I am on a reading spree. My BFF (I may be 35 but I can still call her my BFF - she's been my friend since I was 13!) sent me a box full of books. Great books. Amazing books.
I got her hooked on Hunger Games - so she bought me Catching Fire (yes it's finally close enough to Mockinjay's release that I can read it!), Linger (yay!!), Vampire Diaries and more Vampire Diaries, Darkfever, Hush Hush - oh there are more but I can't remember them all.
This was one of the coolest gifts I've received in a long time. Can you give a better gift than a book that someone falls in love with? That escape, those characters - they are with us forever.
Speaking of books - in which a girl reads is having a HUGE contest - in fact it's called the Very Humongous Blogoversary Contest. Check it out. Definitely check it out! Fall in love - she has a very humongous group of terrific books to choose from if you are a winner.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
It's done! It's done! It's done!!
The latest draft of NORMAL is complete. I'm sending the last section to my amazing betas. Once I get their responses back - and I have the last reserved betas do a full once over... it will be time to query agents! Can you believe it??
It is an amazing feeling to have this draft under my belt. There were many large edits in this version and I really like where it's gone.
No more excuses, no more procrastination. Hopefully within the next two to three weeks I will begin sending queries.
WHOO HOO!!
It is an amazing feeling to have this draft under my belt. There were many large edits in this version and I really like where it's gone.
No more excuses, no more procrastination. Hopefully within the next two to three weeks I will begin sending queries.
WHOO HOO!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Lazy, hazy days
I woke up this morning to the sound of my fan shutting off.
Normally it doesn't sound like such a big deal, but in my world it means the power went out. No power, no computer... and no computer... well... let's just say I need a life.
Cue crying.
Well, the power is back on and I'm over it. What this lead me to though, was realizing I need mah 'puter! Yes I have my WIPs saved on an external hard drive, an online back-up server and I have emailed them to myself. The real problem is that I am no longer able to write by hand. I tried. I really, really tried this morning, but it didn't happen. It's not that I had writer's block, it's that I can't write nearly as fast as I can type and by the time I had a thought out on paper, I forgot where I was going with it.
It sucked.
So here I am perched back on my computer, electricity chasing through the wires and NOW I am blocked again.
I love writing.
Normally it doesn't sound like such a big deal, but in my world it means the power went out. No power, no computer... and no computer... well... let's just say I need a life.
Cue crying.
Well, the power is back on and I'm over it. What this lead me to though, was realizing I need mah 'puter! Yes I have my WIPs saved on an external hard drive, an online back-up server and I have emailed them to myself. The real problem is that I am no longer able to write by hand. I tried. I really, really tried this morning, but it didn't happen. It's not that I had writer's block, it's that I can't write nearly as fast as I can type and by the time I had a thought out on paper, I forgot where I was going with it.
It sucked.
So here I am perched back on my computer, electricity chasing through the wires and NOW I am blocked again.
I love writing.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Vacation, all I ever needed....
So... I've been on a little writing vacation.
Not the kind where I go somewhere fun and write - but eh kind where I just don't write at all.
So really, the worst kind.
With the end of the school year excitement, weddings, work trips, work, softball - my brain has been fried by the end of the day. Normally I write from 11p-2am. That hasn't been possible because most nights I'm asleep by 11pm.
I will say that I miss writing, and my characters. Now that school is out (whoooo hoooo) I hope to be able to scrape out some writing time.
Including maybe an occasional blog post or two.
'cuz you miss me, right?
Not the kind where I go somewhere fun and write - but eh kind where I just don't write at all.
So really, the worst kind.
With the end of the school year excitement, weddings, work trips, work, softball - my brain has been fried by the end of the day. Normally I write from 11p-2am. That hasn't been possible because most nights I'm asleep by 11pm.
I will say that I miss writing, and my characters. Now that school is out (whoooo hoooo) I hope to be able to scrape out some writing time.
Including maybe an occasional blog post or two.
'cuz you miss me, right?
Friday, May 28, 2010
Getting dirty
Oh I wish the title of the post meant I'm going to be chatting about smexy, dirty things... but unfortunately it's not.
So I just put my garden in the ground. So far three kinds of cucumbers, some zucchini, squash, five types of tomatoes, 2 types of peppers, some chives, some onions, some carrots, watermelon and some lettuce. I have a whole bunch more to go in but it's a good start.
While I was sitting out in the sun digging in the dirt I have a lot of time to contemplate things and one of my favorite past times is to plot out books/scenes, etc. Today I realized that gardening and writing are very similar and I realized a little about my personality. That's some serious gardening right?
