Kick in the Pants

February 1, 2010 at 12:47 am (Process)

And much-needed too!

Review Fuse has proven to be the perfect tool for me at the moment. Of course, I’m awfully new to the whole process, but still, I am enthusiastic.

I provided six reviews this week. It was remarkably enjoyable working with words that weren’t mine. The wholes were glaring, from my displaced vantage point, and suggestions came easily. Even the pieces that were not in my genre (either for reading or writing!) taught me something about creativity and the inner workings of the human mind (the writer’s if nothing else).

I then offered my own humble contribution. Great Googily Moogily! They did not laught me off the stage. They did not pat me on the head and say, “good stuff’ either.

They made helpful suggestions, honest criticisms, reassuring observations, and lots of encouragement.

My long-hibernating work in progress is progressing once again. This should be a fun week in the writing world! Assuming my two year old doesn’t succeed in ditching her nap…

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Unearthing my Inner Critic

January 28, 2010 at 2:40 am (Process, Random Bits, Uncategorized)
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You may or may not have noticed, you mythyical readers (plus one ;0), that I am remarkably pollyanna-ish for a terribly angsty person.

What I mean is, while I can be terrible down on my own performance from time to time, I tend to unabashedly love the world and work I see around me.

I’m a terrible critic. And that is a terrible trait for a writer. How does one begin to edit something if one has not experience with constructive criticism?

Well I haven’t had much luck editing my work thus far, and I’m beginning to blame it on my instinct to avoid all things critical.

To remedy this, I signed on with Review Fuse, an online writers group that offers three reviews of your own submission for every four reviews you provide to others. I will post back to let you know how the service works for me. So far I have offered one critique on a piece I quite liked (shocker)…. but I did dig deep and find several suggestions that should be helpful.

In addition to the reviews, the site offers writing “lessons” or simple assignments that you can submit for review. It looks like a good place to grow as a writer without leaving home!

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Dawn – new year, new outlook

January 4, 2010 at 7:58 pm (Confessions, Process, Why)

Well, the sun is rising back here at Inklings.  I’ve been officially off the rack (see last post) for at least a month, finding myself more centered, less constantly worried, but so busy with building a holiday tradition for my daughters that I scarcely wrote at all.
Until recently. The past week has been short on word count but long, very long, on imaginings, plotting, and rereading the scant (but still much-loved)  progress during my stressful and failed attempt at NANOWRIMO. What I have is not bad. Not bad at all. It needs a title. It needs a little more time to clarify itself in my head. But with dawn falling on this new year and my new desire to frolic in the word world not according to some regimented mandate but according to my ever-humming muse, I am hopeful that words will erupt very soon.

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The Rack

November 12, 2009 at 7:27 pm (NaNoWriMo)

You know the rack: the old torture devices that pulled people apart. I hate to be a whiner, but this thing is eerily similar to my life at the moment. Our poltergeist is still in residence, gleefully tampering with both computers, my cat, and at least one major relationship.

Seriously people, if I did not have a daily writing habit, I would be in the nuthouse.

But I am a spirited writer, and I do have a built-in escape hatch from the real world. Though I am woefully behind in my nanowrimo word count, thanks to a writing class that is competing for my time, I am thoroughly enjoying a totally off-the-cuff, road-trip adventure with a new nano character. She is searching for a better life with a delightful chip on her shoulder, but I suspect she may not be entirely honest with herself about the source of her troubles.

And her troubles are not my troubles, so they are much less annoying to grapple with!

There it is, then. Writing as escape. Writing as therapy. Writing as addiction. Perhaps this period of my life will not produce great fiction, but it is definitely helping me muddle through.

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Phew! Still Climbing That Mountain

November 4, 2009 at 3:30 am (1000 words a day on PA, NaNoWriMo, Obstacles, Upturned Stones)

It’s been another long hiatus due to bad luck. Not the sort that would put in me in line for a make-a-wish or a 10K in my honor or anything. Nothing nearly so disastrous. Just the whiny bits and pieces the suffocate all attempts  to write.  A round of strep throats,  a sick backyard chicken to deal with, a bed bug scare that seems to have been a false alarm but still leaves my skin crawling.

Yikes.

On the up side, it’s National Novel Writing Month, I have an outline I love and a cast of characters who still sing to me, and the best sort of distraction a person can have. Also, I’m taking a class at the Loft Literary Center that is filling me to the brim with motivation and hope that this writing life, published or not, is a wonderful and worthwhile goal.

A few thousand words in, and I’m happy to say that Nano is exactly the right treatment for the bed-bug-paranoia, my-life-is-a-country-song blues.

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Shelves of Books

October 14, 2009 at 5:26 pm (Random Bits)

The Minnesota cold snap has inspired me to reorganize my precariously toppling, epically disorganized book shelves. While my daughters set up an elaborate pillow fort, I cleared the shelves and went through  books on everything from Orthodox Judaism to organic pest control, from reincarnated witches in spice shops to a red-headed orphan girl’s Canadian coming of age.

I encountered many old friends (The World According to Garp, Little Women, Beloved, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe) that have hidden for years on the top shelf. My reaction to catching sight of their titles was much like catching the eyes of an old friend across a crowded room: one part joy and one part embarrassment that it had been so long.

I discarded some stinkers, single-read paperback mysteries purchased for camping trips or dull economics tomes leftover from college. Most exciting was the cache of unread books purchased at garage sales or second hand stores and then forgotten on the shelves. There are enough to fill my winter with cozy fireside adventures.

