I just have to share like any proud mom. (Smile) I had not one, but two children graduate this month. My son graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. He just landed a job working at the zoo in New Orleans. He'll be working with primates, which was his hope. My daughter graduated from our local high school, fourteenth in her class no less. She will be attending the same college my son did his four years at.
One part of my life is over now. (My daughter was the baby.)
That's okay. The next part might be even more fun. My son will be married a year next week, so maybe in a couple of years it'll be time for grandbabies. (Smile)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Recipe for Mailing a Complete Manuscript
Almost all big publishers and agents ask that completes not be sent in a box or bound. That means for a newer writer figuring out a good way to send a complete, printed manuscript that’s often three hundred plus pages, is enough to bring on nightmares and a case of the cold sweats.
It’s not that hard to do though, and still end up with a nice, crisp manuscript when it reaches New York—or where ever it’s heading.
Needed Ingredients:
Printed complete manuscript (include query, synopsis, ect…)
Two large Tyvek priority envelopes
Two large rubber bands
One page-size piece of cardboard
One medium point permanent marker and/or labels of your choice
One post office
Directions:
Even a thick manuscript fits nicely in one of those large priority envelopes that you can get free from the post office. A great support for that thick stack of printed pages is a simple piece of cardboard. When you order more than one book or move at a time from Amazon, they come with the perfect size piece of loose cardboard enclosed in the box. I save mine every time I get anything with that cardboard page-size piece precut in it. If you don’t have any, you can cut a page-size piece of cardboard off of any kind-of-thick brown cardboard box you happened to have around.
Before you put your finished baby inside that big priority envelope, stack the pages nice and neat on your piece of cardboard. Next, place one big rubber band length ways around your stack, and one more width ways around it—make sure they fit well, but not tight. (Don’t forget to add your cover page, query, synopsis, and anything else you were asked to include, on top of the manuscript pages before you put the rubber bands around them.) Slip an SASP (Self addressed stamped postcard) under one of the rubber bands on the top page, so it stays in place and won’t be over looked. This can be used to let your know the agent or publisher has received your manuscript.
* (I like to skip adding that SASP and just pay an extra fifty cents to the postal clerk to have a Delivery Conformation slip attached to the outside of the package instead. No one has to sign for it, so it's not a problem for the agent or editor. It's not really any extra money if you think about what you'd pay for a postcard and the stamp for it. You can use the tracking number from the Delivery Conformation slip to see that the package made it.)
Address one priority envelope to the agent or publisher, and the other one to yourself—after you pay for and attach the postage, this will become your SASE. Put your prepared manuscript into the correct envelope, but don’t seal it. (If this work is requested, make sure you write the word requested on the outside of the envelope and enclose a copy of the request letter on top of the manuscript. If the request came over the phone, through e-mail, or after a meeting, make sure you mention how, when, and where in the query.) Fold your large SASE and place it inside the first one.
Now head to the post office. Once there, ask them what it will cost to mail your envelope. After they weight it, take your SASE out and tell them you need the same postage on both envelopes so the pages inside can be returned to you if needed. Place the SASE in with your complete manuscript, seal up the envelope addressed to the agent or publisher, don't forget Delivery Conformation slip if you are using it instead of a SASP, pay the postal worker and hand that baby over.
*(Some publishers are willing to destroy the MS if you don't want it returned. If you are okay with that, and the publisher or agent is too, just add a note giving them the okay and a business size SASE for them to send you a letter about the MS. I have gotten a rejected complete back with edits from the editor written on it to help me, but that isn't the norm. The choice is up to you if you want the pages back or just the letter.)*
The hard part comes at this point. You have to trust that manuscript with these strangers and turn around and leave it. Worse of all, you have to go home, go on with your life, and wait and wait and WAIT.
By the way, the best thing you can do while you wait—which could be for months and months—is to get to work on that next story.
It’s not that hard to do though, and still end up with a nice, crisp manuscript when it reaches New York—or where ever it’s heading.
Needed Ingredients:
Printed complete manuscript (include query, synopsis, ect…)
Two large Tyvek priority envelopes
Two large rubber bands
One page-size piece of cardboard
One medium point permanent marker and/or labels of your choice
One post office
Directions:
Even a thick manuscript fits nicely in one of those large priority envelopes that you can get free from the post office. A great support for that thick stack of printed pages is a simple piece of cardboard. When you order more than one book or move at a time from Amazon, they come with the perfect size piece of loose cardboard enclosed in the box. I save mine every time I get anything with that cardboard page-size piece precut in it. If you don’t have any, you can cut a page-size piece of cardboard off of any kind-of-thick brown cardboard box you happened to have around.
