Jul 25, 2005 | Uncategorized
I am like Cinderella, but without the last minute save by the Fairy Godmother. I am not going to National. In fact, I have never been to National. I want to go, and I intend to go next year because my parents are now living within spitting distance of Atlanta. Good excuse to attend the conference and get some visiting done too. 🙂
Why have I never gone to National? Money, for one thing. I have never been able to justify the expense when I hadn't sold a book. When I first joined RWA several years ago, I couldn't afford the conference even if I had wanted to go. When it finally came to the city I lived in, I'd moved to Europe two years prior. 🙁 And no way could I justify an international flight back to the States in any of the six years I spent overseas. Not to mention, I wasn't writing much then.
But now I want to go. I still don't know what good it will do me. Pitches, yeah, okay. But when you see the stats on how many books actually get bought that way, it isn't much. Contests, the right ones, offer as much of a chance of getting your work in front of the right editor as the pitches do. Or so it has been said. I do hope to have a first sale ribbon by the next conference, though I refuse to hold my breath over that one. It'll happen when it happens.
The thing that amazes me in reading blogs and stuff about the conference build-up is the focus on appearance. I never knew I needed a tan or manicured nails or a killer dress or a tiny waist to go to National. Good thing I've got a year. The tan is happening naturally, and certainly not on purpose, just from the strength of the Hawaiian sun. I don't care how much sunblock you put on, the sun turns you brown over time anyway. If you spend any time outside, you're gonna get brown. Now, for the manicure, I can get those in Chinatown pretty cheap. No problem there. The dress? Well, I figured I'd wear my Aloha dresses, but I can always bring the three evening gowns I possess (and never wear in Hawaii because no one gets that dressed up evah). Now, the tiny waist. Oh my. Guess I have to keep hitting the track for that one. Hubby's been making noise about training for some damn marathon they have here. I ain't running 26 miles for anyone! But maybe I'll have to sneak it up to 3 or 4 or 5 miles from the 2 I usually do. Damn it, and I just thought I needed money to go to National!!
Jul 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
It's my husband's fault. He played Iz's version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” earlier and I can't get it out of my head. What a beautiful rendition of the song! Iz is short for Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (comma-ka-viva-olay), the big Hawaiian guy who had a voice like an angel. When Iz died several years ago, due to complications from obesity, he was the first and only non-governmental person to lie in State at the Hawaiian capitol building. Beautiful, beautiful voice. Try some of the clips on Amazon and see what you think. 🙂 Haunting.
Lovely Hawaiian day today. Sunshine, tradewinds, not too hot. I just can't explain this sky. It's a color blue I don't remember anywhere else. The trees are so green, the mountains green and imposing, the flowers bursting with color. Hawaii is amazing. I am in love with it, and my love means something to me because it wasn't instant. I got rock fever within a month of arriving. Rock fever is that feeling you get that the island is closing in on you, that you can't go far in any direction without seeing ocean, that you are limited to what is on this island. It's silly, I guess, but it happens to a lot of folks who come here to live from other places. I cannot believe I ever wanted to return to cold and rainy Germany.
Okay, sorry, don't mean to natter on, but today is a good Hawaii day for me. I love it and don't ever want to leave. Just give me a chair and a book and a beach, and I'm happy.
Did not write today, though I swore to work through the weekend. Too many things going on today, including hubby's necessary (snort!) trip to Comp USA. He bought a new wireless router and immediately came home and screwed up our internet connection. The man is a computer professional. This makes no sense to me. But, after a couple of hours, he got it fixed. I always freak over computer things. Don't tell me I don't have a connection, even if I don't intend to use it right now. Because, damn, I may need it. Immediately. What if I have to look up the name of that singer who sung that song? You know, THAT song. Or find out why St. John's Wort is called St. John's Wort? Don't cut me off from my font of knowledge!
Sheesh.
Jul 23, 2005 | Uncategorized
Feeling much better today. Life is great, book is going, I do not suck as a writer, my story does not suck, and blah blah blah. 🙂 What caused this miraculous turn around in mood? Oh, many things I am sure, but last night I picked up a book I'd started to read last week and so much of it made sense for where I was in my thinking at that moment. Neill D. Hicks's Screenwriting 101 is a must-read in Lynn's world. 🙂 The parts of the book about screen story are great. He breaks it all down to the most basic elements of what needs to appear on screen to satisfy the audience. Doesn't take much imagination to think of your book in the same terms. I jotted so many story notes while I was reading, and this morning I knew what to write. The part about cognitive dissonance really made so much sense to me. When you keep that in mind, you can write just about any situation and make it work for character conflict. Hicks explains it really well in story terms too.
Kind of wondering about my parents right now. After twenty years of living in Europe, they've finally returned to the States to live in Alabama. The last email I got was from Atlanta and nothing else in two days. I wonder if the culture shock is too much for them….
I have to run off to the store soon. And the post office. Why oh why can't I have a maid and a personal assistant? I have a needy cat and a husband who can't find anything. The other day, after he accused me of misplacing his pager whilst cleaning, I made him call the damn thing. It was in his gym bag, a place I never go. Still doesn't stop him from asking me–the instant he can't find something–where it is. I am the all-seeing, all-knowing household goddess. Ha!