My newly organized shelves are extremely satisfying in their reflection of who I am, where I’ve been, where I hope to go, and what I believe.  They are also full of hope for the writer within (beyond the obscene stack of books on the craft of writing, I mean). Even with so many stories already out there, so much still remains unwritten. So many variations on the same theme result in books that bear little resemblance to one another.

This was a wonderful project to get me inspired for the November writing push!

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NaNoWriMo Cages Editor & Excuses

October 13, 2009 at 1:22 am (NaNoWriMo, Prodigal Sister, Sister Savior, Upturned Stones)

For weeks I’ve struggled to accomplish anything more than personal journal entries and updates to my motherhood blog. Suddenly, it’s mid-October, Upturned Stones remains stalled out at just under 10,000 words and NaNoWriMo is fast approaching.

Part of me is reluctant to move away from Upturned Stones before the first draft is complete.

The rest of me is euphoric! Last November, my first crack at this novel writing challenge served as a surge of momentum, daily writing rituals, and wells of creativity that carried me forward for months. I’m definitely at a point where I need to refresh those resources.

Perhaps I’m overly ambitious, but from late October until early December, I’ll also be taking a short novel writing course at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, where I will workshop and strengthen what I have done so far on Upturned Stones, even as I race to draft Sister Savior.

I’m hopeful that my November efforts recharge my writing life so thoroughly that Upturned Stones is quickly drafted in December and January. Then, of course, editing can begin on both stories.

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Resolution Monday

October 11, 2009 at 7:07 pm (Confessions, NaNoWriMo, Upturned Stones)

I have this terrible habit of turning every Monday into a sort of ritualized New Year’s Day.

For year’s I’ve spent Sunday nights realigning my “must do” list. It typically includes things like “write more,” “eat healthier,” “exercise more,” “spend more time playing with my girls.” Instead of waiting around for next December 30th, I take up these mantra’s each week.

It may sound innocuous. At one point, I convinced myself it was a healthy way to re-track my goals and priorities for the week, a way to keep moving forward.

It is time I faced reality, though. Resolution Monday is not helpful. No, it’s a crutch. Typically, it gives me an excuse when my motivation shrivels on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday to put off whatever I’ve been slacking on until the next magic Monday push to recommit. Occasionally if something comes up on Wednesday or even Tuesday, I scrap the week as a lost cause.

Then I let myself overly indulge until the next Monday, downing chips and salsa instead of taking a long walk and watching mediocre TV instead of progressing my latest work in progress.

This is a cycle I have to break, if I’m actually going to meet any of my goals. Specifically my goal to finish Upturned Stones, NANOWRIMO, and an outline for one other book by the end of the year. I really can’t afford to reserve Monday’s for rededicated focus while allowing any stumble along the way to initiate slacker-fest until the next Monday rolls around.

This is especially true now that I have a preschooler carrying germs and colds home, giving me all-too-frequent excuses for giving up writing time in favor of a nap or a tea party.

So here I am, with a new location for this writing blog and a reinvigorated resolve to peck away on this keyboard daily, regardless of excuses.

Shoot, it’s Sunday isn’t it. Technically then, this sounds like a Monday Resolution, but let’s hope it endures past Wednesday’s busy day or Thursday’s flat tire or whatever else threatens to hijack my reserved writing time.

Here’s to hoping… no, here’s to committing!

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All Powerful

August 15, 2009 at 2:58 pm (Random Bits, Upturned Stones)

My four year old had her tonsils out this week. Ugh.

My work on Upturned Stones fell off a cliff, as my mental abilities were spent entirely on soothing and medicating my girl. Both girls actually, as little sister ironically contracted strep throat the very day big sister’s tonsils came out. That was unfortunate!

Luckily, between my detailed outline and the chapters I’ve already written, it has been relatively easy to jump back into the story. As I reread what I’ve accomplished so far, I corrected that nagging little issue of voice.

First person still sounded off to me. It felt more like blogging than writing fiction. So I finessed the first three chapters into a reasonable facsimile of third person, to be more thoroughly edited later. I haven’t worked on enough new material to know if third person will work, or to develop a flow, but I have high hopes that it will come.

If only life wouldn’t keep steamrolling my resolutions! I really want this draft to be done by mid-October at the latest. It’s a gentle resolution, really, but I need to keep moving, come strep throat or high water!

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This Voice or That Voice

August 7, 2009 at 8:02 pm (Process, Upturned Stones)

I drafted the first two chapters of Upturned Stones on a whim. They were exciting and inspiring and in first person.

I took a break after the second chapter to outline. I spent a good month figuring out back stories, getting to know the characters, and then detailing the scenes that would tell the story. And in my dictatorial fashion, I declared that the real first draft would be in third person.

I re-drafted the first chapter in third person. It was fine, but not as exciting or inspiring. I tried to begin the second chapter, and as I mentioned yesterday, I just spun my wheels on it.

With renewed vigor, I took up that important second chapter again today, and out it came. Not great, but in a big gust of ideas and excitement. It roughly but adequately laid the groundwork for the next scene.

And it is in first person.

I didn’t realize it until halfway in, and instead of fighting it, I embraced Evie’s voice. I’ll chalk it up to following my instincts and trying something new, even though I tend not to like first person fiction as much. I have heard that for novice writers first person is far easier to work with, so I guess I’ll just go with it.

Cheers for almost 3,000 words today!

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