Spring!

Today's Mood: Happy. Today's Music: Right now--Storm by Lifehouse, which doesn't exactly fit with the happy mood, but hey, I'm a woman of complexity. Today's Writing: IFFY. Today's Quote:

This is the only life I have, this one in my head,
the one that travels along the surface of my body
singing the low voltage song of the ego
- from "One Life to Live" by Billy Collins in Questions About Angels

*******

I was stuck at work for awhile today, waiting for the network to function and upload my pictures (thinking in my blind optimistic way that it would be faster than actually going out to my car and driving across town to Walgreens--alas, it was not), and I picked up a book of poetry by Mary Oliver. After reading several of her poems, I vowed to rededicate myself to reading at least one poem a day. Not that it has to be one of her poems--although she is a fabulous poet. I just want to hear the language of poetry. I want the images perking in my brain all day. Every day.

Life has been particularly busy, and rather stressful as well with all the political stuff going on in Lansing and in the nation. (Can you believe our Attorney General is going to sue the U.S. Government?! Talk about frivolous lawsuits--with money we don't have.) None of it helps my writing. I need to crave out a space of quiet, of time to think. And maybe even more important than that is an attitude of quiet. An attitude of contemplation.

Poetry can help. I think reading poetry every day helps my mind quiet itself, quit chewing on its own tail. And maybe then I'll be able to hear my story a little quicker, a little louder.

I love to feel the daily turning of the pages,
the sentences unwinding like string,
and when something really important happens,
I walk out to the edges of the page
and, always the student,
make an asterisk, a little star, in the margin.
-from "Cliche", by Billy Collins in Questions About Angels

How's the writing life been treating you lately? Has the muse been visiting regular like, or is she hopelessly late and often out of town?

Surprises

Today's Mood: Lucky..... Today's Music: U2--Helter Skelter. Today's Writing: IFFY (getting close to 80,000 words) Today's Quote:

And here's what I think is one of the very most important thing to do in a query: be as specific as possible. Allow me to be even more specific: be as specific as possible about the right things. -Nathan Bransford

*******

I know, I know, it's been awhile. Lots of things going on--although possibly not as much writing as I SHOULD be doing. But see, I'm trying to get rid of shoulds in my life. They don't serve much purpose besides making me feel guilty, which usually just makes me do things like eat chocolate and drink wine--oh, and whine.

Khardomah was great. I got two more chapters written, and was on a roll the last day when--of all annoying things--a new character showed up. And now I've been stalling, unsure of exactly why the character is there. Just because my brain coughed her up doesn't mean I should put her in the book. But for some reason one of my important characters wanted to introduce her to my main character.

I've been fiddling around, trying out different possibilities for who this character is and why she is important. The only way to find out is to write it and then see if it fits. Still, it's kind of hard to write until I have a direction.

So I was wondering if anyone else had this experience of something unexpected showing up in their writing--and not knowing right away what it was there for. Or even if they SHOULD include it or ditch it. What do you do about it?

Character Thoughts

Today's Mood: Relieved (it is the weekend after all.) Today's Music: Maroon 5. Today's Writing: IFFY. Today's Quote:

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~Ray Bradbury

*******

On Monday I met with my small writing group. I read part of a chapter from IFFY that I'd written several days earlier. A couple things came up in the feedback that got me thinking--scary, I know.

The dilemma: do you or do you not italicize a character's thoughts? I had one person in the group (and I have to say, I've had another writer tell me the same thing) say that if writing in first person, you don't italicize at all because technically everything is in the character's head.

My feeling has always been that it is helpful to readers to italicize DIRECT THOUGHTS. For example, at the start of this scene, Jane comes in the house humming a tune.

The tune was one off the new CD Eva had given me a while back. I'll call her, straighten things out. I took off my boots and lined them along the wall.

The sentence I italicized (put in bold since blogspot italicizes all blockquotes) is a direct thought. I suppose I could have written something like-- I thought about calling her and straightening things out. Then I wouldn't italicize it.

Others in the group felt I should have italicized more than I did. At the end of the scene (after the mother clips off the thread) I didn't italicize and several people in the group thought I should. (**Remember: blockquotes are italicized on Blogspot--my original didn't italicize any of it.)

"What are you saying? That you're getting a divorce?"
"No."
Had there been a hesitation?

