NaNo Nesting

Sugar Maples - one of my favorite trees.

Becky is one of my first blogger friends since 2007. She is also doing NaNo this year and recently blogged about something I didn't realize just might be a NaNo phenomenon. It's called...

NaNo Nesting!

Do you suffer from NaNo Nesting? Becky's desk is just so and she even outlined! (Sorry, Becky... I outed you.) It was last NaNo that I wrote my very first outline as well, always believing previously that I was an "organic writer." Organic shorganic. When you are writing fast, you need an outline. You don't want to turn up to your computer and waste precious moments trying to figure out your MC's next motivational turn. But this is not about outlining or organic writing. This is about NESTING and like Becky, I am beginning to feel the pangs of needing to nest...

On my list of preparation for NaNo is cleaning my house if you can believe that or not. I want to wash my floors, dust, organize, recycle, get rid of clutter, do a very thorough vacuum in those nooks and crannies sometimes forgotten....

It's not just about the outline, it's preparing for a life event. Like I am saying to my family, Look, I'm not really going to be available the whole month of November. You may see my body sitting here in front of my computer, but I will only be a figment of your imagination. The house is clean now - keep it that way!

That's not to say I won't drag the vacuum or scrub a toilet or sink for the entire month of November. Ewwww. That would be gross! And it's not to say that I won't be there to share meals with my family, help with homework, or tuck my kids in, BUT...

NaNo is like preparing for a birth, isn't it? Becky's already named hers. Me, I'm still kicking around a few ideas but nothing rolls off the tongue quite right.

...If only there was a baby naming book for books...

Do you nest before beginning a new book or a new draft? When I finish a draft, I always purge my office before beginning a new draft. But NaNo just seems, well, bigger. And so my purging has extended beyong these four walls.

What about you? Do you NaNo nest?

(I wonder if next year part of my nesting preparation will include making meals ahead of time and freezing them.... Now, that's an idea! NaNo 2010, look out! By then, I will have this down to a science.)

Today I Will...

Today, I was over at Kathy Temean's amazing blog and was touched by inspiration on a day when I really needed a double espresso shot of some. Kathy's the RA for the NJ chapter of SCBWI. We are so lucky, here in NJ, to have her as our fearless leader and awesome cheerleader.

Well, today she was writing about a new book by Jerry and Eileen Spinelli entitled, Today I will. It has inspirational quotes meant to inspire daily writing exercises, ending with a daily promise, Today I will...

I fell in love with the idea of a daily promise.

This made me stop and think. Because so far today, I was wasting it on negative chatter in my head. When I read her blog posting I thought to myself, Now wait a minute! Cut that out! I scolded myself, Would your daily promise be, Today I will beat myself up?

No. Of course it wouldn't. We would never promise ourselves things like that, but I bet there are a few of you out there, like me, who do from time to time, unknowingly, spend the day with the negative voice in your head (No, I am not pschotic). I would even go so far as to say that WE ALL, from time to time, fill our heads with negative chatter and beat ourselves up over things we cannot change - essentially, wasting the day and our time. So, Kathy's blog made me Stop, Drop, and Write my daily promise. (I wonder if you can also write a promise of what you WON'T do).

Here are my promises for today...

• Today I will write new pages to my WIP.
• Today I will meditate.
• Today I will find peace and carry it with me.
• Today I will thank Flo for talking me off that ledge once again.
• And I just have to do a NOT one... Today I will NOT allow negative chatter to fill my head.

Truthfully, you're only supposed to have one Today I Will per day, but once you start... it's like eating potato chips...

What's your daily promise for yourself today?

And while I'm here, I thought I'd remind those of you who might be sleeping under a rock or living in a cave....

ONLY 13 MORE DAYS UNTIL NaNoWriMo!!!!

I am so excited.

My genius husband created this phenomenal Excel spreadsheet for me to keep track of my daily words, total words, percentage done, percentage remaining... It does everything but write the story for me. I think I am going to use NaNo for two things - one for my WIP just to get me to the end - so for that I won't do a 50,000 word challenge because I don't need it. AND either for the revision which I already started OR for a brandy-new story... I can't decide. It's like trying on shoes and making yourself buy only one pair. Impossible!

