Mondays To do

A couple of items are from last week. Didn't get everything done. Sigh.


Get coach interview for Hockey Hopefuls
Write Hockey Hopefuls and submit
Write up questions for prolapsed uterus, cervix, parents in control, and asthma pregnancy.
Get Anecdotal Sources for Prolapsed Uterus. (If this happened to you, please get in touch with me)
Get anecdotal Sources for Cervix Article (Ever had cervical cancer? I wanna talk to you!)
Get Experts for Parents in Control
Get Experts for Asthma during Pregnancy
Get Sources for Parents in Control
Get Anecdotal Sources for Asthma Pregnancy
Find Source for Celebrity Depends article
Finish rewriting Chapter eight and nine in LIPS
Contact new CP
Crit last to chapter for BBH
Write up some queries and send out.
Write and submit prolapsed uterus
Write and submit all about the cervix

What's on your to do list this week?

When it doesn't come together

I hate when things don't come together. Currently, I am working on an article that isn't coming together. I hate telling my editor things like, "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure what the focus was," or I'm not getting any good responses," or how about, "I know the study says this, so how come everyone is telling me that?"

Especially when it's all about the same article. Things like this have happened before. Sometimes I get the feeling an article is cursed. Anything that can go wrong, does. Experts flake out on me at the last minute. The information points in a completely different direction than the assignment. You can't find an anecdotal source to save your life. That sort of thing.

My editors give me a lot of leeway cause I have proven myself to them over and over, but it's still humiliating. Unprofessional.

Sometimes ideas don't come together. I pitched my great idea to my agent and she hated it. Really hated it. Though it was creepy and not in a good way. Sigh. One example of an idea that didn't come together.

Sometimes scenes don't come together. I wrote a love scene in my book over and over because it wasn't coming out right. (Yes, a love scene in a YA that was hot but not fulfilling, if you know what I mean.) I have trouble with other scenes and have to go back and look at the purpose of the scene. What is the conflict, the goal, the motivation. Usually, when I strip it all down I can figure out what's wrong with it.

I need to finish the article from hell and then I can work on my fiction. Kids are gone for most of the morning and though I should be going to my chapter meeting, I think I will have to skip it.Um yeah, especially since it's in five minutes!

On writers and Whining

Well, slap my face and shut my mouth!

Garrison on the topic of whiny writers. Ahem!

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_3791084

Art or business?

You know I have always prided myself for looking at my work as a business. I am a freelancer who gets ton of assignments. The editor tells me what to do and I do it. I like the give and take of CP groups. I like an agent who says, let's do this, this and this. So imagine my surprise when I felt myself balking at more rewrites on my wip. I don't mind cutting here and there. Adding this and that. But I am feeling like the first three or four chapters are pretty good. I'll change the synopsis, but there are things in the story that add the heart. My protagonist is a deaf girl, for crying out loud. I don't want to lose the fact that she is deaf and has had more struggles than most of us have ever known or dreamed of. I am not sure if I want her to be slick and packaged.

I hesitate to call my work art. (In fact, I am going through a my work sucks kind of week) But how much should we change our vision to meet market criteria? It would be easier if I were published, I think. More confidence.

So I am going to have to figure out what I am going to do now.

Had a great idea for a new work that I am going to pitch my agent this week. Do some more plotting for it.

Other than that, I am in nonfiction hell with more interviews and outlining than I can possibly mention. Why did I take so many assignments this month, Lord, why? Oh, right, the money.

Better get started.

San Jose!!!

What a wonderful time!

Made three fabulous new friends (Hi Kerensa, Delle and Laurena!) All chapter mates and now best buds. Food was good, beds were soft and there were so many agents and editors I lost count. I will never again belittle the importance of conferences. One of my friends ended up with the last appointment of the day with her dream agent. The agent was so enthralled she bought her a glass of wine and they talked for another hour. My other friend came up with six requests and we ended up practically closing down the bar with my agent and Sara Crowe from Harvey Klinger. (One of my agent's best friends)

Oh, and I LURVED my agent! Jenny and I got on fabulously well and had several private meetings. Hee.

Julia Quinn spoke yesterday morning and it was awesome. Also heard/met Catherine Coulter who is a lovely person. Will have pictures soon.

Also got to chat with Kristen Nelson while we waited in line to get our books signed. How fun is that?

Plus I bumped up to first class on both flights and it was SO worth it. I never rode in first class before so it was a new experience.

Also came up with a fabulous new idea for a book. Am so excited!

But this month have a gazillion things to do. I have eleven articles due. Have to finish revising LIPS and do some plotting on my new book.

I'm not even going to put my to do list on here, because you all would think I was pulling your leg!

Oh, oh, Rachel!!I met Miriam and we talked about you!! She says she's excited to meet you at RT:)

I'm outtie

Got a ton of stuff done and almost ready for tomorrow. Hey, that's optimistic, but I am in a better mood today. DOn't know why. The washer has been fixed so that helps. At least I'll be clean. I sure hope they serve drinks on the plane. I is gonna need them. Will report back when I get home!
Teri

Warning: Bitching, moaning and whining

Why me, Lord? Why now?

Wh-wh-whwhyyyyyyy?????

• Why did both of my children's laptops take a dump on me this week? They do cyber school and no laptops means no school! Why????
• Why did my washing machine blow up on me? I need clean clothes to meet my agent in. I can't introduce myself in dog hair covered, coffee stained clothes with M&Ms stuck to front like happy polka dots.
• Why did my daughter's coach choose right now to bitch about this and that? WHYYYYY?
• Why did Meier and Frank have to lose the jacket I placed on hold for presale? The one that would look so cute with my camis and made me look like I lost weight? Why?
• Why does my agent want me to revise LIPS again? Why??? (Okay, I know why and agree, I am just on a roll here.)
• Why do I have to run four different places tonight? At the same time?

Okay done whining. Have an article to write.

Surviving

Or things I managed to get done yesterday:

Get sources for toy IQ article
Send out questions for IQ article
Get interviews from Nick and a hockey coach
Send out soy questions
Make out new member packet
Write out application for FS club
Pick up Megs prom dress
Make appointment for dog’s hair cut (not only made the appointment, but got her hair cut!)

Okay, so I kicked some serious booty. Gonna have to keep that up all week if I am going to get out of here on time.

Am too excited! This will be my first RWA conference and I get to meet my agent. Am having much trouble finding clothes that will be appropriate and look good. There is a pair of pants I want to get at Chicos... so chic and so comfy. Must have them. Must remember to wrestle credit card from DH.

Must go write or some such thing.

I'm leaving on a jet plane

And my to do list is out of this world.


To Do List

Get sources for toy IQ article
Send out questions for IQ article
Write IQ article
Get interviews from Nick and a hockey coach
Send out soy questions
Make out new articles due list
Get sources for Pull Ups articles
Write Hockey Hopefuls
Get sources for Parents in Control article
Get sources for prolapsed uterus article
Finish shopping for trip
Pack up stuff for trip including numbers and list
Crit two chapters for Dawn
Send Dawn CP hopefuls
Make out new member packet
Write out application for FS club
FS Board meeting Tuesday night
Get hair and eyebrows done
Get info for prom registration and send out
Pick up Megs prom dress
Make appointment for dog’s hair cut
Find weekend rides for kids

Rose City Reader's luncheon

Was fabulous. Really a blast. I met Serena Robar, who was practically out of her mind with excitement because the Border's people were selling copies of her book at the luncheon. The book isn't out till next week, so she wasn't expecting it. Either that or she's always out of her mind.

I also met the lovely Shannon McKeldon and her daughter, Jess, who knows as much about romance and books as anyone I have ever met. What a treasure that girl! My son is my reader but he's not much into romance novels. Shannon was as sweet and funny as I thought she would be and I want to live next door to her. Not only is she like the perfect friend, but she has hundreds of books. (I cull mine all the time due to space restraints) The food was, well, eh, but what can you do with a buffet? Besides, by the time we got food we were gnashing our teeth as most of us had starbucks for breakfast. We would have eaten anything. But our goodies bags held chocolate and that kept us from attcking the tartlets in the gift basket at our table. Which Shannon won. Lucky gal, though Serena was an ultra lucky one, winning three raffle baskets full of goodies. Shanon won two. I got nada. I did win a door prize with a couple of books in it. But I really wanted a basket... oh well, between Serena, Shannon, and the goodie bag, I now have a ton of new books for my TBR pile and I even was gifted with a sweetly scented candle and a bottle of wine. (thanks chickies!)

Elizabeth Boyle was a wonderful speaker. Had me truly laughing and wanted to come home and write. And Oregon Literacy got to take home some money. YAY!

I hope my new peeps had as fun a time as I did. they are welcome to hang out with our chapter and me anytime!

Plus Serena said something to me that was so profound I think I am going to have an epiphany from it. Will write on that later.

What a difference a few years can make

I picked up a new market yesterday. I hadn't really planned on looking for any new clients, but what you plan on and what happens are often two different things. It's been a while since I truly researched new markets. I kind of miss the hunt. The excitment when one comes through. If I had nothing else to do but write, I would probably do it a lot more. But as it is... I'm in the car a bit much. I can't really write full time. Especially full uninterupted time!

But what was really cool about this, is that the turn around was so quick. He love my resume. I remember several years ago I had to work to make it sound good. When I first started... yeah. It was bad. Now, it looks pretty darn good. And I can also add: My fiction work is currently being represented by Trident Media Group. Pretty darn cool.

I am done with nonfiction for the month. Get to concentrate entirely on my fiction which is nice. I just finished reading my CP's book. Is wonderful! Except I was so involved I didn't crit it. Now I have to go back with the red pen. Must get to that as well. I put that under fiction. Oh and I have a bunch of club stuff to get to, as well.

No one answered my question on character arcs... must find a list to ask.

