Where have I been all week? I had company! And then I had things to write in between all the festivities. My week has been a blur. A real blur. *sigh* I have nothing intelligent to say (as if I ever do). I've searched my brain for a post, but I'm still recovering from the week's balancing act.
So, I hope to be back Monday with something brilliant…
Okay, will you settle for coherent? How's that? I'll be back with something coherent. 🙂
more cat pictures
What's on tap for you this weekend? I'm going inside this gorgeous home. It's the oldest documented antebellum mansion in Alabama. Every year, the town of Twickenham, which is Huntsville's historic district, opens several homes to the public. For a mere $17, I get to tramp through about six beauties, peering at people's antiques, going gaga over their renovations and views, and wishing like heck I had the kind of money to afford one of these babies.
Ah well, at least I get to go inside! I think it's a cool thing that people open these old homes to the public. The tour raises awareness for preservation of old homes, and shows people just what treasures we have still in the South today. Read more about the Huntsville Tour of Homes here.
Hope you have a great weekend! Once I finish that tour, I'll be writing like crazy!
I dug into the photos to pull out this one of a (I think) torch ginger from Kauai. Love the vibrant colors of the flowers in Hawaii!
Anyway, it's Spring Break this week. Which means next to nothing for me. I don't have kiddies out of school. I'm not a coed anymore.
But, strangely, I have Spring-Break-itis of the mind. My head is not in the game this week. I've stared at my WIP(s), typed a few words here and there, but had no major break throughs. For one, I had a stupid moment where I misread the KOD Daphne requirements. I wanted to get two entries in, and I thought I had until March 15 to enter electronically. Nope, no electronic entry. You could pay with PayPal, which is what threw me, and then you had to send in your hard copy to reach the coordinators by March 15. I realized this on March 13. Not good.
Stupid brain. :/
Whenever it gets a little warm out right after cold winter days, my mind turns to spring cleaning. I get these urges to vacuum and wash things. House projects start to crowd my head. Landscaping here, curtains there, paint that room, reorganize that closet, etc. I recognize that these are creative endeavors of a sort, and that it takes energy away from writing, but sometimes you gotta let the mind wander.
So, this week, I'm wandering. I bought some house plants. Hubby and I did a couple of small projects in the house. We're talking landscape, looking at plans, thinking about what we want.
There's always more to do, and I can't spend all my time away from the computer. But this week, I'm letting myself relax. No WIP pressure, no sit-at-the-desk-all-day-or-be-a-failure recriminations. I'm having a Spring Break of the mind. Don't you agree it's a good idea from time to time? 🙂
Today, we have a commercial for Mac. Specifically, for a Mac application called Scrivener. Oh, the love I feel! The L-O-V-E. Really, I could break out in an interpretive dance here (if I could dance).
I am a Pantser. Meaning I sit down with an idea, a character or two, and start writing with no rhyme or reason or idea where things are headed. Wish I could outline, but frankly, the thought of outlining freezes me into a catatonic state of inertia (is that possible, or have I just won the prize for most amazing redundancy?).
Anywho, Mac + Scrivener = love. And here is why.
The corkboard, ladies and gentlemen. You can break all your chapters down, make notes about each, and then pin them to the corkboard. You can color the pins any color you want — like red for romance, blue for suspense, etc. When you lay out those index cards with the pins (click of the mouse), you can then see your plot progression and how much you are devoting to each aspect of the novel.
The corkboard also can be viewed in outline format. Notice the colors of the outline. You can have your outline display the colors you chose for different aspects of your plot. At a glance you can see the progression and how much you are devoting to romance or suspense or subplot A, B, etc.
Another cool thing is the research area. You can pull in photos, webpages, etc, and make notes about characters or settings. I've started putting photos into my research area. When I want to get the mood of the swamp or of a plantation home, I click on my research tab.
The skinny: the Scrivener folks will let you download the application to try for 30 days. After that, if you want to keep it, it's $39.95 — and anyone with MS Office knows what a bargain that is.
The truth: I downloaded the program months ago, played with it (but didn't take the tutorial on how to really use it), and didn't buy it. I figured I didn't need it, even with these cool features, because I had Word and would be writing in Word because it cost so much. But, I came across a blog post the other day where someone was talking about the infamous plotting board. I'd tried it before, getting a big dry erase board and colorful stickies and graphing out the plot. It was okay for me, but I hate messing with all that real estate, you know?