What's the Point?

OK. So, I am a child of the 60s and being a child of the 60s means that I grew up with flower children and hippies. I heard new songs from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones air on the radio. I wore bell bottoms and blue suede shoes. I had a shag haircut (and later a Dorothy Hamill haircut). I wore moccasins as shoes and I had an Indian fringe suede jacket and....

I know what The Point is.

The Point by Harry Nilsson was my favorite record to listen to when I was a kid. I knew all the words by heart and when I got a dog I felt was mine, truly mine, I named her Arrow. Then they made The Point into a cartoon narrated by none other then Ringo Starr. Oh, happy day!

I wanted to share with you, the wisdom of Rock Man and one of my favorite songs, Think About Your Troubles. Whose the boy's voice, you might wonder? Why that's Bobby from the Brady Bunch, of course!






Now what does this have to do with writing for children? What's my Point? Well, my point is two-fold. First, we authors come from a certain time and place. We grew up a certain way. We had certain experiences. And all of these things add up to our perspective on the world. They add up to our voice as a writer and that voice comes out of our MC's mouth.

This brings me to the second point. Our MCs come from a different time and place. S/He grew up in a different way. S/He had different experiences and therefore has a different perspective on the world.

How do we merge the two? My MC would certainly never have heard of Harry Nilsson's The Point. Many of you probably never have. But it shaped me. What shapes my MC? How do I have her voice and my voice? Well, you can disguise your voice as your MC's voice. That's one way to do it. But I think there's another way, a better way.

I like to have an adult in my story. An adult full of wisdom. And some of that wisdom is my wisdom. I can sound like an adult through this adult character and that is where my perspective can be heard.

It's still my MC's story. It's still her voice. And I need to know her perspective. What music shaped her? What philosophies color her world? What music from her generation will stand the test of time (or not). Pretend your MC is your own child. Let them have their own voice, but see if you can get a brush stroke in there every now and again that's yours.

And hey, whatever you do, no goofin' with the bees.

The Count Down Begins

TWENTY DAYS UNTIL NANAWRIMO.

Excited? I am. I can't wait. Oh, that reminds me, I need to get my husband to get my Word Count Excel Spreadsheet a little more user friendly for me, though, this year.

Wait! Stop the train! You've never heard of NaNoWriMo? How can that be? Okay, I'll calm down. After all, I had never heard of it until last year either. So, here's what it is... It's a challenge. You like challenges right? Especially writer challenges, right? Well, then. This one's for you!

National Novel Writer's Month, or affectionately known as NaNoWriMo, is held every November. All you have to do is write 50,000 NEW words in one month's time. Oh, just that... WHAT?! I know. It sounds impossible. I felt that way, too. But no sweat. Believe it or not, it's doable. I came very close. I think 46,000 or 48,000 words...

The point of NaNoWriMo is not to worry about quality but to focus on quantity. Sounds backwards, right? The truth is, there's a time and place for everything. Revisions are for quality. In the words of Richard Peck, revisions are where real writers shine.... Okay, that's not a direct quote, but he said something like that at the SCBWI NJ June Conference this year.

Here' how NaNo can help... If you struggle to finish drafts, NaNoWriMo is for you! You don't have to post your new pages every day. I didn't. And don't worry about someone stealing your precious MS. When you do post, you can use the encryption button in Word. It garbles your MS up to nonsense but keeps the word count the same. What you do is you write forward. That's it. Sounds simple, right? But we all know that writing forward is sometimes the hardest thing to do. We want to go back and edit and tweak and find that perfect word to capture that pivotal moment. Again, I say, there is a time and place for everything. When writing an early draft, that is NOT the time to tweak. All you need to do - the hardest thing ever - is to write forward and do not look back.

Over at Rebecca's blog, they are discussing using NaNoWriMo to finish a project or begin a new one. I've been debating this myself lately too. I am on my sixth draft and about to begin the next revision of my WIP. This revision, I hope, is the draft that will be ready to show to agents.