Have a Big Readers Luncheon to go to tomorrow. Going to meet the fabulous Shannon Mckeldon and the talented Serena Robar! Woohoo. I really should figure out where this place is! The weather is going to be absolutely gorgeous!
Can't wait!

Scene Arcs

Well, maybe I should call this chapter Arc. I just finished writing a love scene yesterday. My agent asked for hotter so I gave her hotter. But after I wrote it. I got all paranoid. Is it too hot? I mean, we are talking teens here. Sent to CP Shannon and got a big NO! Whew.

But am having trouble with the chapter as a whole. I think this is one of the problems with rewriting a book. The uber talented Jaci had to do it with Demon Island. When you get given a wonderful idea that changes so much of the book you are both "Yay" and "*&%$" cause it means rewriting a good portion of the book. Not just revising and editing. Rewriting. Changing the focus, the plot and character. I have found that isn't too difficult in the first half of the book, because of the way books start off building to the climax, but now that I am on chapter seven, I am realizing that more and more is going to have to be rewritten. Which is fine, but that also means slashing scenes and subplots that I adored.

In the original chapter seven, the boy and girl have a fight that helps explain some of the boy's inexpliciable behavior in the first six chapters. Well, since I added the very hot love scene, I needed to get to the fight from a different angle. But now I have the love scene and then the fight and the orginal seven ended up with them having a real date. I think it's too much to ask from one chapter. It seems rushed. So... what now, what now? Slash date. They can sorta make up. But no date.

Okay on to chapter arcs. How many people plot their chapter point by point? How do you make an arc? What the hell is an arc anyway? Cause I have a slam dunk synopsis, but it's time to start the serious rewriting and make the book more like the new synopsis. I need to understand this concept. What about Character Arcs? I think I get what it means on an intuitive basis, but for the purpose of improving my craft, I need more.

Thank you people. Oh, and if the above post seems a bit scattered, it's because I was up sick all night. With an unmentionable (only because I hate the word. It's creepy sounding, not gross.) milady.

A Tuesday To Do

Okay, was far too busy doing yesterday to make out to do. So here it is a day late.

Make out new member packet for skate club.
Make out hotel list for skate club.
Finish editing chapter seven and eight in LIPS
Flesh out new idea/write synopsis
Query editors for May work
Write Sperm article (This one just keeps hanging over my head!)
Research a few new markets.
Get ready for San Jose writer's conference. (shopping baby!)
Crit CP's last two chapters.

Okay, that's it for this week. I think that's enough seeings how it is already Tuesday.

Oregonians and weather

It's been a sunny weekend. Probably the first sunny weekend since November and that didn't count because it was freezing.

Pacific Northwesterners love them some sunny weekends. Don't get me wrong, we love the rain too or else we wouldn't live there. After a hot summer, that first mist is amazing. We actually head outdoors and drink our coffee on the deck soaking up the moisture. There's a great commercial for the University of Oregon that depicts a graduation in the pouring rain. A girl walks up to get her diploma with an umbrella over her and proceedings come to a dead stop. She looks around and then drops her umbrella and everyone cheers. She's one of us now.

But after several months of rain, that first sunny weekend is like Mardi Gras, Christmas and Cinco De Mayo all rolled together. Perhaps it's a reminder of why we live here. The softness of the breeze, the color of the sky when cleared of clouds and the fresh, sweet scent of growth. But I think it's the greens. Not just one green, but so many shades of green it boggles the eyes. Greens so bright it almost hurts to look at them.

As I was driving around yesterday, marveling at the greens, I noticed how many people were out. Families walking to the park, little leaguers playing ball, and men and women mowing, weeding, planting. Walkers with dogs, joggers with ipods. Kids on bikes. Neighbors were chatting. Nursery parkinglots were over flowing and the barkdust people were hauling chips by the loads. You'd have thought it was a national holiday. Okay, so it was Earth Day. But here it was a sunny Saturday, so fresh and clean it might have been washed by God. Well, it sort of was... washed in three months of rain.

Sure does wonders for the blues:)

The cure...

for da blues, iSh apple martinis. Like big liquid jolly ranchers with a serioush kick. Screw the gh;-)

Oh... and the shun came back out.

Cheers!

I got the blues

How am I blue? Let me count the ways:

1. For one thing, I'm pmsing. Oh, Lord, why did you design me to be at the mercy of hormones? I know you are Lord of all things, but why did You, the Being that created the heavens and the earth, the cells and the platipus for crying out loud, design me to be at the beck and call of hormones running from a gland at the back of my head to my ovaries and then all through my body? I wanna know.
2. For another, it started to rain again after two days of loveliness. Not long enough. It's like a giant cosmic tease to show us exactly why we live in the Pacific Northwest and then take it away again. March was one of the rainiest months ever and April has been no better. We get two breathtaking days of sun and then it's gone in a puff of mist. An author once said, "People in the Pacific Northwest have as many names for rain as the Inuits do snow." I believe it.
3. Cigarettes are bad for you. Why God, why? Enough said.
4. My book hasn't sold and may never sell. The RWA GH scores were absymal. I have one of the best agents in the business and it still hasn't sold. It seems as if everyone is selling except me. Why??? I wanna know.
5. Why do fifteen year olds suddenly believe that their parents, who have lived rich, full and eventful lives, are stupid? Don't know squat. I say wait a couple days before you do anything rash and she waits exactly 10 minutes. We say don't use your cell phone anymore the bill is gonna be big. A dozen times we say this. Then we get the bill. $736 dollars. Then she throws a fit the next day when we tell her she has to help clean the garage. Why, God, why? I wanna know.
6. My mother is back in the same state as I am. Why God, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy??????
7. Cigarettes are bad for you. Oh wait, I already put that. Oh well, it's worth repeating.

Can you tell I want a cigarette? I got de blues baby.

Heros

Diana had a post on her blog regarding heros. Specifically, Narnia heros. I was thinking about who did it for me both in books and movies. Here's a short list.

Ponyboy Curtis
Sodapop Curtis
Dally Curtis (I loved me some Curtis boys!)
Gilbert Blythe
The dark haired guy from Alias Smith and Jones.
Will from The Lords of Discipline
The Princes of Troy (Both of them, so romantic and tragic. Not to mention gorgeous. They did it for me way more than Brad's butt. Sorry Gena!)
Colin Firth in Bridget Jones Diary.
Chris in the Morning from Nothern Exposure. Loved him on Sex in the City and my Big Fat Greek Wedding too, so maybe it's just him.

I could probably think of more, but I have to get to work and thinking of gorgeous men this early in the morning is a little distracting. Which fictional characters do it for you?

Lalalalalalala

So far so good. Sent in my LIPS proposal. Some of the finest writing I have ever done. I sent in the revised synopsis and the first five chapters. Am busy rewriting the rest of the book. Am having a bit of trouble with six and seven. I had to kill a favorite scene in order to make the new version move faster. More dirt, less awwww! Better pacing too. So fun, so fun.

I have other ideas I want to get started on. One is about a couple of soon to be step sisters who are deadly enemies at school. I have a funny idea for pretend magic that was generously given to me by one of my talented Cp's. The other one I am toying with is called Homeschool Chick. A girl who has been homeschooled all her life starts in a regualr public highschool. I have a lot of funny ideas for the happenings at school, but I need something more. A hook of some kind. A plot would be good. Snort. Plus I am not sure whether she leaves school at the end or stays in. I think I would probably offend a lot of people by having her value the freedom she had as a homeschooler and decide to walk out.

Nonfiction is going better. I spent the last two days gathering sources and getting interview questions written. I have four articles to finish before the end of the month, but I think everything will pan out just fine. Still have a lot of work to do, but I don't feel so overwhelmed.

So Lalalalalalala!

Oooops

Um, I did something. The other day when I tried to put that link in? I did soemthing I don't think I was supposed to and now I have no links at all to the right. I need to be able to get to my blogs.

Can someone fix for me? I have tried a lot of different things, but can't find them. Does someone know a smattering of html, or at least can recogonize something that would clue them in on what I did? Jill, Rachel?

Sob. I can't visit anyone!

Update: Diana told me how to fix it, but I took the cowards way out and just deleted the post. I am off to visit everyone!
Teri

All Jumbled up

I am not awake yet so I am going to just jot down the things I have to do this week even if they are not writing related. I usually make two lists.

Call in prescriptions for my medications and husbands.
Get sources for So long to Soy.
Send out questions for Sperm article(I lost everything in the email program crash)
Find Sources for FOlic Acid peice
Find Sources for Pregnancy and Anti Depressents.
Finish Revising Chapter five in Lips.
Get at least three chapters critted for CP.
Work out, what three times?
Cook three dinners this week.
Light a candle for OTE. (Sucker needs it!)
Check out Calendar and see how many trips to the rink I can consolidate.
Stop capitalizing completely random letters in a sentence! GRRRR!
Um Mail Taxes (Need to put that one at the top of the list, eh?)
PUt together new member packet for Skate club
Call hotels and see which ones will give us discounts for competition.

Okay... I am outta here. this is sort of depressing. Oh, I have the greatest picture as my background. It's a lovely picture of an Aruban beach. Palm trees, tiki huts filled with booze or something. And two chubby tourist, a man and a woman, laying in lounge chairs soaking up the sun. My son was like, "What's the fat people doing there?" That's when I told him, "Don't laugh, that's me and your dad in ten years!"

Still dreaming of the beach:)

Overbooked

I am frantically overbooked today. Drive the kids to the rink, come home meet with the people who are buying the truck. Take money to the bank. Get kids at noon and bring them home. Try to get a hold of a source so I can finish an article and send it in. Take Son up to the zoo so he can meet a girl I don't like and don't trust. Rush back home. Check over Meggy's school work. Finish article and go over the synopsis notes from my agent. Rush back to the zoo in rush hour. Come home. Make and eat dinner. Rush back to the rink because dd has club and ds has to work again. Rush dd over to her boyfriends hockey game. Come home relax or collapse for an hour until I have to go back to pick Ethan up at the rink.