Before you put your finished baby inside that big priority envelope, stack the pages nice and neat on your piece of cardboard. Next, place one big rubber band length ways around your stack, and one more width ways around it—make sure they fit well, but not tight. (Don’t forget to add your cover page, query, synopsis, and anything else you were asked to include, on top of the manuscript pages before you put the rubber bands around them.) Slip an SASP (Self addressed stamped postcard) under one of the rubber bands on the top page, so it stays in place and won’t be over looked. This can be used to let your know the agent or publisher has received your manuscript.
* (I like to skip adding that SASP and just pay an extra fifty cents to the postal clerk to have a Delivery Conformation slip attached to the outside of the package instead. No one has to sign for it, so it's not a problem for the agent or editor. It's not really any extra money if you think about what you'd pay for a postcard and the stamp for it. You can use the tracking number from the Delivery Conformation slip to see that the package made it.)
Address one priority envelope to the agent or publisher, and the other one to yourself—after you pay for and attach the postage, this will become your SASE. Put your prepared manuscript into the correct envelope, but don’t seal it. (If this work is requested, make sure you write the word requested on the outside of the envelope and enclose a copy of the request letter on top of the manuscript. If the request came over the phone, through e-mail, or after a meeting, make sure you mention how, when, and where in the query.) Fold your large SASE and place it inside the first one.
Now head to the post office. Once there, ask them what it will cost to mail your envelope. After they weight it, take your SASE out and tell them you need the same postage on both envelopes so the pages inside can be returned to you if needed. Place the SASE in with your complete manuscript, seal up the envelope addressed to the agent or publisher, don't forget Delivery Conformation slip if you are using it instead of a SASP, pay the postal worker and hand that baby over.
*(Some publishers are willing to destroy the MS if you don't want it returned. If you are okay with that, and the publisher or agent is too, just add a note giving them the okay and a business size SASE for them to send you a letter about the MS. I have gotten a rejected complete back with edits from the editor written on it to help me, but that isn't the norm. The choice is up to you if you want the pages back or just the letter.)*
The hard part comes at this point. You have to trust that manuscript with these strangers and turn around and leave it. Worse of all, you have to go home, go on with your life, and wait and wait and WAIT.
By the way, the best thing you can do while you wait—which could be for months and months—is to get to work on that next story.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Mother’s Day Reminder
Nope, I’m not reminding you that tomorrow is Mother’s Day -- though it is if anyone reading this hasn’t got their mom a gift yet, or given them a hug and an I love you —maybe cleaned the house or cooked a meal. Yes, those do really mean just as much to a mom as a gift. (Smile)
I got a special gift today, a great big one. I went to my son’s college and watched him take that long walk to the stage to get his BA in Biology, after four years of hard work. I was so proud to be sitting there watching him, but I didn’t really think about how lucky, how blessed I was to watch him take that walk. There was one name called, and instead of the young lady walking up on the stage, her mother went in her place. The daughter had recently died so her mother accepted her diploma. When they placed it in the mother’s hand, she paused and held it up toward the sky, as if saying, see baby, you got it. She cried all the way back to her seat, and left a short time later.
My heart broke for her. I can only guess at how hard it was for her to sit there for the long while waiting for her daughter’s turn, watching all of those young people take that walk that her daughter never had the chance to take.
I was, am, so proud of my son, but more than that, I was blessed that he was there, and that I was there, and that we got to share that moment together. It felt so wonderful when he received his diploma and in those fleeting seconds as he walked from the stage, his gaze tuned to the section where he knew I was sitting, and searched me out. The way he smiled, the way he waved that green diploma holder at me, time just stood still for a moment, and I saw him as a baby, saw him taking his first steps, saw him dressed for his first day of school, heading out for his first date, driving away for his first day of college, and finally, today, watching the result of all of those years. I was there with him and got to watch those steps, and he’s still here to take more.
In a few days I’ll be sharing another milestone, this one with my daughter as she does the walk at our local high school to get a diploma of her own. (Smile) I’ll be double blessed during one short week.
I got a special gift today, a great big one. I went to my son’s college and watched him take that long walk to the stage to get his BA in Biology, after four years of hard work. I was so proud to be sitting there watching him, but I didn’t really think about how lucky, how blessed I was to watch him take that walk. There was one name called, and instead of the young lady walking up on the stage, her mother went in her place. The daughter had recently died so her mother accepted her diploma. When they placed it in the mother’s hand, she paused and held it up toward the sky, as if saying, see baby, you got it. She cried all the way back to her seat, and left a short time later.
My heart broke for her. I can only guess at how hard it was for her to sit there for the long while waiting for her daughter’s turn, watching all of those young people take that walk that her daughter never had the chance to take.
I was, am, so proud of my son, but more than that, I was blessed that he was there, and that I was there, and that we got to share that moment together. It felt so wonderful when he received his diploma and in those fleeting seconds as he walked from the stage, his gaze tuned to the section where he knew I was sitting, and searched me out. The way he smiled, the way he waved that green diploma holder at me, time just stood still for a moment, and I saw him as a baby, saw him taking his first steps, saw him dressed for his first day of school, heading out for his first date, driving away for his first day of college, and finally, today, watching the result of all of those years. I was there with him and got to watch those steps, and he’s still here to take more.
