Needless to say, there's no writing news for Nee or Kee. I am 2 days away from flying to the States for a xmas visit, and Kee is recuperating. Maybe one of us will get her shit together in the new year (I'd put my money on Kee *g*).

I’m making some progress on Godred. I think I have finally reached a turning point. Earlier, I thought what I was writing was good, but now I think what I am writing is *right*. There is a big difference.

***

You’d be surprised at how often real life tosses you a nugget that applies directly to writing. I don’t mean, “Ooh! Shiny! Something I can plop as a detail into my story.” I think anyone who disconnects themselves from the flow of habit/daily life can have one of those moments where you see your surroundings with fresh eyes. (Or if you live in Austin, can notice that it is slowly morphing into Dallas. *ugh*)

I am taking a teaching class this semester, and we were talking about reading strategies for foreign language learners. One way to help them understand more of what they read is to help them use their knowledge of the world to decode what is one the page. We don’t just have disconnected bits of info about the world floating around in our heads. We make connections between them, or organize them in other ways. One way of doing this is by means of “schemas” and “scripts”.

Schemas are like a diagram; they include all the most pertinent information about a thing. Take a move theater, for example. Most American (and German and French, from what I’ve seen) movie theaters have posters and a ticket booth out front, a snack bar inside, someone to tear your ticket, one or more screens/theaters, rows of plush seats, sticky floors, etc. If someone says “movie theater” to you, all of these things are activated, so to speak.

Scripts are a sequence of actions, like a movie script. For the script “going to a movie”, you can expect certain things to take place, with little variation. If you go to a movie, you will need to buy or pick up a ticket, walk past the snack bar (with or without snack purchase), find the right theater, pick out a seat, the lights will go out, you will watch previews, then the film, then the credits, and so on.

This real-world knowledge on the part of the reader is something a writer has to keep in mind. If you describe every part of the movie theater, or every step in going to a movie, the reader will be bored out of his skull, because he already knows how it will go. I guess if you were writing about a person who had never experienced these things, you might be justified in such extensive description, but then again, you may just be writing a rip-off of _Splash_. *g*

You can ground the reader in the setting with just one or two small details that let him know, “Hey! Movie theater here!” For example, two characters converse while waiting in a stupidly long snack-bar line, or complaining about the lack of a favorite movie-going snack, or laughing at the trailers. *Your* mental movie theater may not be the same as the reader’s, but the reader will get that much more out of your story if you let him use his own as the background to *your* story.

But if your character is at a 3D movie or the IMAX, I think that would be an important detail to mention, because that is additional info about the character, not just the setting. When I think about 3D movies, I think “camp.” When I think about IMAX, I think “educational” and “expensive”. Those associations (which are personal and not the same as schemas or scripts) add a little more nuance to a character.

On the other hand, it is easy (and the 7 Dwarfs know I do it) to not put in enough info, or put in the wrong info and lead readers astray. WesTexGirl pointed out in an earlier version of Godred that she got that he was on a college campus, but she couldn’t tell for certain if it was supposed to be a modern or pseudo-medieval setting. I wanted the reader to be able to “plug into” the story, but I didn’t give her enough info to do that sufficiently, and that made it less enjoyable. No one wants to be in limbo, even when reading a made-up story.

For the record, the next time I ask someone to read my pitiful 2 pages of output, just pat me on the head and send me on my way. I haven't even heard back from WesTexGirl, and I am already revising what I sent her, so the whole issue of feedback is a moot point. GAHHH!

I met, not long ago, a young man who aspired to become a novelist. Knowing that I was in the profession, he asked me to tell him how he should set to work to realize his ambition. I did my best to explain. 'The first thing,' I said, 'is to buy quite a lot of paper, a bottle of ink, and a pen. After that you merely have to write.' -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

Sorry to miss a post for last week. I haven't gotten back to my story. Which I think is okay because I am looking for that perspective that only being away from it awhile will give me.

And I have been busy getting ready for, going on, and recuperating from my shopping trip with Anna and Lisa. That said....Christmas is done!!! Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, Stick your head in ... well you get the idea that I'm rubbing my greatness in your face. Sorry about that. But shopping early for Christmas is my 'thing' that I get to brag on.

But I plan to get back to some writing. And reading. I'd love to read what you have done.

Oh, I've also got to decide on taking a job. I went on an interview for a part-time/seasonal tax accountant. And they recently found they need some part-time bookkeeping work too. They sound really family friendly. But when they checked my references, the firm I used to work for here in town called me and said, "If you're wanting to go back to work, come work for us." So as of right now, I have two offers on the table because the interview one called and wanted to make sure I was still interested in coming to work for them and offered me a position-without specifics yet.