However, I also have several other stories I have been outlining, but have always forced to take the backseat to my current WIP. I am thinking I might use NaNoWriMo to get a first draft done so when I do shop for an agent I will be able to say, here is a polished MS and here is a first draft and outline for another project.

Last year people told me starting a new book is the biggest kind of writer's block you can do to yourself. But I think this depends on where you are in the process of your current WIP. I don't think your should leave a project in the middle. But between drafts... I think it's a good time to get time and distance from your story. In fact, I think time and distance is just what the writer-doctor ordered.

Will you be joining NaNaWriMo this year? Will you start a new project or finish that current one?

A little departure from writing about writing...

This is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. Thanks, Jeanne, for sharing. I hope it inspires you as it inspired me. We are amazing creatures, capable of creating unbelievable things. [For some reason it's very low. You might have to turn your speakers way up to get the full effect.]

AMAZING! I Wasn't Stricken With a Case of CWFBS!

OK, so... I received a lot of ribbing from our fearless NJ SCBWI leader, Kathy Temean that my recent once a month blogging has got to stop and that I need to resume my once a week-former-blogging-self. It was like she was channeling the spirit of my dead mother, the guilt thicker than molasses... so fine! I get it. Point well taken. I will resume my normal once a week blogging. I promise-ish... Okay, I will do my best. How's that... (I know she is sitting reading this saying, not good enough. A promise is a promise... *sigh*)

Anyway, I am back from the fabulous, the amazing, the all-inspiring Toms River weekend. I cannot say enough about this workshop. But before I go on and on about that... Thank yous are in order.

First, thank you to Kathy Temean and Laurie Wallmark for putting together this stupendous mentoring weekend. What an amazing opportunity!

Thank you to our wonderful, encouraging, and sweet-as-apple-pie (or lemon squares...) editors, Lisa Yoskowitz from Penguin's Dutton and Eve Adler from Henry Holt . (Who, by the way, I would give anything to have the experience of working with at any point in my career.) Every writer I spoke with said they had such a great critique session and found each editor approachable, friendly, easy to talk to, and full of such insightful comments and suggestions regarding both their MS and the industry in general.

Third, thank you to all the novelists who had the daunting task of reading 180 pages total and offering supportive, yet informative critiques.

Although, I did not read any of the PB manuscripts, I spent some time getting to know this special group of gifted writers as well, and it was a pleasure getting to know all of you (PB writers, novelists, and editors alike).

This is the first time I have come back from a conference/workshop without "Conference/Workshop Furrowed Brow Syndrome," CWFBS for short. Come on ladies, you know what I'm talking about. CWFBS is what happens to writers near the end of the conference/workshop weekend when you've heard such an onslaught of feedback and information, and as if it helps in the process somehow of contemplating all that info in your head, your brow begins to pucker.

This simply did not happen.

Well, it almost happened after Kathy suggested that page 30 (out of a 30-page submission) was really my page 1... So, I almost came down with a serious case of CWFBS on Sunday morning after sleeping on this idea. But once I was in the room full of inspiring writers and editors, I was cured.

Sometimes a serious case of CWFBS occurs when you come home from such a weekend. You walk through the door, relived to be home, happy to see your family and pets, when your grab your briefcase weighted with critiques and reality sets in. UGH! Now you have the arduous task of wading through all the critiques to ponder their suggestions.

But, again, it didn't happen.

Why is that? What sets Toms River apart from the knowledge-filled June Conference or any other great workshops offered through NJ's SCBWI where cases of CWFBS have been known to sweep through the room like a flu epidemic? Why didn't it happen here?

You might think it was the gorgeous fall weather with a kiss from the summer sun. Could be. You might think it was the proximity to the ocean. Maybe. You might think it was just simply getting away for a weekend. Possibly.

I think it was the cast of characters. And not just the ones on our pages. It was a coming together of a diverse group of dedicated women who have made children's book writing/editing their life's work, the relaxed ease of friendship that comes from this commonality which creates a bond among essentially strangers.

When I taught kindergarten, I used to end the school year with the same bulletin board: We started the year as strangers but we ended as the closest of friends. This was true about this weekend.

