(c) Lynn Raye Harris 
Freaky Friday
Maybe it's not freaky, per se, but it's been busy! First, I was disciplined this morning and I'm proud of myself. I got out the kitchen timer and set it for one hour. One hour to read email, respond, read the news, read blogs. And then I had to write. It worked, too. When the timer went off after that first hour, I reset it for an hour, closed the ‘net, and opened Word. I actually wrote new stuff and I'm pleased with it. I reset that timer several times throughout the day, only allowing myself time to stretch and eat and perform necessary functions–ha! And I got work done. I did not waste hours like I can very easily do.
I am a new person. Yeah, right. *snort*
Okay, maybe not a new person but definitely a person trying to introduce some much needed discipline into her writing life. Just tonight, my husband made me feel guilty by telling me how much he admired my commitment to my writing and how he knew I'd get there, even if it took me several more books and years to do it. It was so sweet of him, but I felt guilty because I know I can be a colossal time waster when the book ain't working. So easy to surf a bit (the web, not the ocean–let's not get silly), read blogs and newspapers, etc.
Oh, new memo for self: do not talk to strangers in the bookstore. Nice person, but gracious sakes alive. I didn't start the conversation, but I couldn't end it. Said person is also a writer. Said person writes pretty obscure stuff, believe me. Ancient poetry meant to be performed in public. I was treated to a bit of it, thank you very much. Other people were turning their heads to look at the two weirdos (me and person). I know I'm being vague as hell, but I honestly would never want to take the chance that this person could recognize a hint of self in my blog, especially when we might bump into each other again. I did not get the impression I was dealing with a web savvy writer though…..
Nope, paranoia won't allow me to do it. Hubby calls me the female Woody Allen. If it can be worried about, obsessed over and analyzed a billion ways, I'll be first in line. 🙂
Speaking of people reading one's blog, the pressure is now on. One of my best and most brilliant friends has said she's been reading it. Now she will know I am not the cool, witty, elegant person I wish and pretend to be (though maybe she knew it anyway, ha).
Books currently reading:
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir. Thesis stuff, what can I say?
Certified Male by Kristin Hardy
Everyday Average Jones by Suz Brockmann
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Bible, Book of Judges – I am on a quest to read the whole thing. I've studied it in Lit classes, and read quite a bit, but never the whole thing linearly. This will take a while. 🙂
Music:
Alice Cooper's nightly radio program. I never knew Alice was a hoot. The joke about Steven Segal's ego was pretty cool.
Tomorrow is Aloha Chapter meeting! Wally Amos is the guest. Should be fun. I hope he brings cookies.
Critique and Writing
I'm back, because this is really a writing blog and that last post wasn't about writing. 🙂 Last night was critique. It took me about 40 minutes to go 5 miles. Wow, what an improvement. Have I mentioned how much I dislike Honolulu traffic?
In truth, I am torn over this critique group. It's not just romance writers, but women writers in general. We take 5 pages max each week. I find that limiting, but I like the people and I like their company. I don't often take anything, mostly because I don't believe in sharing first draft work until the story is complete. But I did last week, and I did last night though we never got around to discussing mine because we ran out of time. I did get my copies back with comments, though, and this is where I get frustrated. No two people key in on the same thing, so that's always good (tie goes to the writer, as Stephen King says), but it's the comments on word choice that drive me buggy. I feel as if people are trying to rewrite things to sound the way they'd say it. I don't just feel this way with my own work, btw, but with some of the comments that get made on other people's work too. Someone actually added adjectives to my sentences. LOL!
I ask myself if I'm being fair, or if I'm being a primadonna when I get irritated at this stuff. I talked to my husband about it and he thinks I accept criticism pretty well, at least when it comes from him. He is hard on me, too, when I ask for his opinion on a story. He actually saved me from a dumb plot move in my published novella. It was being serialized, so I usually wrote the next episode right before it was due. Naturally, that sometimes got me in trouble, so when I was on deadline and writing this particular scene, I tossed what I thought was a great cliffhanger in there. It was going to be difficult to write my way out of the next time, but I guessed I'd figure that out when I got there. My husband read it and told me it was dumb and that I'd missed the obvious cliffhanger. He was so right, and I changed it immediately. I am still grateful that he caught that and saw the best and most obvious fix when I was in a creative stupor.
Recently, in a short story that I wrote for the Aloha Chapter's anthology Strong Currents 2, my husband flat out said he didn't like it. I was crushed, naturally. But, I listened to his suggestions, and I made changes, and he liked it. He didn't like the hero because he didn't understand his motivation. When I clarified that, and a couple of other things, he understood where I was going and thought it was good. Oh, I wasn't happy that he didn't like it at first, and I whined and wheedled and argued. I know one should never argue about her work, but this is my husband and I feel like I can break the rules. Ha! And by pressing him, I was able to understand precisely what he felt was missing. I had to repeat it back to him, clarify, and absorb. I don't suppose you can do that with many people because it does sound like you're defending your work and refusing to change anything, but it really helped me in this case. And, I suppose when I look at it objectively, it's because he was keying in on STORY issues, not nitpicky word choice/formatting junk. I want story issues, not the fact you don't like the word orgasm. 🙂
And I don't usually see much in the way of story issues being discussed in this group. It does happen, though, and we do talk about scene goals and all that. Inevitably, people get confused on underlining. Yep, underlining. There are still people in this group who think you are supposed to italicize stuff. And when they see underlining, they don't know why it's there. And then we spend several minutes discussing manuscript format, which is a waste of time.
