders. Still waiting on submissions and queries. Life is fun when it's busy!


One of my friends, Kristal Shaff, had this quiz on her blog about which Austen heroine I might be. So I took it. And I'm:

Take the Quiz here!

Like I know what that means. But it was kind of fun! This is what the results said: "You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see."

I guess. All right, it's totally dead on. Gosh! (Imagine the Napoleon Dynamite version of that word. :))

Reading: TREASURED LIES by Michelle McLean

Excited about ELITE

Status of my Life: I love my day off. After the house is cleaned, and my daughter is in bed, I get to write! It's a beautiful thing.


I've been getting a lot of feedback on my novel, ELITE. I must admit that I haven't changed a single thing--yet. I've been so busy editing and querying on SHADOWS that I haven't had time. But today, I'm going to devote a couple of hours to combing through the critiques and editing ELITE. Then I'm going to read a dear friend's manuscript and then I'm going to write some more of PLACEHOLDERS. I think I can do all that and still get dinner on the table.

What time is it? Only noon. No problem! Did I mention I loved my day off? Yes? Well, okay. Oh, and I'm getting my muse on by listening to David Archuleta's new song "Crush." Total YA romance song...thanks DA!

Reading: Just went to the library and got STORM FRONT by Jim Butcher, so I'm going to start that today or tomorrow.

Placeholders:

27996 / 60000 words. 41% done!

Word Count Widget

Okay, so I'm going to try to post a cool word count cartoon. You can get one here.

I started a new project, well, okay, I molded it from a story I started a couple of months ago. But that story sputtered to an end, and I introduced a new character into it and now it's really taken off. It's called Placeholders, and I've been writing like crazy this week as the story is really speaking to me. Like really, really.



I can't believe I did it! And it only took me 30 minutes of searching on the Internet to find a word count widget that wasn't related to NaNo. Hallelujah! And you can change the little potato-guy to do different things. It's pretty funny. I'll post every once in a while and have him do different things. I'm sure you'll all be riveted to your seats...haha!


Here's another one:

24669 / 60000 words. 41% done!

But I like the cartoon better. You can get the NaNo one here. I like pink, and you can make it any color you want. That's cool.

Reading: MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS by James Patterson.

Sick and Tired

Status of my Life: I made it through the first week of school. And my voices are back, so I've been writing like crazy when I get home from teaching. I've done between 2 and 3 thousand words every afternoon this week. I love hearing voices!


I've had a great week, but I'm so sick. And tired. It's hard getting up to an alarm, getting everyone ready and out of the house by 8, and then working--all when you're not used to doing it. Once I get back into the groove, everything will be like buttah.

I've loved reading the blog chain as it's progressed, so if you haven't been following along on how all my writerly buddies get their mojo on, you should.

I'm glad to say that I found another character to badger. I've been so focused on Jon for so long (and then the voices stopped) that I was worried he was the only one worth writing about. I've had little snippets of a character come to me, and I've written those down in a notebook. But now I've really got someone talking and boy, once he started, he won't shut up! I just wish I could sit down and write the whole thing out uber-fast. I have a general idea of what's going to happen, but it's all coming together too easily, so I'm trying to find something to torture my "voice" with.

And I think I found it yesterday. It's actually another person. Inside another person. Yup, it's a possession story, not really ghosts, but more like spirits and reincarnation. I love stuff like that. Creepy, but not too creepy. Possible, but really not. A little romance, a little ghostly twist, a nasty Re-Entry examiner, what could be better?

Maybe landing an agent and getting published. Yeah, that would definitely be better!

Reading: THE DOOR TO TIME (ULYSSES MOORE) by Pierdomenico Baccalario

Back to Real Life

Status of my Life: I finished another edit of SHADOWS. And I finally wrote something new yesterday. Going back to work threw me all out of wack, and I didn't have anyone talking because I had so many other things clouding my mind. But yesterday (my day off) I finally heard them again and I was able to write 1800 words in a new novel I started a while ago and am now changing up a little bit. After about a week, that's relief.


So yeah. School's starting again. It's usually only bad until October. By then I have the little darlings all trained up and things run smoothly. But the next six weeks...yikes.

And that means that I'm going to have to be more scheduled with my time. I've set a bedtime of 11 PM and I'm going to try to focus on writing from 9-11 every night. I'm sure I'll get sucked into the black abyss of my writing forums, but I'm really going to try not to get too...sucky. We'll see how that goes.

My son is back in school, and scouts, and piano and that means time running him around to his thousands of activities. Time to get the notebook back in the purse so while I'm waiting for him, I can write.

Real life isn't sooo bad, it's just getting back into it.

Reading: THE DARK IS RISING by Susan Cooper

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Okay, so it's my turn to start in the blog chain. Archetype on QT had a good idea about blog topics: questions we want to ask other authors. Since I'm always interested in finding out how people come up with their ideas, I thought I'd start with that question.

You can find the other posts in this chain at Trying to Do the Write Thing. And we have some new bloggers in the chain, so check out the sidebar and follow the links!