In a few days I’ll be sharing another milestone, this one with my daughter as she does the walk at our local high school to get a diploma of her own. (Smile) I’ll be double blessed during one short week.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Keeping Up With Characters
I have a number of important characters in a couple of stories that are going to cross back and forth -- some not so important ones who will too. It can get really hard to keep up with all of the names, not to mention the hair colors, eye colors, cars they drive, jobs, and all of the rest. I’ve used a storyboard for a long time, but it was across the room and hard to put every thing on.
So…I decided to try something new, and it’s working out great.
I save pictures from sale papers and magazines, or even sometimes print some up from a website. I use those pictures to find my characters. When a picture yells out a character’s name to me, I glue it to a sheet of paper, write the character’s name on the top of the page, and then other needed details at the bottom or down the side, like eye color, height, weight, hair color, character traits, ect… on another sheet I can do a whole character chart if I like, on another I can write a little of the history or such of this character. On another sheet I can glue a picture of his home, his car, his pet, something that is special to him, ect…
I slip each page into a thin plastic sheet protector, then put them in a notebook. I can flip through at will, move order as I like, add anything new, and never have to worry about keeping up with all of those characters’ information again. If in chapter one of my story Uncle Charles has a bald spot, clear blue eyes, drops g’s on the end of words, walks with a limp, and has a brown and white dog named Puddles, I know Uncle Charles will still be the same in chapter twenty or book number two, and so will Puddles.
Sure saves me a lot of back tracking and trying to remember. (Smile)
So…I decided to try something new, and it’s working out great.
I save pictures from sale papers and magazines, or even sometimes print some up from a website. I use those pictures to find my characters. When a picture yells out a character’s name to me, I glue it to a sheet of paper, write the character’s name on the top of the page, and then other needed details at the bottom or down the side, like eye color, height, weight, hair color, character traits, ect… on another sheet I can do a whole character chart if I like, on another I can write a little of the history or such of this character. On another sheet I can glue a picture of his home, his car, his pet, something that is special to him, ect…
I slip each page into a thin plastic sheet protector, then put them in a notebook. I can flip through at will, move order as I like, add anything new, and never have to worry about keeping up with all of those characters’ information again. If in chapter one of my story Uncle Charles has a bald spot, clear blue eyes, drops g’s on the end of words, walks with a limp, and has a brown and white dog named Puddles, I know Uncle Charles will still be the same in chapter twenty or book number two, and so will Puddles.
Sure saves me a lot of back tracking and trying to remember. (Smile)
Saturday, April 08, 2006
One Way NOT to Do Promotion
I’ve seen lots of good tips on doing promotion for your book. Or for anything else you want to do promo for, like a newsletter, a site, ect…
But let me give you one tip on how NOT to do promotion.
Don’t spam!
No, seriously, don’t do it!
It really doesn’t work. It just makes people angry…or either they don’t notice at all and just hit delete. Never subscribe someone to your mailing list or newsletter unless they ask to be subscribed. Better yet, set things up where they can subscribe themselves.
Always make sure there’s a link in what ever you send to those subscribers where they can easily unsubscribe if they wish. Include a link for them to resubscribe if they wish too. People do change e-mail addresses sometimes and want to rejoin, or sometimes they just want to share the link with a friend so they can join.
If you pay others to do promotion for you, it’s your job to check and make sure they are doing so on the up and up. You don’t want to get a backlash of anger because they are running your information and sending it to people who don’t want it, didn’t ask for it, and just want it to stop.
This is a sore spot for me right now because a few days ago I suddenly started getting this announcement list that is filled with info about which author is going where, which book is out, how great this e-publisher is doing, and well…you get the idea. (It really all seems to be about this one e-publisher and their authors.)
There’s one big problem though, I’ve never heard of this listing. I didn’t sign up for it, I don’t want it, and they’ve made it hard for me to leave it. I get too much spam as it is, I don’t need or want more.
I went to their site and tried to unsubscribe, but quickly found out that I had to have a password to do so. That’s a little hard to have since I never signed up for anything. The site said if I didn’t have one, I had to fill out information and get one to unsubscribe. I really don’t think so! Why would I want these people to have more info about me?
I tried blocking the address, but it’s coming from more than one sender’s address. It hasn’t been fun trying to get away from it. I did at last though. I finally got a message a few minutes ago saying I had been unsubscribed. I hope that’s the end of it. Since the messages were coming from more than one sender though, I’m not so sure. Time will tell.
If the authors who were having their books or book signings placed in this listing -- even if it’s their own publisher -- did so without knowing that this place subscribed people without their permission and then made it hard for them to leave, then those authors might get a hostile response they didn’t even see coming. That’s why I said that the person who’s paying for the promotion has to check into things and find out how that promotion is being done. You don’t want people thinking you are spamming them when you had no idea about it. Heck, you don’t want people thinking you are spamming them at any time. (Smile)
But let me give you one tip on how NOT to do promotion.