But whatever I do...I have to keep time for writing.

Wish me luck.

I typed up what I had written on Godred and ended up with 509 words. It was a lot more than I expected. It is pretty different from earlier attempts, but I am having a hard time telling if the changes are an improvement. Maybe someone would like to volunteer to read my 509 words (hint, hint)?

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Despite having an ass of fire, I have managed to do some writing on Godred and my Cinderella story. It feels good to put words on paper, but who knows how long it will last. So says the Realist Nee.

Words of wisdom from Miss Snark:

The Daily Tao of Snark

1. You are not your work

2. An agent is not a dream

3. The SASE is the path to bewilderment; as is no SASE

4. There is no why in no, there is only no

5. There is more than one path to yes, all obscure; all dangerous.

6. Nitwittery abounds.

7. The end is only the beginning.

I want to say that I am very proud of Kee for getting back in the swing. It can be hard after an extended absence, but I am glad that her writing was calling to her again.

Which is a bit of hand-waving to draw attention away from the fact that I am not managing any writing myself. It is kind of frustrating, because I actually have some time for it, but I can't seem to get past certain scenes, or more than a line here and there of a story. Oh well. It's not my career, at least.

Here's my sporadic post as promised.

Since last week I have completed my review of chapter one. Reworking has put a new spin on it somewhat, but not as much as an earlier attempt to make it more chick-lit like. I think it makes it a bit more modern and takes out some of the woe-is-me feelings for Breck. And it gives it more of a hook.

I have let it set for a few days and want to re-read what I've done over the weekend to see how I feel about it.

I have been skimming my outline and trying to find a good place to add some Dusti scenes. Hopefully that will gain me some ground on feeling like it's up to par.

I've sent in an email to Miss Snark asking her opinion on the Harlequin submission process stating that they take unagented submissions. Maybe she'll have something positive to say and I can take that route.

We'll see.

I opened the Ransom file last night and just started writing new stuff after the "Chapter One" heading. Then I reworked the first meeting to the this new beginning so that it is more of my "hook". A lot of the other background stuff is getting killed so that I can get right to more action stuff.

When I re-read what I had done last night, I didn't cringe too much so I guess I'll keep it for now.

The plan is just to get it out there and not worry about sending it through an agent. I can do that by going the fluff route. Which, I'm convincing myself, is fine by me. As long as it no longer lives in the bowels of my computer.

Not sure how much more I'll be able to fit in soon. My schedule has stuff everyday until Wednesday. That will be Veg for Me Day. I'll try to squeeze a bit of work in at night before then but may only post lump work.

I have been writing and rewriting the beginning of Godred so often that I think I am losing my perspective on it. I still feel I don't quite have down the voice, or the pacing, or *something* I can't quite put my finger on.

I want to work on LNR, but it is just not coming to me. Hannah is at a bday party this evening, so I think I will sit in our comfy chair and try to hammer out the missing section.

Wish me luck!

Hello to the lost land of the living.

There is no excuse as to my absence. None at all. Except for the fact that I have been having a mid-life crisis. Or a breakdown. Whatever terminology you favor is fine with me.

I know, you scoff. I'm too young you say. Well, there is that. But I'd rather classify the last several months into the mid-life thing so that I can pretend that I won't be going through all of this again in the future. You're only supposed to have one mid-life crisis per lifetime, right?

Don't tell me if I'm wrong.

Anyways.

While I've floated in a sea of lost goals, misplaced dreams, and wandering purpose, I have discovered I few unflattering truths about myself. The worst of which is that I'm selfish. Probably always have been. I can see it too. Can see how I've constantly sucked the attention for myself out of other people without returning my attention to them. To their lives, to their problems-good or bad.

I'm probably most at fault with my family. With my friends next in line. How I have managed to maintain any relationships throughout my life, I really don't know. What I also don't know is why no one has ever told me this before. It can't possibly be a secret to anyone who has spent anytime in my company.

For the life of me, though, I don't know if it's something I'm capable of changing. But I hope I can try.

Another truth. I'm lazy. Which goes soooo nicely with the selfish thing, don't you think? So with the lazy realization comes the fact that I like to veg out-mentally-for like a day or so at a time. I don't mind hard work. But I want a reward for it. Like only reading smutty romance books for a whole day while only taking breaks to pee and eat chocolate.