Can we say major anxiety attack here? Especially since Dh woke me up at 5 am. I am going to feel like crap for the rest of the day. It is going to suck. Is this really a life?

Okay. Breathing deep here. I could use a drink... even if it is 7am. Thing is, I can't drink today at all. Too much driving to do.

Whimper.

What's for Dinner

I have a confession to make. I am really tired of cooking dinner for my family. Now, remember, I homeschool and my hubby has always been on wonkey shifts so when the kids were younger, I might have to make six seperate meals a day. Yeah, six. As they grew I became so busy with driving, writing and homeschooling that I couldn't cook that much. So when my kids came of age, I created the make it yourself meal plan. Also known in my family as the FEED YOURSELF!!! diet.

Fortunately, my children do feed themselves. Unfortunately, they don't feed themselves well. My son likes carbs. My daughter likes pepsi and chocolate poptarts and I will eat anything that is fast and can be eaten with a book. Since I did away with the kitchen table to make some room for my office in the diningroom, I almost completely killed family meal times. I think we've all put on weight except my daughter who skates a couple of hours a day six days a week.

It's not like the husband doesn't help. He cooks several nights a week for us on his days off. But I am really going to have to get it together. So I am resolving to try to make the dinners a week. Then maybe I can make a couple of breakfast. Maybe. I don't want to take on too much.

Tonight we are having ribs marinaded and grilled on the bbq, pasta and grilled red pepers. A real meal.

hey, don't judge, my kids are 15 and 16... and they both know how to cook. Sorta.

Recovering

I'm still trying to recover from the weekend. The guys went fishing and it's just the ice princess and I so it has been pretty nice, though I did have to go collect boyfriend. They walked down to the shopping center to hang out while I tried to get some work done. Not going well. I need my synopsis to be approved so I can carry on.Am having trouble in my nonfiction world as well.

In fact nothing new to report, after all.

WOWZA

Dear son and friend had fab time at Fall Out Boy/All American Rejects concert. We didn't get back till midnight. Went to bed a little after one am. Got up at six. Drove to Vancouver about an hour of freeways from here. Freeways, people. I can't even tell you what driving on freeways does to me. Can we say pass the xanax?

Daughter competes in spins. Does a fantastic job. Gets third. Competes in jumps. Places fourth out of five. Not so good. We have about five hours till she ocmpetes again. Then the conversation with dh.

Him: "What do you mean your not coming to get Ethan and taking him to work?"
Me: "It would take you thirty minutes to take him to work."
Him: I worked a twelve hour shift! I have to work another one. What if I can't get back to sleep?"
Me: "You'll get back to sleep. It'll take me an hour and a half round trip at best."
Him: What are you talking about? It's nine miles! You just don't want to drive. You're being selfish. I have to sleep."
Me: (So pissed off I don't even catch the nine miles comment) Fine, whatever! I'll drive it!"
Him: Fine!

So I drive back on the freeways in pouring rain. An hour to get home to take my son to our home rink to work. Another hour to get back.

Another conversation four hours later after dh talks to daughter.

Him: "Oh my God, why didn't you tell me you were in Vancouver!?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Him: I thought you were at **** (The home rink) Do you know how much it cost us in gas for you to run all the way home and take him to work?
Me: "Go suck monkey butt."

Actually he apologised his arse off for making me drive like 150 miles to do what he could have done in 25 minutes.

I went out to lunch with ice princess and charged multiple cosmopolitins. Take that.

Oh, and the ice princess got third in her short program even after not having the right cut of music and having her boyfriend there watching. So proud of her for pulling it together. She fell 4 times in warm up and her boyfriend was really nervous. So cute!

I have more OTE news. An editor really liked my writing and the premise but had soem problems with the plot. She said she would be happy to look at the story again if I revised it. Since she is the only editor who had thos eproblems we are going to wait before doing anything.

Oh well.

This and That

I slept for four hours today. Of course, since I stayed up until after one last night and got up at six to go to the rink this morning, I really needed it. Now my whole day is off and the article due today is still only half finished. Gah.

I finished Jill Monroe's book, Sharing the Darkness, last night. She is a fab writer.Great tightly written story too.

Ummm what else. In a fevered pitch to get ready for competition on Sat. Tomorrow she will practice from 7 to 11 and then we will run to the bank so she can cash her check and get all the glitter stuff she needs. Then I drop her back off the rink for a little R&R with her friends and BF and will drive my son and a friend of his to a concert. (about an hour south of us) Will hang out at the inlaws who live right down the street from the concert hall. Will wait for call pick them up and take them home. The next morning, I get up and have to have my dd to the competition by eight am. (About an hour north of us.) Will be there ALL day. From 8am to 5:15. UGH! Will find a restaurant with many drinkies.

Sunday I rest. Sorta.

Am looking for another book to read. Going to hit the bookstore sometime this weekend for some good YA. Any ideas? I want to get Twilight. What else?

I got news!

Not the news I wanted cause it is both good and bad. But, I will just concentrate on the good. Berkly passed on ON THE EDGE. They said it was too young for them. (I really thought the editor would go for it because she's a big skate fan, but no. I think it's too sweet. More on that in a minute.)

Aladdin/Simon and Schuster passed... because it was too old for them. But the editor for Aladdin loved it so much she mentioned it to an editor at Simon pulse who called the agent and requested it. The editor told my agent, and this is a direct quote... " I thought it was compulsively readable, and that Teri did a nice job of weaving behind-the-scenes of skating life with a juicy, soapy story."

That will keep me going through the next round of rejections!

On to the sweet thing. Skate girls are sweet. Not that they can't be competitive bitches, they can and I show that. But they are a bit slow on the growing up side of things because they don't have the time. The skating community is filled with late bloomers, coaches who were late bloomers and helicopter parents. My daughter, at fifteen, is the first one of her crowd to have a boyfriend... when she showed up with a small hicky, you would have thought that she was turning tricks on Broadway from the reaction she got from the her two coaches and a couple of the other girls. She's already shown it to me in that proud, but embarassed way that you have when first love is blossoming, and I had to do major damage control between her and her coaches. GAWD! I didn't think it was that big of a deal. And this is my main audience. Yes, I will be reaching teens who dream of skating, but in order to depict these girls honestly and not offend the intended audience, I have to write them sweet. Parents will be buying these books for their girls.

I can write edgy and don't have a problem with that, though I doubt I will ever have teens having rampant sex. But this particular book is about 15-17 year old late bloomers. So, I might have a really hard time finding a publisher who understands that.

Okay, off to read the quote some more and get some work done!

Losers

They couldn't get my missing files back. Gah! The Geek found them, but they were corrupted so he is going to run some stuff at home and then try to open them here again... and he is going to help out.

I need my files back!!!

Ahem.

Other than that no news on nothing. Bah. Everyone else has news. A sale here, a final there. But I have none. Just a stinky computer that ate my files. Time for chocolate.

Outlook Express?

My Outlook express weirded out on me during a compacting thing and swallowed some very important files. Like my invoice files. And several files containing interviews for due articles. I have the geek squad coming on Monday to try to recover them.

Can we say depressed? I really needed those files. I mean my invoices are all sent and I have them marked in my books, but I don't have the actual files so I can forward to my clients if they don't pay me and say, "See, I told you I sent it!"

I am bummed! Too busy for this, let alone can't really afford it! But just one of those files is worth the money for geek squad.

Sigh. I should go write on something, but haven't been in the mood.

week in review

Today's Friday, right? Shaking head. It just flew by. I really didn't get anything done. I got started on the LIPS synopsis. Am rewriting LIPS again. Agent gave me some killer ideas, so here I go again. (Does anyone actually say killer anymore?) But I haven't gotten that far. I have two articles I could be doing and haven't. No motivation.

Of course, darling husband has been home for the past few days doing amazing busy-busy. That's sorta distracting. Men who do laundry are so sexy, don't you think? And he made three dinners. I helped, but we were alone all three times. Dd was at friends house and ds was traveling around Oregon and Cali in a van with his friends. So we were alone, left to sip wine and ale and cook together. Twas wonderful. Can't even tell you.

So I didn't write much. Not nearly enough. I did get stuff done like looking for sources and stuff like that. (If your DH had a low sperm count, I would love to talk to you!) But no real writing.

But that's okay. Sometimes you have to actually get your arse out of the chair and live, you know? Otherwise I wouldn't be a very good writer:)

Phone interviews blech

Okay, I'm weird.

I really hate phone interviews. Yes, you get more than by an email interview. Yes, you form a better relationship with the source. But no matter. They are a pain in the ass. Cause than they know you and have your phone number. I had one source who contacted me forever. Forever! Wanting me to use him in more articles. Etc. Talk for an hour each time. Also... you have to make sure you call or are at home at the right time. You have to be prepared. Instead of just emailing it whenever and then getting it back and using it when you want to, you have to beready to talk about the subject at hand on someone else's schedule. Plus with email interviews I get a hard copy of every quote you put in the article. Every one. See, Mr. Lawyer. They sent this to me and in good faith I reported it. Plus, okay, another weird thing. I just don't want to talk on the phone unless I want to talk on the phone, you know?

Yeah, if you can't tell by my infantile complaining I have to do a phone interview today.

Sigh.

Another Monday

I should be making a to do list for the week, but I'm not.

Just took my oldest and dropped him off for a spring break youth group trip. He came back and actually hugged me! In front of everyone. Awww. He's growing up! Hugging Mom isn't social death anymore:)

Have a gazillion things to do this week. Seems like I always do. I have a couple of articles due, want to get to the LIPS synopsis, revise a couple of chapters, that sort of thing. I have a couple of ideas I am developing for my next work, but I want to get Lips mostly done. Also need to do some crits for CP's. What else? The yard is becoming an issue. How on earth am I supposed to fit that in? Yikes.