Question: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

My Answer (Warning - I tend to ramble and be long-winded. Maybe that's why all my "short" stories turn into novels. Or why my word count balloons out of control...You've been warned.): I don't have dreams like some people. I wish I did. No, I stay up too late and get up too early. By the time my head hits the pillow, I'm out. Like, really out. I'm sure I dream (at least my husband says everyone does - Heather?), but I don't remember any of them. And the ones I used to remember, weren't interesting.

For me, the real place I get my ideas is from the characters in my weird and warped mind. My book, SHADOWS, came about because I wanted to write something urban fantasy, and I thought it would be cool to have a realm that existed alongside "the living." So Jon was "born" as a Shadow, existing between life and death, seeing and hearing the living, but unable to touch them. From there, it was a lot of work. I wrote what's now chapter 29 first. Yeah, starting at the beginning just doesn't work for me. Then I had to think and think and think of how to get him to chapter 29.

There was no dream. I needed more characters, more voices urging me in my head to tell their story alongside Jon's.

So I started paying attention to names I'd hear on TV, the radio, or in conversation. If there was one that struck a chord with me, I'd jot it down. I have pages of names, most of them illegible, but there you go. Sometimes that was enough to spark an idea for a character that could help me get to chapter 29. My favorite show for weird names is American Gladiators--and I have a book that uses odd, somewhat futuristic names, so I sat glued to the TV with pen in hand.

I teach school, so I took the physical characteristics of students and used them in my characters in my books. I asked boys what they like to do when they're not at school. I paid attention to what games they liked to play in the computer lab. (Cars, dinosaurs, and shooting, in case you care.)

For me, once a character was born, they wouldn't shut up in my head. Even though I tried to torture them into silence, they still shouted for their story to be written. It gives whole new meaning to "I hear voices."

Because I really do.

So for me, my ideas are born along with the characters that "live" in that book. Without them, I wouldn't be a writer.

Where do you get your ideas? Let me know! And check out the other posts in the blog chain!

Querying is Hard

Status of my Life: I started querying agents on July 15. So almost a month in, and I'm on edge every time I check the email or mailbox. So not good for the heart. But I've finished something I was working hard on and started on a new project. Brainstorming is usually fun, and this time is no different.


Querying agents is hard work--almost a full-time job. Since my "real job" is starting again soon (I teach elementary school), I decided to move up my estimated query date of September 15. I started a couple of months early.

I use an excellent tracking system at querytracker.net to find agents, see their stats for requests, other's experiences, and add them to my list. It keeps track of when I sent the query, by what method, notes I have on the agent, when they responded, when I submitted requested material, everything! If you haven't signed up, you so should--it's free! I started with five agents. Researched. Carefully crafted my emails and letters. Affixed postage or hit send. All the while I needed a popscicle I was sweating so bad. Then I got a little braver and sent out some more. Over the past month or so, I've sent 30. And my heart flutters a little more every time. I might need a defibrilator soon.

I've received several rejections, a couple of exciting requests, and even bought a new printer. It's a long road, filled with palpitations, but I'm going to persevere.

I can haz agent? Maybe someday. Maybe someday.

Reading: THE EMISSARY by Kristal Shaff

Blog Chain - Genres

To genre or not to genre. That is the question for this week. The first post in this chain can be found here. And I believe the next one will be here soon. Maybe. Looks like Leah's moving, so we might have to switch up the order a bit. Check this one too.


Anyway, on to genres. I'm not really sure what to say. I read--and therefore write--to escape my real life. Thus, I don't want to read--or write--anything that could actually happen in real life. To me, that's boring. That's what I do everyday, what I see on the news, what has happened to people I know or someone I see on Oprah.


So my genres of choice are speculative fiction in almost any capacity. Urban fantasy is my absolute favorite. It's not real, but really close. It COULD happen (I swear I've seen a golden snitch around my place...), but it really couldn't. I love that. It provides an escape from my life that doesn't take me too far.

I also adore science fiction. I think the first novel I read in this genre was Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I loved that novel and the whole series. It also helps that I've met the man, and he's a genius. Even if he does wear socks with sandals. hehe. I'm not a huge fan of "hard" sci fi, although that's what EG is. I'm not into going too far away, and outer space seems pretty far to me. I'm a lover of dystopian SF like Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. In the future, but not too far. Sort of like our society, but not quite. It could happen, but really couldn't. Yes, that's what I like.


I recently found the subgenres of steampunk and cyberpunk. I just like typing and saying those words. Anything with "punk" really. I wrote a short story for a contest that was cyberpunk. You should check them out if you like speculative fiction. I can't think of any titles right now in these genres.


One last word. Those of you who know me at all, know I only read for pleasure (if that wasn't obvious already from this post, well then...). I'm a completely shallow person. I don't like non-fiction (sorry Archetype!) of any kind and only read it if forced. I don't read adult novels. Too serious. I stick to middle grade and young adult speculative fiction. Love it. Need it. Read it. Write it.

Reading: EIGHTH GRADE SUCKS by Heather Brewer