Jul 22, 2005 | Uncategorized
I have to give myself permission to have a sucky day. And I have to give myself permission to step away from the computer and just go read a book or clean my house (bwahahahaha!) or go shopping or whatever. Sometimes it's okay to leave the book alone and let the brain go on holiday.
Hmm, is there a Thursday trend at work here? Critique on Wednesday, irritated and out of sorts on Thursday. Huh, must study this phenomena further.
Now, the goofy thing is that it wasn't my work on the chopping block last night. It's just a general feeling I always get that this group isn't quite working for me and I don't know how to fix it. We had a big discussion about trying to focus on story issues rather than nitty grammar critiques, and the moment we started to critique someone's story, the grammar police were out in force.
“You can't, can't, can't use a comma that way!” someone cries. “Thou must, must, must have clear antecedents!” (Well, yeah, but can we just WRITE that on the fricking paper and talk about WHY the motivation or goal or whatever isn't working or isn't going to work 100 pages down the road?) You could just see all the wind going out of this young lady's sails the more people talked. And she's a good writer.
Ann wasn't there; she's on Kauai, I think, but she'll be back next week. And she's the one who said this group needed to start looking at story instead of 5 pages of this and 5 pages of that every week. Bring synopses, practice pitching, etc. She's right, but the only problem with this group is that it's too inclusive. Anybody can show up to a meeting and get involved. We usually have regulars, but occasionally we'll get a new face. And these people write all over the spectrum. Some wouldn't read a romance if it was the last thing standing between them and certain death. How can that person give constructive critiques of a romance synopsis? How can I give constructive critiques of a literary synopsis? I may have a background in literary studies, but that doesn't mean I could write one to save my life. Me, I'll be looking for the romantic conflict. Ha!
I don't know. Just a load of blathering from a frustrated writer. I'll feel better tomorrow.
Jul 21, 2005 | Uncategorized
| Your Power Color Is Lime Green |
At Your Highest:
You are adventurous, witty, and a visionary.
At Your Lowest:
You feel misunderstood, like you don't fit in.
In Love:
You have a tough exterior, but can be very dedicated.
How You're Attractive:
Your self-awareness and confidence lights up a room.
Your Eternal Question:
“What else do I need in my life?” |
Jul 21, 2005 | Uncategorized
Woe is me. It's one of those days. One of those days where you ask yourself if you're really supposed to be doing this and if it wouldn't just be better if you'd quit kidding yourself, deceiving your spouse, and go get a friggin job.
Critique has that power over me, and not because we actually did much critiquing last night. It was the stuff passed on by one of the members that Ann Peach had said to her. Stuff about the market for fiction, how it seems as if the things getting published are over the top ideas, the bigger and more over the top the better, etc. Paranormal is hot (which she'd already said and I'd already heard). I don't care for paranormal. Vampires don't excite me in the least. Ghosts and witches and all that? Not interested. So how could I possibly write about that? I can't, at least not until the idea of a lifetime strikes me and I have to write it. I did start a paranormal chick lit sort of thing, when an idea struck me that I loved, but there's not a demon or vampire anywhere in it. *sigh*
I love my stories when I'm working on them. They are wonderful and brilliant and the best thing ever written. And that's how it should be, I think. You should feel that way when you're caught up in an idea. (And no, I don't really think my stories are the best thing ever, just when I'm working and caught up in the process and in love with the characters; the honeymoon ends fairly quickly, ha!)
So what's a girl to do? Keep writing and hoping one of the ideas sticks to the wall in New York? Give up? (I'm just asking; don't intend to give up) Get depressed? Eat chocolate? Get off her ass and write that thesis because she's gonna need it to work when the writing thing doesn't pan out?
Oh, I am so wallowing this morning. But when I talked to the hubby last night after I got home, he had smart things to say. He said keep writing, don't try to write something you don't like or don't understand, trends come and go, things change, keep telling your stories your way because you have a voice and it comes through in what you write. He's a smart man, that guy. Now, I'm going to drink my coffee and wallow a bit in my own misery and think about how to toss a vampire into my story (not really, hee hee). 🙂
Currently Reading:
Still working on Kristin Hardy and the Princeton guys' The Rule of Four, and various other stuff. And though I said I don't care about paranormal stuff, sometimes a great premise comes along and you have to read it no matter what it's about. So, I could not resist buying Julie Kenner's Carpe Demon. If the title wasn't clever enough to pull me in, the cover, blurb, and smart-ass comments would have done it. I want to read it NOW. But, I need to finish a couple of other books first. Damn it.
Music:
Heard last night on the “Nights with Alice Cooper” show (as I was driving home): “That's the song ‘Bad Company', by Bad Company, off the album titled Bad Company. [dramatic pause] Very creative.” ROFL! Why does that amuse me? I don't know. I'm an easy laugh, I guess. Hubby pointed out that Alice appeared in one of those Wayne's World movies and was spouting brilliant stuff, so sedate, backstage while Wayne and Garth gaped. It's as if you expect this guy to be an idiot and yet you find a professor under the black eye makeup and long hair. Anyway, he amuses me in a smart-ass kind of way. You go, Alice!