What are your plans for the week?

WOOHOO!

So many of my friends finaled in the GH or the Rita, I can't even list them all. Okay, tear for me. Oh, wait. I didn't think I would win it anyway and the only reason I wanted to win was to give any editors waffeling on the story a push over to my side. Well, now I just go back to waiting with a little reminder to myself that this is the story that had three different agencies all wanting it at the same time. There, my ego needed that. Next year I'll be ineligible cause I'll surely have sold somethign by them right? Right?

Still frazzled here. Was out last till midnight with my dd's new love muffin. They played at the rink till 11 when my boy got off and then we all went to shari's for a late night snack. Down at 1:30, up at 7 and back to the rink with dd and ds has a chess tournament. Then go pick them up and then come home and NAP! Or write an article if I can.

Need to work on LIPS. Dying to work on LIPS, really. maybe tonight. Once the chess tourney and the teaching are done, my running around is over too, so maybe I can fit it all in plus a nap. Wouldn't that be nice?

Slammed, swamped and overloaded...

Did I mention overwhelmed? Between my daughter needing help finishing up her English class, juggling a dozen articles and finishing up revisions on LIPS, I am just sort of tired of writing. Will get back to my blog when my fingers don't hurt.
Teri

Monday's To Do

Quite a week I have going for me. I have 13 things on the to do list, including two articles due, three articles due the next week and I have to make sure I have the sources for, finish polishing the first three chapters of Lips and send back out to Jenny, and start on the synopsis. Those are just a list sampling. Busy, busy, busy.

I like busy though. It keeps me from thinking about not making the GH finals. How do I know for sure? I just do. My prologue that I sent out with the GH version isn't nearly as strong as the one I have now. So there you go. Plus, I know a lot of the women who entered the YA catagory. A lot of them have scored agents or contracts with those very same books. I know, I know, I am one of those who scored an agent with her GH entry, but I haven't gotten a contract yet, have I? So I am fairly certain that I haven't made it and I am okay with that. But still... there is a little part of me. LOL That wishes I would. Hee. And no, I'm not just saying this to have people prop me up with positives. I'm not being negative, just realistic. And... this is my way of dealing with the not knowing. Some people are all confident, others immerse themselves in work and I say, oh I don't have a chance and carry on. None of those ways are better than the others, just different.

I am on chapter five of the big third to first person switch over. It's going fabulously. So far my Cp's are really positive about the change, though one isn't as enthusiastic about chapter two as chapter one. I will tweak a couple things, but I think it's fine. It is different writing for and about teens than it is adults. Teens are more forgiving of a protagonist not knowing what they want and being changable in their goals, because they can relate. Being changable is the teen norm. I get frustrated with adult novels when the heroine is all wishy washy, going this way and that. Because she is an adult and should have a fairly well defined sense of self. A teen protag could be a punk, but still be lured into wanting to be a prep. They are in the middle of changing. And they don't know what they want. And what they think they want can change one or more times.

For instance, my heroine thinks she wants to fit in because that is something she never really had before. She does all sorts of things that aren't really her because of this goal. But there is one part of her that is a bit pissed off about having to do those things and she extracts revenge now and again. So on the one hand, she is doing her best to be something she's not, to fit in. On the other hand she is disdainful of the people she is trying to fit in with and herself for wanting to fit in. That is one of the realities of teendom.

Hee, I don't even remember where I was going with this. Probably just trying to cement in my mind why my girl is pretty contradictory in the second chapter.

Okay, must get started on the to do list from hell...

Four Score!

Four movies you would watch over and over:
Oh, Brother Where Art Thou
Much Ado About Nothing
Love, Actually


Four places you have lived:
Alfalfa, Oregon
Puallup, Washington
Peoria, Arizona
Portland, Oregon

Four TV shows you love to watch:
Desperate Housewives
American Idol
Days of Our Lives (Oh, shut up, it was an addiction given to me when I was ten by my mother)
Grays Anatomy

Four places you have been on vacation:
Yuma, Arizona
Chicago
Reno, Nevada
Columbus, Ohio

Four websites you visit daily:
Google
MSN homepage
Blogger

Four of your favorite foods:
Fetticini Alfredo
Dibs
Swiss cheese and vegi sandwiches

Four places you would rather be right now:
Chicago
A warm beach

So Excited!

Okay, the changes my agent asked for are not only making the manuscript better, they are kicking ass! Changing it from third person POV to first is making it pop and sparkle the way it never did before. Adding more angst and edge to the main character's persona is creating a vibrancy in a way I'd never imagined. The story was good before, but compared to this version it was flat. A mere shadow of what it could be and what it is now.

Can you tell I'm excited?

I have always loved revisions, but when they makes such a huge difference to the story, they're almost addictive. I should be working out, cleaning my house, driving my kids to the rink. Instead I am working on Lips, playing with this, changing that, adding the charged up sexual excitement you felt in highschool, but rarely acted on. Adding in some of the anger and mean that was also a big part of highschool. Anyone else dump perfume or shampoo on someone on the bus on their way to school? No? LOL. Ahem.

Anyway, back to work. And I am also managing to keep up with my nonfiction too, which is good cause I have nine assignments due in the next month.

What the?

Have you ever went on a diet and gained weight? I was steadily losing until I gained a pound yesterday and another pound today. I swear, I was almost suicidal until I looked at the date. Oh. Duh. That's why. I don't mind this though, because of the big loss it will take in a week or so. As long as I am faithful.

Writing wise, I got the notes from my agent about my proposal. Great ideas all, so now I am doing a rewrite of my previously rewritten and polished chapters... and they are ever so much better. That's probably why she's the agent, eh? I think her ideas are spot on.

Busy running day today, but luckily most of it should be done by three this afternoon. Then I can relax this evening.

I had this weird dream that I went to an animal shelter and my husband ended up asking if we could do foster care for two more dogs in our home. Gads. Just what we need. More animals.

The Insecure Writer

We all have em. Those little insecurities that plague us no matter what we do. Even the most innocent letter from our agent can take on double and triple meanings. I love the concept, am sending notes... can mean a billion things except, of course, I love the concept, am sending notes! HA! I even asked for input, so why am I paranoid? Because I am an insecure writer.

Some people are so insecure they won't even send their writing out. Some people won't even finish anything because they are so convinced their writing sucks. Writers who can't take critism are writers plagued by insecurities... even when they seem to have it all together. And it's too bad because such writers never grow.

I admit it, I am totally insecure about my writing. But not to the point that I won't finish or I won't take critism or won't turn it in. My desire to be a published author overcomes my insecurities.

That's why I am going to succeed while other, more talented writers will fail... pure, in your face, tenacity. The kind of strong teeth gritting will that made my parents crazy. It overcomes the insecurities.

Men are babies

My dh is sick. Now, I won't go into a blow by blow of what a baby he is when sick because I don't want to disrespect him like that. Suffice it to say that I had brain surgery, and a week in ICU and no one had to hand feed me when I got home. Unlike someone I know stricken with the flu. That's all I have to say about that.

My best friend is in Hawaii this week. So unfair. It's also pretty boring without her.

In spite of a sick dh and enormously busy babies, I am up to chapter eight on my edits of LIPs. It's going well, except I have some changes to make in their relationship... the tension is there, but it isn't feeling right to one of my CPs. So I have to figure a few things out and see what I can do. My agent still has the first three chapter so it's just a waiting game now. And speaking of my agent... she was a busy woman this week and made calls to five more publishers and sent it back out! So now we are up to ten publishers again. Just waiting for someone to bite. Someone has to bite, right?

sheese.

treading water

Busy busy busy

Articles. Editing. Driving.

Trying to lose a gazillion pounds before San Jose.

Will write soonest.

Sometimes I just do good work...

I managed to already polish off both articles I had to finish up this week. I LOVE that. Now the rest of the week can be low key plugging away. As a reward for getting them in early I was offered more articles. I took them. What can I say? Until I start selling some fiction I will remain an article slut.

Am busy today, but hope to get into Lips at some point. Am going to have the ice princess fitted with a custom dress for the upcoming season. Also have to get her to the rink to teach this afternoon. Child best get a move on her school or else she'll be staying up late tonight.

Ethan ran into some BS at work. Hate to tell him so young that is a part of life. He has a meeting with his boss on Friday. I gave him some pointers but can't fix it for him. He has to do it himself.

Back to Lips. Agent has first three chapters. We'll see. Gulp.

Mondays to do list

Ah, yes, it's that time again!

Write Potty Training Independence
Write Nuts and Bolts of toilet training
Get anecdotal Sources for Hormonally Speaking
Contact Mom of the month people
Send out questions for temporarily wihtout kids
Polish, revise and edit Lips
Do crits for Cp's
Get sources for Understanding the uterus.
Get sources for Fibromyalgia.
Write synopsis for Lips
Develop new YA idea


Going to be a fun week, eh? Add that to my regularly fun schedule of running the children all over creation and the fact that I am desperately trying to lose some weight and you have a woman living on the edge of sanity and reason.

WOOOHOOO!

My Writing Weaknesses

Okay, time to fess up. We all have em. Writing weakesses. My CP's, current and former, know what mine are. And they don't know how lucky they are they didn't get me six years ago. As one of those "non college going writers" (No, never been, don't really want to go, though it has crossed my mind) I am a bit weak on mechanics. Comma's confuse me, tenses befuddle me, and the thought of reading Strunk and White tortures me. I am big enough to confess this. I am MUCH, MUCH better. But some spellings will always slip my mind. It's like a missing synapse. For instance, how many times will I have to write nessesary or consicous before I just know what they are instead of having to stop to think.? By this time, I think never.

