Jan 25, 2008 | Business, Contests, Writing |
Not, however, in that order. 🙂 Where would the drama be in that?
The not so good: got contest scores back this week that were polar opposites to say the least. One judge hated me, one loved me, and if I'd only had 5 more points difference, my entry would have went for a rejudge. Ah well.
The downright irritating: I redesigned my website. It's lovely, I think. But you're going to have to trust me on that because my webhost is arguing with my OS. The files are there, I can see them, but they are in a subdirectory instead of a main directory and I therefore have NO index file. No index file means no webpage, basically. I don't want to move my webhosting. It's a pain. And I don't want to reload the old pages (they still exist on my Windows notebook, so all is not lost). I want my new pages to work! Waaaahhh!
The good: I got a call last night that my entry won the 2007 Gotcha Contest in the Single Title Romantic Suspense category! Yay!!! News like that makes the pain of struggling through revisions disappear for a while. It's validation, for now. Tomorrow, the same book could get shot down again. But I'm going to enjoy this little high while it lasts. 🙂
Update: The new website is up here. There are a couple of issues I haven't fixed yet, but I'm working on it. Finally, however, it can be viewed. No idea what it looks like in Internet Explorer, so if it looks funny, let me know. 🙂
Jan 24, 2008 | General, Life, Writing |
A new Publix opened yesterday about half a mile from my house. Talk about happy! The closest grocery store was approx. 5 miles away before. Not far, but when you just want to dash out and grab something you forgot for the recipe you're making, it's a bit of a pain to drive across town.
So what's the secret I have to confess? *sigh* I grow science experiments in my refrigerator. Not the pretty truth, but there it is. I tend to forget what's in there, and when things get shoved to the back, they just disappear off my radar screen. I also buy things I intend to use, but somehow I forget I bought them and they go bad waiting for me to remember they're there.
Awful, huh? I am a neat person, I keep a clean house, I wear clean laundry, I make the bed every day. But I can't manage to throw out food before it sprouts green fuzz. Or, worse, liquifies (hello veggies in the drawer).
It's time for a fridge party. The kind where I get the trash can and reach to the back of the fridge, wondering what manner of odd thing I'll pull out. And then I can go to the new Publix and buy new things. And hopefully remember they are inside the gleaming stainless box.
Now, totally off topic, but over at the Writing Playground yesterday, they had three fabulous and successful writers talk about their new paranormal anthology. What cropped up in the comments, however, was a discussion about process and self-doubt. Fabulous advice from Roxanne St. Clair, Allison Brennan, and Karin Tabke! Go read this post and the comments that follow.
Do you have any ugly secrets you'd like to confess? Or have you gotten any fabulous writing advice you want to share? Am I alone in my fridge neglect, or have you made green fuzz too?
Jan 22, 2008 | Business, Writing |
Well, I finally got off my posterior and whipped my office into shape. It still needs some things, like a new filing cabinet, and I need to go through some stuff, but it's once again a welcoming space in which to sit at my desk and work. For months, I've been on the couch with my MacBook, while in my office languished a perfectly good iMac (with a much larger screen, duh).
We hung curtains, and swapped out an antique daybed for a couple of chairs. The daybed is gorgeous, but it's going to require a special mattress and I just haven't gotten around to locating one yet (3/4 size, in fact). My idea was to set it up with lots of pillows and make it a cozy place to sit and read (or nap). Maybe later. For now, it's nice to have chairs with a good lamp and a couple of pillows. If hubby wants to play guitar while I write, he can. If I want to read while he surfs, I can. Not that we don't have other rooms in the house, but it's nice to be together. 🙂
Is a welcoming creative space necessary? Probably not. In On Writing, Stephen King tells of buying a huge oak desk that dominated his office. Ultimately, he realized the desk was merely an extension of ego and served no purpose. So he downsized and made his space into something where his family could come and be with him. And then, when he was nearly killed by a distracted driver, he once again found himself writing in a small space reminiscent of the laundry room he'd written in before he made a lot of money.
So no, probably all you need to write is a private space somewhere and an active imagination. I kid myself with my desire for order and pretty curtains, but hey, it works for me and makes me feel professional. I've written at Starbucks, where all you need is a small table and an iPod, and I've written in bed. But I really like sitting at my desk. Thankfully, I can do that again without the clutter and odd desk placement to distract me (yes, this is the third position my desk has been in, the logical one from the start, but one I stubbornly resisted — and it's perfect).
(For a fun look at writer spaces, click here. Scroll down and click on the pics.)
What's your creative space like? Do you like order, or does it matter?
