Jul 10, 2006 | Uncategorized |
Saturday was my monthly RWA meeting. I'm so going to miss my friends from the Aloha Chapter! We're a small group. We have 26 members, but probably half of them live on the mainland, so it's usually just 10 or so of us that meet regularly.
We had the usual fun time, talking about writing and stories, then carrying the conversation over to lunch. We practiced reading our work aloud since 8 of us are reading at a local library in the next two weeks. I'm reading on Wednesday, July 19th. This will be my first reading in public and I'm trying not to think about it too much. Ha! I'll be reading “Maddie's Marine” from Strong Currents 2.
What I learned about reading aloud? Slow down, first of all. You may think you're reading slowly, but chances are — if you're new at it — you're reading much faster than you think. Slow dooooowwwwwn. Enunciate and take your time.
Secondly, make eye contact with your audience. Project your voice outward, not down to the page in front of you. Third, practice, practice, practice at home before doing this in front of an audience. And time yourself, so you know how long it takes to read the excerpt you've chosen. We will have approximately 10 minutes each, so that's time for an introduction, a bit about the story, excerpt, and thanking the audience.
I'm sure we discussed other tips too, and I have notes and the handout that our experienced reader prepared, but this is what I remember off the top of my head. Most important, I think, is the advice to practice, preferably in front of someone you trust to give you good feedback. Fortunately, my husband is an accomplished public speaker and he's been giving me some good advice.
Did I mention, btw, that the first word of my story is “sex”? I can't believe I have to say that out loud in front of a bunch of people I don't know. Yikes.
Jul 5, 2006 | Uncategorized |
How was your 4th? Ours was pretty neat. We could see three fireworks displays at once: Hickam Beach, Pearl Harbor, and Magic Island. We drove out to the beach about 15 minutes before the fireworks began and had a great view over the water of the Hickam display. Fifteen minutes after it started, Magic Island and PH started. We couldn't see those quite as well, but it was still cool. Traffic getting home was a breeze, fortunately, and I thanked my lucky stars when I watched the news later that we did not go to downtown to watch the Magic Island display. People were still trying to get out of there two hours after the fireworks ended.
Around the ‘sphere this morning, I've recently discovered a new-to-me site: The Writing Playground. They have a recent interview up with Brenda Chin, Harl Blaze editor extraordinaire. And, best of all, these ladies are members of the Heart of Dixie chapter, which is the chapter I will join when I get to Alabama. Looks like a fun crowd. 🙂
Bookseller Chick had this link to a USA Today article about paranormal romance. Fascinating.
Now that it's July, you know what that means. Yes, countdown to the RWA National Conference in Atlanta at the end of the month. I've managed to be an RWA member for quite a few years now and still haven't gone to National. I thought this year would be the year. Nope, not with a retirement and cross-ocean move coming up. Maybe next year. (Which is what I say every year.)
Countdown to retirement: approx 4 months. Countdown to move: approx 4.5 months. Countdown to thesis due in library, finalized version: 3 months. Countdown to first draft due to mentor: 3 weeks. Countdown to me getting my butt off the computer and into high gear: .5 seconds.
Aloha…..
Jun 30, 2006 | Uncategorized |
You know about “found poems,” right? Those poems you create from a collection of words or phrases found in a piece of literature? Found poems can be fun, and they can be a way to jump start your own writing for the day. I once found a poem in Mein Kampf — can you believe it? It wasn't pretty, of course. It was ugly and nasty, just like the author, but there it was and I couldn't help but cobble it together.
So what's found wisdom? Well, it's not something you cobble together, but something you find when you pick up a book at random and open the pages. Lately, I've been going through my bookshelves, which is a frightening, daunting, time-consuming (and sneeze-inducing) task. I have hundreds of books and some tough decisions to make regarding them. Some of my books are old, given to me or found in musty old bookstores halfway around the world.