Photos were taken, hugs were shared, warm words of support were spoken, and the awesome task was understood by all about what it takes to make this dream a reality. And to each of us I raise my proverbial glass and say, To us! To our dreams. To our stories. To our perseverance. I know I will be seeing you on the bookshelves one day! L'Chaim!

Hugs and kisses and wishing you all the best,

Sheri

PS, Please send me your blog/website links. I would love to add an "in attendance" below. This is what I have so far...

Kathy Temean

Laurie Wallmark

Besty Devany

Mimi Cross

Cynthia Iannaccone

Johanna Bilbo Staton

Bettelynn McIlvain

Off to Tom's River

I am very excited. I am off to a writer's workshop weekend at Toms River through NJs SCBWI. My brain is a little scattered right now with all the novels I've been critiquing for peer group. That and I've been up until about 2:00 each night critiquing and preparing. But still, I am very excited.

Toms River is one of the rare occasions where novelists can have 30 pages of their novel read by an editor or agent and sit down to a 45 minute one-on-one! (as opposed to 15 pages for 10 or 15 minutes).

This year Lisa Yoskowitz from Dutton Children's Books and Eve Adler from Henry Holt will be in attendance. I've briefly met them at the June Conference. Both are very approachable and very easy to talk to.

The group attending is very small and our cozy accommodations are in the club house of the Toms River Country Club. I hear it is a very relaxing and education weekend. Have I said how excited I am?

So I am off tomorrow but when I return I will fill you all in on the experience.

Sheri

Split Personality

Woe is the artist… We artists struggle with many things –

• How to make money while pursuing our art?
• How to ignore the household chores so you can write without guilt?
• How to ignore distractions like the telephone, long conversations with a good friend, email, blogging, etc. ?
• Do I exercise now in this spare time or work on my novel?
• Do I write this in present or past tense, in first or third person?
• Is my pacing right, my tone, does my voice sound like a 40-year old or a 12-year old?
• The dog is whining; Do I let him out again, or put him in his crate so he can stop distracting me!

There are A LOT of things that get in our way but did you know that that is because there are two of you?

According to Robert Olen Butler from his book, From Where You Dream; the Process of Writing Fiction, there are two of you; the one you are aware of – the writer-self – and the one you might not be aware of – the nonwriter-self.

The writer-self says, I want to write! The nonwriter-self says, No I don’t. And that is the voice that tells you to do the dishes first, or fold the laundry, or let the dog out, or second-guess your every writer decision, or write this blog article instead of edit pages to send out for submission.

Now that you are aware of this saboteur you can look her right in the eyes and say, “CUT IT OUT! I mean it. I’m serious. I WANT TO WRITE,” and silence her once and for all.

Butler further goes on to say, writing, like all other art forms, must stay a sensual experience. Easier to do for dancers, musician, and artists, but not for writers whose art is words. So how does one create a sensual experience through words? Think of the five ways we experience emotions.