I think critique groups can waste too much time on nitpicky junk and not spend enough on the idea of getting the story written. I see people who bring back the same scene time after time. They incorporate the changes that were suggested, bring it back, and get more changes. It's a vicious cycle. On the other hand, getting out with a group of writers is good. Reading each other's work is good, at least for me. I learn from reading other's work, and I don't ever get nitpicky about word choice, unless it's jarring. For instance, someone writing a fantasy novel used the word ‘screwed' as in ‘guess we're screwed' and it seemed too modern to me. I wasn't the only one who commented on that.
So how do you get the good stuff out of critique and avoid burnout? I don't know, really. I think it's possible to strip all the life from a story if you listen to every suggestion. And I feel like the focus sometimes IS on stripping the life. Not intentionally, but as Jane Porter told us at the May Aloha Chapter meeting, readers don't care about the stuff that gets our knickers in a twist. Someone was commenting on a sentence she'd read in a book and how it turned her off, and Jane said so what. It says what it needs to say, the book is popular, and the reader doesn't care. Before I started writing, I could care less about head-hopping and all that stuff. I didn't notice it. Now, I am a strict POV writer because it works for me. But I still read head-hopping books. I had trouble at first, years ago, but I don't have trouble anymore. I am often able to push the writer aside and read as a reader. It took me a long time to get there, however. 🙂
Anyhoo, I am bitching to bitch, I guess. I'm not ranting about my group in particular so much as I am ranting about critique in general. I think I critique like a reader, not a writer, and I think it took me a long time to get there. I think it's best for the writer to get a reader critique, not a writer critique, if that makes sense. Don't rewrite my work or tell me about wandering body parts (unless it borders on the ridiculous or pervasive). Don't nitpick underlines and em dashes and word choices. Tell me if you could see the picture. Tell me if you believe the characters. Tell me if they sound like they ought to sound. Tell me if you were blindsided by something, if you were jarred as a reader because something wasn't quite right somewhere. Yes, tell me if I've got too many adverbs or have someone sigh or giggle dialogue, or if the body part does something ridiculous (I apparently had twirling eyes once, thanks to a misplaced modifier–not good, though it gave my critique partner in my other group a good laugh). Tell me writer stuff when it really bugs you. But tell me reader stuff too. Would you keep reading? Do you like these people? Are you interested in what happens to them?
I am spending way too much time writing this post. In truth, I have a headache, thanks to too much red wine last night before bed. I can't concentrate on writing when I have a headache. I should have stopped on the second glass, but I had a third. I know better. Now I'm paying. And, I have no idea what we're having for dinner, I need to go shopping and I don't want to, and I just realized my university is crazy. They keep calling to say I owe them $15. I go to my account to pay and there's no outstanding charge. In the meantime, I think they're holding up my thesis proposal. My mentor signed off on it, and all they have to do is find two readers. They've had since May 1st to do this.
I wrote 4 pages yesterday, not 5, but I was pleased I did it. I did it on the Neo, which was necessary to keep me from checking email and reading blogs. Two weeks ago, I rarely read a blog. Now, I've discovered all these fun blogs that I never knew existed.
Headache or not, I'm getting away from this computer and grabbing the Neo. Maybe something good will happen after all.
Aloha.
Houses of Parliament, (c) FreeFoto.com
I Love London
If you want to know what our nation's future military leaders are up to, check out glumbert.com for an inside look at the Air Force Academy. This is college hijinks at its best. Those kids could be generals someday. Remember that. 🙂
It's hard to concentrate on composing an entry about writing when London is experiencing such shock and horror right now. I was in Madrid two weeks before those bombs went off, and I was at that very train station. What they never mentioned in the news, and not that it's important when compared with the human cost, but right across the street from that train station is the museum which holds Picasso's Guernica, often called modern art's most powerful antiwar statement. I found it ironic that that painting is there, right across from where the worst of the horror occurred. Picasso must have been turning in his grave. I'm not necessarily a modern art fan, but when I stood in that museum and gazed at that gigantic canvas, I got chills and I cried. It's an amazing picture.
So now, as London deals with this horrible crime, I think of that painting and I think of my own travels in London's tubes and on her double-decker buses. I love London. It's one of the most cosmopolitan and most gracious cities in the world. The people were amazingly friendly when I was there several years ago. No one was too busy to give directions or take a picture. Heck, the bobbies even posed for a picture with me.
I think, too, of Virginia Woolf since I am immersed in her life for the purposes of my thesis. She once lived in a house on Tavistock Square; a bus just exploded there. Virginia was very sensitive and somewhat nervous. Her diaries talk about her horror at the London bombings during the war. In fact, the Tavistock Square house was damaged (maybe destroyed, can't remember). Ultimately, it was her horror at the war and her fear of sinking into madness once more which drove her to suicide.