I actually got denied entrance into a YA Crit group when I started six years ago. Yeah, I can see why now. Six years of writing 9-14 articles a month can be quite the education. But fiction writing is vastly different and it has been a learning experience.

What else am I weak on? Patience. I have shot myself in the foot more than once because I am impatient. My tendency to jump the gun has cause me more humilation than I can count and yet I never seem to learn my lesson there. Perhaps its a sign of immaturity? Or a character flaw? This has impacted my career and my writing.

I have capital issues. I capitalize random letters in a sentence. I do it both printing and typing. No one knows why.

Speaking of typing, I don't know how to type the correct way. My fingers actually rest on the right keys, but I have to look most of the time cause I have an unruly left hand. It won't do anything right. I use two fingers on my left hand, the pointer and the middle finger. I will use the ring finger on occassion for the shift key. But mostly my right hand does all the work which is why it is aching right now. This typing style is also why I write fmaily that way and form (supposed to be from) Wierd.

I have dyscalcula and my daughter is dyslexic so I think I have some left/right brain issues going on. My son is a lefty but he does a lot of things with his right hand and I am a righty who does a lot of things with her left hand. (I find brain stuff like this fascinating)

I have more weaknesses, but my weird brained kids need to get to the rink. Ice princess has to practice for an hour and then teach for two and my son has to work all day. Which means Mommy gets some quality alone time with the keyboard! YAY!

What are your writing weaknesses?

WOOHOO!

I am done with the rough of READ MY LIPS!

A whole weeks and a half after Gena finished hers, but better late than never is certainly apt in this case:) Now I get to the fun! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

What's New In Teri's World

French Press Coffee

Lurve this stuff. Really. Am so addicted. I remember a long time ago I used to be satisfied with Folgers or MJB or brands like that. My mom and dad switched to newly ground coffees as soon as it came out, but I turned up my nose. The expense! As a new mom I drank far too much coffee to get started on that stuff. Even if it did taste better. Ridiculously better. Then I got a grinder from Christmas and that was all she wrote. Starbucks on every street corner didn't help either. Then someone gave me a french press. I disdained it for a year. Then I tried it. Oh.My.Gawd. Now they are all I drink. Problem is that it takes roughly half the amount of a full pot to make one lucious cup. Pretty soon I'll just be sitting at my desk eating the beans.


A Gardener

Ab finally broke down and decided to hire us someone for the yard... not full time, just someone to take care of the grass, rake up and cut down the slimy plants I should have cut down last year. Cause he has realized that I. Am. Just. Not. Going. To. Get. To. It.

When we first moved here I wasn't writing full time and I put in about 15 flower beds. Actually they were here and I expanded. Now I drive and write and that is the sum total of what I can handle. Oh, and the occasionally hot and sweaty bonus to keep him happy. But really, that's all I can do. No more garden calendar. No more pouring over the catalogues planning for the spring. I think he misses that in me like he misses banana bread and homemade cake. Not gonna happen, Mister. You're lucky to get the hot and sweaty bonus. So he hired someone to make it look reasonable again. God bless him.

Conferences

Ab has also realized that just like the tides, his wife now gets to abscendate herself from the fmaily on the occasional business trip called the writing conference. Am going to both San Jose this year and Emerald City. YAY me! One in the fall and one in the spring. If I could go to nationals I will. But Alas, the chances of me finalling in the YA cat is slim to none so I won't even consider it. Way too much money and too much time away from home. How would the children get around for that long?

A Bloody Eye

Started this weird veiny bleeding thing yesterday. Children told me to go to the doctor. But will they give me good drugs? Probably not. Then eh. Whatevah. Though I did wake up with a headache this morning. Hate that. I keep thinking that maybe my pituitary gland is dying from all the radiation leveled at it and this is a symptom. I'd rather bury my eye, er, head in the sand.

So what's new in your world?

Not Quite Done, But...

Getting there.

I won't even go over how many times I had to run to the ice rink yesterday. No way would I get any writing done on the last couple of chapters so I sat down with some of my Cp's crits and went at it. Good comments by all and the first three chapters are now very, very clean and ready to go. Really wish I could just finish it. But alas, I have a ton of nonfiction things to do. I hope to start that last chapter today, wish me luck.

Revising the finished product is actually the part of the process I enjoy most about writing. Gathering enough clay to work with is hard for me, but once I have enough clay to make a ball, watch out! I can shape it and pull it and dig my fingers into it. The best fun. And sometimes, like yesterday, I can't wait till I finish to start playing with it.

She passed!

Not much on the writing front yesterday as I was busy with the test session at our rink. Not only was my dd testing, but I am the vice president of one of the local clubs so I had to be there to help out.

The levels go: Pre preliminary, preliminary, pre juvenile, juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, senior.

The senior level girls skate in the olympics and at nationals. Actually the novice and juniors do too,(nationals) but you never see them on TV.

For each level you have to pass the move in the field, like figures in the ice, and a freskate, which is a program so they can check out your jumps and spins and spirals. You can take and pass as many moves in the field tests as you like, but you have to pass that level's freeskate before you are offically at that level. Which is why my baby is in the Intermediate level but passed her novice moves on the first try! Like hardly anyone passes them on their first try! She almost fell apart from the nerves, but held it together and passed. Whew! That's done. Only two more moves tests to get through. Now on those free skates....


Today I write!

You Play You Pay

Shooting pains in first two fingers of right hand. Ooops. Guess I typed and clicked too much the last two weeks.

Good news is...I finished chapter twelve and started on thirteen. I am a bit behind word count so I am going to need two big chapters, but I have some layering to do too.

Bad news is... it almost crippled me. Hee.

I also have an article due today so the crippling matters not. I have to continue.

I also have a germ of an idea for the next one. Will play with it to see if it turns out right.

One Lousy Scene

That's all I did yestersay. I cleaned my house instead and it was good.

Still struggling with the her mom or mom POV thing. I am leaning towards her mom. The other way just sounds weird. I will try to stay in deep pov for everything else, lots of brisk internals, lots of physical emotional clues, etc., but that just irritates me. If an editor wants it changed, I'll change it. At least, I think that is what I am going with now. LOL.

I should get a lot of writing done today. Kids will be gone a good portion of it. Have a couple of crits to get to as well.

Maybe a nap? No, no nap!

UPDATE:

Finished chapter eleven. It was a short chapter, but it brings me one step closer to being finished!

Chapter ten is done

I took a break yesterday because I needed to analize what has happened and what needs to happen in the last 4 chapters. The muddy middle people call it, except it really isn't the middle. The last quarter is what I always have trouble with.

What needs to happen to tie up all the loose ends? How happy does my character have to be to fool people into thinking things have been resolved so that when she gets her black moment it seems really black. Especially when it's only a false black moment and things get even worse.

Then the resolution. The end sort of scares me. It's where the building blocks of a good story come in. If you did it right it won't fall apart at the end, but come together in a nice tidy manner.

Also, I am have a small problem with distancing. One of my CP's says that when I use her mother, such as, her mom grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, it is distancing. For deep POV it should be, Mom grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the table.

??? That sounds first personish to me. I want to be deep... I want as great a connection I can get.

Comments?

Yeah. Uh huh.

Couldn't finish the chapter today. I had so much running around to do. But I did manage to add 18 pages.

I have over 32,000 words.

I rock.

I'm gonna try

Wish me luck.

Pumped out another chapter. Seventeen pages. I am on chapter ten.

Also managed a 3 page article so am feeling pretty good.

Too tired.

Thanks for all the encouragement.

She Won!

Gena Showalter has a proved herself the better alien, err woman, and finished her YA rough draft before I finished mine. By how much? Let's just say by a lot. I averaged 20 pages a day for the five days. I just can't do more than that.

So the question now becomes... should I stop the insanity and save my arm and family life? Or should I push for five more days and finish the rough draft of my book? I have five chapters left. Or there abouts. I have a lot of work coming down the pike, but I can actually manage it. Hmmmm.
What should I do?

Stop the Insanity!

I managed 24 pages yesterday and 13 so far today. I noticed that Ms. Showalter hasn't announced her win yet, but I expect her to tomorrow. Heck, I'm almost hoping she does so I can stop! Until then I am stuck, forging ahead exploring new reaches of exhaustion, insanity and carpal tunnel.

My muse on the otherhand is a whirling dirvish of energy and light. I havn't paid her this much concentrated attention since my last attempt at nano.

Eating Gena's Dust.

No, I am not admiting defeat.

I did manage to polish off two articles this morning and turn them in a day early, much to my editor's delight.

Now I can work round the clock!

But she's definitely ahead of me. But I did manage another chapter today. Unfortunately, it was a short one. Only sixteen pages. But I did have the two and three page articles to do ahead of that so I think I did great.

Basically, I have written four chapters in four days. And even if I am eating Gena's dust... that is phenomenal.

Still writing.

Rachel, root for both of us. We are both winners here.

(spoken like someone who knows she's going to lose!)

Heading Around the First Bend

I think she be a wee bit ahead. Ahem.

But I won't give up. I won't think about the three assignments that my children need correcting before they turn them in. I won't think of the four articles I have due by Tuesday, nor the floor that needs mopping.
Must. Beat. Gena. Showalter.

UPDATE

Am delirious. Just finished another 20 pages. That is 56 pages in three days and three chapters. My family is about to disown me and I have three articles due Monday. Tomorrow I can't allow myself to write on lips until I finish the articles.

Then I am back at it.

Be afraid, Gena. Be very afraid.

And the Race Begins!

Since the lovely Ms. Showalter writes out her first drafts by hand, (I knew she was a Goddess among writers) there is no way to truly figure out who's ahead. Not until she finishes it and types it out. And no one knows if her chapters are as long as my chapters. But I am racing anyway! So yesterday page count for me:

20 Pages!

I did all of chapter four and a couple of pages of chapter five.