So we can extrapolate from my ramblings that I may have been indulging in the vegging out thing a little too much recently-which I could have rationalized as okay at some point if I had actually EARNED it, but since I hadn't...oh, well. We can also extrapolate that I fully intend, barring any wayward selfish and lazy tendencies, to begin a moderate foray back into my writing. Of course, I will have to schedule in some veg time.

But I will be happy to post whatever progress is made, or at least attempted. Well, maybe just thought about. Veg time may prove hard to surrender to this change.

There was some weirdness with school (see my other blog for details) that had me totally freaked out all day Wednesday. I got it sorted out, though, and Thursday I felt almost manically up. You will pee your pants when you hear, especially after all my recent moaning and carrying on, but I sat down and hand-wrote 6-1/2 pages on Godred. Six and a half pages! (Of course I had to mark out about half. *sigh*) Something has always felt off on this story, and I recently realized what it was. It should be in first person! I have a great fear of first person, but I think it is really making a big difference. I might change my mind when I read over it later, but for now, good thoughts.

My dear friend, WesTexGirl, was talking recently about how she sets priorities in her life, and that made me start thinking. I haven't made writing a priority in my life, and I'm not sure that I will be able to so for quite a while.

Let me back up. On my other blog, I just posted about my need for and love of lists. It has occurred to me since reading WesTexGirl's post that writing never makes it on my to-do list. It is not scheduled on my calendar. I do not go behind closed doors and tell my family not to knock for X number of minutes because I am writing. These things are all cluing me in that I am not making writing a priority.

Going back to the list-making tangent, I realized that there are many other things I want and need to do, and most of them have some kind of deadline. I have 2 projects started that I fully intend to have done by xmas. I WILL finish my master's degree in two semesters. This semester I am taking 4 classes, 3 of which are definitely going to be ass-kickers. I will also be teaching 2 sessions of the same course topic (for a total of 3 hours in the classroom per week) and tutoring for another hour a week. Plus running a household and taking care of my child, blah blah family-cakes.

BUT, this does not mean that I am going to give up on writing or on this blog. It just means that I am no longer going to pull a hare-brained stunt like challenging myself to 100 words a day, because it's just not going to happen. Recently I have had a lot of mental activity on at least 4 of my stories, and I am trying to 1. sort out what I have, and 2. write down what comes out of it. That means I am getting a sentence here, or a phone conversation there, but I have to be satisfied with that. And I'm not dissatisfied at this point. I guess I will have to reset my priorities if it ever gets to the point where thinking and jotting just isn't enough.

Here is an article from 2002 in Salon about the bookselling and publishing businesses, and how the prices of books are determined, plus a little history about pricing. Even though it is 4 years old, it is still a useful read.

No new words. Don't ask.

I'm looking for more new links for the sidebar. Feel free to browse.

Date: 5 October 2006

New words: 109

Story: Godred

Words edited out: 3

Words in limbo: 37

Words left: 69

Comments: Ok, the end count wasn’t 100, but for my current intents and purposes, I am going to be satisfied with 109 on the page, pre-chopping.

Godred is also not a story that is going to be complete and marketable for a while, but that’s what I had, so that’s what I wrote. Maybe I can mentally direct myself toward working on LNR tonight.

Today I am feeling like a fraud.

I haven't been on any kind of schedule during the semester break, and today was even more schedule-free. John had to catch a commuter train to a near-by town to catch an Inter-City train (the fast bullet trains) to Berlin, except we were running a little behind, so I drove him to the nearby town with just a few minutes to spare. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around to see if he made it, because I had to rush back home to pick Hannah up from school. So I am hoping my husband is now comfortably in Berlin, checked into his room and enjoying some dinner.

But this threw me off the hint of a schedule I had been working on to write my paper. Instead, I found myself going through all my Favorites and surfing blogs by agents, editors, and writers. And that is when I realized I am a fraud.

I think about writing, and yet I never do. And the only way to be a writer is to write. Duh!

When I first had the urge to write, I worried about getting ideas. Now I realize that it's not the ideas (as Miss Snark said: "Ideas are a dime a dozen, great ideas only slightly more expensive. Getting something down on paper is a lot harder than people think."), it's the sitting down and doing it (Neil Gaiman on writing:"This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it's done. It's that easy, and that hard.").

So with that in mind, I have made a resolution. 100 words a day. Of fiction. Blogging, school, email--they do not add to the tally. 100 words is pitiful, really, but it is a goal, and that is something I have lacked for a while. Check back here for updates.