1. Sensual Reactions - be aware of where in the body the emotion is felt and what specifically is felt - a rise or fall in body temperature, heartbeat, muscle tension, neural changes...
2. Sensual Response - be aware of how the sensual reactions are shown on the body - posture, gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, and so forth.
3. Experience Emotion through flashback - most of the times we are unaware of this because we do it so readily, but think about it... when you get upset about something, often times you get flashbacks of other times in the past you also felt like this. Sometimes it is an object that will bring you back to when you felt this way before. For example, you're angry with your mother because she always forgets to call you on your birthday. You have sensual reactions - maybe you get hot, hear a ringing in your ear. You have a sensual response - you stand with arms folded, foot tapping, shooting icy stares at the phone which never rings. And then you have the Emotional flashback as you stare at the phone - She always does this. Remember that time when I was 9. She said we'd go to Farrel's for dinner and the huge 12 scoop sundae. I waited by that damn olive green phone in the kitchen until the sun and moon switched places in the sky. By the time she got home, I was in bed and her breath smelled of wine and cigarettes once again. [this is just an example... my own mother would never do such a thing =] This flash back is key. It is quick, rooted in the present emotion but tells so much about both characters, triggered by an object in the present tying it to the past.
4. Emotional Flash forward - this is like a flashback but it speaks of the future. It can speak of your characters hopes or fears. Let's take the above example again. Next year I turn 30. Will she forget me again, even then? No! Next year, I am going away on my birthday. Yeah. Just me and Flo. We'll get on that charter bus... no a plane. Yeah, we'll fly out of this one street light town to some tropical heaven where there are no phones and then it won't matter if she forgets because I won't be there to find out. In the flash forward we still learn a lot about our character. We learn about her tiny town, her dreams of leaving it behind, and learn there is a friend she might take with her. But the yearning is still there. She still yearns for her mother to notice her and love her.
5. Sensual Selectivity - Butler says that at every moment we are accosted by sensual cues but when we experience an emotion we only allow a certain number of sensual cues in. What we see is our deepest emotional inner self. Again back to our example... Ugh rain clouds. Of course! Nothing but me and the lonely grey cloud above that follows me everywhere. Outside there are also flowers in bloom, leafy crowns on the trees, birds splashing in puddles but our MC can only see the lonely grey rain cloud because that cloud reflects her feelings, it's how she sees herself, and so she tunes out all the other sensual details and focuses only on the one that represents her emotions.

I recommend adding this one to your bookshelf dedicated to writer How To's. I am on my second reading now. There were some parts that were not so helpful for me. But the parts that were have changed my writing forever.

Now let’s share. What are ways you tell the nonwriter-self within you to PIPE DOWN and let you write?

Emotions in Your Life: Show and Tell; A Lesson From the Master and Emotional Journals

We all hear about showing vs. telling; a common battle we writers must conquer. I know you've heard me talk about it here, several times. If you've not heard about this issue or you're new to my blog or writing, and you do not know what this means let me explain.

This is telling.

Mary was angry.

This is showing.

With clenched jaw, Mary spoke in staccato words, "You will never do that to me again!"

I didn't say Mary was angry in the latter example. I showed it. Which is better? You decide. Which makes you see the scene specifically, feel the emotion, experience the anger in a part of your body like Mary experienced it?

Forgive me for the repetition if I've already given this next example, but it is worth repeating because it was the moment this lesson resonated inside of me. My epiphany.

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

...Their relationship came to be symbolized by a carrot. She left a fresh one, washed and peeled, next to his peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch each day. She was careful not to hound him about it. Only once did she mention that carrots were good for him, they supply vitamin A, and, as her own mother had told her time and again, they help one to see in the dark. The daily carrot became her last stand - one small, pitiful, final attempt to bond with her grandson. He never took a bite.

Frustrated, she worked up her nerve for a showdown. She said to him at lunch one day, "We used to have such good times together."

He went on munching his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The carrot, as usual, lay untouched on the table.

"David?"

Munching. As if she weren't there.

She went away in tears.

Two days later, out of the blue during lunch, an answer arrived: "You were Nana then."

"She stiffened. She stood in front of him, looking down on the top of his head, the brown hair she once loved to muss. "Then? I still am Nana."

"No."

"No?" Something delicate inside her fell from an edge and shattered. She could not keep the tremble from her voice. "What am I now?"

He did not reply. He got up and left the kitchen. A half-eaten sandwich lay on his plate.

Sticking up out of the bread, like an orange dagger, was the uneaten
carrot.

That, my friends is the best example of show don't tell. The pages I read where a light bulb not only went off, sirens sounded, blood rushed, and I said out loud, "Oh, I get it now!!!!" An aha! moment. We not only understood how David felt, but how the grandmother felt too, "...Something delicate inside her fell from an edge and shattered."

How does Jerry Spinelli do that, get there, show that, create those beautiful moments? I think he avoids using generalizations like,

"Who am I now?"
"The enemy," he said and left the table.

True, those words would sting to hear, say, and read, but how much better the surprise when we SEE that David saw his Nana as an enemy. The dagger stabbed his sandwich. It was powerful. So powerful that I still talk about it and write about it and probably will continue to do so forever.

