Art n' writin'

2012 Will Birth a Trilogy

2012-01-03T17:13:00.004-07:00

You heard that right. Er, if you've been following my blog at all you already know all this but I'm going to spout about it anyway.

Yes. 2012 will birth a trilogy. Actually it will probably birth a whole lot of them, some starting with the first book, others finishing with their third...but I ramble. There is only one I'm supremely interested in.

The first book in the 12th Dimension Trilogy, R.A.G.E., by yours truly, will be released late 2012.

I'd like to say I have an exact release date. Right now it's tentatively planned for 12/12/12.

I know cool right? The first in the 12th Dimension Trilogy released on such an awesome once in a life time date like that.

I'm only telling you this because it's time for you to start working on your Christmas lists for next Christmas. And saving. Perfect for all the people on your lists who like action, adventure, lightning, guns, crazy people and love. Come on. That's everyone. Right?

So my New Years Resolution this year involves: finishing the last book in the trilogy before the first one comes out. That's right. I have an entire manuscript to write before December. Now having already finished two it should be old hat. Right? Um. Actually I'm staring at the measly 5,079 I have finished of said manuscript and am wondering how in the !@#$ I did it the first two times.

Don't worry about me. Finishing is a New Years resolution and those are never broken. Right? Right . . .?!?!

What resolutions are you determined not to break?

The Easy and The Hard

2011-12-16T11:22:00.006-07:00

Since my last post things have been up and down and all over the map. After the tragedy of losing Trey I spent many weeks not being myself at all. It wasn't until I thought maybe another dog in the house would help that I searched animal shelters and classifieds until I found this little guy.

Winston is a Wire-hair Fox Terrier and he has restored balance to my life.

So that was an up. Then just before Thanksgiving and while my husband was on a plane home from Germany, I got really sick...again. I'll compare it to earlier this year when I'd had to get my gallbladder removed except that I no longer had a gallbladder. So after pretending for a good 12 hours that I only had a bad flu bug, my husband finally gets home and I give him a hug and weepingly ask him to take to to the emergency room. After the nice nurses had given me a bed and some morphine, I sent my jetlagged husband home and waited for the results which I hoped had nothing to do with my missing gallbladder. The findings: my appendix needed to come out now!!

I know, I know. Two unrelated surgeries in one year. Both within a week of a major holiday. I'm a little concerned about what my body is planning for Christmas.

So that was the down. A few days later we hopped in the car as a family and drove to California to have Thanksgiving dinner with my Grandmother. It was a wonderful time to see family I hadn't seen for a long time, even if it was in a partially drug-induced haze. What a great upper.

While all this was happening, I was doing my best to continue with my writing. It's almost 2012, the year that R.A.G.E. will be released and I still feel like it's not even close to being ready. My editor suggested that my book wasn't beginning in the right place and that I should write a chapter about what happens before my current beginning. I thought this was funny at first because I'd deleted the first chapter over a year ago in order to start the novel in the middle of the action. What I learned was that people need a reason to care that the main character is being chased or shot at before you can do any of those things to them.

The trouble was, that chapter I'd deleted hadn't benefited from the massive amounts of writing knowledge I'd collected after it had been sent to be quietly buried in the file graveyard lovingly entitled "trashed writing". It was really no good. I had to start from scratch.

This was actually fun on many levels. I really got to examine my main characters as people would who were meeting them for the first time. I even surprised myself by writing in tiny snippets of backstory that had hitherto not existed, helping to round out characters I already thought were rounded.

And so the massive edits continue although I'm sneaking time when I can to work on the third and final book in my 12th Dimension series. My intention is to have all three books written before the first one comes out.

I'll leave you with this quote I borrowed from a friend. I want everyone to think of it every time you write a sentence, read a book, or even look at a book across the way in some big box store.

Easy reading is damn hard writing. --Nathaniel Hawthorne

And so it is.

What I Do About Loss

2011-10-24T16:21:00.008-06:00

It's been a rough month or so. It all started when my little schnauzer, Trey, was following me up the stairs, you know like velcro dogs do. I turned around and gave him a quick scratch under the chin like he likes. That's when I noticed two little lumps on his neck. I felt them for a moment, muttering under my breath, "well that doesn't feel right," and then went about my day. The next day I called the vet and to make a long, painful story short, it was determined that Trey had lymphoma, a very aggressive form of cancer.

It went from oh-that-doesn't-feel-right, to three weeks later taking him for the last time to the Vet for a quiet push across the Rainbow Bridge.

As you can imagine, the grief of losing one of my best friends has taken its toll on everything else in my life. I found myself completely unable to do any writing. Sitting down at my computer would just remind me of the fuzzy foot rest I always had at my feet and the random pictures in my computer containing a face or tail or leg of Trey, always in the background, always part of the family.

So I threw myself into some art projects. My sister-in-law, Brittany, replaced all of the old, wooden windows in her house a few months ago. While visiting her one day, I saw that she'd taken some of the old windows and hung them on her walls. They looked awesome and rustic and I asked if she had any more. Yup.

So I took these...

and turned them into these...

I still have one more window to fill and currently have a watercolor in the works starring my youngest son as a toddler staring out the window with his gray, fuzzy friend, Mr. Trey-Trey.

The thing is, a few days ago I was finally able to open my laptop and continue the mountains of work I'd been neglecting. I guess time does heal wounds, or at least numbs them enough to help us continue on. And cathartic art projects help too.

I have Trey's collar hanging above my desk and I'm still prone to weeping if I sit and think too long about his soft ears or his waggling tail (there may or may not be tears wetting my keyboard right now), but at least I'm able to get back to work and do things like signing my three book contract *damp grin* and editing, editing editing.

P.S. Since things have been generally sucky, I did finally manage to get the free book MONARCH out to the respective winner but I did it without any fanfare (I haven't been in the mood for fanfare). In fact I simply drew the name out of a hat (a black fedora I borrowed from my long-haired preteen), contacted the winner and sent it to them in the mail. Sorry, folks, the contest is over. There was a lucky winner who is now happily caressing their not so new, well-loved copy. :)

MONARCH by Michelle Argyle--book review

2011-10-05T14:59:00.005-06:00

I met Michelle at a baby shower for a mutual friend a few months ago and instantly hit it off. She writes thrillers, I write thrillers. She’s very savvy in regards to the publishing industry and is fantastic at marketing her work. In a word, Michelle is brilliant. And did I mention that she designed her cover? Oh yeah, baby!

So naturally, when I had the opportunity to read and review her debut novel MONARCH, I was super excited.

Synopsis:
Nick’s life as a VIA spy should be fulfilling, but it has only given him unhappiness—a wife who committed suicide and two daughters who resent everything he has become. Now, stuck in the Amazon on the last mission of his career, he must track down Matheus Ferreira, a drug lord and terrorist the U.S. has tried to bring down for years. If he succeeds, he’ll have the chance to start his life over again.

Just when Nick is on the brink of catching Ferreira, he’s framed for a murder that turns his world upside down. His only chance of survival lies in West Virginia where Lillian Love, a woman from his past, owns the secluded Monarch Inn. He’s safe, but not for long . . .

Monarch is a fast, interesting read. The characters are complex, the plotline compelling and the monarch butterfly symbolism created a great thread to tie everything together.

I’ll admit though that I had trouble getting into this novel. As you know, I write thrillers. I love thrillers and everything about them so when I picked up Monarch expecting the super-duper speed and action of a thriller I’m afraid I was disappointed. I couldn’t pin it down for the longest time. Why couldn’t I get into this book like I had so many thrillers before? Well it took a long time to pin it down but I finally figured it out while listening to an episode of Writing Excuses by the phenomenal Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and friends about making promises to your readers.

Authors make a promise to a reader by the book blurb, the opening chapter, the title, the cover and multiple things in between the covers that the writer must deliver on or risk disappointing their readers. However the very first promise we make is through our book genre.

Monarch is marketed as a thriller and technically has all the earmarks of a thriller. CIA Agent, guns, life threatening situations, dead bodies. However, the real genre of the novel doesn’t technically exist.

This is a book about relationships, thus when it didn't thrill me like a thriller...well there was my problem. Anyone know the genre name for relationship books? I don't. Don’t say romance because it’s not the same, and there’s way too much angst and fighting in this book to be considered Chiclit.

So we have guy meets girl, girl meets guy. Guy likes girl, girl likes guy. Guy betrays girl, girl betrays guy, like, hate, will we, won’t we, etc. etc. This is what the book is about. The balance of thriller vs. relationship leans way too much on the relationship side for this to be considered a thriller. I understand the need to be able to place it somewhere on a shelf, but will someone please create a relationship genre for these books so they don’t get overlooked or lost in the wrong-ish genre category?

I don’t say any of this in anyway to trash on MONARCH. I love Michelle and appreciate all the work she’s put into making this novel the best it can be . . . Michelle Argyle style. As a relationship book it works very well and does have its share of thrilling moments. However if you’re looking for a thriller and are expecting one, you will be disappointed as a whole. Read it for what it is, rather than what it’s marketed as and I think you will find it quite enjoyable.

I have an advanced reading copy available to one lucky commenter. Yes, it’s the same one I read so it might have some telltale signs of wear since I love to cuddle my books to death . . . erm, so with that little disclaimer, comment anyway, yo.

Reading Your Work Outloud

2011-09-22T15:13:00.002-06:00

It's no secret that authors get close to their work. Really close. Dangerously close. So close in fact that criticism can hurt as badly as if someone were criticizing your child or threatening to do them harm.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to love your work. You are your manuscript's best advocate and if you don't love it there is simply no hope that anyone else will either. The problems come when you get so close to your work that your refuse, or are physically unable, to see the faults that are staring you every time you go through it.

Let's face it. You know every word, sentence and paragraph you've written and you know exactly why you wrote it and the importance it is to the manuscript. So why would you even consider taking it out? "Killing your darlings," as they say.

I recently discovered just how close I was to R.A.G.E. and just how hard it was for me to kill anything.

I work on my novel a lot. I consider writing a job in fact and put the necessary amount of time into it. So it came as no surprise the other day when my almost 12 y/o son came to me and wondered when he would be able to read this work I never seem to step away from.

Now R.A.G.E. is an adult book but it does have some cool aspects that a 12 y/o would like such as power over electricity and lots of guns and grenades and such. I'm also in the middle of a heavy edit and I thought, "Hey why not read it out loud to him?" I could bleep out a few choice words while I was reading and it would be fun. This way I could catch all those things your eyes pass right over when you're reading in your head as well as spending some quality time with my son and my manuscript.

I've read my book out loud to myself before so I was unprepared for the way I would view my own manuscript while reading aloud to SOMEONE ELSE who has no idea what the story is about.