Don’t spam!
No, seriously, don’t do it!
It really doesn’t work. It just makes people angry…or either they don’t notice at all and just hit delete. Never subscribe someone to your mailing list or newsletter unless they ask to be subscribed. Better yet, set things up where they can subscribe themselves.
Always make sure there’s a link in what ever you send to those subscribers where they can easily unsubscribe if they wish. Include a link for them to resubscribe if they wish too. People do change e-mail addresses sometimes and want to rejoin, or sometimes they just want to share the link with a friend so they can join.
If you pay others to do promotion for you, it’s your job to check and make sure they are doing so on the up and up. You don’t want to get a backlash of anger because they are running your information and sending it to people who don’t want it, didn’t ask for it, and just want it to stop.
This is a sore spot for me right now because a few days ago I suddenly started getting this announcement list that is filled with info about which author is going where, which book is out, how great this e-publisher is doing, and well…you get the idea. (It really all seems to be about this one e-publisher and their authors.)
There’s one big problem though, I’ve never heard of this listing. I didn’t sign up for it, I don’t want it, and they’ve made it hard for me to leave it. I get too much spam as it is, I don’t need or want more.
I went to their site and tried to unsubscribe, but quickly found out that I had to have a password to do so. That’s a little hard to have since I never signed up for anything. The site said if I didn’t have one, I had to fill out information and get one to unsubscribe. I really don’t think so! Why would I want these people to have more info about me?
I tried blocking the address, but it’s coming from more than one sender’s address. It hasn’t been fun trying to get away from it. I did at last though. I finally got a message a few minutes ago saying I had been unsubscribed. I hope that’s the end of it. Since the messages were coming from more than one sender though, I’m not so sure. Time will tell.
If the authors who were having their books or book signings placed in this listing -- even if it’s their own publisher -- did so without knowing that this place subscribed people without their permission and then made it hard for them to leave, then those authors might get a hostile response they didn’t even see coming. That’s why I said that the person who’s paying for the promotion has to check into things and find out how that promotion is being done. You don’t want people thinking you are spamming them when you had no idea about it. Heck, you don’t want people thinking you are spamming them at any time. (Smile)
Saturday, April 01, 2006
What Kind of Reader are You?
Do you savor or do you devour?
I’m sure about every one of you has been on a diet at least once. Do you remember how good it felt when you ate something sinfully bad-for-you the first time after a long spell of lean meats and salads? Did you take your time and savor every single bite, placing the smallest amount in your mouth and letting the flavors swirl around for as long as possible before you swallowed? Or did you just dig in and devour bite after bite until suddenly it was all gone and you were wondering how it disappeared so quickly?
I’ve found that devoted readers can be the same way. One of the above; they savor or they devour.
When I’ve been waiting for a new release from a favorite author, and I finally get my hands on the book, maybe after waiting a year, I savor. (Smile) I don’t sit down and read the whole thing. After all, I probably have months to wait for that next treat. I read slowly, a few pages or a couple of scenes at a time, trying to make it last, conscious that the end is coming and I want it to last. The better the story, the more I savor.
If I finish a book really quickly, like the first day or two or three, that’s usually not a good sign--unless it as a very short book. (Smile)
If I like a book a lot, but don’t love it, I don’t mind just reading it and letting the story flow, but even that takes me a while since I prefer to read a good book when I have time to relax and enjoy it. But….if I don’t like a book, I skim and try to finish it as soon as I can. (After I spend money for a book, it’s hard for me to just toss it. It feels like a waste. Some have been just so awful that’s happened, and it makes me really mad. Thankfully books that bad are very few and very far between. Not only is that a waste of my money when they are that bad, but think of all of the poor trees that died for nothing.) (Smile)
I would much rather have a book to savor. Then again, if the greatest books came around often, I guess I’d forget to savor them. It’s probably best the way it is. Good books most of the time, great books once in a while, and only a really bad one here or there to make me appreciate the good ones, and the great ones, even more.
I’m sure about every one of you has been on a diet at least once. Do you remember how good it felt when you ate something sinfully bad-for-you the first time after a long spell of lean meats and salads? Did you take your time and savor every single bite, placing the smallest amount in your mouth and letting the flavors swirl around for as long as possible before you swallowed? Or did you just dig in and devour bite after bite until suddenly it was all gone and you were wondering how it disappeared so quickly?
I’ve found that devoted readers can be the same way. One of the above; they savor or they devour.
When I’ve been waiting for a new release from a favorite author, and I finally get my hands on the book, maybe after waiting a year, I savor. (Smile) I don’t sit down and read the whole thing. After all, I probably have months to wait for that next treat. I read slowly, a few pages or a couple of scenes at a time, trying to make it last, conscious that the end is coming and I want it to last. The better the story, the more I savor.