I wanted to practice this in my own writing and so I created something I call my Emotional Journal. I've written about this before but today, I am going to share a snippet. Of course names are changed. The important thing is not to just retell an event that brought up an emotion in you. The important thing it to force yourself to say more, to show more, to make a reader feel what you felt by discovering in your own body where this emotion lived.

Then when you have to write a passage like this in your stories, you can draw from that. This is certainly not an example of fine, flawless writing. It is a journal, so I a do not edit, spellcheck, or search for the perfect word. It is a warm-up exercise to that days writing for my story. I think about my character and an emotion she might have to feel that day and then I mediate and try to remember when I've felt that way and try to describe it without generalizing.

Today's' entry was on betrayal. This is how I exercise my writer's wings in the morning...

Betrayal

Step One: Brainstorm Instances
Sarah with Jane
Daniel with John
Diana with Chris
Margaret with no one; just not being there for me at a time of need

Step Two: Choose one and briefly explain it
I’m going to take the one with Margaret because it is the most recent. Someone I love had just been diagnosed with Hashimoto Disease. I was trying to tell Margaret about the whole ordeal which had been very terrifying for us. There was a chance, a good chance, it was cancer. All Margaret was interested in doing was telling me her extensive knowledge and experiences with hyper and hypothyroidism. I tried to explain how that had nothing to do with this – an autoimmune disease. She became agitated, competitive. I told her about the treatment. She again questioned my doctors with an in-your-face attitude. She called me combative. I was shocked. I felt this shock behind my eyes, in the front of my brain, trying to right the wrong. I couldn't. My chest felt tight. High up in my chest, I felt tense.

Step Three: Take the instance - which is full of generalizations - and rewrite it from a sensory perspective…
The betrayal hit the back of my eyes first then seeped up to the front of my brain where it searched for a plausible answer. She was accusing me of the very thing she was doing. Combative. I was informative. She was fighting against everything I was saying. High up in my chest, I tensed. This tension moved down my back and I could feel something there crackle and pop. I’ve felt this sensation before – when fighting with Jane. An electricity, like a toxin, travels through my muscles until the muscle’s last bit of healthy flesh crackles and pops, no longer able to fight against the hurt and pain and bitter shock of a loved one turning against you. Blackness seeped from my eyes as my world became dark. If this person is not here for me, who then is?

Like I said, it is not flawless, but the point is, hopefully to be in touch with your senses when you felt that emotion. Where did you feel it? Emotions are felt in your body. Knowing where that feeling lived will help you SHOW it to your reader so they can feel it too.

Give it a try and share your samples in the comment section.

I Won an Award!

I'd like to thank everyone at the academy... Ahem.... Oh sorry - that was a day dream. But I'd like to thank Amy Tate over at the Virginia Scribe for honoring me with this prestigious and beautiful award...

The Superior Scribbler

Isn't it pretty?

I'd like to thank Amy also for her patience because silly, over-taxed me took a long time to noticed I'd won this award. If we lived closer - not separated by a couple eastern states, I think she would have knocked me over the head with it. (And not to worry, Amy - your critique is coming. Really...)

Anyway now I am supposed to post these rules and follow them....

1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy buds.
2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains The Award.
4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor! (honestly, I have no idea what the heck this means... So I will skip this rule and so can you if you'd like...)
5. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

And the award goes to...

All of you deserve one but in honor of the rules... the Scribbler goes to;

1. PJ Hoover
2. Casey McCormick
3. Kelly Hoeckelberg-Young
4. Jean Wogaman
5. Rebecca at Rebecca Writes

Congratulations to not only these five writers but to all of us who...

• put faith in our stories even when no one has asked us to write them
• write despite a bad cold or being up into the wee hours of the night with a sick child
• pick ourselves up to write again even after a rejection letter, an unfavorable critique , or you plain feel writing a novel is next to impossible
• write because we simply have no other choice

Happy writing everyone!

Books on the Craft of Writing

We've all read 'em... How to Books on the craft of writing.

I am currently reading Richard Peck's Invitations to the World. I'm kinda-sorta enjoying it. Some chapters are about teaching in a world where kids grow up in families without dads or in families with both parents working, so no adults are ever home. He talks about teaching in a world where the present becomes the past in a nanosecond.