I love the feeling of planting the garden, it's a lot of work to get the ground ready, but once it's time to start putting transplants or seeds in the ground, it's exciting. Each plant has serious potential and I don't see the garden for a bunch of piles of dirt with little spindly seedlings, but the potential of a gorgeous lush garden with loads of veggies for my family.
The same can be said about my SNIs (Shiny New Ideas). I get an idea and it's a major high. Then as I mull it over in my head, thinking of plot points, characters, it starts to take shape (in case you can't tell - in planning terms I'm a pantser not a planner!). I start to write and I can see the finished project in all it's glory.
Then the tough stuff. In writing a novel - the weeds are those tough middle spots that you have to push through when you temporarily lose your inspiration because the actual work that goes into your masterpiece takes over. Then there is editing. I clear the infiltrators of THAT, passive tense, excessive adjectives, excessive dialogue tags... just like I have to clear the garden of infiltrating weeds, pests and my kids.
Eventually you end up with something. For me, last years garden was a bomb. We had 23 days of rain in the 30 days after we got the plants in the ground. This does not make for a bountiful harvest later. There have certainly been books that also met the same fate and sit in an unfinished state in my hard drive. Not even hard work can save those puppies.
When everything comes together well, the completed manuscript is worth every ounce of time and energy you put into it.
Did I mention I can't wait till my tomatoes ripen?
So I just put my garden in the ground. So far three kinds of cucumbers, some zucchini, squash, five types of tomatoes, 2 types of peppers, some chives, some onions, some carrots, watermelon and some lettuce. I have a whole bunch more to go in but it's a good start.
While I was sitting out in the sun digging in the dirt I have a lot of time to contemplate things and one of my favorite past times is to plot out books/scenes, etc. Today I realized that gardening and writing are very similar and I realized a little about my personality. That's some serious gardening right?
I love the feeling of planting the garden, it's a lot of work to get the ground ready, but once it's time to start putting transplants or seeds in the ground, it's exciting. Each plant has serious potential and I don't see the garden for a bunch of piles of dirt with little spindly seedlings, but the potential of a gorgeous lush garden with loads of veggies for my family.
The same can be said about my SNIs (Shiny New Ideas). I get an idea and it's a major high. Then as I mull it over in my head, thinking of plot points, characters, it starts to take shape (in case you can't tell - in planning terms I'm a pantser not a planner!). I start to write and I can see the finished project in all it's glory.
Then the tough stuff. In writing a novel - the weeds are those tough middle spots that you have to push through when you temporarily lose your inspiration because the actual work that goes into your masterpiece takes over. Then there is editing. I clear the infiltrators of THAT, passive tense, excessive adjectives, excessive dialogue tags... just like I have to clear the garden of infiltrating weeds, pests and my kids.
Eventually you end up with something. For me, last years garden was a bomb. We had 23 days of rain in the 30 days after we got the plants in the ground. This does not make for a bountiful harvest later. There have certainly been books that also met the same fate and sit in an unfinished state in my hard drive. Not even hard work can save those puppies.
When everything comes together well, the completed manuscript is worth every ounce of time and energy you put into it.
Did I mention I can't wait till my tomatoes ripen?
Around, around, around the sun...
I'm sitting in a room where Elmo's World is on the TV but there are no children. I'm too lazy to reach two feet in front of me to get the remote and change the channel.
Don't judge me.
My oldest daughter asked me what my favorite color was. I realized I no longer have easy answers for just about anything. It used to be yellow. Now my favorite color is the vibrant green of leaves with sun shining on them set against the clear deep blue hue of the sky with splashes of white from both white, puffy clouds and branches of white birch trees.
I don't mean this in a poetic way, or even in a cleverly crafted purple prose (MUST SLASH ADJECTIVES!!) kind of way. It's just that I don't find any of those colors enough on their own. Put them together and TA-DA gorgeous.
More questions that I don't have easy answers for - but should? What is your favorite song? What is your favorite move? book? TV show? kid?
All of these things are difficult to answer for the same reason. It just depends.
It depends on my mood, it depends on when I first heard it, it depends on what memories I have attached... it depends. See.
The same can be said about my writing and editing.
I need to just finish editing NORMAL and get betas final opinions on it (so far my betas have helped tremendously and I love, love, love them all!). Every time I sit down to edit NORMAL it changes. I know that's the point of editing, but I mean the focus, the voice, the feel and flow of things. It all depends on my mood, music I'm listening to, how tired I am... I think the more I edit the farther I get from the end.
Oh and just in case you are wondering? There was no point to this post. Just lots of randomness.
Don't judge me.