If I finish a book really quickly, like the first day or two or three, that’s usually not a good sign--unless it as a very short book. (Smile)
If I like a book a lot, but don’t love it, I don’t mind just reading it and letting the story flow, but even that takes me a while since I prefer to read a good book when I have time to relax and enjoy it. But….if I don’t like a book, I skim and try to finish it as soon as I can. (After I spend money for a book, it’s hard for me to just toss it. It feels like a waste. Some have been just so awful that’s happened, and it makes me really mad. Thankfully books that bad are very few and very far between. Not only is that a waste of my money when they are that bad, but think of all of the poor trees that died for nothing.) (Smile)
I would much rather have a book to savor. Then again, if the greatest books came around often, I guess I’d forget to savor them. It’s probably best the way it is. Good books most of the time, great books once in a while, and only a really bad one here or there to make me appreciate the good ones, and the great ones, even more.
Friday, March 31, 2006
New E-mail Address
I’ve had the same i-55 e-mail address for almost ten years. That’s a long time. That’s almost as long as I’ve had internet service. (Smile) Now, i-55 has become part of a bigger company that I know nothing about, so I’ve decided it’s time to move on at last.
I know many people use my i-55 address and have it saved in their address books, but it ain’t gonna work any more. (Smile) Well, I guess it probably will, but I won’t get anything sent to it. Instead, please use the link here on my blog.
Where? There. Over that way >.
It’s under the title Links, the last listing, Contact Me. If you click on that it will take you to a page on my site where you can send me a message through a form, or through one of the addresses listed there.
If you are a member of one of my RWC groups, you can also reach me with the group owner address. That address can be found on each group’s Yahoo home page.
Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to spring forward….you know, move your clock up an hour Saturday night before you go to bed. Yes, it’s already that time of year again.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Those Short Stories
After my last post about trying short stories, I’m happy to report shorter is better, at least when you are trying to find your way back to writing. Yesterday I was working on a short story and I actually completed fifteen full, brand new pages of writing, all in one day!
I can’t even remember the last time I ever managed that many fresh pages in one day. Even better, I enjoyed every minute of it. (Smile) The short stories I write are for me only. I’m using them as a way to get to know the characters a little better in my novel. Since these stories are for my eyes alone, I don’t have to worry about rules, about length, about style, about anything at all. The only person I have to please with these stories is myself.
That’s a wonderfully freeing thing at this point in my life.
All I have to do when I write a short story is go with the flow, have fun, add what ever plot twist or non-twist I want. It’s all about me and what my muse is telling me. I think I had forgotten how much fun creating a story could be. For years now I’ve worried so much about the writing, that the fun part, the creating, the story telling, took a back seat to the self-doubt and the picky little editor sitting on my shoulder.
I think maybe that’s why when any extra stress came into my life, I couldn’t write. The second guessing every word I wrote was enough stress, so any thing else just toppled it all. Writing became only something that I hoped I would get paid for. It was work. There wasn’t anything fun about it. And since I'm not gettnig paid rigth now... well... how many of us would go to work at something we didn't like every day with only the hope that just maybe, one day, some day, we might get paid something for it, just maybe?
I had fun yesterday. (Smile) I was stressed about other things; I’m sick as a dog right now with the worst cold, I’ve been writing letters trying to raise money for a program at my daughter’s school, I have two children graduating in a little over a month and there are a hundred little things I still need to do, sick or not, and yet yesterday I just pushed it all aside, didn’t even worry about cleaning house or cooking, and just let my writing take me away from all of it. I remember when that was always what my writing did. It was a release, a safe place, somewhere to run to where there were no worries.
I think if I really keep trying, my short stories will help me get back to the novel I need to be working on. I’m going to find my way back on my own terms though. Some how I’m going to figure out a way to bring the joy of writing with me. I think that’s going to take awhile, since someone else will be looking at the novel, but I’m going to get there. I don’t ever want to force another story again, long or short.
I think I feel like writing a whole novel is too much work to be fun now, so I can't just push everything aside and write it how ever I want, like with the short stuff, but who knows how I'll feel in a few weeks, or maybe even sooner. (Smile)
I can’t even remember the last time I ever managed that many fresh pages in one day. Even better, I enjoyed every minute of it. (Smile) The short stories I write are for me only. I’m using them as a way to get to know the characters a little better in my novel. Since these stories are for my eyes alone, I don’t have to worry about rules, about length, about style, about anything at all. The only person I have to please with these stories is myself.
That’s a wonderfully freeing thing at this point in my life.
All I have to do when I write a short story is go with the flow, have fun, add what ever plot twist or non-twist I want. It’s all about me and what my muse is telling me. I think I had forgotten how much fun creating a story could be. For years now I’ve worried so much about the writing, that the fun part, the creating, the story telling, took a back seat to the self-doubt and the picky little editor sitting on my shoulder.
