The Contest

Okay, I think I've waited long enough now for the results to be in, and can safely reveal what's been going on with a certain writing contest I entered in February. I've entered the opening of the Brenna book, From the Ninth Wave, in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association contest. They got something like 28 pages including the synopsis. I hadn't entered a contest in years because I always lost, and I'd never even made it to finalist. It's hard when you're writing fantasy and your novel is up against all the thrillers and mysteries in a general "adult genre novel" category.

Note the past tense on that "I'd never", though. Last year, they broke everything out into actual genres, which helped a lot. Because of that change, I decided to take a chance this year. The big news is this: I am a finalist in the PNWA Fantasy/Sci-Fi genre novel category!

Tomorrow I'm flying up to Seattle to attend the contest and see what happens. I'm one of eight finalists. The top three winners will be announced on Saturday evening.

Thank You, Ms. Kane

Finally. Someone has articulated her feelings (which perfectly match my own feelings) about writing sex scenes--the reasons to do so, the how-to's, what sex scenes should accomplish, etc. And she's said it better than I've ever managed to, so...here's the link to her blog and those posts. Enjoy.

Hellboy

We went to see Hellboy 2 this afternoon. If anything, I liked it even better than the first one, not the least for the exploration of the fantasy beings. They used some of the same visual artistry as "Pan's Labyrinth," which made for a colorful and interesting depiction of the fae. They mangled the Celtic mythology quite a bit, but they made a visually stunning and exciting movie.

I will admit, I was disappointed in some of the outcome, but I liked that they at least began to explore some of the grey areas with regards to humans and their impact on the world. I can't really say a lot here without giving away major spoilers, but I can at least mention things that are in the movie blurbs and such. The idea behind this movie was: The fantastic (fae, otherworldly, elven, goblin, whatever) beings gave up control of this world long ago; what if they wanted it back? What, indeed?

There were things I liked very much about this movie, and things that made me shake my head. But as my crit partners are always telling me: this was someone else's story, not mine, and there's no rule that says people who play with the Celtic or other culture's mythos actually have to stick closely to it when they're using it as a jumping-off point for a story.

That said, however, I couldn't resist the compulsion to tell my kids some of the story of the relationships between the Sidhe and humans, as per Irish mythology. These are the hazards of being the children of a writer who likes to research the actual source material her stories are based on.

Retreat Weekend

The Moxie just had our annual retreat this past weekend. We didn't even go out of town, but instead booked ourselves into a suite at a local hotel.

We got off to a slow start, but had a lot of fun going out to lunch first and then painting pottery before checking into the hotel. We spent the afternoon working, then headed out to dinner. If we'd wanted to go even cheaper, we could have cooked in the suite; it had a tiny kitchen complete with pots and pans. But part of the fun of a retreat weekend is that it's a break, and to me, a break means not cooking. That night we worked and talked and ended up staying up extremely late. Nevertheless, we all blearily made our way to the breakfast buffet Sunday morning, where the hotel was actually serving (gasp!) real protein in the form of cheese omelets and sausage, instead of just a typical continental of 99% carbohydrates, 1% caffeine. Then it was off to the suite again to arrange for a late checkout and work until the last possible second before having to vacate the premises. From there, one of my crit partners went home, while I and the other partner went to our usual Moxie Java to work for another couple of hours before rolling off home.

One of my partners asked whether I'd actually accomplished more on the retreat than I would have at home. The answer is yes, although not by a huge margin. What was more important than vast amounts of progress on the prose was the camaraderie and the change of scene, which for me was like a mini vacation. I'd do it every three months if I could. And we're definitely going to have to do that pottery painting again. The only thing about the retreat that I'd change is that all three of us would have had comfy king-sized beds and no one would have slept on a sleeper sofa mattress, and we would have been able to go to the movies to ogle Robert Downey, Jr. I mean...a retreat weekend is all about inspiration, right? Nevertheless, what we did accomplish was great, although it ended far sooner than I would have liked. But then, I'm kind of die-hard that way.

I do get to go to PNWC in a week and a half, so I have more hotel vacation time ahead of me. It's all good.

The Triad

I'm finished with the last book of the trilogy. I can hardly believe it, but it's true. I just wrote the denouement for Shifts of Perception, which means that except for revisions, I've just finished the last book of the Oantran Triad. I spent nine years of my life writing a trilogy that, to date, remains unpublished.

But I wrote it. That's the main thing. I wrote an epic fantasy trilogy. BOO-RAH!