Gena goodnaturedly agreed to the race and very graciously told me she was busy this weekend and wouldn't be able to write much. So she's either being sweet or it's a diabolical plan for me to be put off my guard.

Hey, whatever motivates me to write, eh?

Racing Gena Showalter

It's on!

She has done the rough draft of three chapters of her new YA and I have done the rough draft of my first three chapters. Of course, she did hers in like two days and it took me about two and a half weeks to get mine done, but no matter! I threw the gauntlet down! (And my back out) Of course, I will no doubt be thrown out of the qualifying round by tomorrow, but a girl can dream, right?

Now to figure out how to get my articles done!

And life and work go on

My CP group will be shutting down at the end of the month. Now, I credit this group with being partially responsible for obtaining an agent. I knew very little about novel craft before I joined. If you needed a fluffy nonfiction piece, I'm your girl. But in spite of having had written a YA book six years ago and a chick lit book two years ago, I knew nothing on how to do it. This group generously gave of their knowlege and time and as a result I was the first one to score an agent among these incredibly talented women. Not exactly fair, but the business isn't exactly fair. Who among you has read books riddled in adverbs, clunky dialogue or pages of internalization? Right place, right time, right editor has tons to do with being published or not and all the little rules we writers create to make sense of a business that seems to break all the rules, just fly out the window.

But stuff happens and the crit group will be shutting it's doors. The list owner found herself critting too much of other people's work and not doing her own work. A hazard to be sure. Luckily, I have formed a fabulous partnership with a new CP and I think a couple of surprise CP's and I will also form a small group. I like the idea of small. Having just went through GH madness in which everyone was trying to get entries ready and screaming for crits, I have decided that seven is just too many for one group.

I have been on many lists since I got online eight years ago and I have discovered a few things as I watched lists, both big and small, of women writers fall apart.

• Women can be warm and wonderful and giving. They can also be vicious.
• With every step in your career you are going to lose a few people who you thought were friends but really aren't. (I have watched too many women writers deal with this not to believe it)
• Most lists implode. I was on a list of about 1500 of the most wonderful women I had ever met. We had parties, reunions, give aways, you name it. Then the actions of one person backfired and the whole thing was gone.
• Bitchiness happens. Women are hormonal. I have snarked and been snarked at. But honestly, though I have been on a number of lists, I have been attacked out of left field only twice but I have seen it happen more times then that. In one of those cases the writer later apologised. Said it really had nothing to do with me, she was lashing out at my client, her former client. I'm still waiting for the other apology.
• Some women can have disagreements with maturity and grace. Some feel it is a personal afront if you don't have the same opinion.
• Christian bashing is alive and well on lists, as in, this one Christian did such and such to me, therefore you are all bad.
• Did I mention how kind and giving women can be on lists? Did I mention how mean they can be?

Later, I may post on how to recover from list implosion or being flamed. Maybe there should be a 12 step recovery program! Snort.

"DUH"!

Having your own young adults in the house is interesting, isn't it? No matter how mature and caring they are, they just have their DUH moments.

How many times does my oldest have to say "whateva" to my husband and watch him explode before he gets a clue? DUH!

How many times does my youngest have to pull weeds and then say, "But I didn't know you wanted me to pick the piles up and put them in the recycler!" DUH!

Or how about my personal favorite, "I didn't know when you said do the dishes you meant I had to wipe the counters too." DUH!

That could also work for, "I didn't know that cleaning the bathroom meant doing the sinks. Or that cleaning my bedroom meant making my bed, or cleaning the living room meant putting away the CD's/Dvd's!"

DUH! DUH! DUH!

Or how about, "I didn't know that fighting with my YA writing mother meant she would be running to her notepad to take notes during an argument!"



DUH!

When the week ends

I learned a long time ago that in the writing world, at least my writing world, the week doesn't end just because Friday has arrived. Instead of being disgruntled about that, I find it rather comforting. Because the three things left on my weekly to do list could possibly get done by the end of tomorrow. Maybe.

Let's see what I have. Find sources for bedwetting activities. I found one. Does that count? I am supposed to have two, so probably not. I haven't sent questions for the crying solution because I am waiting for the book. Hopefully it will be here today.

But the biggy though-- I haven't finished chapter three. After staring at a blank page for half a day, I managed to write seven pages yesterday. Because of my nonfiction work, I rarely write more than then a chapter in a week, if that. I need to ramp it up. I need to pull a Gena Showalter or something. A chapter a day. As if. My arm would fall off.
So today my goal is to do another 7 pages, which would pull me in close enough to finish it tomorrow, (which is still a part of the week, dontcha know) and finish off an article so I can invoice. Tomorrow... write and edit, baby, write and edit. Maybe even get chapter two to my fabulously cool and talented CP.

Oh wait. Tomorrow is chapter meeting. Okay. That's it. I have to finish today. Gads. Oh no... I have a doctor appointment today! (Much cursing and ranting ensues) I'm fine. I'm good.
Must run.

Passes and work space

Got a couple of passes, but they are the kind of passes that hurt so good. One editor liked it so much she took it to her editorial director who passed and another one passed because it wasn't right for their line, but she would be glad to see anything else by this author. Since it's an editor I would love to work with, that's not so bad. Not bad at all:)

Had another difficult time starting a new chapter. Have decided to do some plotting exercises to get a better grip on where the books going. I am more in touch with my characters now, so it should be easier. I did get the working first line of the third chapter which is important if I am going to finish it this week!

"You are not following me to the football game and I am NOT wearing too much eyeliner!" (said to parents) Hey, give me a break. At least it isn't a white page anymore.

The above is my work space. The color and the dark wood floors are new from last summer.

Progress

My to do list is scary this week. And as it's weds I'd best get started.

I did finish chapter 2 on lips! YEAH! I have a bunch of revising to do but may set it aside in order to move onto three cause I that was on my list too. I usually don't write that fast, but I am really wanting to push this one to the end. Also, just because I am stoopid, I took another article due the fourth week of Feb. That makes, um, five that week. I must be nuts.

I managed to knock off another entry for a contest I am judging. I was going to do another one, but the first sentence was so adjective laden and full of word pictures that my head actually blew up and I had to put it back together again. After that I was ready to go to bed. Putting your head back together is hard work.

I have about a gazillion sources to contact and send interview questions to. I would love to get one of those articles knocked out this week to take some of the pressure off. I also have to crit my Cp's third chapter.

Hmmmm. I think I liked it better when I was talking about how I finished chapter two instead of dwelling about what I have yet to get done.

My Baby is 15

Years ago I had a fuzzy headed baby that we called the chicken. Now we call her the May May. She is by turns incredibly sweet and thoughtful and yet amazingly self centered in the way teen girls who are exceptionally lovely can be. (Daddy's fault!) She's turned into a capable, talented, passionate young woman. She is loving and kind, artistic and focused and raucously funny.

She loves figure skating, her friends, cats and dogs, the mall, cleaning (Oh yeah!) organizing, throwing parties, cooking, Audrey Hepburn, drawing, eyeliner, Lucille Ball, and Usher.

She loves her mom and dad passionately and her year older big brother, tolerably.

She hates spiders, pants that are too short, Thai food, yelling, boys who wear their hair too long, people who tuck shirts into sweats, old cars, waiting in line, being rushed, and movies with sex.

Oh, and she recently discovered boys and the boys have discovered her. (Hockey players! ACK!)

I love her just as she is.

She also hates getting up in the morning. Which makes it hard to be a figure skater.

Her favorite movies are Legally Blonde, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Oklahoma, State Fair, Little Women, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Fried Green Tomatoes.

Her favorite TV shows are Gilmore Girls, American Idol, Seventh Heaven, Desperate Housewives and Grays Anatomy.

Her favorite color? Pink! Though she had been moving more towards and array of beiges and browns.

Happy Birthday Baby! Mommy loves you forever!

Monday Madness

No, my madness isn't due to the fact that I have a bunch of places to go today. It has everything to do with a series of shady calls at the super bowl yesterday. Now I had fun at the party, but the funky calls sorta ruined it for me. Now we probably wouldn't have won anyway, but I felt incredibly sorry for all the fans that spent thousands traveling to that thing. And I felt sorry for my 16 year old son, but we drowned our sorrows in rootbeer floats and a game of Sorry.

Enough about football. Season's over.

Lips is going well... I wrote about a 1000 words on it yesterday before the game. I finally figured out where I wanted to start the second chapter and once I did that, things started falling together. So I have to ask... does anyone else have trouble getting into the next chapter? Sometimes I want to have the next chapter start right after the previous chapter. Sometimes it has to. Other times it doesn't and you are wondering where to begin... just before the action starts? Do you have to kind of allude at least to how you got from point A to point B? For instance, my first chapter ends at a hook just before the family is supposed to have dinner. Chapter two starts with her being stuffed from dinner. So you know she ate, but I didn't have to write what would essentially be a boring family dinner. Enlivened by the hook, but basically a time and word waster. I have to watch that cause I only have about 45,000 words to play with.

Another question. How do you write about the passage of time? I have a friend who is writing some short cats. She has between 45 and 50 thousand words. To grow a heart thumping romance. Now most people aren't going to believe that true love happens in a week or two, so she has to move time along without gaps in the sotry. Without people wondering... how the heck did that happen? I have thought about trying some of those myself, but the time thing throws me off a bit.

Today will be a good day. Work on nonfiction a bit. Fiction a lot. Crit my Cp's chapter. Judge another entry or two. I have basically nothing to do today except to get my daughter from the rink. She spent the night with a skate friend last night so I just have to pick her up. Later!