I think maybe that’s why when any extra stress came into my life, I couldn’t write. The second guessing every word I wrote was enough stress, so any thing else just toppled it all. Writing became only something that I hoped I would get paid for. It was work. There wasn’t anything fun about it. And since I'm not gettnig paid rigth now... well... how many of us would go to work at something we didn't like every day with only the hope that just maybe, one day, some day, we might get paid something for it, just maybe?
I had fun yesterday. (Smile) I was stressed about other things; I’m sick as a dog right now with the worst cold, I’ve been writing letters trying to raise money for a program at my daughter’s school, I have two children graduating in a little over a month and there are a hundred little things I still need to do, sick or not, and yet yesterday I just pushed it all aside, didn’t even worry about cleaning house or cooking, and just let my writing take me away from all of it. I remember when that was always what my writing did. It was a release, a safe place, somewhere to run to where there were no worries.
I think if I really keep trying, my short stories will help me get back to the novel I need to be working on. I’m going to find my way back on my own terms though. Some how I’m going to figure out a way to bring the joy of writing with me. I think that’s going to take awhile, since someone else will be looking at the novel, but I’m going to get there. I don’t ever want to force another story again, long or short.
I think I feel like writing a whole novel is too much work to be fun now, so I can't just push everything aside and write it how ever I want, like with the short stuff, but who knows how I'll feel in a few weeks, or maybe even sooner. (Smile)
Monday, March 06, 2006
Could Short Stories Be the Way Back to Novel Writing?
My last post was about my fiction writing, well, about my not writing. About how when anything really bad happened it threw me off and I had such a time finding my way back. It felt like I was alone, the only person who was that way. I felt like maybe that meant I wasn’t willing to try hard enough, or I didn’t have enough love for writing to stick it out through the hard times.
Today I was reading some articles in my latest copy of Writer’s Digest Magazine and found an interview in there done with author Alice Hoffman. (I loved her book Practical Magic. The movie was great too.)
Anyway, in this interview she mentions going through some bad times in her life, when it seemed a lot of things were going wrong, and how during that time she found she didn’t have the energy to work on a novel. Instead of trying to tackle a novel, she took what energy and time she did have and worked on short stories. When she wrote, she didn’t allow herself to go back and second-guess the words, she just put down what came and kept going.
When I read this it was like someone opened a door for me. Right now I feel like there’s no way I can even work on my novel. It seems like trying to climb a mountain when someone has tied my legs together and hooked on a hundred pound boulder just for good measure. The thought of writing a short story at this point, still feels a little like standing at the bottom of a mountain, looking up, squinting into the sun, knowing I have a long way to climb. But…at least it doesn’t feel like my legs are tied or that I’m dragging a boulder with me. It just seems much more doable at this point and place in my life.
Alice Hoffman used short stories to find her way back, to build a bridge to her longer novels. I don’t see why I can’t do the same thing.
An idea popped into my head right away. That’s a good sign. (Smile) I think I’m going to write short stories with main characters that are minor characters in my novels. That way I’ll get twice the bang for the same work. Writing these short stories will help flex my writing muscles, help me find my way back into the comfort those novels once offered. At the same time, using minor, but important, characters from my novels, especially the main one I was working on before the hurricane, will help me stay in contact with that novel, help me flesh out some of the characters even more, and maybe add some extra pull toward that bigger story for me.
Maybe it would work for any of you who find yourself in the same writing blocked mode. It’s at least worth a try.
Today I was reading some articles in my latest copy of Writer’s Digest Magazine and found an interview in there done with author Alice Hoffman. (I loved her book Practical Magic. The movie was great too.)
Anyway, in this interview she mentions going through some bad times in her life, when it seemed a lot of things were going wrong, and how during that time she found she didn’t have the energy to work on a novel. Instead of trying to tackle a novel, she took what energy and time she did have and worked on short stories. When she wrote, she didn’t allow herself to go back and second-guess the words, she just put down what came and kept going.
When I read this it was like someone opened a door for me. Right now I feel like there’s no way I can even work on my novel. It seems like trying to climb a mountain when someone has tied my legs together and hooked on a hundred pound boulder just for good measure. The thought of writing a short story at this point, still feels a little like standing at the bottom of a mountain, looking up, squinting into the sun, knowing I have a long way to climb. But…at least it doesn’t feel like my legs are tied or that I’m dragging a boulder with me. It just seems much more doable at this point and place in my life.
Alice Hoffman used short stories to find her way back, to build a bridge to her longer novels. I don’t see why I can’t do the same thing.
An idea popped into my head right away. That’s a good sign. (Smile) I think I’m going to write short stories with main characters that are minor characters in my novels. That way I’ll get twice the bang for the same work. Writing these short stories will help flex my writing muscles, help me find my way back into the comfort those novels once offered. At the same time, using minor, but important, characters from my novels, especially the main one I was working on before the hurricane, will help me stay in contact with that novel, help me flesh out some of the characters even more, and maybe add some extra pull toward that bigger story for me.