To me, last line wasn't direct internal dialog. Otherwise she would have said something like- Did she hesitate?

It all got me thinking, and so I did some digging. I found some helpful posts on the matter. Overall it seems like italics should be reserved for IMPORTANT direct thoughts. They should be written in first person present tense because it is the character talking to him/herself. People talk in first person, present tense.

This blog post, Points on Style, deals with the difference between direct and indirect thoughts.

I liked how this talked about how italics weren't necessary if you were writing "deep viewpoint" --as in, writing from inside one person's head. Point of View writing, I guess you could say.

There was another great post I read and bookmarked, but it was on a different computer. I'll link it in the comments when I find out the address.

What do YOU like to see when reading a book? What do YOU do when writing character thoughts?

Workspace inspiration

Today's Mood: Sort of blah. Today's Music: Nothing at the moment. Today's Writing: This blog post. Today's Quote:

"We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same." -Anne Frank

*******

I'm a firm believer that people can write anywhere. There is no magic writing place, nor is there any sense in waiting to be inspired before I sit down to write. Now mind you, I didn't always believe this. For a number of years I believed I had to be sad or depressed in order to write (which didn't bode well for getting over depression). And then for a while I bought into the idea that I could only write in my office at school. Not worth bothering trying to write at home during summer vacation--too many distractions and interruptions.

But maybe if I had an "office" at home, maybe that would help.

So I purchased an awesome little desk with all sorts of wonderful cubbies to put things in. I created a space between the cat litter boxes and the washer and dryer. I put up shelves, lined them with my writing books, and even put a white board on the wall. My office. But the magical inspiration didn't happen. Writing was still hard work. Writing still involved sitting my butt down and laboring over the keyboard, giving birth to words and sentences with agonizing labor.

Funny thing happened though; once I accepted that writing was going to be hard work for me, I learned I could write anywhere and at any time. After all, hard work was hard work no matter where I was situated.

So when I titled this post workspace inspiration, I meant the kind of inspiration that feeds me as a person, not the magic inspiration that makes writing easy--although if you have some of that, feel free to pass it my way.

So what inspires me. Well, music for one. I keep my ipod handy, and I have quite a few Cd's loaded on my laptop as well. I have a collection of shells, sea glass, and rocks on my desk. All things I've picked up over the years. Cards from friends (often my writing friends), pictures of moments I like to remember, quotes that make me think (or remind me of what is important in life), even stupid things like cardboard coasters that I've taken from various different restaurants.

I like to write seated on the floor in my bedroom. On top of my bedside table, I have the book I'm currently reading, The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, a card from a friend of mine, two journals, an idea log, the book, How to Heal with Color by Ted Andrews (research for my WIP), and a book of poetry- Questions about Angels by Billy Collins.

On the bottom shelf I have Energy Medicine, The Subtle Body, How to Behave So Your Children Will, Too (bought in sheer self-defense--or desperation) and two books with the art of Amy Brown. And over in a bag by the dresser, I have the caramel shortcake mini-bites my sister gave me for my birthday, and a pack of supermint gum.

Downstairs is my "office" if you want to call it that. I have shelves lined with my favorite writing and drawing books. I have racks of Cd's, a jar of paintbrushes, candles, and a sign urging me to Simplify.

Now maybe it all sounds like clutter to you, but I find meaning and inspiration in these items. And feeding the me, ends out feeding the writing.

What's in your workspace that feeds your soul?

Follow-ups and things to ponder

Today's Mood: Horny (my husband suggested this one--but then wanted me to take it off.) Today's Music: UB40. Today's Writing: Author Bio for PW Anthology. Today's Quote:

*******

We had a discussion several posts ago about writing author bios. I was frustrated because I wasn't sure what to include. What the agent would want to know about me? My hobbies? My schooling? Whether or not I had pets? I mean really, I put the most pertinent points in the query letter.

Since then I have come across a great post on Anne R. Allen's Blog about exactly what should be included in an author bio. I did a few things wrong, so I wanted to share it with you so you won't be in the same regretful state as me. My biggest mistake was not writing the bio in third person. Now I know.