And you know what I found? Way too much exposition.

I kept wanting the story to move along. Get to the dialogue. Get to the next relevant item. I began yelling at my main character to stop thinking about stuff so much and just get on with it already!

I couldn't believe the change in my perception of my work. It was though I was viewing it from my son's eyes. And then it hit me. I could actually distance myself from my work. It would take my son's help but I could do it. Today I went back through the chapter I read him last night and edited out a lot of the extraneous exposition.

It's amazing what a new perspective can give your work. How do you distance yourself from your manuscript?

The Importance of Invisible Writing

2011-09-12T10:49:00.003-06:00

So you’ve just finished your novel. No, not just any novel, the Great American Novel. No, your magnum opus! This novel has been designed to make people perk up and listen. You had a theme and you stuck to it and now everyone will be talking about it. The word will go out and awareness will be raised for those trees in the Amazon rain forest, those civil rights issues in the south, the sea turtles off the Eastern seaboard facing extinction, the sexism across the country.

Well, I hate to tell you this but if you’ve just finished writing a novel under this mindset, you have a problem. Notice I said novel, not nonfiction. The trouble is people read novels to be entertained. They want to be taken away with a cast of characters. They want to see what they see and feel what they feel. They want to be brought into the emotions of another person and learn their story and savor the conclusion. No one wants to be preached to. That’s what textbooks are for.

We’ve heard it time and time again: The story must be king.

When anything in your novel bounces the reader out of the story and takes them away from the vividness of those characters and settings, I’m afraid to tell you that your writing is showing through. You worked hard on those words but in actuality, no one wants to see them. They just want to be told a story.

Now unfortunately this doesn’t just apply to those larger themes mentioned above. This applies on a much smaller scale. You may have that novel where nothing is more important that the conflict and the characters. And yet your readers are constantly being pulled out of the story for some reason or another and forced to examine the actual words you’ve put on the page.

I’m talking of course about the technicalities of writing. I recently read two books back to back. One, an absolutely fantastic work where the only thing that took me out of the book was the use of OK vs. okay (okay, I admit, I really like “okay” better. OK looks like it’s being yelled). On the other hand, the other book was so full of passive writing, telling vs. showing, adverbs and other bothersome things you may think are not so important, that there were times where I would go for pages only seeing the words and never being drawn into the story at all. I spent more time mentally editing sentences than I did actually reading the stupid thing.

I’m sure someone is yelling at me at this point that not all readers see or even know about these silly writing rules. I agree. Most readers don’t know about them. They simply read the book with a vague sense of annoyance. They’re never drawn fully into the story and they probably don’t even know why.

Writing rules are in place for a reason. They allow us to smooth down those sharp edges into a silky piece of work. People will read it and walk away talking about your characters as though they are real people. They’ll make fan pages for the fantasy world you’ve created and sport t-shirts with your brilliant magic system brought to life.

The only people who appreciate purple prose are the ones who write it. You will never be able to sell the importance of your theme to a group of people if they can’t get into your novel. People will never get to know your characters unless you can make them seem like something other than words on a page.

So here’s the kicker. You know your characters better than anyone. You can go to any page of your Work in Progress and see their faces and feel their emotions and see their thoughts. To you they are real because you created them. You saw them before they were those words on the page. So how do you know if you’ve actually made your writing invisible?

1. Alpha readers. Beta readers. Writing groups. Editors. I can’t stress enough how you need an outside opinion on your work. Someone honest who won’t tell you what you want to hear. Allow them to tell you when they can’t stay connected to parts of the story. Or when that word keeps jumping out at them. Or when they’ve had to read the same sentence five times to discern the meaning.

2. Learn those all-important rules. Active vs. passive writing. Limited adverbs. Varying word choice, point of view, etc, etc, etc. Don’t just learn them, embrace them. Make them become as natural as typing. The rules are in place for a reason. They are formulaic devices honed over the years by people much more brilliant than ourselves to pull the story forward and make the words sink quietly into the background.

3. You know if you’ve themed your writing. It’s good to have a theme. It’s better to have a story where readers feel for the characters plight and worry about said characters surviving in that doomed rain forest in the Amazon.

Make the story the King.

So let’s be honest here. Is your writing invisible?

Payoffs

2011-09-06T21:44:00.002-06:00

I was talking to a fellow writer the other day who is struggling a bit with her first draft. She’s an amazing writer but sometimes has a hard time putting down that crappy first draft because she’s a self-proclaimed perfectionist. No matter how many people say, “Just write it. It’s a first draft, it’s supposed to suck!” she just hates leaving behind any ugly sentence structures, even the slightest bland-ish character, or stilted dialogue and therefore doesn’t always feel excited about getting back to the work.

We came to the conclusion that what she needed was a payoff. And not just any payoff—a daily, paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence payoff.

So what’s a payoff? Something that excites us about the sometimes not-so-beautiful work-in-progress that brings us back to it day after day, month after month until it can be completed and therefore edited to perfection.

I hadn’t actually thought about it until this conversation and I realized that I have a payoff in place for myself. Sometimes I’ll find myself writing some beautiful prose that I wouldn’t mind reading again and marveling at my brilliance, but most often it’s simply the dialogue.

I love dialogue with all my heart. I like writing conversations and arguments. I love the act of communication and how it can drive a scene either by characters learning more about each other or miscommunication that leads to blows (I like the blows a lot. Ask anyone.). I like speaking dialogue I’m considering for a scene to myself in the mirror while I get ready in the morning (don’t judge, you do it too...erm, maybe) and therefore even in my first drafts, my dialogue tends to shine. Everything else is an atrocious lump but, hey, I have fancy dialogue.

That’s my payoff. I don’t move onto another scene if I feel that the dialogue is even a little off. So the next day, after letting my mind be filled with other (more important) things, I’m still excited to come back and see what my characters said to each other, and what they might say next.

What’s your payoff to keep you writing?

I'm guest posting at another blog today!!

2011-09-01T10:42:00.003-06:00

As the title states, I'm doing my very first ever guest post on another blog today. This is super cool on many levels, the first of which is I adore the author of this blog (Michelle Argyle). I have even been privileged to obtain an advanced reading copy of her novel MONARCH and will be reviewing it right here in October.

My guest post is pretty much the same post as this one I did last week but I added one more tip concerning the "Starting Syndrome".

Go check it out when you get the chance and spend some time browsing Michelle's blog as well. You won't be sorry.

The Innocent Flower

Character Motivations

2011-08-31T10:31:00.003-06:00

I’ve recently finished the second draft of the second book in my 12th Dimension series (RISK). The first draft was too horrible to be seen by any eyes save my own and one other person. That one other person (thanks Kate!) was able to read it and point out holes the size of Belgium and therefore put poor RISK onto the second draft track. So when the second draft was complete it went out to my other Alpha readers for their evaluation.

Now reading this manuscript was no small task, as I understand. I’m sure it was a sight easier than what poor Kate had to read but there were still problems with the manuscript that no public reader should ever have to witness. My biggest problem: character motivations.

I am a discovery writer so by nature I write wonderfully from point A to point B. I create darn good action sequences (usually involving a lot of electricity and firearms) and my dialogue (IMHO) rocks. However, since I am the aforementioned discovery writer, I don’t always know what my characters want at the moment I’m writing that slam-bang action sequence. I usually don’t even know what my characters want until I’ve written “the end” and then had a group of Alpha readers read the manuscript and we stay up until two in the morning hashing over what the devil my characters want.

This doesn’t mean they are completely directionless. I’m pretty good at the small motivations, i.e. Rose doesn’t want to be shot by that guy so she hides behind that rock and volts him the second she gets a chance. I’m not even too bad with motivations that span several chapters, i.e. Thurmond sees that Rose is in trouble and will go to the ends of the earth (or Arches National Park) to find her and help her out. The place I really struggle is the manuscript-spanning motivations, i.e. Rose is sad at the beginning of the manuscript and has to do something deliberate over the course to 100 thousand + words to make her not sad anymore.

The trouble with not knowing character motivations is that you have characters who are for the most part reactive. Someone does this and so they need to do that. They are not able to drive the story. They don’t engender the same trust as you would give a character who, I don’t know, has a plan and you get to see them implement it. Don’t you just love a character you can trust will always get out of the situation? For example, Dr. Who is fantastic at this. You know his motivation (save Earth, or the girl or both) and so you can trust that no matter how bad things get he has a plan to get everyone out of it.

That doesn’t mean that characters can’t have moments of directionlessness (I know that’s not a word, the red underline is screaming at me), but they should be few and far between. They should be that low point right before the character turns things around and gets back on their motivation horse.

As my editor told me recently, “Just remember that the character must want something ‘even if it's a glass of water.’ (Kurt Vonneghut, Jr.)”

So tell me, discovery writers and outline writers alike, do you ever have problems with your character’s motivations?

Things I now know about writing

2011-08-27T13:41:00.003-06:00

May I just start by saying my editor, Sheryl, is brilliant. I received my first edits from her this week which only went to show me how much I didn't know. It never fails--feel like you know everything about a subject and the universe will make sure you discover that you don't.

So I open the edited document and my first reaction was, "HOLY BLOOD RED PENCIL, BATMAN!"

Now I'll have to admit this didn't shake me up like it would have a year ago, or if I'd received the same information by someone a bit less trustworthy. I was delighted, not only that I hadn't self-published (not that I'm opposed to self-publishing but in R.A.G.E.'s case I would have just been shooting myself in the foot), but that at last I had been handed the tools by a brilliant professional (have I mentioned that yet? Brilliant, I tell you) to give R.A.G.E. the greatest chance out there in the big, scary world.

So after my original reaction and then my secondary reaction and perhaps a couple more reactions, (NONE of which involved any tears or welling about the eyes of any kind) I planted myself in front of my computer and went about learning what I probably should have already known.

Now I'm going to pass it along to you. Chances are you already know all this and you are welcome to roll your eyes at me and go find something more interesting to do. If you don't, however, go ahead and apply these techniques to your own work and you'll be surprised how much it tightens the writing.

1. The "ING" trap. This is what my editor calls it and you can read all about it here.

In my manuscript I'd call if more of a disease. Once I started it just seemed to spread. This is when (usually in an attempt to start your sentence with something other than he/she/ I/my or your character's name) you instead start with the verb. Example from R.A.G.E. "Trembling fingers touched my neck, searching for comfort from my dad." Urgh! Okay, this sentence is horrendous in many ways but let me fix it really quick so I can copy and paste it in my manuscript. How about. "My trembling fingers touched my neck, searching for the pendant that always gave me comfort from my father." Not great, but better, and it doesn't start with an "ing" word. Click on the link for more detailed info with examples and how to fix them. I understand it but I'm not sure I can explain it well enough.