Then, some other chapters are about when he was a kid and the vast difference between then and now; How when he was young, you lived in a community and fathers were home for supper at 5:00 and you learned to negotiate life by living it, not by playing virtual versions of it.

Then other chapters are where he quotes himself from his plethora of novels to show this point or that point about character and voice.

So far, it is not moving and shaking my world. As a speaker, Richard Peck is my hero. He made me laugh. He made me cry. He recieved a standing ovation at this year's NJ SCBWI June Conference. But I am finding it hard to remember what I've read in this book. FOr me, the format does not lend itself well for sticktoitiveness. I like the chapters best where he talks about his past. And I even like parts of the chapters where he talks about today's youth. But I find the chapters where he quotes himself indulgent, if I can be so honest.

So, how about it... What are your absolute most favorite, must reads for writers today? If the world were ending and you were allowed to bring one How to be a Better Writer book with you to our new planet, what one would you bring and what did it teach you?

Summer Goals, Week Two

OK, It's time for weekly goals people! So, hop to it and post them in the comments section. How did this week go? Did you reach your goals or not? If so, bravo, keep up the good work, but if not, why? Let's talk it through and help one another.

Don't be shy? Who's first? OK, I'll go. My week was not so bright and shiny....
Novel Title: OW
Novel Draft: 1.6
Date: 7-20 -09

Goal: 1. To assess exactly how much time I need to complete this novel
2. To set up a schedule for next two weeks while kids are in camp.

a. this week – kids leave at 8:40. I will begin writing at 9 and then stop at 11:45 to pick them up from camp.

b. Absolutely no answering the telephone, making phone calls, checking email, writing email, checking my blog, checking my work email during these hours.

3. Send out next set of pages to my group for review by Monday.

4. Write at least 25 new pages this week – NEW pages, not revising previously written pages.

5. I am giving myself until Sept 20 to finish this novel once and for all. If I am not done by then, I am going to put it aside for a while and begin working on something new.

Actually Accomplished:
NOT MUCH! This was a very bad week. I was in a very low place and I allowed it to effect my work and cloud my judgment.

Downside:
I re-read chapters I thought were well done and hated them. This sent me in a tailspin of doom and gloom – I’ll never be good enough, I’ll never finish, I might as well stop right now and admit defeat, start a new novel, etc. etc. etc.

Upside:
It’s Monday morning and I’m still here, sitting at my desk ready to get to work on my WIP no more whining or bellyaching. Once and for all, just get to it!

UGH!

Did you ever read your lasted WIP and think, "Do over!"

That is exactly how I am feeling right now. I just re-read chapter 13, which I loved last week and thought, "UGH! I want to start over!"

How do I resist this pull? I've been down this road before and always answer its call. I MUST FINISH THIS DRAFT! But right now, I just want to scrap it and start again.... again...

UGH!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I have a book-crush... ... ... OK, for my regular readers, I know it is really no surprise. But I have a book crush on Harry Potter. There! I said it. And I feel so much better getting it out in the open. *Sigh* I just love Harry. He's the true shining example of a hero's journey. He was not born a hero (that is debatable, really). He was made a hero. He disbelieved. He believed. He distrusted. He trusted. He faltered. He succeeded. He tried. He failed. He tried again. He feared. He was brave. He was everyone's best friend - well, at least in the reader's world. Maybe not so much among Slytherins or Death Eaters.

I am so inspired right now I feel like I could run a mile! I saw HP yesterday on opening day and it was (can I sound like a teenager for a minute) TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, to BE JK Rowling! To create something that becomes a thread forever sewn into our societal fabric! To leave your mark and change the world. To create characters that the young and (not so) old want to read about and watch again and again. To create something that fans line up to see for ten years or more. To create the emotive connections between readers and characters so that when the characters in your head are "brought to life" on the silver screen, we viewers feel we know them, miss them, understand what is not said. *Sigh* Oh, to be JK Rowling.