Not a bad week a'tall

Not too bad writing wise. Finished the first chapter of Lips and have already edited it a couple of time. It is out with my CP right now so will no doubt edit it one more time. Depending on what they think. I had a couple of transition issues. We'll see. I hope to write one article and another chapter over the weekend. Again, we'll see!

Picked up several more nonfiction assignments this week which is super good. They keep my daughte ron the ice and if she quits skating will buy me a new car. Snort. Unfortunately, they are all on incontinence. Don't ask. They pay. And who knows, maybe they will help someone. I love getting feedback on how something I wrote helped someone. I remember one article I wrote for Baby Years magazine on Plagiocephaly (flat head) and an issue later a woman wrote in telling how she would have never thought anything about it if she hadn't read the article, but her baby was diagnosed with it. WOW. I helped. So I try to think of all my articles that way even if I don't particularly want to write them.

We have a serious storm headed our way. The coast is supposed to get gusts up to 100 mphs and inland in the willamette Valley are supposed to get sustained winds of 45-50 with gusts up to 60. And I am supposed to be out and about in it. Yay.

Writer's Exhaustion

Have you ever just wanted to write and write and write. Beyond reason?

I started this morning writing longhand which I haven't done in ages. I mean, I plot and take notes, but I don't write actual scenes. This morning, looking at another hour and a half at the rink, I decided to go for it. I read a couple of pages of my manuscript to where I'd left off. When I got to the rink I sat down with a yellow pad and wrote two pages... and that was with interruptions. Came home, worked on some nonfiction stuff and started in. I had a bunch of other errands to run including three more trips to the rink, but every spare minute I ran back to the computer and wrote. once the kids were at work I had several solid hours to work. Not that I work without stopping. Sometimes when I write I type a few sentences or a paragraph and then get up and wander around for a minute. Put in a load of laundry, wipe down the counters or something like that. then I come back and write a bit more. Sometimes I do write an uninterupted page or two, but I usually get up and do something while my mind works out the next scene. Does anyone else do that?

Now, I am tired... I have had several nights of little sleep and should be in bed... but I want to write. I have a few more ideas and would love to finish chapter one. I have written sixteen pages in the last two days and think I have a couple more till the end... I want to do it! But would also love sleep. Mmmmm. Sleep.

I'll tell you which won tomorrow.

The problem with plotting

I'm so glad that different people plot in different ways. I struggled with plotting the first skate book, probably because it was fairly new to me. My other two books were done completely on the spur of the moment. Ha!That's probably why they were crap! Colorless was fairly easy to plot, but of course, we all know what happened with that one. But this one is being weird. The first four chapters were easy to plot out. I sat down with my little 3x5 cards and scribbled away, inspiration flowing through my fingertips. Then I reached chapter five and it all just... stopped. I have bits and pieces, but nothing coming together into a cohesive whole. Ideas I have. Plot...not so much. So I decided to go ahead and start writing today. Sometimes it takes a few chapters to really get to know the characters. Again I struggled with what POV I should write in? First or third POV? I decided on first.

Firmly.

That lasted the first page and a half and I went back and changed it to third. Sorry, I just can't do it. I enjoy reading it, I just can't write it. It feels all... wrong!

After that it really seemed to go pretty well. I'm on page six and hope to make eight tonight. I like it so far. I think I might really like this girl. She's gutsy. But then, she's deaf. She'd have to be.

I love starting a new book. The possibilities are endless! So exciting!

New Concept, New Title, New CP!

What a change... from last Friday's disappointment and resulting hoohaw with my CP's, to today's resolve and productivity.

First, my new concept is actually a shift from my old concept. I got some great feedback from my fabulous agent and I am dropping the paranormal aspect completely. It will still be about a deaf girl, but no ghosts. SOOOOO Dead Teens Talking won't work anymore! LOL My new title:

READ MY LIPS!

The next awesome thing is that even though neither one of us were really looking for a new CP, Shannon Mckeldon and I have decided that we just work too well together not to give it a shot. Remember me blogging about the brainstorming session we had? That seems to be the norm with us! Plus we are at the same place in our lives and our careers. Well, no, not really, she is contracted and has a book, Venus Envy, coming out soon. But I am hoping to catch up with her soon!

So onward and upward! Full speed ahead!

Strangly Relieved

Okay, the bad news. For several reasons, my agent doesn't want me to pursue Colorless in it's current state. SO I am shelving it for now, though I do think that I can rework it and it would be perfect... they are sending a sheet of notes.
I was pretty crushed at the time, but have snapped out of it. I tend to do that... get real emotional about things right after it happens and come out of it later with a renewed perspective. But I can tell you that I will never, ever, send another email out of emotion! HA! Some lessons come hard.

On the good news front they really liked the idea of Dead Teens Talking. Sure, the one I have written nothing on! They are sending notes on DTT.

I think the relief comes from not being in limbo anymore. It's very strange after working on a novel for so long, then working on a proposal and then sitting around with nothing to do but wait. Makes people crazy. You don't really want to start on anything else until you get some direction. Granted, I am not going to let my agent dictate everything, but, let's face it, when you have one of the best in the business with a reputation for building good careers for her authors, you wanna wait for her input!

So right now I feel relieved. I wait for notes, do some brainstorming and start writing! Direction! Purpose! YAY!

Aw, shucks!

Thanks for the love people, but I wasn't whining:) I was stating the factual. This is a blog of whining, joy, honesty, thoughtfulness and the occasional deep moments.

I just meant if yall want deep on a regular basis there are better blogs to be frequenting!

Sometimes all I have to talk about is driving my life away (wasn't there a song like that?) and stepping in dog doo. (Don't ask:)

Happy weekend!

What's it all about?

For those of you who know me (and are still reading me,) they recognise that there comes a time when I ask, "What's it all about?"

This is my fourth blog. The first one was the HUMOROUS TUMOROUS, a log of dealing with my brain tumor and the resulting radiation. There were times during that blog that I was at my caustic, humorous best, but I was being NUKED for crying out loud and people will forgive a lady with a brain tumor just about anything.

Then I became the MAD MOMWRITER . I morphed out of my tumor phase and into my pretty darn pissed, off crazy stage. During that blog, I tried without success to make myself seem crazier, zanier and more upper class than I actually was. I also drank a lot during that blog... but it had a certain cache.

I was inspired during that phase to lose a bunch of weight because I wanted to be a real winner, dontchya know, and had a secret blog called WORKING AT SLIM. I only shared that with a bunch of other crazy people who had nothing better to do all day except obsess over calories, carbs and other off limit treats. I was really pathetic... though even now I wish I had kept it up. I lost forty pounds, for heaven's sake.

Now I am MARTINIS, MOTHERHOOD AND MAYHEM. (Boy, can I relate.) This blog was supposed to be more serious...more about my fiction career, writing and the publishing world in general. Except I have found that other people do it so much better. Diana Peterfreund, for one. Intellegence and serious literary thought are her hallmark. I always come away from her sensitive, thought provoking posts on literature feeling like a Clampett. "Sure baby, bring me another beer and pass me them thar peanuts will ya?" Rachel from Work in Progress is another one. (What's she doing? She's plotting? For how long? What the heck is that all about?) One of my crit partners, an amazingly talented writer is all stuck on the theme. Theme? What the hells a theme? Isn't that the thing that so confused me in highschool that it made a voracious reader like me, skip literature class to go have a smoke? (Am I revealing too much here?) (And for your information I quit seven years ago and was rewarded with a brain tumor, thank you very much) What do you mean I can't read ahead... what the heck is a lit class for except to read?

But I digress. Ahem.

So I guess I am here for the support. I want to be able to say, "this sucks, I suck" and have a bunch of people say, "no, you don't, this is just a part of the process." (Though for all you people know, I might really suck! Snort) I want to whine and gloat and whimper and roar and snivel and beam. I want to be understood. I want to vent to people who get it. I want to read about other people whining and waiting, even Rachel and Diana, who are so much smarter than I, have to whine and wait. Maybe being a writer is the great equalizer. We all must whine and wait. No matter talented we are or aren't.

As my friend Linda says, "Thanks for playing."

Feel our pain

First novels.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That's the advice I should be giving my friend Rachel today. She, like me and many other authors who's first book is making the rounds of editors, is waiting by her phone praying for the phone call. (I know that is grammatically wrong, but I haven't had enough coffee to know how to fix it. You can tell me if you like....) It's all so close. You hear of other people who only had an agent for a couple of weeks before they sold and why aren't you selling? Inside you know why. The agent made a mistake. Everyone made a mistake... you really do suck. It's the secret no one is telling you.

Why do writers do this to themselves? How do you know you are good enough? Is it the worst with your first book? I am hoping that I am so busy working on the next novel that I don't feel this way each and every time. Right now I feel kind of loose and unfocused.

I need my agent to call me.

So like Rachel... I just wait for a phone call.

Happy Monday everyone!

It's a good Monday for me!

My Dh and son have taken off for a fishing expedition and won't be back until Weds! That means the ice princess and I will have plenty of time to live in a clean house, eat out if we want and not have our leftovers disappear and generally just be girls. What a nice little break. And since he is gone for the actual day I won't have to listen to the same, "But it's my birthday," BS that I give him on my birthday! HA!

Still waiting to hear from the agent concerning Colorless. Still waiting to hear if I sold my book.

I only have a couple articles to crank out this week and one symnopsis to write... so I guess I will be taking care of some house business that has been neglected since September. Gah. I just can't keep up with everything. Especially when I spend some much time poking around the computer playing and blogging.

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!

Go Seahawks, NFC Champions!


We heading to Detroit, Baby!

(Strange how much I care after 3 Fat Tire Ales and a half a pound of peanuts!)

No Stress

My agent didn't not like it, she hadn't read it yet.

WHEW!