I also came across another helpful post (I'd link to it but I do not remember what blog it was on. I looked at all my regulars (note the blogs listed to the left), but couldn't find it. Nonetheless, I wanted to share what I had read. It was an agent talking about requested materials, and he/she said that they are not sitting there waiting for it to show up. Thus they do not go, "Gee, Sarah hasn't got that requested partial back to me and it's been a whole week!" They probably don't even notice if it has been a month, so there is no need to panic and throw the first thing you can in the mail. Take the time needed to make it right.

Now, having said that, I have to be honest and say it has really helped to have a query ready, a list of agents ready, and now an author bio. ready. When I get a response, I have the majority of what I need for the next step--whether that be submitting to another agent, or sending on more material to the same agent.

It's taken me a long time to learn this. Rachelle Gardner had a post about how long it took for a writer to become savvy about the writing business. I'd say I'm still learning. I knew quite a bit after about a year of submitting, but I still have things to learn. I would think one would have to keep learning in this business because it keeps changing. Look at the new ipad--how that has changed the way ebooks are sold. Agent Kristin Nelson has an interesting post on that subject. So I don't think I'll declare all knowledge just yet.

How about you? How long have you been learning about the business? Do you consider yourself an expert?

Well, I'd better head off to bed so I can get up early and write. After all, the most important thing of all is a good story.

Gremlins

Today's Mood: Neutral. Today's Music: Maroon 5. Today's Writing: Nada. Today's Quote:

"Get away from her, you bitch!" -Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Aliens

*******

I'm sitting here watching the movie Aliens. I've seen it a half dozen times and it still pulls me tense as a bow string. How does one kill aliens? If a whole team of trained soldiers can't do it, how could one person do it? And yet, Ripley does--more than once.

So how do I kill my gremlins? How do trained writers kill off those voices that tell them their writing is awful, and what are they thinking trying to get stuff published?

I try to focus on the fact that I write because I love to write, because I need to write in order to feel okay with my world. And I try hard to trust my writing group when they tell me my stuff is good. The requests for partials and fulls, the glowing report from the writing contest--it all helps. But the doubts, those little gremlins, still manage to find their way inside my barricade. I need some heavy artillery.

What else can I use? Anyone got any tried and true ways to obliterate those hideous writing monsters? Right now Ripley is roasting aliens with a flame thrower. Maybe I should try that.

The personality of verbs

Today's Mood: Hmmm, sort of grumpy, I guess. Today's Music: None (maybe that's why I'm grumpy.) Today's Writing: Nothing yet (another reason to be grumpy.) Today's quote:

That's her [the writer's] skill--to be affected more than others by "absent things," and to express them in words as they arise. A writer draws her heart close to that of another--lets herself slip--into the "beat" of another. - from The Intuitive Writer: listening to your own voice by Gail Sher

*******

I've been talking with my creative writing class about verbs--vivid verbs and action verbs. And I got thinking about how much you can develop character just by watching your verbs. Maybe you all already knew this, but for some reason, I never put the two together--at least, not consciously. Yup, I remember my teachers talking about using the active voice instead of the passive voice. it makes your writing more coherent and less wordy. But I don't remember my teachers ever talking about how much I could develop character by paying strict attention to the verbs I used. Sure, most characters walk, but does my character swagger, or meander, or rush? Says a lot about the personality right there. When that character (let's call her Saffy) talks, does she lisp? slur? whisper? shout? question? drawl? And how about when Saffy looks at something. Does she stare? glare? peek? gaze? glance?

Saffy swaggered down the hall glaring at everyone in sight.
Saffy meandered down the hall gazing at everyone in sight.
Saffy slunk down the hall peeking at everyone through the curtain of her hair. (okay, so I added some to this one.)

I can change the personality of the character just by changing the verbs I use.

Hopefully I've done this in my writing in the past. What I'd like to do now, is INTENTIONALLY use verbs to create character. Granted, I'll have to do most of this in the revision/edit stage. I don't want to spend too long hunting for the perfect verb while I'm rough drafting. Shoot, I overthink things as it is. I'm finding (in my own very slow and laborious way) that writing fast can be good for me. It can help get the initial flow of the story down on the paper. Often it helps preserve the raw emotion of the piece from wherever it came from inside me. Revision is where I can fine-tune it. Polish it. Finesse it into the beauty it is meant to be.

How deliberate are you with your verbs? Do you work at it in the rough stage, or look them over afterward in revision?