11.18.13

Didn't you think when Mercury went out of retrograde things were going to calm down? Yeah, mother nature seems to be playing with us - from tornadoes in November to full moons coming on the heels of a retrograde. I'm quite unsettled, and I know I'm not alone. Rather amazing how the change of seasons can be stunningly beautiful and wreck so much havoc.

Lots done today, but none of it adding to my word count, nor moving my body in any meaningful way, which always gets me twitchy. I worked over the weekend though, so apparently my brain decided it wasn't going to join the party. Did manage to catch up on mailings and contests and the like, so the To Do List is looking a bit less ominous. 

Thanksgiving is next week, and I have so much to be thankful for. So I'm going to quote my dear friend Erica Spindler and repeat my mantra a few times tonight - Gratitude Attitude - have a glass of wine, cuddle the kittens and the hubby, and tomorrow, kick the Muse's ass. In the most polite, loving way possible.

Sweet dreams!

11.15.13

Good day today. Figured out a few major plot points that were holding me back, reworked the beginning a bit, had one brilliant brainstorm, and wrote wrote wrote. I was surprised the word count was only 2200, I felt like I did more, but I guess fleshing things out gives the same sense of accomplishment as a huge word count. But I crossed the 20K mark, and that's one of my thresholds. It means I have over 100 manuscript pages, and we call that a Very Big Deal. So I go into my weekend a happy camper.

Though I'm only writing one book right now, I feel like I'm juggling quite a bit. Which of course, I am, but most are for projects coming soon, so they really need to be back-burnered whilst I'm cooking on YARD OF GRAVES. I don't know, perhaps my mind can't be composed for one thing at a time, even though I certainly can't write two things at a once. I've switched back to Wunderlist, and I'm happily creating to do lists and planning things out there, so that helps. 

The kittens and I have reached a state of detente. The have figured out how to place themselves strategically around my neck and on my shoulders so my lap is free for the laptop and my hands free to type. And if I have to get up, they go onto their coordinating blanket for a snooze. This might just work.

Lots of work ahed this weekend, and some good books to read, too. Refill the well. You refill yours too.

Sweet dreams.

11.14.13

Felled. I've been fighting off a cold, which finally caught up to me. I tried to write, I really did, but between sneezing and coughing and kitty wrangling, it was sheer crap, so I gave up and read. I finished ALLEGIANT by Veronica Roth, a super cool and clearly inevitable end to her hugely popular Divergent trilogy.

I had some problems getting into it; I was so wrapped up in the first two and there was a style issue I struggled with (I'm not a fan of dual first person POVs unless the two voices are hugely distinct, so I will blame my difficulty keeping track of whose POV I was in today on foggy brain.)

It's interesting, almost every trilogy I've read bumps into the same thing, a little lag at the beginning of the third book. Hunger Games had it too - and it's a hero problem. It's an intrinsic part of the hero's journey, this apathy toward the reality of their path, gearing up for the final fight. The feeling that they've done enough, they shouldn't be asked to give any more, to continue being heroic. They're tired, and worn out, and the last challenge has taken so much out of them, they don't have any more to give. Or so they think.

In other words, they become human.

It's hard for the writer to breathe life into this part of story, I'm always fascinated to see how people handle it. I think JK Rowling is the only one I can definitely say didn't fall into this. I haven't tried to tackle this kind of hero's journey yet, and I'm anxious to try, especially keeping this phenomenon in mind. How to keep the hero heroic when they, quite rightly, need to step down and let someone else lead for a while.

Heroes are heroes because they somehow find the internal strength to move past this apathy and sacrifice themselves, again, for the greater good, even knowing there's a damn good chance they won't make it. And when they step back up, engage, the books take off and I'm breathless to the end.

Finishing ALLEGIANCE, I spent the last forty pages in tears. I have to applaud Roth, she's crafted a hugely fascinating series that asks all the right questions, and gives heartbreaking answers. She doesn't waver on her path, and I'm sure she was encouraged toward a different outcome. But she did what was right for the story, and that makes her a hero in my mind. Buy them, you'll love them.

Sweet dreams!

11.13.13

Okay, back on track. 1300 today, two chapters totally revised, with a great bit of insight into my villain. It's hard when they don't want to reveal themselves, but I've got it now! 

I'm embarrassingly far behind on my NaNo count, but with the stuff I've ironed out over the past few days, that should rapidly improve. Going for another 10K day on Friday, so hopefully I can catch up. 

Tomorrow was supposed to be all but lost, with three different appointments, but I think there's time enough between the first and second to sit down at Panera and knock out a 1000 or so.  Also, so please THE FINAL CUT was nominated for an RT Reviewer's Choice Award. What a huge honor.

Have discovered the kittens' weakness - music. They were absolute banshees this afternoon, climbing all over me, the computer, the chair, playing with the multiple mice that litter the living room floor. Jameson has eyes like a hawk, and goes bonkers for my curser, hell, anything that moves on the computer screen. I pulled up a squirrel video on YouTube and they both sat on the keyboard and watched, enraptured. Then I put on some Dvoräk, and bam - they curled up and went to sleep like Fluffy and his magic harp. They're still out, two hours later. And now I know.

Off for tacos and margaritas with some dear friends. Part of the all work and no play makes JT a dull girl initiative. Pray the minions don't tear the house apart whilst I'm gone.

Sweet dreams!

11.12.13

An auspicious date on the calendar, and a decent writing day for me. I had to flip my day, do business in the morning and write this afternoon, so I'm not done, ergo, no word count just yet. But I wanted to direct you to this blog by Kris Rush on NaNoWriMo. She makes a lot of excellent points about the month-long novel extravaganza.

Professional writers view NaNo with a healthy dose of skepticism. Mainly because we do this every month, so there's this rather snobbish view toward a bunch of writers suddenly dedicated themselves to the craft for a single month and calling themselves authors. I don't buy into that crap, by the way. Yes, I do write at least 25K a month, more like 40-50K, but that doesn't make me more of a writer than the NaNo folk. It just means I've been blessed enough to do this full time. Sometimes, established authors forget how things were in the beginning.

Also, there are a wad of submissions that go out on December 1. Yes, there have been books written during NaNo that get published - 14 was my first, I can testify that it does happen. But more often than not, they don't, for several reasons:

1. 50,000 words does not a novel make. (I made this mistake, remember, before I knew anything about the industry, so don't think I'm picking on you.) Most commercial novels are between 70-100,000 words, and at least 400-500 manuscript pages in 12 point font. So by "winning" NaNo, you've only laid down half to three-quarters of what you need to be on par with the rest of the industry.

2. Writing is only half of the game. REVISING is where the real writing is done. Shooting off a manic manuscript that you haven't taken several weeks to edit, edit, edit some more, get reads from friends, revise again, is foolhardy. You only get one chance to make a first impression.

3. A million submissions on December 1 overload the agents, their readers, and their assistants, so a lot of good work can fall through the cracks.

4. We now have the very simple, expediant method to get our work into the hands of readers, self-pubbing. Please, don't do it right away. Give yourself the time to revise and get some good solid editing from a great editor before you put your masterpiece up for sale.

So. With all that in mind, when you finish, and accept your congratulations and adulations, take a day, celebrate, then get your butt back in the chair and make a real novel out of your story.

Sweet dreams!