One such book is called Caravan by Nobel winner John Galsworthy (of The Forsyte Saga fame.) This copy is a 1929 hardcover edition. I can here admit that I had never cracked the book open before today. Caravan is an assembly of short stories, but it's Galsworthy's foreward that hooked my interest. Here is a bit of wisdom for every writer.
Like some long caravan bearing merchandise of sorts, the tales of a writer wind through the desert of indifference towards the oasis of public favour. Whether they ever arrive, or drift to death among the shifting sands of popular taste, lies on the knees of the gods–their author has no say. When he has mustered and sent them forth, he may retire and squat afresh on the carpet of vision, having done all he can.
Whoa, is that wisdom for the ages or what? I love it. The desert of indifference. Geez, does it get any better than that?
(Now where the hell did I misplace my carpet of vision…..?)
Jun 29, 2006 | Uncategorized |
There are times when you just don't want to know the truth, times when the truth will kick your *ss and leave you curled into a ball on the floor, wimpering. The truth, or Truth, can be a harsh mistress to live with.
Writers, especially beginning writers, have all sorts of tricks to avoid the Truth. Even when we think our eyes are open and we've done our research, we're often deluded. Diana Peterfreund talks about her own misconceptions here:
Back in the early days, I even had a list somewhere detailing exactly when I xpected my first book in each Harlequin category line to be released. I was not one of the people who failed to research the category lines. Oh no, I read all of the paragraph-long descriptions, then matched them up to each of my (unwritten) story ideas. At last count, I think I was going to be writing for Temptation, Blaze, American, Special Edition, Desire, and Superromance. And then, Red Dress Ink. Of course, that was just at Harlequin. And it was going to be all unagented. And within two years. After all, it took a year from the time of acceptance for my book to come out, would probably take me a month or so to write each book, and they'd clearly accept it right away, seeing how good it was.
Diana references another post, a fabulous one by Maureen McGowan that you should also go read.
I can't remember the depth of my delusions when I first started, but I was pretty certain I'd be published with that first novel. I didn't know that first novels were practice novels. I also believed that mine would be so good that obviously those shorter word counts wouldn't apply to me. Heck, I could count, and I'd counted far more than 100,000 words in many of the historical romances I loved. If X author could do it, why couldn't I? Clearly, word counts were designed for people whose stories weren't BIG. I had a BIG story, one that I believed that old cliche applied to: breathtaking in scope (I didn't know it was a cliche).
Now, folks tried to tell me different. Some gently suggested I needed to cut the size of my tome. Some told me I needed to keep writing new books while polishing and querying the first one. They were right, but I wasn't in a place to accept it. I'd pinned everything on selling that first book — my self-esteem, my concept of who I was, my future, my career — though I had no idea that's what I'd done.
I avoided the Truth like it was a poison that could kill. And maybe it was. Maybe we need those delusions to get us through the first stages (like Maureen talks about). Would you spend months, maybe years, working on a first novel if you knew it would never get published? I wouldn't. Some might think that's the wrong answer, but the answer is different for us all. I'd still write, because I enjoy telling myself stories, but I'd probably not bash my head against the wall and go through the pain of writing a book that would never sell. Or maybe I would, because if I knew it wouldn't sell then I wouldn't worry about what I said or if it made any sense to anyone but me.
What about you? Did you have delusions? Do you still? Would you still write if you knew you'd never publish the book?
Interesting things to think about.
Jun 28, 2006 | Uncategorized |
Ha, PBW's at it again!
Ten Signs That Your Personal Problems Are Taking Over Your Novel
1. Anyone in the novel who lies to, cheats on, divorces, or is prettier/skinnier/more popular than your protagonist dies a horrific and pointless death.
Who hasn't felt the desire to kill off or maim someone you are angry with in the safety of your novel? You can do it, so long as you bury that agenda deep. 🙂 Or not. For the top ten signs you've gone overboard, go read PBW's typically hilarious post.
**Not really.
Jun 27, 2006 | Uncategorized
Saw this one today and it made me laugh.
“In this business you either sink or swim or you don't.” — David Smith
Yep, that's writing for publication, ain't it? 🙂