I am not surprised, unfortunately, that this terrorist attack has happened. I believe it's a matter of time before it happens to us again in our own country. I was not living in the US on 9/11. I was in Germany, and the response of the Germans was amazing. Regardless of all the bad press about them refusing to join us in attacking Iraq (quite rightly, in my opinion, but that's another story), when 9/11 happened, the Germans were wonderful and sympathetic. They marched to the front gates of Ramstein Air Base, held candlelight vigils, prayed, and piled up flowers by the truckloads at the gates. I got an email from an Italian woman whom I had met in Venice while on vacation. I barely knew her, and yet she wrote a very broken-English email expressing hers and her family's horror and sympathy. This is the good will that the current administration squandered when they insisted on war with Iraq, btw. One more quick thing about the Germans. Even when they were getting bad press here for refusing to join us in attacking Iraq, German soldiers were guarding the gates of our military bases in Germany because we didn't have enough people to do that and go to war. The Germans helped us, quietly, even while their chancellor said they weren't with us. It was a calculated political move designed to keep the German people happy and to keep Gerhard Schroeder in power AND to help the US in a clandestine way. Prior to 9/11, American soldiers guarded our gates. After, the Germans did it. So far as I know, they are still doing it. They were when I left there in March of 2004 anyway.
Okay, so enough of that stuff. I am upset and my heart goes out to London. I don't like war or terror and I am anti-Bush. So sue me.
Toe the Line
It finally happened. I finally went gaga over toe rings. I bought a silver one that has two dolphins on it and I keep looking at my toes and thinking, wow, that looks sooo cool. Yeah, I need a hobby. Oh, wait, I DO have a hobby. It's called writing and it's not a hobby but a freaking profession! Yeesh.
Tonight is critique at Borders. I certainly hope it doesn't take me an hour to drive 5 miles this time. I HATE that. Still reading Forever Blue. (Okay, I just learned how to do that link thingie, so now I'll go nuts with that. 🙂 ) It's hard to put this book down, even with the minor military quibbles I have with it. Some of the military stuff just doesn't ring true for a person who grew up with and is still associated with the military. But so the heck what. The story is really good and I don't care. Besides, I think Ms. Brockmann has gotten her research right since (this book was published in 1996).
Remember, if you're writing military romance, officers–without exception–have four year college degrees. Some branches of the service send them to school for it while they are enlisted and then commission them as officers, but they MUST have at least a 4-year degree. No community college associate degrees only, and no getting promoted from enlisted to officer just because you're a darn fine soldier/sailor/airman/marine. Four years, no exceptions. That is the modern military. There is also an age limit by which you can be commissioned. In the Air Force, you gotta be accepted into OTS (Officer Training School) by your 34th birthday and commissioned by your 35th. There are exceptions to the age in some career fields, like doctors and nurses for instance. Doctors can pretty much be 80 (not really) and join. I knew someone who did it when he was in his 50s. I also knew a 33 year old woman with a degree in music who got accepted to OTS.
And there are plenty of enlisted folks with college degrees, sometimes even advanced degrees. They were either too old to make the cutoff or they didn't want to be commissioned for some reason or another (it's complicated, and I had a whole description of a reason involving the time commitment–years, not hours–but I finally cut it because it's not relevant to what I'm saying and it's too confusing for anyone not aware of how the military works). Never make the mistake of thinking an enlisted person is not educated or is too dumb to be interesting as a character. Most of those SEALS and spec ops guys would be enlisted anyhow. I believe it's two, maybe three, officers to a squad. The rest are enlisted.
All that aside, I still enjoy this book. Not that that stuff is a big part of it, but I had noticed in another of her early books that nearly all the guys of Alpha Squad are officers. Not likely in real life. On the other hand, this book proves that a really good story is the most important element. You can get some of the details wrong, for heaven's sake, if you get the drama right. I've seen friends obsess over details, especially in a Regency romance, and the story somehow gets pushed aside. I am aware that Regency fans in particular are likely to call an author on that stuff (Eloisa James for instance), but I don't think you as a writer should neglect the drama for the costume details. In truth, the most jarring element of this book for me so far is Blue wearing sandals with his choker whites (hmm, a costume issue….). The military guys I know would consider that disrespecting the uniform. It's equivalent to stomping the flag or something for these guys and they would never do it. The uniform is that important.
Anyway, all that BS aside, the book is still good and I still want to be Suz when I grow up. The woman can tell a story. She deserves her success, even if I skim the WWII plot lines when I read her other books. Ha! (My minor is history, especially WWII history, so I love it. I just don't want it to muck up my modern romances. If they'd let her write a book set solely in that time period, I'd probably read it.) I love the way she moves a story along, and how good her sexual tension is. Great stuff.
Okay, today's goal, since I need to shut up and get busy, is 5 pages. I'm pushing it since I have to leave for Border's at six and it's almost noon now. Don't ask what kept me busy this morning. I can't even remember, exactly, but I think it was email and bills. Time-sucking black holes!
Aloha.