As you all know I, at first, was a reluctant Harry reader. I went in kicking and screaming and dragging my feet and came out head over heals in love with the series, the characters, the world, and most of all with JK. Can I say, I know we are not supposed to have idols but JK - you are my idol!

I left the theater thinking, I want to do that. I want to be like JK. I want to write something that changes the minds of readers forever. I want to create something so vivid, so luring, that you can't look away and you crave more, more, more!

I also realized, I believe the key to such success is you have to have a boy MC. See, girls will read about a girl or boy MC but boys will only read about a boy MC. So, in order to really be able to span across the markets, you need to have a boy MC. This is nothing new and earth shattering for those of us who have been busily pursing publication. We've always known this, perhaps. But I so solidly understood the full scope of it yesterday as I passed scads and scads of movie-goers lined up for the 7:00 show. They were young. They were teens. They were adults.... (BTW, Harry and the Half Blood broke all movie sale records from the midnight showing ALONE!!!!) *Sigh*

I decided I have a lot of work to do! Not only do I have to finish this draft, but I think I need to write, if not an entire version, perhaps key chapters from my other character's POV to beef up my boy element. Also, after I complete this draft, I need to begin thinking beyond this novel into my grander scope, broader arc of the series.

Sometimes, when I see someone like JK Rowling or Walt Disney, who began as an "unknown" and had an idea, a simple concept, and I see how their perseverance paid off, how they used their talents to effect the world in a positive way, I marvel at such people and the good we can accomplish. I think, how, if we are capable of creating such beauty, such awe, such ingenuity, how then, can we not solve starvation, war, pollution? How can we capture the butterflies of love's first kiss and still not be able to live peacefully.

RUN, don't walk! Go see Harry. If I could, I would have walked right out of the 4:20 showing to the end of the long, winding line for the 7:00 showing! It was THAT good.

Now, go! Write! Be inspired! Inspire others! Use your talents for good!

Weekly Summer Writing Goals. Wanna Play???

It's back... Summer Goals. If any of you would like to join in with me to keep each other motivated, inspired, and on-track, please join in in the comments section.

What are Summer Goals? Exactly what it sounds like. Every week you will set your writer's goal for the week. Maybe it's a word count. Maybe a revision. Maybe you need to cut words, etc. Whatever your goal, just state it and then tell us if you were able to accomplish last week's goal, why or why not.

My turn...
Novel Title: OWE
Novel Draft: 1.6
Date: 7-13 -09

What I Accomplished Last Week:
Well, I posted my goals late (via email to fellow Summer Goals Writers) so I knew it was a lot to tackle in a short amount of time and so I am not surprised to admit that I did not reach my goal. I see now though, that my goal will remain my goal probably for many weeks, most likely the rest of July. I did read chapter 12 and saw it was laden with problems and so I began rewriting. I know, I know. I wasn't supposed to do that but it's better now and I feel better about that chapter. I noticed chapter 13 was far too long and so I divided it up into chapter 13 and my now chapter 14. I also really like my new chapter 13. This is where I stopped working due to a very busy and full weekend.

Downside:
Didn’t reach my goal. BLECH! It was really hard to flex my writing muscles after many months away from my novel. It was slow going at first to get in touch with my writing-self. I felt very low and overwhelmed like I will never, never, ever complete this novel. *whine* When life takes you away from your desired goal and you come back to it after months away, the task feels HUGE and unobtainable. I do feel better now and I know if I just keep at it, I will eventually, sooner or later (hopefully sooner) finish my novel. But it is so hard to get back on track after a long hiatus. It truly is like exercising. (Speaking of… yeah, I should begin doing that again too!) *Sigh*

Upside:
Once I did get in touch with the writer-part of myself, it felt very good. And even though I shouldn't have been writing new pages (according to last week's goal), it was good to be writing anyway. I feel chapters 12 and 13 are exciting and move the story forward. It felt so good to write again.

Goal for this week:

• Re-familiarize myself with my outline; add, delete, change accordingly
• Continue to re-familiarize myself with my story by reading current pages from chapter 14 on
• Edit as little as possible (if possible)
• Try to keep chapters to 5 - 6 pages each. Divide chapters where necessary