Jan 18, 2008 | Business, Revising, Writing |
It sneaks up on you at the least expected times. You're working on revisions, or maybe writing something fresh, and then all of a sudden you get this crushing feeling. In other words, you get overwhelmed by the thought of all you have yet to do. As I revise, every little choice I make — whether to cut a scene or add a scene — has a ripple effect down the line. And that ripple effect is starting to scare me. 🙁
At moments like this, I take a step back and try to think my way through the problem. I also make sure I have a separate copy of the document as it is now before I start making those changes. What if I decide the changes aren't working and I want the original back? I never do, but at least I'm comforted by the thought I can go back.
I was searching for images that suggested overwhelm when I came across an article that, while not about writing, is absolutely spot on if you think of it in terms of your writing business. Go read The Five Things in Your Home That Can Kill Your Home Business and see what you think.
The guy talks about Time Termites, which I love. There are Busy Bugs, Doubt Daubers, and Clutter Leeches, among others. Awesome terms and really puts into perspective what happens as you try to run a business from your home (which is pretty much where we all write).
I know these things all get me at one time or another. Time Termites are the worst, though the others have been known to rear their ugly heads as well. Like Busy Bugs: it's much easier to pretend to be busy, than to really be busy doing the hard work the business requires.
Knowing is the first step in conquering, so I'm being honest with myself and trying to shove overwhelm (and all that comes with it) back into the closet where it belongs.
Are you being invaded by the Time Termites or Doubt Daubers? Are the Busy Bugs misdirecting you? Did Clutter Leeches attack your desk? Is overwhelm perching on your shoulder?
Jan 16, 2008 | Issues, Research, Writing |
I said I was done with the Cassie Edwards portion of this issue, and I am. But over at Dear Author, Janet raises the question about what is and is not plagiarism. It's an interesting question, and one I don't mind thinking about (the comment thread is also good because the hairy specter of fan fiction gets raised, though it doesn't derail the essential issue). Because just yesterday, as I'm working on revisions, I wrote this line: If only there were world enough and time.
And then, because I'm hyper-sensitive to the issue now, I added this: as the poem said. Which seems clunky, but dammit, world enough and time is a phrase from someone else's work. Simply a phrase, but a pretty famous one (not so famous as to be immediately recognizable to all, however, which is where my dilemma stems). From the 17th century, no less, so definitely out of copyright. Some folks have intimated that using sources out of copyright isn't plagiarism, but I think all the English majors (at the very least) who read my line will instantly know where it came from. Maybe they'd get that I know it's a reference. Maybe they'd think I was cribbing.
Truthfully, the line probably won't stay, because the qualifier is going to bug me to no end and I'll decide it isn't worth it in the end. Here are the first few lines from the original, btw:
HAD we but world enough, and time / This coyness, Lady, were no crime / We would sit down and think which way / To walk and pass our long love's day. (Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress.)
I Googled “world enough and time” and Marvell came up instantly. It's four little words, but put together in such a way as to be recognizable. OTOH, in the comment thread to the post up above, people discuss pop culture phrases such as “Here's Johnny!” and “the usual suspects.” What is fair use and what constitutes plagiarism?
Probably, my use of the phrase isn't plagiarism and I can leave off the qualifier. It's a phrase that's moved into the lexicon, just like “we're not in Kansas anymore” and “something's rotten in Denmark” (that last being paraphrased, but recognizable nonetheless) and “sea change.” Probably, because those phrases are so recognizable, everyone knows you aren't plagiarizing but are instead either paying homage or simply using words and phrases that people use in real life because they ARE so recognizable.
But still I second guess my choices. *sigh*
Have you had any second thoughts when you write something lately? If you write historicals, have you gone running to your research books to make sure you haven't inadvertently lifted whole phrases? Have you deleted, reworded, or added qualifiers to protect yourself?
Jan 14, 2008 | Links, Writing |
Okay, I'm done with the Cassie Edwards thing. See the previous post. There's plenty of talking going on about it, and I am horrified she's alleged to have stolen passages from a Pulitzer prize-winning book, but I'm not about to attack her personally. She messed up, she should apologize, but why she did it and why she thinks it's defensible, I'm not about to try and figure out.
Instead, how about some links? My CP always gives fantastic links to timely writer stuff, but I'm just going to trot out some I've come across lately that I enjoy. How about layering? Here's a blog post from Gena Showalter, detailing how she first writes a scene and then how she fleshes it out. I learn a lot from these kinds of examples, so I appreciated this a lot.
Julie Leto also has a fantastic article about layering on her website that I love to read.
Here's a post about pace from debut author Jordan Dane. She also has a great one about writing a synopsis and one on the 9-act structure. Surf the site.
Something we talked about at my HOD meeting this weekend: Show Me the Money.
An important link for all the contest judges can be found here. I'm judging a couple of contests now, and I refer back to this from time to time. I don't want to hurt a writer's feelings, but I want to tell them if I think something should be worked on some more.
If you're writing romantic suspense, check out The Lab. Awesome site.
Any links you'd like to share? Any you refer back to time and again?