2. ‘there is/there are' and ‘it is/it was' constructions. An example from my own work. "It was my leg, of all things, that hurt the worst." I mean seriously isn't it just better to write something like, "My leg, of all things, hurt the worst." I went and did a "find" (but not replace because you're going to have to use your brain to fix these ones) of all the "it was"'s. Amazing! And tightened. Done. You can read all about it here.

3. And last (at least for the moment until I receive more edits) The watching syndrome. Check for detailed info here.

This has to do with your character seeing things, hearing things and feeling things. Yes, we should have our characters using their five senses but it should be invisible. Here's an example from RISK this time, because I already went back and fixed the ones in R.A.G.E.: "I heard Max click a magazine into the M203 and start peppering bullets into the darkness." So much easier just to say, "Max clicked a magazine into the M203 and started peppering bullets into the darkness." Yes? Nod your head if you agree...did you just nod? And how about (also from RISK): "I saw the man lunging across the bed toward me, hands outstretched." How about instead: "The man lunged across the bed toward me, hands outstretched." Easy peasy and so much better.

I love all these little things in the editing phase and watching R.A.G.E. come together. Go ahead and read the other writing tips on the Shelfstealers website. You'll be happy you did and your manuscript as well as future (or current) editors will thank you.

My editor said, and I'm going to quote her because she's...(come on, you already know what I'm going to say because, admit it, you're clicking over to your own manuscripts right now and applying these things)...brilliant. She said, "when we eliminate some of the weaknesses in our writing, other weaknesses that were hiding, rise to the surface. I liken it to the sculptor's or wood-carver's process: carve away the awkward bits to reveal the grain, and then work with that grain to bring out its richness."

With those words I'm going to work on my sculpture...erm manuscript.

Book Trailer

2011-06-02T07:21:00.001-06:00

The Joys of Easter and Gallbladder Surgery

2011-04-24T18:38:00.006-06:00

You know how busy weeks usually start. Weeks before this alleged busy week you simply scratch in a single activity on a calendar. Little did you know, that while you are living the days up until that single activity, the activity has been quietly and militaristically recruiting under the sly. Now suddenly at the beginning of the week you look at your calendar, remembering scratching in that single activity only to see twelve others also scratched in (No way is that your handwriting!) and voila! The busy week hath birthed.

Well such a busy week appeared on my calendar early last week. It started out innocently enough with friends over for lunch on Tuesday before blossoming into a full fledged 9-year-old birthday party, soccer/hip-hop/football practice and Easter weekend. Now lest you scoff at this week and say you've seen worse let me add one more:

Wednesday night (the day before the birthday party) this poor mother found herself in such pain that she couldn't even begin to imagine laying down and sleeping that night, much less throwing a birthday party for nine squealing 9-y/olds. A late night visit to the ER and a friendly visit from Mr. Morphine and suddenly, that heavily laden table that was my week suddenly became someone else's heavily laden table.

I will admit right here and right now to a bright sappy look that must have crossed my face as the sleepy ER Doc told me that I needed emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder. There may or may not have been tears of gratitude and an attempted sloppy kiss (remember the morphine) that had mostly to do with the fact that I wasn't dying anymore--although there might have been a secondary moment where I saw my busy week suddenly (and with no need for guilt on my part) become someone else's. I got to spend the next two days in relative peace and quiet at the hospital playing "You know you're a writer when... 1. You analyze every pain and put it into a descriptive sentence. 2. The drug-induced dream becomes your new favorite idea for a book 3. That thing the nurse just said about your dressing is not only poetic but inspirational and must be written down(remember the morphine)."

So today is Easter Sunday. I've been out of the hospital since Friday (although in a narcotic haze that tends to amplify not only the dog barking two miles away, but the child crying right in my ear) and all I can think to say is how grateful I am.

First: The birthday party was a success in that, even though I wasn't able to make the Barbie Cake my 9 y/o wanted, or draw the picture for pin-the-crown-on-the-princess, she and her squealing little friends had a wonderful time (thanks to a resourceful husband and a copy of Tangled) proven by the huge smile I got from her when I saw her later that night in the hospital.

Second: The doctors were able to not only quickly diagnose my problem but also get me into surgery quickly, thus successfully curing the mystery illness I've had for the last couple of years.

Third: I have the most wonderful family, friends and neighbors. From the phone calls, text messages and dinners brought over for my family, I feel so cherished and taken care of. Even today, Easter Sunday, we were surprised by the most amazing Easter ham with all the accessories and even a get well card.

And last: My husband, Brett, who did the work of both a dad and a mom-with-a-super-busy-week. It's hard for me to take time just for myself and he managed to make me feel completely comfortable and secure that my children are being well taken care of so that I have been able to sleep and heal.

Happy Easter.

Writer's Group Givin' Nothin' But Love

2011-04-05T14:41:00.003-06:00

I may or may not have mentioned in past posts some very important people in my life. My writer's group (aka Once Upon a Keyboard), are what I would consider the Godparents on my novel. And yes, they give me nothing but love.

Now before you scream foul, and whisper behind your hands that only positive feedback is the worst thing a novel can have (unless it's been written by a supreme being and therefore has no flaws...and I guarantee that's not the case with R.A.G.E.), let me expound.

My writer's group are some of the most positive people I know (sure), with nothing but great ideas backed by intelligence, deeply grounded personal opinions, and the type of affection for their poor, flailing Godchild that tends to bring out the criticism.

Yes...I said criticism. From the beginning there has been a lot of pats on the back, lots of praise and lots of that hard-to-take-but-necessary-if-Godchild-has-any-chance-of-surviving criticism.

Example: even with R.A.G.E. out with the professional editors for Shelfstealers, I still handed it back around to my Keyboardians for last chance critiques. And you know what they found? Mistakes!! *gasp* I know, how embarrassing! Some were small easy fixes. However, I know of at least one case a major mistake was pointed out. It had to do with the dialogue of my Main Character that, it was agreed on, made her sound too childish. The problem was presented to me in the best way possible (i.e. with hesitation, downcast eyes, and a nerve of steel) and it took a good twenty minutes for fellow Keyboardian Terra Luft, to get her point across. Once I understood what she was trying to say, I responded in the best way possible (with a bit of welling about the eyes, a growl of frustration, and a resolve to ignore her). However, when I didn't sleep well that night, (thinking psuedo cuss words at aforementioned Terra Luft that my MC said too much of) I went back and looked at R.A.G.E. again with fresh eyes.

It was true, my writer's group loved me enough to anger me into taking a drastic action that succeeded in making my Main Character sound like an adult rather than a teenybopper. Bullet dodged.

Have I mentioned how much I love my writer's group? They took me out to dinner the other night to celebrate the publishing contract and also gave me the best gift a writer/reader could ask for--a gift card to Barnes and Noble. :) So here in front of the fifty six followers I have, I would just publicly like to thank the Godparents of R.A.G.E.

Keyboardians, you guys are amazing. Thanks for showing the love!

Do you have a group willing to say the hard stuff? How's that going for you?

Shelf Stealers

2011-03-30T14:09:00.006-06:00

As I said in my last post, here I am with all sorts of links and stuff to my publisher. I still blush when I say publisher because it sounds to me like I'm all full of myself that I could actually have a publisher *pinch, pinch*. A publisher for my novel that will be published. My novel that you will be able to hold in your hands or read on your Kindle thanks to my publisher. Published....

Now that I've gotten that out of my system let me introduce you to the folks who have made this post possible:

Shelf Stealers

Shelf Stealers is a new publishing company with the right kind of plan to make it in this changing industry. With their focus on e-books and audiobooks they intend on growing with the increasing demand for electronic reading. However, along with that, they are still intent on making paper books available for paper snobs (like me) but keeping the costs down to a minimum.

However, that's not all. With the industry in such flux, they also have a slew of new ideas they are bringing to the table in order to draw more readers. One is their Clear Eyes program designed to bring free audio books to the blind, and the second is their Watch Our Writers. This one is still in the works but basically, you can watch your favorite author work on his or her next project. You can hear their thought process and see what the Shelf Stealers editors have to say as they go along. You will also be able to buy the book a chapter at a time before it comes out. To me, as the author, that sounds like some very satisfying work although it could prove stressful during those moments of self-flogging and writer's block. As as a reader, I would find it intriguing to see another author's process.

Shelf Stealers is actively searching for great books right now and aren't afraid to take on debut authors (like me), authors with small audiences and even self-published authors as long as it is quality writing. They will even give you feedback on your submission with a feedback form. If you're interested in submitting to them, look over all the info they have on their awesome site and then go to the submissions page.

Oh and just for fun, check out my real live author profile on the Shelf Stealers website here.

You tell me: what do you think about the Watch Our Writer's program? As a writer, would you want to participate? As a reader, would you want to follow the authors journey?

Publishing and Reality

2011-03-17T14:16:00.003-06:00

So much has happened writing-wise in the last few months, I've been procrastinating doing a blog post because I knew it would be huge and therefore no one would read it. So the more I procrastinated, the huger it got in my mind until I started avoiding blogger altogether in order to not have it staring accusingly at me. Anyway, here goes the huge blog post of doom which I will attempt to abbreviate so you have time for some dinner tonight and hopefully a little sleep.

First of all, let me just trumpet the fact that after laboring for over a year on the sequel to R.A.G.E., I finally managed to pound out THE END on the first draft (RISK). Whew! For a time there I never thought I'd find out how it ends (the curse of being a discovery writer). It still has an exorbitant amount of rewriting (I can't even mention editing yet because that's more about fine tuning to me and it's not to that point) as well as finally reaching the eyes of my writer's group and beta readers. I did allow one person to read it (Thanks Kate, you rock!) since with her encouragement (i.e. making a deadline for herself as well as me and forcing me to stick to it) was the dang thing even finished at all. All hail the birth of RISK.

So after the completion of aforementioned rough draft, I put on my editing hat and delved into other people's manuscripts, the first being likewise aforementioned Kate's second draft of her wonderful YA fantasy THAYER. I love seeing other peoples world building, creativity and the amazingly (blasted adverb but I'm leaving it because I can) hard work this author in particular put into her novel.

The second book I edited, was my father's third book in his Cedar Post series (FLYPAPER) due to come out sometime in the next couple of months. Can I tell you how much I absolutely adore hearing my father's voice through the pages. He lives on the other side of the country and I got to listen to him tell me a story for hours and hours every day for a couple of weeks. Such joy. If you're interested in his other novels and hope to anticipate the third, he just put THE CEDAR POST and TEARS OF JOY on kindle. You can also go here to get a hard copy and prepare yourself for the much anticipated FLYPAPER.