She mentioned she was going to read it over the long weekend and when I didn't hear from her... Well, being an insecure writer, I assumed she hated it and was trying to find a way to break it to me. Gah. How stupid can I be? So I get this email yesterday afternoon saying it was a crazy week and she would be in touch next week. WHAT DID THAT MEAN! She didn't say she loved it, just that she would be in touch... we would talk about it.

No no no no no. No way was I going to go through the weekend with that on my chest. Forget it! So I called her.

She just hadn't read it. We both laughed. Luckily, she knows what writers are like and no doubt dealt with this many times. Now I have to promise myself not to call for a long time because I don't want to be a troublesome client. I just want to be a selling client.

I have another article to get out and then will work on the rough synopsis of my new DTT.

I wonder if there is any profession that has been impacted by the Internet as writers have. Think about it. Beyond giving us another medium in which to ply our craft, we have support never before imagined. It used to be a pretty solitary profession. Now we talk with other writers on a daily basis. We bounce ideas off one another, learn from one another and network. Communication that used to take weeks now takes months. I don't think I could have been a working writer without the Internet. I mean, really, I hated the post office. I know what people say, well maybe you just didn't want it enough. Well, maybe they'd be right. But so much for the writer back then was trail and error. Getting writer's books and hoping they would steer you right. I remember... I tried it. Oh and writing on the typwriter. ARG! Not that I didn't adore my typwriter. He was fabulous. I even had a name for him. Herman. He boasted a small screen and erase tape. But he was still a pain in the arse compared to Peter. (My computer)

Because of the Internet I am a contributing editor for a national magazine and website. Because of the Internet I have an agent. And because of the Internet I have a huge support system. Viva Le Internet!

Ideas, Ideas and More Ideas

Sometimes book ideas take time to grow and mature and other times they just pop up out of nowhere. Rink Rats was a natural because I am at the rink so much. I watch all these young girls maturing in both their skating and their persons and I thought, this is a perfect backdrop for a story. Some take much longer.

Take Colorless for instance. I thought of the concept of colorless three or four years ago, but in a short story format. A very pale teen girl has friends who are Latina and Asian and feels colorless, both physically and culturally. I could never find a suitable conflict for her that would promote change so I left it... but it never went away. I was at a very different place in my career and just wanted to get my nonfiction going. Well, in this last year when I started writing YA in earnest, the idea came back to me. The market place is very different and all of a sudden paranormal was mainstream and time travel normal. That's when it hit me... she could time travel and learn about her own culture and voila! The book was born. It wasn't until I was in the act of writing the first chapter that another aspect of the plot leapt into my mind and added an extra dimension to the book that I think rounds out the entire book and makes it so much more fun. The idea took four years to mature and ripen.

Now with Dead Teens Talking, (working title only) my latest idea, I started with a character. I knew I wanted to do a book about an oral deaf girl. That means one who doesn't know sign language. My neice is profoundly deaf and is completely oral. She reads lips and uses what residual hearing she gets from her hearing aids to see what you are saying and then speaks. Quite well, actually. But I knew that if I had a deaf protagonist, my story better be smoking or people wouldn't be interested. Within the last week a story developed and with several emails to Shannon Mckeldon, it became more well rounded with some fab plot ideas.

Then she told me about a chick lit idea that she just thought of. A couple ideas came to my mind concerning hers and now she is having to write them all down before she forgets... Now her plot is forming and taking shape. Then bouncing off of her chick lit idea, I had an idea for another YA. Don't know whether she's gonna run with that idea or not, but the energy is fab. (Note to self: make arrangments to meet with Shannon as soon as possible for a brainstorming session and map out our books for the next several years)

So be on the lookout people... you never know when you are going to get a fab idea. And don't discard them to quicvkly... they may take years to fill in, but will be really worth it when they do!

Where Oh Where has my Motivation Gone?

Oh where oh where can it be?

Finished off one of many articles that need doing. Should be working on another. I have everything I need. It's a simple profile peice that would take maybe an hour if I were to crank the baby out. But my crank done broke.

I just want to work on my fiction. Tre horrible of me. I want to get back to Ana, who is currently languishing on the Oregon Trail, waiting for her adventures to start so she can get home to the year 2006. I want to get back to the Rink Rats girls because Madison and Rielly are waiting for their story to be told. And poor Serena... she's sitting there without even a first chapter to breathe her to life. (I am sorry Serena R... I didn't name her after you that was just her name!)

Do I sound crazy?

The last thing I want to do is write a profile piece or an article on The new ultra sounds. Don't my editors know that I have whole nother worlds waiting for my attention... or more importantly don't my creditors know that?

Oh bother. I'll write it tomorrow. Isn't tonight the start of American Idol anyway?

Bill

This is my talisman. Bill Walton of the 1976 Portland Trail Blazers championship team.
Sometimes, when my writing isn't going well, I shake him and beat his head against the desk and scream, "Oh no Mr. Billlllllll!" Which my children think exceedingly funny. At our Halloween parties we play "Hide Bill" and we hide him somewhere in our house and people look for him. One little part of him has to be visible. He has spent time in the Spagetti Jar, on a fan light twirling high above our heads, and even hid in my hair once, which was hysterical. He once took a trip to Sacramento with his head rolled up in the window looking at all the other cars. Meet Bill.

They Won!

In spite of injuries and turnovers they still managed to win! Oh yeah! Which means they are in the NFC championship which is in OUR house! And we have a noisy house people. One of the loudest stadiums in the NFL. 115 decibles! Yeah, I remember. My ears actually rung after the game we went to. So fun!

I have had some positive feedback on my new novel idea. I knew it was a good one. Today I am going to work on Crits and some nonfiction... in between running my son around of course!

I Got It!

I got the idea for another book. I took Shannon Mckeldon's idea blueprint and just let these little scraps of ideas grow. I played with them here and there. Moved this and that, matched up one idea with another and discarded them. The problem is that I had two different ideas and was trying to meld them together, but it didn't work. Obviously they are two different books.

Then today it all started sorting itself out and falling into place. I was driving in my car and one of the key ideas just laid itself out in front of me and everything else just came together. I was wild with excitement. Not really conducive to safe driving.

But I LOVE when that happens, when the germ of an idea grows into a fully plotted novel. I still have a few holes, but it's there! I wrote it all down today because I am not going to work on this for a while. I am just trying to map out some career goals because once I sell Rink Rats things will start happening. (I will make sure of that:) I wanted the series plotted out, a proposal for another book and a fully realized idea for another one. Now that I have that I can rest. Or at least focus a bit on making some real money! I ahave been completely neglecting my nonfiction work. Well, not completely, but I haven't invoiced yet this month which is scary!

Okay... time for the Seahawks game!

The Trouble with Time Travel

I was working on my YA time travel synopsis when one of my CP's came up with an interesting comment. She had an issue with one of my paragraphs when the girl realizes she is her own ancestor. She said, "this is why I don't like time travel books... there are little plot things that the author usually doesn't explain." Now, I wasn't offended, she is actually enjoying the story when she does crits, she just had issue with something in the synopsis.

So that brings me to my question... isn't it our job to make the unbelievable, well, believable? I once asked Gena Showalter that question because she writes paranormal/fantasy romances. She told me it is a process of seeing things through your characters eyes. As the character enters a world that isn't real, they are disbelieving as any sane person would be. As the details of the world come to light, they are forced to believe it because they are really there. She says if the reader is connected enough to the character they will come to believe as the character does.

My character, Ana, time travels back to the mid 1800's. When she first realizes what has happened she thinks she's been punked. But she has to believe what is in front of her own eyes. And like she says, "Until I wake up or find a pair of ruby slippers I am stuck here." So then she turns to survival, which is where the story really starts. It wouldn't be realistic if she sat down and screamed for several days because it wasn't believable. Not to mention make a really boring story.

So how do you authors who write paranormal make your story believable?

Craft Books

I generally don't read craft books. Of course, I didn't used to be involved in a critique group eithe rand it's the best thing I have ever done for my career. So I figured craft books can only make me a better writer, right? One hopes. The first one that came in was Write Tight by William Brohaugh. Some very good information in there about redundancies, and sixteen different types of wordiness. Unfortunately, I can see myself just browsing this book because it's pretty flipping boring to read. Or maybe it's for someone far more intelligent than I. I am getting a lot out of it because it has a huge list of commonly used redundant phrases and I am learning how to spot unneeded words in my own work. So that's good.

The other book I can see myself reading cover to cover, Self Editing for Fiction Writers. It's easy to read, easy to understand, has tons of examples and exercises to reinforce the point of the chapter. Two chapters in and I am already smarter. And it was painless. Some of this stuff I knew instinctively, but now I have names to call it and improved ways of executing it. For instance, I have always written scenes separated by short bits of narrative summary and instinctively knew how to pace my books, but I certainly never thought about why I did that. Now I understand the best way to go about it and what can be successfully narrated and what should be written out into a scene. There was a whole chapter on showing instead of telling and even though I knew what it was, the book showed (har har)some fab examples. Like I said, I knew a lot of this, but it's just so clear and concise. It is probably more geared towards rank newbies, but even experienced writers will find some take away value in it. It should be given to every writer who has judged a contest so they can give a copy away when they return manuscripts:)

So what are your favorite craft books...the ones that really made an impact on your writing? Or maybe the ones you turn to when stuck?

Some common redundant phrases

Absolute truth
brief moment
cash money
chowder soup
crazy maniac
fatal suicide
gambling casino
gather together
meaningless gibberish
false pretenses
foreign import
mix together
merge together
pour down
pure unadulterated
kneel down (as opposed to kneeling up?)
radiate out
same identical
talking out loud
restore back
switchblade knife
starve to death
visible to the eye (as opposed to visible to the ear?)
Easter Sunday (as opposed to Easter Tuesday?)
valuable asset

Some are pretty funny when you think about it. There are several hundred here... that is just a taste. The book is Write Tight by William Brohaugh.