So I thought about Scrivener again. And this time, I took the time to actually DO the tutorial. It's not long, and it helps you see the full capabilities. That's when I realized how cool the program is. I do NOT write in it, btw. I write in Word, I paste the document in chapter chunks, and then I go for the labeling and notes. I have both programs open and I go between them. It works for me. You can import a complete document into it, which I did, and you can break it out into chapters — which really helps for the labeling. I'm not sure this program will work for me in the writing stage, but in the revising stage, it's perfect.
What's mad about today? No idea, but it sounded catchy. 🙂 No, in fact, there's nothing mad about today. Except I can't seem to get myself started with my revisions. I left off on Friday in a good spot — basically, I'm rewriting a scene from the hero's POV instead of leaving it in the heroine's. I know what happens next, know where I have to go. But I guess I've been second guessing some choices I made in the novel. Should I axe this character and subplot? Does he do anything to forward the story, or is it confusing?
I've already axed one character and subplot because it was unnecessary on the rewrite. Now I'm wondering if this other character is unnecessary. *sigh*
Hubby helped me with an idea for a different book last night. It was fun bouncing ideas off him and, as usual, he had a really good idea for the heroine that I hadn't thought of. This book is simply in the concept phase. No pages written, no names picked out, nothing. But I think it could be a cool book. Naturally, it's in a different sub-genre than what I'm currently focusing on. Though, in fact, there is a military character, but it's more of an urban fantasy.
On tap for today: finish the d*mn scene. Go get propane for the grill. Write pages of a different book for a contest. Straighten up living room before mother stops by for a visit.
(Why a rocket? Because this is Rocket City, of course. Photo by hubby.)
How's your Monday Madness going? What do you do when the little voice tells you to cut characters from the book?
Okay, so it wasn't really a weekend, it was only a day. And there were 150 other people in the room too, so I guess I wasn't strictly spending time with Bob. But writing is about the hook (and, frankly, about lying), so there it is.
L to R is me, Misty Wright, Danniele Worsham, Bob, and Kim Kerr. We're the Heart of Dixie members who drove to Atlanta for the workshop.
Bob had lots to say about writing. Some of it I won't do (outlining). Some of it I will (lots, actually). If you can't go to a Bob Mayer workshop, pick up a copy of The Novel Writer's Toolkit, which the workshop comes from. The book is pretty good, though Bob's in-person delivery is better.
I also got to meet the fabulous and hilarious Jennifer LaBrecque. Here we are again, sans Misty, with Jen. I sat next to Jen throughout the day (8:30 to 4:00) and she kept me laughing for much of it. 🙂 You can find Jen blogging over at The Soapbox Queens.
I also got to see my buddy Carol Burnside! No pics of Carol, but that's because I was dumb and didn't take my own camera. I “stole” these pics from Danniele, who is smart enough to have her camera everywhere she goes. I must remember to take the camera!
I returned from Atlanta feeling energized and ready to work. Good speakers do that for you. Bob doesn't paint rosy pictures of writing, but he doesn't tell you you'll never succeed at it either. I've met those types, the ones who say don't give up your day job and you'll never make enough money to support yourself. Yeah, I know the odds are long, but the reality is that some people do make a living at writing. Not everyone is a J.K. Rowling (most aren't, in fact), but it's damn possible to support yourself if you work hard.
One of the most interesting things Bob said (I thought) was that we're in the entertainment business and we have to remember that our books are products. You are producing a product, not a baby — even though you've put your heart and soul into the work. You have to be able to see your book like a reader sees it. Because that's how an industry professional is going to evaluate your work. They want to sell it, not wallow in the lovely and amazing words you slaved over. Painting a pretty picture, getting lost in linguistic gymnastics simply because you want to do it, isn't the goal. Creating a compelling story is. Make the reader care about your characters, not your pretty sunset.
And now, to take the hardest part of the advice Bob gave, I'm off to use my computer for writing, not surfing.
Have you attended a workshop or class that inspired you? Changed any part of your process because of it? Did it work for you or did you go back to the old way of doing things?