That Worked

The first half of the final battle scene in Shifts works. So does the beginning of the new Brenna book. Now if the Moxie and I can just figure out how and where to stage our annual writing retreat for the 4th of July weekend, we'll be set for great things.

In the meantime, I've been extremely distracted by Stacia Kane's urban fantasy, Personal Demons. It didn't hurt that she wrote it in third person. It also didn't hurt that one of my favorite characters is a lot like Cole Turner in Charmed. Yep, way too distracting.

Now I See

I finally figured out what's wrong with the final battle scene I've been trying to write. I started in the right place, but then it took a left turn and a couple of crucial things didn't happen. Aggravating as it might be with the next Moxie meeting taking place tomorrow, I have to go back to the place where the thing went wrong (or didn't, as the case might be) and re-do the scene from that point.

I don't have to lose much, as I hadn't gotten far from that point, but I do have to lose some. That's okay, though. I need closure on this book, and it's so close I can almost see the whites of its eyes. If I have to backtrack a little in order to move forward, that's what I'll do.

Beginnings and Endings

I couldn't help myself. I've been working on the crucial last scenes of Shifts of Perception, but the second Brenna book, Bridget's Forge, was too tempting to leave alone. So I worked over the first chapter I'd already written and came up with a different opening, based on some concepts I'd been studying from Les Edgerton's book, Hooked.

It's the typical next-book-in-a-series conundrum: how much backstory can you get away with so as to orient the reader to what's going on and how the character got to where she is right now--without going into so much backstory that the inciting incident is shoved off into Chapter Two? Fortunately, Mr. Edgerton covers all the prerequisites of a good opening chapter in his book. No matter what backstory you might need later, the inciting incident had better be as close to the beginning of the book as possible; given that, whether you're on book two or thirteen shouldn't really matter. A boring opening is a boring opening, full stop. And that's just what the reader will do if you can't hook them right away--stop. Exactly what you don't want to have happen. So I re-worked the opening I had and put the inciting incident much closer to the beginning of the book, and...we'll see.

So I've been working on a beginning and an ending. Two different books, two different worlds, on two sides of the timeline. It may look like a circle, but I think it qualifies as progress.

Thriller Weekend

The Boise chapter of Parners in Crime put on the 2008 Murder in the Grove conference this weekend. It's a small conference, but a good one. This year, rather than a focus on Mystery as the primary subject, the theme was about Thrillers and the combination of Mystery and Thriller. There was a writers' class on Friday, and then various regular conference classes on Saturday. J.A. Jance attended and was the keynote speaker at lunch. She also spoke at the multi-author booksigning at the Boise Barnes and Noble on Friday evening.

Another year, another good local conference. You can always apply concepts from thrillers and mysteries to Urban Fantasy, so the classes are worthwhile. But it would be nice to attend a conference or convention that deals specifically with Fantasy. I may try to go to Orycon later this year in Portland Oregon; Orycon is a Sci-Fi and Fantasy Convention. While it isn't just for writers, it's always full of relevant classes, panels and readings, and I've always enjoyed it whenever I've gone.

I guess the best part of our local conference was the fact that I didn't have to be "on", and could just sit in classes and soak up whatever information I could while not stressing out or feeling like I had to stay high-energy and visible the whole time. One of the things I've appreciated over the past few years is not having to go pitch my manuscript to agents. If I haven't come to the end of the steeplechase, at least I'm over the first couple of hurdles.

Still Here

I'm still here, still waiting for news on the book. Right now I'm cleaning house, while our area is having a week of cooler temperatures--and by cooler I mean in the 70's rather than the upper 80's to low 90's. I've cleaned and organized a ton of stuff in our garage, and the house is undergoing a similar round of spring cleaning. It badly needed it, and I'm also thinking that having a better organized house, I might find I have less mental clutter as well. There's nothing that stops the flow of energy and ideas worse than a cluttered environment, which contributes to stress on levels you might not consciously realize. So...cleaning is the order of the day.

Book-wise, I'm within about three scenes of the end of Shifts of Perception. Yay! I might even have it done in time for Moxie this weekend. That would be great. And then it's on to the new Brenna book, plus playing with a few other new ideas I've had in the last week. So first I work, and then I...work? Somehow, the initial stages of writing a new book don't seem so much like work to me. It's more like play, and I can be as addicted to escaping into the new world I've created as some people are to computer games. Each new story is like a new, exciting, colorful computer game in my head, the events and characters mine to toy with....