My oldest daughter asked me what my favorite color was. I realized I no longer have easy answers for just about anything. It used to be yellow. Now my favorite color is the vibrant green of leaves with sun shining on them set against the clear deep blue hue of the sky with splashes of white from both white, puffy clouds and branches of white birch trees.
I don't mean this in a poetic way, or even in a cleverly crafted purple prose (MUST SLASH ADJECTIVES!!) kind of way. It's just that I don't find any of those colors enough on their own. Put them together and TA-DA gorgeous.
More questions that I don't have easy answers for - but should? What is your favorite song? What is your favorite move? book? TV show? kid?
All of these things are difficult to answer for the same reason. It just depends.
It depends on my mood, it depends on when I first heard it, it depends on what memories I have attached... it depends. See.
The same can be said about my writing and editing.
I need to just finish editing NORMAL and get betas final opinions on it (so far my betas have helped tremendously and I love, love, love them all!). Every time I sit down to edit NORMAL it changes. I know that's the point of editing, but I mean the focus, the voice, the feel and flow of things. It all depends on my mood, music I'm listening to, how tired I am... I think the more I edit the farther I get from the end.
Oh and just in case you are wondering? There was no point to this post. Just lots of randomness.
Monday, May 17, 2010
My heart... in paper....
We had a semi-successful yard sale this weekend. I mention this only because two things happened as a direct result. The first - I once again realized why I dis-like holding yard sales. I sold my three year old leather, glider/recliner for $17. That's one.
The second is infinitely more important. I found my box of books. THE box of books.
Let's back up a bit. My father is the kind of man that loves books - he's the reason I'm such a voracious reader. He keeps his books forever. He has walls of books at his house. All organized according to author and almost all are in hardback. Lots of books. Most of which have only been read once by him or twice if I got my paws on 'em. This leads me to another fun fact about my dad. Do not borrow a book unless you will return it to him. Otherwise you will forever be in the book jail. I don't borrow books anymore unless I'm not leaving his house with it - and even then I point out when I leave exactly where I am leaving the book so that he knows I'm not shoving it in a suitcase to take home.
This gene is also deeply embedded in me. I don't have the funds that he does to purchase books, but when I do, I have a habit of holding on to them. In my defense, I am a re-reader though, I can read a book 2-3 okay 4-5 times (or 20 something if it's Austen or a Bronte).
Moving 7 times in 4 years broke me of this habit. I admit one of the hardest things for me to let go on our moves were my books. I imagine them in new happy homes, being read and enjoyed by a happy reader curled up on their couch and treated lovingly.
Yes. I might need a life.
That aside, there are some books I just couldn't part with. When we moved from Arizona to Maine I allowed myself one large Rubbermaid container of books. They went from moving truck to storage units to storage unit..etc... until finally I have another place where I shelf space for my precious. In fact - I have a great built in bookcase!
To make this long story longer - emptying our storage shed I found the box. I opened it and went through it the same way I do the little storage boxes with my children's baby clothes and mementos. I've had some of these books longer than the kids!
In the box were a few I'm okay with letting go now, but mostly, books I cherish remain.
What books would you have in your box?
The second is infinitely more important. I found my box of books. THE box of books.
Let's back up a bit. My father is the kind of man that loves books - he's the reason I'm such a voracious reader. He keeps his books forever. He has walls of books at his house. All organized according to author and almost all are in hardback. Lots of books. Most of which have only been read once by him or twice if I got my paws on 'em. This leads me to another fun fact about my dad. Do not borrow a book unless you will return it to him. Otherwise you will forever be in the book jail. I don't borrow books anymore unless I'm not leaving his house with it - and even then I point out when I leave exactly where I am leaving the book so that he knows I'm not shoving it in a suitcase to take home.
This gene is also deeply embedded in me. I don't have the funds that he does to purchase books, but when I do, I have a habit of holding on to them. In my defense, I am a re-reader though, I can read a book 2-3 okay 4-5 times (or 20 something if it's Austen or a Bronte).
Moving 7 times in 4 years broke me of this habit. I admit one of the hardest things for me to let go on our moves were my books. I imagine them in new happy homes, being read and enjoyed by a happy reader curled up on their couch and treated lovingly.
Yes. I might need a life.
That aside, there are some books I just couldn't part with. When we moved from Arizona to Maine I allowed myself one large Rubbermaid container of books. They went from moving truck to storage units to storage unit..etc... until finally I have another place where I shelf space for my precious. In fact - I have a great built in bookcase!
To make this long story longer - emptying our storage shed I found the box. I opened it and went through it the same way I do the little storage boxes with my children's baby clothes and mementos. I've had some of these books longer than the kids!
In the box were a few I'm okay with letting go now, but mostly, books I cherish remain.
What books would you have in your box?
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