Now come the third thing which is of great importance (to me) so I hope you haven't zoned out on my monstrous blog post yet because this is where it is getting really exciting (again, to me). After watching my father go through his publishing process and after going through many years of querying with a few hopeful moments but more than a lot of rejection, I decided to bite the bullet and self publish my book. I got on amazon and jumped through all their hoops (i.e. formatting the manuscript, battling with adobe illustrator to make a book cover etc.). So the other day I got to the point where R.A.G.E. was as good as I could get it and I ordered my proof copy. (Yay! Still waiting for it.)

Two days later I was going through and cleaning out my google reader(which involved over a thousand blog posts I'd neglected to read while avoiding blogger's stink eye), clicking on the occasional post that interested me and I happened on one touting a new publisher asking for submissions. So naturally I clicked on over to them, loved their website, immediately filled out their submission form and promptly forgot about them. After X number of rejections you stop getting your hopes up on every one.

Well wouldn't you believe it but an hour later I received a personal email from the founder saying she'd gotten my submission, liked it at a glance and was sending it over to her editors. Yipee. (with no exclamation points because remember me talking about not getting my hopes up?) So a couple of hours later I got a very quick email the send my heart right into my throat.

The founder said there were two votes in my favor and they were still waiting on a third and that they hoped I'd like to work with them.

Well since my heart was in my throat it didn't have any room to beat so I may or may not (I must maintain my dignity) have started hyperventilating and wept real life tears. My children did their best to console me as it was apparent to them I had received the worlds worst news.

I'd love to go on and on but in the interest of saving me the embarrassment of watching someone react really badly to really good news (and my daughter has a doctors appointment I need to leave for right now) let me just say that I am now a part of a publishing company and am not getting any sleep at night because I'm so excited.

I'm not putting in any names right now because there's all sorts of stuff that has to be signed and finalized and honestly I'm still waiting for things to fall apart because are dreams really supposed to come true? Aren't they just suppose to stay dreams to you always have something to reach for?

Don't worry, I'll post lot's of info and links and all sorts of stuff when reality hits. Now go get some sleep--for me if nothing else since I probably won't be sleeping again tonight.

A birthday present

2010-11-25T21:29:00.016-07:00

So after a failed attempt at NANOWRIMO (national novel writing month), I was called upon by my dear hubby to throw together a birthday gift for his mother. He says a few words and I'm suddenly thrown into some rather intense chaos as I search for just the right thing. After the success of my last painting, I finally decided I'd give it another try. So all I needed was a great photo that I could get excited about putting on canvas...

This is a picture of my father-in-law and his mother at the airport after he'd been gone for three years serving as a mission president in Argentina. This wonderful woman passed away only a week later.

I was of course struck by the emotion the picture portrays and felt the inspiration that I need to paint. First, though, I needed to set up shop, including the photo and a sketch I whipped up, all taped on the cupboards in my studio (ahem, I've said it before, it's my laundry room . . . but things are what you make of them, right?)

Next came transferring the sketch to the canvas. (Secretly this is the hardest part for me. If the sketch doesn't come out right, the picture is doomed from the beginning.) Sketch complete, I finally get to put paint down, always starting with the background.

Next comes the skin. Skin is always hard because you have to mix just the right color and make the separate people different enough so they look like individuals. Once you get a good color though, it's the delightful shading after that.

After skin comes hair and facial details.

Then clothing:

Then stress . . . As you can see from the picture, the face of my FIL is just not quite right. Grandma came out just about right on the first try, but my dear FIL... So I called in the experts--two friends of mine who both have a spectacular eye. They helped talk me through some of the finer lines and very specific details. It's amazing how much the smallest lines and most minute shading can affect the recognizable features. Here is what finally came out. Duh-dum-dum! The reveal!

The close ups:

The full pic (including what you can see of my laundry...erm...studio):

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Voila

2010-10-27T21:12:00.004-06:00

And there we go. Alright, I couldn't wait for the weekend to finish. I'm sure I'll tweak it here or there for a few weeks until I'm satisfied but for now, I'm calling it complete. Whew. The speed in which I dispatched this painting is a personal best. Go me!

And just for fun so you can compare yesterday's painting to the one from today, (you know, just to prove I actually did some work instead of posting the same pic again) here's the one from the previous post.

ART . . . and writin', but mostly art today

2010-10-26T17:17:00.006-06:00

Thus far my charming little blog has been about my passion for all things writing related. So you were probably all wondering where the Art part of my blog title came from. Or didn't wonder. I suppose you all have your own blogs . . . and lives . . . Anyhow, I digress. Yes it's true, I also have a passion for art. See this post here if you are interested enough to see when I last mentioned art on the blog.

In fact you might say art is my first passion going back well before college, high school or even grade school. Never mind that I was pulling enough cobwebs off my oil painting brushes earlier this week to decorate my entire house for Halloween (as well as lint, hair and the occasional dead spider), or that I needed an entirely new set of paints (the ones I'd purchased and used religiously ten years earlier were not willing to open for anything). I love painting. I can't say that I'm very good at it. My paintings always come off as mere shadows of how I'd imagine them, leaving me severely disappointed and frustrated until I throw my brushes down in disgust and refuse to look at it again for months. Other people say they're pretty good but I suspect that they're just trying to be nice. In fear of proving this suspicion correct, I am going to share my latest project. Bear in mind it isn't finished. The remaining details will be furbished by the end of the week when the paint has dried some. I will post it with some pride then (or perhaps with a big, black frustrated X across it).

Earliest pic taken in my elegant art studio . . . Okay, fine, it's my laundry room. At least the project inspired me to clean it to death and then put a lock on the door barring Thing 1 and Thing 2 from messing it up or making paintings of their own. One week down and it's still clean.

I wish I'd turned off the flash. It totally screws up the colors not to mention putting a big, bright light right in the middle. Still getting used to the new phone/camera.

Work done today (ahem, without the flash).

I will be posting the final picture sometime this weekend. People say, "the picture just doesn't do it justice." I will agree fervently with this caveat: The photograph doesn't include the feeling of paints streaking together under my pallet knife, the merging of colors on the canvas under my brush, the image acquiring depth with a few well-placed strokes of shading, and (my all time favorite) the pungent and nostalgic smell of the oil paints seeping from under the door or striking memories into my brain as I enter the room. But alas, I wax poetic only for brush and canvas. Stop me now . . . no really, I mean it! This is getting ridiculous.

Just in case you're wondering, this painting is for my dad's latest book in his American Dreammakers series (also see above link) which I have been privileged to do the cover art for. Flypaper will hopefully grace my bookshelf sometime next year. Until then . . .

Stay tuned for the final, um, I want to say draft, but that's a writing term. Just stay tuned. There.

P.S. Dad if you're reading this, this is your boost to finish those edits and send me the manuscript.

Awards, Apologies and Playlists, oh my....

2010-10-07T13:55:00.005-06:00

Several things of note today. First of all I have been awarded the amazing One Lovely Blog award that I've lusted after ever since I saw it on someone elses blog months ago.

The rules of the "one Lovely Blog Award" are as follows:

Accept your award and post it on your blog along with a link to the person who has sent it to you. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered. You must contact the person to let them know that you have chosen them to receive the award.

The lovely Shellie actually awarded it to me first (belated and rather shamefaced thank you) but being in a depressing slump at the time (see this post), I didn't get around to claiming it. Then Nicki Elson was kind enough to nominate me as well and since Thing 1 and Thing 2 hadn't been in one of their more destructive moods, I was in the frame of mind to think about things like pink roses and teacups. Now my choices of those to receive this award go to (drum roll please):

Terra L
Kaitlyn Schulz
Julie Geistfeld
Eric
Manzanita
Roxy Haynie
Danyelle Leafty
Vicki Rocho
Talli Roland
Taffy
Lola Sharp
Krista Lynne Jensen
Maria Savva
Summer

If you're someone who has already received it, sorry. If I've miscounted, again sorry. I've been told that I have ADD, so that should work as an umbrella disclaimer for any of my very reasonable failings.

In other news, I finally made a playlist for R.A.G.E. after spending a great deal of my precious writing time scrolling through my iTunes playlist for just the right mood song to get me going. It features but is not limited to songs by Evenescense, Within Temptation and Nightwish. I even threw in a couple of Toby Kieth's patriotic songs.

What songs do you write to?

10 Things I've Learned So Far

2010-10-05T13:19:00.001-06:00

Here are a few things I've learned since I started writing seriously. Now some of them I should have learned in my High School English classes but . . . well . . . Ahem, anyway, here goes in no particular order:

(Disclaimer: If I preach about something and then automatically turn around and fail to accomplish it in this post--I only said I'd learned it, I never said I'd perfected it. You've been warned. I don't want to hear no friggin' guff from any of you.)

1. I've learned the difference between their/there/they're as well as your/you're etc. There is no excuse for not learning grammar basics. This is my craft and I have to be a master of my craft before I can turn it into compelling prose.

2. Adverbs = evil. Words ending in 'ly not only can be overdone to the point of annoyance, they also cheat you out of a chance for more vivid description. Example: I angrily typed this diatribe. Or: My skin flushed with rage as my fingers pounded the keys until stains of blood littered the letters on the keyboard. (Note: However, if you leave adverbs out entirely, someone will notice and also be annoyed. The idea is to make the words invisible. A little evil is okay.)

2. There is always a comma within the quotation marks before a dialogue tag. No dialogue tag, no problem. Put a period within the quote marks.

3. Speaking of dialogue tags, they should be few and far between but in no way eliminated completely. When necessary only use the basic ones: he/she said/asked/whispered. Creativity will not get you points in this case. All the barking, choking, gasping, crying, yelling, laughing, coughing etc. will only make it sound as though your characters are animals in a zoo.

4. Active vs. passive writing. Repeat after me: This sentence is being far too passive. Wait . . . go here for more information on active vs. passive. It may be complicated but it's a super hero concept that might just save your novel.

5. Dialogue should not meander outside of what is completely necessary to move the story along. A little meandering to make it sound real is fine. Too much and the reader starts rolling their eyes and begins flipping through the channels on the TV to find Hawaii 5-0.

6. Speaking of dialogue, each speaker gets to have their own paragraph. Don't let different speakers crowd into each others paragraphs. Separate those little snugglers or else they'll procreate until all you have is one big-a block of text.

7. Don't use twelve words (especially adjectives) where one word will suffice. (Note: I'm not talking about adverbs. By all means use twelve words in place of an adverb if that's what it takes to kill the sucker.) I don't like seeing any knarled, brown, rough, lichen-covered, fungal, buggy, holey, crevassed, ancient, magical trees. (Fine, I could only come up with ten. You get the picture though, right?)