Maybe it would work for any of you who find yourself in the same writing blocked mode. It’s at least worth a try.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
I Wish I Could Write Through Anything!
Long ago I found I couldn’t. Well, mostly I couldn’t. I did fine with my daily writing schedule for a number of years, but I couldn’t write a word after I found out my mother had cancer. After she died, it took me over a year to even glance at one of my manuscripts again.
A year or so later, I landed my first full-time freelance writing job. It was non-fiction, short biographies of singers and musicians. I did the research, the interviews, and then wrote up the bios, including adding HTML tags in the text as required. My weekly payday depended on my output and my meeting each week’s deadline. The more I produced, the more I got paid. It wasn’t really creative writing like my fiction, and I knew there was an editor waiting for it each week and waving a paycheck. As long as I did the correct research and wrote good bios, I got paid for them. (There’s no such guarantee with fiction, not even after a good bit of success.)
I went from that first job to writing greeting cards, then on to another bigger company doing bios again, and then reviews. During the years I did all of that non-fiction writing, I never seemed to have any energy or time or writing left in me to work on my fiction. It made me sad, but as a wife and mother with more bills than money, I did what I had to do. Through it all, no matter what was going on in my life, I never missed a deadline. I remember losing two dear friends during that time, and one Christmas week deadline pulling all the holiday stuff together for my family, completing all my bios, and doing it all with the flu and a double eye infection. There was no joy to my writing. It was a job. So I did it when I was supposed to do it. Even if that meant being up until two AM before a morning deadline.
A few years later, I was upset when the company I was working for cut back and tightened its belt to the point of getting rid of about 80% of their writers, including me. I tried to find another writing job at first, but when I didn’t find one soon, I was actually relieved. After years of non-fiction I finally decided to put it aside and turn to my fiction full-time. It was something I had been dreaming of.
I did fine at first, finished a couple of long manuscripts in pretty good time, then my father got worse and I spent more and more of my time caring for him, along with of course having to care for my children and be a housewife. I found it hard to be a full-time caregiver for my father, a full-time mother for my children, a full-time wife for my husband, along with handling all of the housework, shopping, bills, ect… Still, I found time almost daily to work on one of my stories—though not as many hours as I would have liked. Sometimes it was only minutes.
In June of 2004 my father became even more seriously ill. When he was put in the hospital, I spent hours with him daily. When he died. I fell back into not being able to write at all. I managed to pull myself out of the grief in less than a year this time. I turned back to my fiction writing and found comfort in it.
Then, this time, I got sick. I was thirsty all of the time, sleepy all of the time. I couldn’t sit still long enough to write because I would almost fall asleep. I just felt awful. I soon found out why, I was a diabetic.
Just about the time I began to feel well enough and awake enough to face the computer for longer than the time it took to do a few e-mail messages, I found out my blood sugar counts were getting worse instead of better. Learning I would need to start doing daily blood tests at home, as well as go on daily meds to try to control the disease, knocked me for a whole new loop. I’m terrified of needles, so just the thought of what I was facing, along with what I knew about being a diabetic because my father had been one, was enough to send me in a brand new downward spiral.
I caught hold of the cave sides on the way down, and climbed right back up this time. At first every word was a fight, but I slowly started to get back into the rhythm. And then…
Yes, you knew something else was coming. This time it was hurricane Katrina. Talk about turning my world upside down. She even turned it inside out. It’s been six months today since she hit my home, and I’ve yet to write more than a few words. I have even shied away from e-mail messages, mainly only doing the ones I have to for my groups, and answering friends after long lags. Many days I have a great idea for something to write here for my blog, and I let those thoughts slip away too.
I’ve tried hard, but I just can’t seem to get anywhere at all. I think I’m actually afraid that if I start writing again, and get back into a normal writing routine, or anything near it…something else will happen. Maybe even something worse than the other times. It feels like fate doesn’t want me to write my romance novels, and slaps me down with glee anytime I start doing too well at it.
I’ve felt this way, or close to it, before, and thought maybe just not ever writing again would be the best thing for me. I’ve tried that. But even now, when I can’t write, I can’t leave it completely alone either. The story I have started calls to me. The characters walk through my mind at the oddest times and whisper secrets to me. Plot points pop into my thoughts, ideas for a new story, a better way to end a scene, those kinds of things that only other writers know the power of.
Always before, the story and the characters kept on pulling at me until I could no longer resist the comfort of their world, until I willingly slipped back into its brightness with them.
I know that will happen again, I just can’t leave it for good. Part of me wishes that I could though, unless there was some way for me to turn into one of those writers who can write through any thing. I know some of them in person, and nothing, nothing short of their own deaths, would stop the flow of words for them. I wish they knew some little secret that they could share with me. What ever it is they have found that makes them able to write on no matter what. But I guess even if they could, the secret that works for one probably wouldn’t work for another.