8. Allow your characters some freedom but don't let them take over. By all means you should let the story evolve naturally instead of trying to force it into a box. However, when your characters start acting out of . . . well, character, then it's time to take back the reigns and guide them to safer waters.

9. Writer's block is simply that evil internal critic telling me I'm a failure. (Okay maybe this is just me.) There's no need to listen to snarky voices like that. Better to just finish that !@#$ novel and start listening to real voices like the feedback from beta readers and friends.

!0. There's no substitute for beta readers and critique groups to help to find the flaws, holes and punctuation errors. Of course there's no substitute for a few friends a family (okay and maybe even distant acquaintances) to tell you you're brilliant.

And there you have it. The top ten things I've learned so far as a writer. They are all pretty basic and hopefully things all you writers have learned as well.

What's something you've learned since you started writing?

Demons, begone!!

2010-09-21T14:26:00.003-06:00

What is it with my creations that has me throwing up my hands and sending them to their rooms?

I'm talking about my children of course . . . although my characters could use a healthy dose of grounding as well. They make messes of everything, what can I say? For example: my two holy terrors (Thing 1: age 4, Thing 2: age 2) managed to tornado through the house, while I was innocently immersed in a particularly difficult scene of RISK involving some semi-automatic rifles and several incendiaries, and they accomplished the following:

Empty the fridge, feed (and I do mean FEED) the dogs, eat an entire package of individually wrapped German gummy bears + two packets of gum, build a fort out of every blanket and pillow in the house, giggle at the farting sound coming out of the shampoo bottle while they emptied it into the bathtub, stink up the house (okay that was Thing 2 who is relapsing with the whole potty-training thing), paint beautiful murals on my walls with pens, markers, pencils and crayons, scatter the ratchet set and unshelve the books on the bookshelves.

I'm pretty sure there was more than that but my brain shorted out. I was left gaping, gawping and honestly there might have been tears.

Now would you believe while my children were pitter-pattering through the house with their cute little feet and obliterating everything they touched with their cute little hands, my characters were actually doing just the opposite? I know, shocker. Usually it's my characters throwing bullets around as though they were just words on a page and making people bleed thereby forcing me to write a completely different plot line just to get them out of it. But no. They took their rebelliousness and sent it out through the radio waves and possessed my children with their dark and violent tendencies. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh but my characters have been just so well behaved. I mean, this one guy was totally beating up my main character and said-main-character reminded me that she'd been beaten up a lot recently and so we mellowed it out some. Such fun. What a darling.

Apparently I'm not allowed a balance. Either the characters suffer or my house does. Coming up here to the climax of my Work in Progress, I think it's time to send the demon's residing in my children packing back off into the characters. Demonic characters are much more exciting and interesting then demonic children.

Oh and I vow not to have the radio up so loud next time I check out of reality and go wandering around in my manuscript. Apparently the radio waves are demonic conductors for the utter and irreversible possession of children. Demons, stay! Character's, you're grounded. Thing 1 and Thing 2 . . . *sung in the voice of your favorite pop star* Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do your share! Clean up! Clean up! Giant messes everywhere!!

P.S. Just before I was able to hit "publish" on this post, the delightful tinkle of shattering glass was heard from the kitchen. Seriously, no joke. Now, a moment of silence for my favorite vase.

Online BBQ to meet other writers

2010-09-03T12:15:00.002-06:00

Hi all newbies to my blog. Thanks to Karen Gowen who came up with this great idea to help us build a web presence by hosting this little shindig. Whether you love beans or not, you'll love this recipe. My mom made it for every BBQ growing up and now I do the same.

Baked Beans
1 lb country style ground sausage
2 16oz cans baked beans drained (I like Van de'camps)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbls mustard
1 8oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 whole onion

Brown sausage in large walnut sized pieces. Combine rest of ingredients in a casserole dish. Add sausage. Peel onion and poke holes in it. Push entire thing into the center. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour. I like to put it in a crock pot after it's been baked to keep it warm.

Well browse around the other posts and if you wouldn't mind hearing my writerly rantings once in a while, hit that there follow button thing-a-majiggy. I'll come around and see what you have to say as well.

There could be a death. It might be murrrderrrr.

2010-08-31T15:11:00.004-06:00

Following the serial killing train of thought, I ran into a huge problem today. I need to kill someone. No honestly, there's this guy and he's lying there on the concrete bleeding from his head and I just know that my next actions are going to trend toward murder rather than salvation.

Yeah, yeah. Of course I'm talking about a character (since if I were to kill actually kill someone, I probably wouldn't blog about it. Probably.) but it doesn't make it any easier. I finally get past this enormous month long block, typing away on my WIP only to be stopped by something like a character bleeding on the concrete. Now this character I don't just love, but adore on many levels. He's one of my favorites and I'm not even sure his entire story has been told. So when I say that I probably need to identify him as dead or alive in the next paragraph, you'll understand my dilemma. I honestly didn't even want to go there. It wasn't a part of any outline, notes or visions for the work. It was just one of those !@#$ moments where the characters and situation takes over and what I have is a bleeding character who may or may not make it through the paragraph.

I guess you might consider it a curse (or a perk, I know there are some weirdos out there) of writing that you have created these wonderful characters, named them, groomed them, given them feelings and life and then in one moment of crap-the-character-hijacked-the-story-again, you find them dead. Writers are killers. There's no way around it. Death is a part of the circle of life and if characters aren't facing mortality in one form or another (i.e. every other chapter usually with M-16s in my books) they are probably not exploring the full scope of their character arch. So we hurt characters, we kill characters, and we throw them into horrendous situations just to see them get out of it. What kind of monsters are we!!

Ahem . . . okay back to bleeding character #1. Without knowing the story, I need votes on what to do. Kill said, interesting, well-loved, not-quite-completed character . . . or let him live to die another way? I mean day. I mean, honestly he might make it. Who knows. It's the climax. A lot can happen.

Book club and Serial Killers

2010-08-23T13:52:00.009-06:00

I seriously have the most awesome book club in the universe. This month was our annual book club retreat which took place at the Silver King resort in Park city. Imagine spending the entire night (ahem, okay only until 5 am or so) talking with your best buds about reading, writing and everything in between (and eating lots of snacks of the sugar and doughnut variety). Now add that our fearless book club leader managed to secure the author of our book as a guest for the evening and you have the most FRAWSOME book club ever!! (Yes we are attempting to kill each other with kitchen utensils. Last one standing got an ARC of Mr. Monster--yeah, I'm reading it right now.)

The book choice this month was I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells, a local Utah author. Now not only is this book amazing (no really, the protag is the most interesting and complex protagonist I've ever read) but the author is likewise amazing. The very fact that he took an entire evening to discuss not only his novel with us, but also talk writing and publishing with the few writers in our club says a lot about a person.

Okay, enough gushing (I'm not a gusher by nature but every once in a while I get the urge). One of the things Dan said really stuck with me. I'll have to paraphrase since I wasn't taking notes.

"Anyone can make a living as an artist. If you put as much time and energy as a doctor does in building a career, you can be just as successful. Unfortunately there are not programs designed to guide an author step by step into the industry as there are in other fields but if you consider yourself a writer and work everyday toward making it a career, you can't lose."

Well, I've decided I'm an author. Of course I must be a mother first, but as a sanity-saving supplement to my life, I will be putting in the hours as if it were a career, not just a hobby. Good things are coming my way, I can feel it.

It's too dang crowded, I can't see the end . . .

2010-08-17T18:21:00.005-06:00

Today my two youngest children (2 and 4) dragged out an old toy kitchen set that's been residing in our basement since their older sister outgrew it four years ago. Seeing an opening for quiet writing time while they played with their "new" toy, I put it in the two-year-old's room, listening to them play quietly with the single piece of plastic pizza that had survived the four years of abandonment. Hoping for more than ten minutes of writing time, I scavenged around the house for other toy dishes, toy utensils and plastic food. I was very pleased with myself as I set out the toys for them and then settled down with my laptop to do some serious writing. Not more than ten seconds later, without a single new word to my name, I hear the screaming and wailing telling me the kidlets are engaged in an all out war over the new items. So I settled it, found a couple more things and pulled out my laptop again. Screams, followed by some pushing and if I were to gauge by the the strange crescent-shaped mark on the four-year-old's arm, there was some biting as well.

So what happened between the twenty or so minutes they played happily with the single piece of pizza and the ten seconds they played with everything else. I guess things just got too crowded--too many cool things were put into play.

This got me thinking about my current writing quandary. There I was happily typing along a singular plot line, excited about my dear protag going from point A to point B with this motivation and that problem. Then I start working on the climax and the winding up and realize that things have become too crowded. I've seriously thought of screaming, pushing and biting but being a mature adult have restrained myself (ahem, those aren't bite marks on the screen, I swear!).

I kinda feel like perhaps Stephan King felt when he got somewhere toward the end of The Stand and realized things had gotten too crowded with too many story lines going in a too many directions. What did he do? Apparently he blew up half his characters (I'm only halfway through so I'm going to take his word for it until I get there).

Now blowing up half my characters isn't going to work for me, first of all, I like them way too much and have worked in hints throughout the novel that their lives are vital to the climax, and second of all, I simply don't much care for killing characters (not that you'd know it if you read it).

I did come to a conclusion today that since moving forward is proving impossible, I need to go back and untangle the first draft rats nest, working out all the character's wants and motivations. Hopefully then, I'll be able to see the climax come together in the way I want with all the loose ends tied up.

Before I do that, however, I should probably go and untangle the children from that kitchen set and remove everything except that single piece of plastic pizza.

This'n that

2010-08-11T13:24:00.004-06:00

So first off, I'd like to thank all my new followers of this blog. It's been wonderful thinking that I'm posting something and someone is actually reading it. *sniffles and blows nose with stunning self-deprecation*

There has been a great deal going on in the writers community in the last week. My poor google reader is struggling to keep up with the wealth of information. I can't help but sit back and enjoy every article, letting it feed my obsession with the written and soon-to-be-written word. First of all http://writeoncon.com/ is in full swing filling my little brain with so very much knowledge, I feel like I should be handed a quiz soon just to prove I'm learning stuff. Second, I finally got the hang of twitter, sending out my first tweet just yesterday after cyberstalking agents and writers via their tweets and clicking on every link they offered, sending me into yet another maelstrom information. Thirdly, I discovered a rather new publishing company in Utah http://widopublishing.com/ which is playing a part in hosting a wonderful contest if a person were to perhaps, I don't know, have a manuscript they've been querying that they'd love feedback from an editor on. That link is here http://karenjonesgowen.blogspot.com/2010/08/lettuce-write-and-get-your-chapters.html

So there you have it. It's only Wednesday (at least I think it's Wednesday, seems like it should be Friday since I finally get to see Inception then) and as you can see I've been busy sitting on my butt while my mind has been running in a million directions.

....oh and I'm potty-training my youngest child so my butt and my computer have spent a lot of time on the bathroom floor. 'Nuff said.

Hanging threads

2010-08-04T16:38:00.000-06:00

What do you do when you're 70,000 words into a manuscript (okay actually 78,000 words, 8,000 of which I have deemed unworthy but can't seem to delete) and you just don't feel it coming together? I have all these little threads I've been setting out since the beginning, characters that I intend of having a great impact at the end and subtle little mini-plots worked in throughout. Trouble is, now I'm feeling the pinch. At 70,000 words the novel should be winding up, everything rolling together into a nice little package that will explode into a dramatic fireworks grand finale of climatic satisfaction and yet my threads are still hanging in a million different directions without a rubberband in sight to hold them in place.

I finally had to pin my husband down last night and give him the abbreviated plot version and beg him to help me out of my rubberbandless dilemma. It helped. A lot in fact. I was able to fix and finish the chapter I'd been wallowing through and even started on the next chapter. That put one thread in place, now I just need to work the other ones in. I have no doubt that everything will work out in the end, but just now I'm in writing purgatory. Right now there's not a lot of enjoyment in putting words down because I know they're bad and will need to be fixed later. The only thing that keeps me going is that whatever I'm writing, I have no doubt I will be able to improve on it--and I will. Yessiree. That's the good part about writing. Most of the time it can only get better. If you're already at good-better-best, you should probably be publishing.

I hate/love querying

2010-07-28T08:19:00.000-06:00

It's true. I have such strong opposing feelings about querying it kinda turns me schizo.

Rage is on its second major round of querying. The first I'll call an abysmal failure mostly for two main reasons: First: looking back, I'm embarrassed by the query letters I sent. Honestly, they were just really bad. Confusing, bad writing, the works. Second: Obviously the first round of querying didn't render the results I wanted (landing an agent) although I did get a few partial requests.

Now we come to the second round of querying. Okay, the second round of querying I'm a few weeks into. After I finished the aforementioned rewrite, I refused to jump right back into the querying shark tank without that absolutely smashing query letter to match the work. So I wrote a query and edited it and researched before writing another query. Rinse and repeat. Up around query #8 I remember queryshark.blogspot.net, a website Brett happened on back when he was starting to query his novel House of Wind. So I revisited the site, thought it might be fun to submit to the brilliant, although rather frightening Janet Reid, aka query shark, for a query critique. First I read her requirements for submitting and found out that I had to read 160+ blog posts of query's she's already critiqued.

So I started reading thinking I'd get through a quarter of the posts and then send her mine. Then I discovered that I had ideas of how to correct (or restart) my query while I was reading so I made a habit of having the query up on my screen while reading the blog so it would be easy to make corrections.

I'll tell you, it wasn't easy and it took me well over a week to get through the entire archives but the result was query #14. Well darn it all if I don't feel pretty good about #14. In fact I've sent it out now to over a dozen agents and have already gotten a partial request and a, "I'm passing it on to a colleague who might like it". I didn't take that one as a rejection.

Now we come to the love/hate portion of querying. There is something downright thrilling about sending out that letter and knowing one of those people with connections to major publishing companies is looking at your precious baby and picturing it in hardback. I love getting on my computer and seeing a "re:query:12th Dimension R.A.G.E." in my inbox. My finger hovers over the mouse for a good 30-60 seconds before I'm able to click on it, preparing for the worst, although in at least two cases yesterday, punching my fist in the air and yelling "YES!" That would be the "love" portion of querying.

What I hate: Self doubt. Worry that R.A.G.E. is not good enough, concern that there's not way I can swim in the writing industry, fear that the next rejection will destroy my will to finish my next novel, terror that perhaps my ability to write will never be up to par with industry standards. Usually these fears are the worst in the evenings after the sun goes down and the ghosts come out. During the day things don't look so grim and I can hope, hope, hope for a brighter outcome for my dreams.

P.S. I did submit my query to queryshark. No posting yet but at least the site did its job in giving me a query that I'm not embarrassed by.

Major Overhaul

2010-07-07T11:39:00.000-06:00

Finally after years of watching Stephan King inspired movies I took a leap and actually read one of his books. Starting off small with his book On Writing (fabulous) followed by Eyes of the Dragon, I managed to make it to one of his hard core horror novels and picked up It.

To say this novel inspired me would be an understatement. I was utterly amazed by the way he seemed to paint characters and scenery with such vividness and realism. So finishing the 400,000+ words in less than a month I had to go back and look at R.A.G.E.

Now my poor manuscript had been written, edited, edited, edited and edited, then queried, queried, queried, rejected, rejected, rejected and then finally shelved, but after reading It I was determined to have another look. Holy Flatness Batman!! No wonder it had been rejected 50+ times. While my plot wasn't lacking, my faceless characters revolved in little individual spheres that didn't extend past their little sections of dialogue and the most basic of descriptions. Ding, ding, ding. A bell went off in my head and I rolled my neck, cracked my knuckles and sat right down for a complete rewrite. That was about three months ago or whenever I posted last on my sad neglected blog.

Since then the story has taken on depth in regards to setting descriptions as well as character development in the tone of 30,000 words. That's right. My measly 75,000 word novel has been bulked up to 105,000 words of depth and character.

I wish this story had a happy ending and I could proudly put into print that since then twenty agents have asked for the manuscript and 15 have asked to sign me and a publisher is waiting in the wings to offer me a six figure three book deal. Unfortunately I'm once again standing of the brink of querying and I can't seem to put together an absolutely smashing query letter to match my newly absolutely smashing manuscript. I'll get there, I know I will. No one puts in that much time on their computer and that much effort into a manuscript without trying to introduce it to the world. Literary Agents, you've been warned. Watch for new and improved R.A.G.E. coming your way. ;)

TSTL

2010-04-04T11:33:00.000-06:00

Writers have great power. Within the twenty-six letters of the alphabet are endless possibilities. Our fingers pound out word after word, weaving together a tale that we hope resonates with other people. Eventually we discover that there is no ceiling on our creativity, something that could not ever be possible in the real world is just a few words from reality within our works.

What's the phrase, "With great power comes great responsibility." Writer's always discover their power but often disregard their responsibility. We'll toss a character off a cliff and have them survive. We'll have a character act atrociously and then allow another character to forgive them without question. We'll create impossibilities with little or no explanation. Why? Because we can. Gravity won't stop us neither will social inhibitions. Unfortunately this leads to many unpublished authors, simply because if a reader can't wrap his head around our impossibilities, the work will never resonate.

This brings us to one of the greatest sin of an irresponsible author. The character that is TSTL. Remember that character that went off a cliff. Well suppose she walked off the cliff, even though she could see it, even though she didn't want to die and whistling the national anthem all the way. Stupid, eh? To Stupid To Live, perhaps? Someday I hope for R.A.G.E. to be my breakout novel but I had to acknowledge something during my most current major overhaul--my main character Rose was flirting with the label TSTL. Shameful. The trouble is, I knew this. I tried using the science fiction in my book to explain away her stupidity in following after the bad guys. Stupid, yes, but hey without it she doesn't go on the journey that makes up the majority of the book. So now you can imagine my relief as I am able to take Rose off the TSTL list. Thanks to a great deal of rewriting, Rose is able to follow the bad guys for a friggin' good reason that has only a little to do with sci-fi and hopefully people won't roll their eyes at her and say, "Honestly she doesn't deserve to live if she's going to be so dumb." and, "Hallelujah she finally got shot. I hope she dies." Neither phrase a very good thing to have directed at your MC.

I guess being TSTL is probably something to avoid in real life as well. Our society doesn't weed our the fittest as well as it used to. Just remember that laws apply, no matter whether you think you can create the impossible or not.

How our characters affect us

2010-02-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy my main character in Risk and R.A.G.E. Kris Rose is an intense, optimistic, don't-take-no-crap-from-no-one individual who is often funny and horribly flawed. However, of late I have been rather annoyed with her. Granted, she's going through a rough patch and, as the story goes, being very progressive in a rather negative direction. Even though it's a part of the story and it's something she has to go through for the sake of tension and even though I know she'll be okay in the end, I can't help feeling dragged down with her. I've been walking around the house for several weeks with the weight of her despair in my head and not a whole lot of hope on the horizon. Honestly, this segment is taking way too long to write and if it keeps going on this way, it might just send me to the loony bin.

Well last night I went on a great run. I haven't run in months because, let's face it, I've been hibernating (the cold and I don't get along so well). So I braved the first snow storm in months and ran until I was sore and cold and quite exhilarated--down right cheery. Then I sat down at my computer and wrote poor, depressed Kris Rose a turning point. Talk about breathing a sigh of relief. Now her optimism is in my head and I've been walking around the house whistling and plotting happy things for this character.

Then I started wondering, was Kris Rose affecting me or was it the other way around? How often do I have horrible writer's block because I'm cheerful and my character's depressed? How often am I feeling mellow and content and my character needs to go beat people up? How often am I snarling mad and my character has to go and smooch her boyfriend? The best times for writing, I've found, are when my characters and I are in perfect harmony. Nothing satisfies me more than, in lieu of yelling at my kids, having Rose throw a few punches, or instead of wasting three hours in front of the TV, writing a quiet conversation between friends.

Therapy manuscript? I suppose so. Just don't think to ill of me when you read it and discover there's way more shooting and punching then there is hugging.

Oh the horrible things we do

2009-12-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

I heard a quote once that went something like this, "It's the responsibility of authors to create interesting, likable characters and then do horrible things to them."

I am reminded of this quate almost every time I sit down with my laptop and punch a few letters that will undoubtedly having my poor characters begging for mercy. Writing had to go on hiatus during Christmas, not due to family activities or even the need to spend time shopping or wrapping. No, actually it was because I needed to do something horrible to a character that I absolutely adore, that would cause him no end to pain. I know I've said in the past that when you're stuck on a scene, violence is always the answer. Write something violent and you're sure to stir things up and make them interesting. In this case, however, the impending violence tore at my heartstrings and I agonized for days on a way to fix it, change it, or simply write around it to spare my poor character from having to go through it. I even imagined in my head what I would say to him if he ever confronted me about my bloody pen (or keyboard, as it were). Honestly, I have to say that I have a great answer for him having something to do with the fact that things were already heading in that direction when the story started and for crying out loud, I'm trying my best to write him out of it.