I guess there’s nothing I can do but sit here and wait, try to reach out when the pull comes, and hope that sooner instead of later, I’m able to slip back in.
A year or so later, I landed my first full-time freelance writing job. It was non-fiction, short biographies of singers and musicians. I did the research, the interviews, and then wrote up the bios, including adding HTML tags in the text as required. My weekly payday depended on my output and my meeting each week’s deadline. The more I produced, the more I got paid. It wasn’t really creative writing like my fiction, and I knew there was an editor waiting for it each week and waving a paycheck. As long as I did the correct research and wrote good bios, I got paid for them. (There’s no such guarantee with fiction, not even after a good bit of success.)
I went from that first job to writing greeting cards, then on to another bigger company doing bios again, and then reviews. During the years I did all of that non-fiction writing, I never seemed to have any energy or time or writing left in me to work on my fiction. It made me sad, but as a wife and mother with more bills than money, I did what I had to do. Through it all, no matter what was going on in my life, I never missed a deadline. I remember losing two dear friends during that time, and one Christmas week deadline pulling all the holiday stuff together for my family, completing all my bios, and doing it all with the flu and a double eye infection. There was no joy to my writing. It was a job. So I did it when I was supposed to do it. Even if that meant being up until two AM before a morning deadline.
A few years later, I was upset when the company I was working for cut back and tightened its belt to the point of getting rid of about 80% of their writers, including me. I tried to find another writing job at first, but when I didn’t find one soon, I was actually relieved. After years of non-fiction I finally decided to put it aside and turn to my fiction full-time. It was something I had been dreaming of.
I did fine at first, finished a couple of long manuscripts in pretty good time, then my father got worse and I spent more and more of my time caring for him, along with of course having to care for my children and be a housewife. I found it hard to be a full-time caregiver for my father, a full-time mother for my children, a full-time wife for my husband, along with handling all of the housework, shopping, bills, ect… Still, I found time almost daily to work on one of my stories—though not as many hours as I would have liked. Sometimes it was only minutes.
In June of 2004 my father became even more seriously ill. When he was put in the hospital, I spent hours with him daily. When he died. I fell back into not being able to write at all. I managed to pull myself out of the grief in less than a year this time. I turned back to my fiction writing and found comfort in it.
Then, this time, I got sick. I was thirsty all of the time, sleepy all of the time. I couldn’t sit still long enough to write because I would almost fall asleep. I just felt awful. I soon found out why, I was a diabetic.
Just about the time I began to feel well enough and awake enough to face the computer for longer than the time it took to do a few e-mail messages, I found out my blood sugar counts were getting worse instead of better. Learning I would need to start doing daily blood tests at home, as well as go on daily meds to try to control the disease, knocked me for a whole new loop. I’m terrified of needles, so just the thought of what I was facing, along with what I knew about being a diabetic because my father had been one, was enough to send me in a brand new downward spiral.
I caught hold of the cave sides on the way down, and climbed right back up this time. At first every word was a fight, but I slowly started to get back into the rhythm. And then…
Yes, you knew something else was coming. This time it was hurricane Katrina. Talk about turning my world upside down. She even turned it inside out. It’s been six months today since she hit my home, and I’ve yet to write more than a few words. I have even shied away from e-mail messages, mainly only doing the ones I have to for my groups, and answering friends after long lags. Many days I have a great idea for something to write here for my blog, and I let those thoughts slip away too.
I’ve tried hard, but I just can’t seem to get anywhere at all. I think I’m actually afraid that if I start writing again, and get back into a normal writing routine, or anything near it…something else will happen. Maybe even something worse than the other times. It feels like fate doesn’t want me to write my romance novels, and slaps me down with glee anytime I start doing too well at it.
I’ve felt this way, or close to it, before, and thought maybe just not ever writing again would be the best thing for me. I’ve tried that. But even now, when I can’t write, I can’t leave it completely alone either. The story I have started calls to me. The characters walk through my mind at the oddest times and whisper secrets to me. Plot points pop into my thoughts, ideas for a new story, a better way to end a scene, those kinds of things that only other writers know the power of.
Always before, the story and the characters kept on pulling at me until I could no longer resist the comfort of their world, until I willingly slipped back into its brightness with them.
I know that will happen again, I just can’t leave it for good. Part of me wishes that I could though, unless there was some way for me to turn into one of those writers who can write through any thing. I know some of them in person, and nothing, nothing short of their own deaths, would stop the flow of words for them. I wish they knew some little secret that they could share with me. What ever it is they have found that makes them able to write on no matter what. But I guess even if they could, the secret that works for one probably wouldn’t work for another.
I guess there’s nothing I can do but sit here and wait, try to reach out when the pull comes, and hope that sooner instead of later, I’m able to slip back in.
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