There are always going to be things we can't prevent. Do we ignore these situations and hope they go away? Do we try to fix it knowing that the end will be the same anyway or maybe scoot around it trying to find a different solution? Well, every situation is different and any one of those solutions could possibly work.

However, in this particular case there was no way around it. I had to do that horrible thing to that wonderful character and you know what? He's handling it fine. Coming right around despite what I put him through. You can often find a rainbow on the other side of the storm.

50K

2009-12-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

As milestones go 50K words when you're writing a novel is a pretty good one as the average novel size is between 70K words and 100K words. Why am I spouting off about word counts again? Okay, okay, I'm sure you already guessed it. Yes, I hit and passed 50K words yesterday.

Thank you! Thank you very much!

I actually am not entirely sure how I feel about it. On one hand I'm ecstatic that I've written as much as that and gotten as far as I have in the story. On the other hand, I have been writing in a thousand different directions putting in so many deliberate inconsistencies simply to get the story down.

I say deliberate and I mean it, although I am not happy about it. The thing is, I have a general idea of where the story is going. Characters will go to location A and then leave for location B before dropping character X over into a ravine before moving onto location C. So far I have done just that, moved my characters to the locations I want them to be. The trouble is, I'm not at all clear about their end games or their motivations. Only the conclusion of the novel can clear that up for me but as that is yet unwritten I have locations A, B, and C accounted for but the reason character X was thrown into the ravine only makes sense in chapters 7 and 9 but not chapters 8, 12 and 13.

This happens to grieve me deeply and causes no end to problems with writers block and irritation with my characters because I'm not entirely sure what they want. I suppose if this were my first novel, I might be able to live with it simply because Stephan King said so in his novel on Writing (a new writer's bible on the craft). However, this is my second novel I am operating on an entirely different way of writing than I'm used to. R.A.G.E. was edited to the T throughout every step of writing. I always felt really good about whatever was written previously before I went onto the next section.

Both ways have their pros and cons, although I find myself increasingly more frustrated with Risk, and not at all certain it will ever come fully together. For now I'll continue along the path I sprinting down, (I say sprinting because sometimes I feel like I'm running so fast, I'm stubbing my toes and tripping over rocks whereas with R.A.G.E. I was tiptoeing ever so carefully for the 8 months it took me to write it).

The editing phase sometime in January or February (if I can continue at this pace) will probably be just as much work as the writing phase. However at least by that time I'll have the ending and hopefully know all the characters motivations. I might even be able to save character X from that ravine.

What to do, what to do

2009-10-19T11:44:00.000-06:00

What if you're not totally jazzed about a chapter you need to write? Does that mean there is a problem with it?

First off, let me just brag for a moment. Dimensional Risk (the sequel to R.A.G.E.) hit 20,000 words this week. For all of those who don't obsess over word count, that equals about 80 double spaced pages or in Risk's case, 7 chapters.

I've been feeling pretty good about myself, you know, taking Stephan King's advice from his book On Writing and just plowing ahead, taking little time for editing or stressing over where the story is going. I have to say it's quite liberating to be able to write and write and write, knowing I'm probably doing the best thing for the book but on the other hand I have to keep up a mantra in my head reminding myself that it doesn't have to be perfect, gosh darn it, we live in a modern age where changing a word, sentence, paragraph or even a chapter is as easy as *highlight*delete*move cursor*type new section*.

Okay, back to my original question. I hit 23,284 words today (again about 87 pages double spaced) and found myself at a road block. Now unlike the other writer's blocks I hit with frequency, this has less to do with not knowing what to write next but rather, I just don't wanna write it. The content of the next chapter seems almost dull to me. I suppose it will have a lot of action, shooting, screaming, lighting and other crap that I so much enjoy putting in my work, but I think my sense of boredom comes from my main character having cut herself off from everyone. More than just about anything (writing related) I enjoy writing dialogue. Now having a main character distant from the other main characters makes for a lot of lackluster if not downright non-existent dialogue *sob*.

So what's my fix? Do I just plow through and write it so I can get to the much more character-centric, interesting and easy to write chapter 9, or do I find a way to change chapter 8 so it appeals to me more? What would you do?

Power-less powercords

2009-09-23T09:30:00.000-06:00

So, blogging from an iPod may be the most rediculous idea you've ever heard. I say, true. Expect lots of typos. So the power cord to my laptop died utterly and completely, leaving me *sniffle* without any means to feed my obsession *sob*. So here I am sitting on the floor of the bathroom going on hour two of "child-on-toilet-until-he-pees", blogging from my iPod touch. I have to say, a computer-less me is incredibly productive in other ways, hence the removal of wallpaper and subsequent painting of aforementioned bathroom on whose floor I am residing while I type this. Potty-training and painting--can you imagine a greater hell?

Now lest you think this writing hiatus will make my writing suffer(don't forget I'm writing this from an iPod--me the non-texter of the world) no, I don't think my writing is suffering. It has given me a great deal of time to think about character and plot. Now I know my poor characters are screaming into the silent void of their non-working computer home asking, "what about us?! You left us in a really bad place!!" I should feel bad but considering all the horrid things I am planning to do to them, they should appreciate the reprieve. I will cut this short now because my pointer finger is starting to cramp from one-fingered typing. Let's just say that forced breaks in writing are not always bad. It can give you insight into a scene you are writing not previously considered. I probably shouldn't be too productive in the home, though, or my husband might just procestinate replacing my powercord.

The Bright Light Amidst the Poo-pile

2009-09-11T14:28:00.000-06:00

Two contrasting experiences today. First of all, being a mommy royally sucks sometimes but fortunately it's all piled on at once. Today is one of those piles.

However, amidst the pile (let's call it a poo-pile day, just to show this figurative contrast) there is always something that can lift your spirits, even if it exists in a completely separate realm. I got a partial manuscript request about a week ago from a wonderfully reputable agent. In doing my research on this agency, I was pleased to note that out of the 239 queries recorded (courtesy of www.querytracker.net) mine was one of 6 they requested more material on. Not only was I bouncing off the walls in joy at having someone interested in RAGE (yipee!!) but it told me that my query letter (long revised, rewritten and generally stressed over) really can't be that bad. I mean, hey, if one agency liked it, why not others?

So today amidst aforementioned poo-pile, I was able to take an interesting side tour on my way to grocery shopping (4 children + 2 dogs = the frequent poo-pile day) to the post office to mail in my submission. Now I know they are not going to look at it the second it gets there in 3 to 4 days. In fact they told me they wouldn't get to it for 90+ day but it was still exhilarating sending my baby into the hard publishing world with all her perty, brand-spankin' new edits and find out if she pasts muster. Will they like her? Will she be exactly what they're looking for? Will they be able to see and understand her potential and all the money she will make them if they will just accept her for who she is?

So let's just summarize for a moment, shall we? Poo-pile days suck big time. Sometimes you don't even need 4 children and 2 dogs to have one. Sometimes it's the publishing industry that you're piled under. Maybe it's the endless writing, editing and query letters that are killing you at the moment. Then just remember that even while under the stress and stench of one such day there can often be that small glowing ember of happiness that says, "I can survive this! Someone wants to look at my precious manuscript!" and just watch yourself dig out of the pile holding out that shining submission to the postmaster, who takes it between two fingers while holding his nose.

Just for fun

2009-09-01T11:12:00.000-06:00

True story

On any given hour of any given day, the untamed tones of wild children resonate throughout the jungle of domesticity. What could be more fascinating, yet at the same time frightening, then to listen to the discordant tones while attempting to ascertain the nature of each conflict?

On this particular date, the feral yowls of J.J. resounded from the lair of his most potent enemy--a porcelain demonite by the name of Latrine. J.J. had been betrayed. The matron of his flesh had joined forces with Latrine in order to alter his future--a future he was loath to part with.

J.J. had fought this battle over the course of the last six moons but felt his stamina wavering. Each fight had ended with J.J. trapped in the clutches of Latrine and very seldom had he been able to secure even the smallest victory. He was sure his mother no longer loved him as, with a snarl, she lit a candle in order to vacate the scented spirits from the lair. The slamming of the gates behind her signified a moment for him to plan a defense even while Latrine held him in her cold clutches.

A brilliant idea astounded him for a moment and he took a shuddering breath as the magnitude of possible victory climbed into his chest. His mother may have left him to his nemesis but in her haste to dispel the spirits she had overlooked a powerful weapon.

Latrine did not notice or care as he reached a small rebellious hand toward the sacred scroll belonging to the demonite. The softness of the scroll slid seductively across his palm, his small face scrunching in concentration. If only he could eliminate one enemy with the unwitting weapon his mother had left. Perhaps with the loss of the sacred scroll his adversaries would be demoralized enough to abandon their foolish quest.

With a rapid flick of his wrist, J.J. captured the scroll and without another thought, set it above the flaming candle. With a roar, the scroll ignited, instantly turning into a brilliant inferno. Not expecting quite so much commotion from the typically docile aid to the demonite, J.J. dropped the scroll with a squeal.

Apparently the scroll was not the unassuming facilitator he had always considered it to be. It landed at his feet with a shower of sparks and ash, before rolling toward the basin of hallowed water. The lapping flames devoured the base of the pedestal, licking upward with great billowing clouds of smoke. J.J.’s scent spirits abandoned him with fervor, but he saw his chance.

Leaping away from Latrine, he bellowed a cry of triumph but also terror as Latrine’s lair was consumed. A cough burst from his throat as he raced toward the gates, a shrill alarm sounding from without the walls.

The shackles made from his clothing, hampered his escape but as he saw the closed gates, he realized he might have overstepped his zeal for conquest. Surely this would be the battle to end all battles—surely, even after securing the smallest win, he would not be able to complete his escape.

A rush of cool air brushed his face, as his mother swung the gates wide. Regret and terror flushed her face and she dragged him from the lair before rushing into the inferno to aid her new master. Sobs racked her throat and J.J. could not look away as she acquired a sturdy colorful vessel, a boat of great importance to him and scooped the very lifeblood from Latrine’s body in order to calm the fire.

The blaze quieted and J.J. stood in astonishment surveying the shattered sanctuary of his foe. His mother coughed into her hands, hunched over Latrine. J.J. felt only remorse at her grief. He had not known how much the demonite meant to her. For the first time since the beginning of the war, J.J. entered Latrine’s lair willingly, placing a small hand on his mothers shoulder, whispering sincere apologies. She flung her arms around him, sending happy waves of gratitude crashing around him in her pleasure of his safety. Perhaps it was time to find a common ground and cease the violence.

The consensus had always been that toilet training was an absolute pain. Expect messy floors. Expect messy clothes. No one had ever mentioned smoke inhalation or conflagration.

As one who had witnessed the flames, I only felt relief as I surveyed the minimal damage. A patch of bubbled linoleum and a slightly scorched cabinet—it could have been a lot worse. However for someone not knowing anything had happened, a delicate touch was needed.

The sound of an engine accompanied a crunch of tires turning into the driveway. I leaned casually against the doorframe as my husband exited his car. J.J. watched me quietly from his tricycle in the living room. He seemed frozen in place, his wide blue eyes staring at me as though he had never seen me before. I turned my attention to his father as he strode up the front steps.

“J.J. lit the bathroom on fire today,” I said, “and it’s really bad…”

Training wheels until chapter 12

2009-08-25T20:40:00.000-06:00

On the writing front things have been slow. They've been even slower on the muralist front, though, so I shouldn't complain.

I'm stuck--as in writers block up the ying-yang. Of course my characters won't stop shouting me down from chapter 12 and all I can do is shout back that I'm not quite there yet...nor will I ever be if they don't be quiet for a few minutes (or months) and let me catch up.

What can I say, my characters have a tendency to take over. It's like the overly ambitious child you've just taught to ride a bike. You point them in the right direction and they take off without regard to all the obstacles in their way, leaving you in the dust knowing full well they will crash and the result will be rewriting 50,000 extra words just to make up for where they've left you. I don't know how many times I've been typing along a premeditated plot line and one of my characters out of the blue will do something quite shocking and in no wise planned. Not only do my eyebrows take the elevator all the way up to my hairline, but these !@#$ characters leave me with an all new plot twist that I have to make work throughout the rest of the book. Hey even authors can be surprised by their work

So the writers block, though being a much slower-paced way of life, has at least allowed me plenty of time to think about the shouted chapter 12. If I had started writing it out of order (as I am known to do) I would most assuredly have to cast it out at a later date to make way for all the new (self-propelled as opposed to character-propelled) things crowding my brain right now in regards to major plot lines. I am already seeing big changes that need to take place in my first three precious chapters, but hallelujah, every day the plot picture is becoming clearer.

Someone once said that writers block is your friend. It allows you to reassess your plot and characters to determine why you don't care enough about them to get past the block. Well all I have to say about that is, poo-poo. My trouble right now is that I care too much to make a mistake. I have written a higher word count of mistakes into first drafts than I have of words I've kept. Mistakes allow you to see what your book could have been had you not edited, rewritten, edited, rewritten again, worried, cared, and thrashed in your sleep until your husband kicks you out to go finish that !@#$ chapter so everyone can finally sleep in peace.

Well hopefully my most darling and scathing writers group can help me past this stupid block. Sometimes these meetings leave me at the point of running to my characters for sympathy (something that almost never ends well as the Commander usually ends up shooting Rose out of the blue or Justet plots a kidnapping, thereby causing me stress and extra writing, rather than the relief I'd hoped by running into their arms). However, group meetings never fail to get my fingers back on the keyboard to start pounding away on that skeletal and usually drivel-like first draft again.

Progress. Forward. Moving on. Hopefully it won't be on the wobbly character-ridden bike. I think I'll put the training wheels back on until I get to chapter 12.

Alligators, Writing and Hope

2009-08-04T09:18:00.000-06:00

"Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators."
-Olin Miller

And on that note what more can I say? A lot, actually. I figure I have a tough job. Raising four children (most of whom can out debate me on any given Sunday) would challenge the strongest, most intelligent person in the world. Well I am neither, though I feel I can hold my own against my nine-year-old--pulling out the old "because I said so" if I need to.

So why is it that I decided it might be fun to take on another challenging job? The answer lies in hope. I feel I have written an interesting, entertaining story--a story that has taken some of the best and worst from me. I have a great deal of hope that there will come a time when people can pick R.A.G.E. up at their local library and enjoy my characters. I hope that some day people will learn something from my work. I hope that I can publish R.A.G.E. and therefore have hope that future works will be published, and maybe those will entertain or touch someone.

Now granted, what budding author hasn't thought about that six figure advance, the book signings, or seeing their characters come to life of the big screen? I think about these all the time--sort of my own personal well of of hopes and dreams. However when I think deeply about what I want for my books, I have to admit to myself that I want people to meet my characters and like them, not unlike how I want my children to be well liked and admired.

Difficult, you say? Not if I've done my job correctly. Now if I could just leap the most agonizing hurdle into the publishing industry all this hard work could pay off in making my characters accessible to the world--and in so doing, launch me into the alligator pit of living by my pen (er...laptop, as it were.)

Querying and the Dream-crushers

2009-08-02T18:06:00.000-06:00

Querying is one of the most exciting milestones an author can get to. Here you have this manuscript you've been working on for____ (fill in blank, 6 months, 18 months, 20 years, etc.) streamlined to perfection and now is the time to bestow it on that select lucky agent who will sell it for a six figure advance as well as contact Tom Welling for the lead in the movie. I'm getting breathless just thinking about it.

Then comes that first rejection. I mean it was bound to happen and just because it was a form letter shouldn't bode ill for your baby, right? Wrong! And wrong again and again and again! *Sniffle* Now my breathlessness has turned to tension and tears as I remember the little dream crushers slamming me from my mailbox as well as my inbox. It finally gets to the point where a new email comes in and my finger hovers over the mouse button for a good 20-30 seconds until I get up the gumption to feel that pit in my stomach again.

So after having been crushed repeatedly, I let my querying peter out until I was only getting a lagging rejection perhaps once a month instead of once an hour. Revisions of the manuscript screamed obscenities at me, divulging perhaps the reasons for the rejections--the manuscript wasn't ready yet. An unready manuscript also equals an unready query letter. Curse them!

I haven't received a rejection in months and so the other day I decided to revise/rewrite my query letter again and send out another round of queries--more slowly this time. Last night I queried an agency exclusively and hope to get that rejection in the mail within a week or so...no wait, positive thinking is the key...get that offer of representation in the mail within a week or so.

Querying--what can I say? The anticipation is killing me. I'll post my most recent query letter here and if you would reject my precious RAGE on it, I'd love to know.

August 1, 2009

Dear Ms. XXXXX,

As my first choice agent, I am querying you exclusively given you interest in finding a great new voice in science fiction. Please consider my science fiction thriller 12th Dimension R.A.G.E.

A reverse-aged criminal from another dimension must remember her violent past if she is to save the future of Earth.

When young U.S. Army Specialist Kris Rose uncovers a plot to capture “Aliens” in the Sonoran desert, she unwittingly discovers the depth of her involvement going back to before she started her life on Earth. Having no recollection of her past life—a mass murderer from an alternate dimension of Earth—Rose must depend on her wits as well as her aggressive tendencies if she is to survive. With her good friend Corporal Devon Thurmond in tow, trying to save her from herself, Rose finds herself involved in one brutalizing mission after another in the noble pursuit of Earth’s continued existence.

Set in our modern world, 12th Dimension R.A.G.E. takes one step outside of reality, forcing Rose to explore her naturally dark nature in opposition to the moral person she would like to be. Her pleasantly cavalier voice and noncompliant attitude makes her strangely endearing. The unpredictability of the plot as well as deeply woven twists, create a distinctively commercial read.

My writing credits include nothing more than a nearly debilitating passion for writing. However, my experience as a Military Police officer as well as a Special Forces Counter-Intelligence Agent in the U.S. Army has provided me with the background necessary to bring authenticity to the military side of this work.

12th Dimension R.A.G.E. is complete at 78,500 words. I would be delighted to share the entire manuscript with you at your request.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Christauna Asay

When hobbies collide

2009-07-28T15:23:00.000-06:00

My dad is a very accomplished self-published author. He's in dire need of doing his fourth printing now (at least I think it's four) but had just finished writing his third book and wants to print that at the same time.

Now watch how my two favorite hobbies come crashing into each other. That's right. I'm working on an edit for him as well as being tasked to paint the cover. The first two covers (see above) were nothing short of inspired. Usually I can spend months working on and oil painting (not to mention the half finished ones in my basement) but these two paintings came together so well it was like someone was dipping my brushes and moving my hands for me.

I don't know if my dad can say the same for the manuscripts, but I feel they are also divinely inspired. The principles taught in these works have probably helped more people than there are copies out there.

Look at me, I'm practically purring. So while I read and edit, I'll also be up to my elbows in oil paints. How did I get to be so lucky as to have my two favorite hobbies colliding in such a fantastic way? Gotta know the author.

P.S. the books are called The Cedar Post, Tears of Joy and the forthcoming Flypaper. You can purchase them at www.jackrosebooks.com

Publishing, potty-training and violence

2009-07-27T12:43:00.000-06:00

12th Dimension R.A.G.E. is the title of the book I am currently trying to get published. I say "trying to" because if you've done even a modicum of research into the publishing industry, you'll discover that getting published is about as easy as getting my three-year-old to use the toilette. Some days I truly believe I will be published and walking down the red carpet to the premier of RAGE the movie before the lad will be potty trained.

So I'm focusing on realistic goals--like getting 12th Dimension R.A.G.E. published. Now lest you think the mother of four children can only write prissy, feel-good books, a word of caution. RAGE is not for the faint of heart. A fantastic mixture of science fiction and pulse pounding thrills, this novel has taken all the aggression I don't unleash on my children (except for the seriously rough times--see above notation about potty-training) and enveloped it into a rich plot with more than a little violence.

I've been told on more than one occasion that I'm too nice. I chuckle under my breath and make myself feel better by writing a few paragraphs that involves some shooting and a whole lot of electricity. Of course laying it all out like this might make you believe me to be some sort of closet sadist. I have to say I haven't just written a book of gratuitous violence. Nope. RAGE has a great deal of teaching principles and a main character who abhors the violence I so rudely lay at her feet.

Summation: Publishing + pottytraining = unattainable goals...no wait...RAGE embodies my violent tendencies....hold on....

Okay...violence will not get you anywhere outside of a novel. At some point you have to dig down and find the depth of your character that will help you to accomplish those impossible endeavors...like potty-training and publishing.

Blogging for the sake of blogging

2009-07-27T12:04:00.001-06:00

So here's my first blog post on my most fantabulous new blog. Why do I want to blog? Well, 1. because I don't spend nearly enough time on my computer 2. I don't write enough and 3. I have tons of time to flush down the toilet. Okay seriously folks, as the mother of four children, 1 dog and a hefty amount of freeloading house flies, I shouldn't have time to scratch my nose much less find time to obsess about writing and the occasional art project.

As with all obsessions, they should be nourished and fed with great consistency. This blog will not be about my children's milestones (there's another blog for that), no this will be about feeding my writing obsession to it's greatest potential. But first....procrastination....