No, I'm not plotting to take over the world. Not overtly, anyway.

Hot Topic - Finding the Right Agent

Now that we've discussed the subject of whether or not a writer needs an agent, that brings us to the next logical question: How do you find the right one for you?

The agent article I wrote for Patty Briggs' site covers the basics of how to go about connecting with agents in the first place, and as soon as I have a link for that I'll post it here. No sense rewriting that whole article when we could just link to it. But I thought that for this blog, I'd take a moment to cover the question of how to determine which agent would be a good match for you.

The first thing you'll want to do when you start shopping for an agent is to look up a bio that tells what the agent represents. You can find agent bios in any good guide to literary agents, such as the Writers Digest "Guide to Literary Agents" for the current year. You should also be able to find this information online at places such as www.agentquery.com. The bio will state which types of books the agent is seeking, as well as which ones he isn't seeking. Often, the writers of books similar to yours will acknowledge their agents in the front of their books, so be sure to check the dedications and acknowledgments sections of these as well. Please, please don't send a query letter for a fantasy novel to an agent who only does literary or cookbooks--or literary cookbooks. Find out whether the agent represents the type of thing you write. If you don't do this simple bit of homework, you'll look like an amateur.

The next thing you'll want to do is search out your chosen agent's track record. You don't have to have a huge list of detail on every specific sale. You mainly need to know whether the agent is considered reputable in the industry. Does he have recorded, legitimate sales? Is she rated as a "recommended" agent? Perhaps one of the best resources to find out whether any given agent is reputable is the site known as "Preditors and Editors." (And yes, they really do spell predators with an "i". Nevertheless, it's good, solid information.)

Once you've established that the agent represents what you write and is reputable, you have other things to consider. For example, does the agent have to be based in New York? Can they really sell books from across the country? The answers here are no, and yes--with a couple of caveats. First of all, having a New York-based agent is fantastic. He or she is poised for easier access, from local phone calls to personal meetings and power lunches with editors. It may not be so easy for a non-local agent to get access. However, the good non-local agents will not let the distance be a barrier to good communication with a publisher. Again, this brings us to the individual agent's track record and sales. Do a little homework to find out whether a prospective non-local agent is reliably selling books for her other clients or not. If she's routinely getting sales, then you probably don't have much to worry about. If, on the other hand, she's just starting out, lives in an obscure place and has no track record, then you might want to be cautious and go for someone at least better known, if not local to NY.

A related concern: Is a brand new agent a good choice for you? Well, that depends. Where did your prospective agent work before she became a literary agent? Did she work in a larger agency and then branch off to hang her own shingle? That's not bad; she's got some experience--maybe a lot of experience. Was he in publishing in another capacity? Some editors decide at some point to go to the other side of the desk and become agents; mine did. Again, lots of contacts possible there, and a lot of experience. Now, if your prospective agent used to sell used cars or work as a waiter before becoming an agent, that doesn't automatically mean he'll make a bad literary agent; it just means that he won't necessarily have the same contacts and clout that a well established agent who has worked in the publishing industry already has. Believe me, when you're a new writer and can't sell books based on your name and track record alone, you'll want as many factors working in your favor as possible.

On that same note: a friend recently pointed out that a new writer shouldn't just take the first agent that offers to represent his novel--not unless that agent is well established and reputable. If you do sign with an agent who has no sales record and little experience, you may do your career more harm than good, unless that agent works for one of the big-name agencies and thus has more experienced agents behind her and a reputable agency name to help get her started off on the right foot. While new agents have to get experience somewhere in order to become established agents, they shouldn't have to do it at your expense, so consider your options carefully.

Speaking of your expense, here's one more consideration for the day: fee-charging agents vs. non-fee-charging agents. Yes, Virginia, some agents actually do charge fees up front. Some of them are even reputable--so please don't think that just because an agent charges a fee, he's automatically bad news. The old-school fee-charging agent would usually charge fees for photocopying and other expenses incurred in sending out submissions--an understandable practice, if you consider that the bulk of the return on his investment of time and effort could take years to arrive. That said, it's also true that nowadays the common wisdom for new writers is never sign with an agent who demands up-front fees to market your work. The way it's supposed to work today is that you sign with an agent who then markets and hopefully sells your work, and then after you have a publisher's contract, the agent collects the check, takes out his or her standard 15% (domestic), or roughly 20% (foreign) share of the advance, and sends the rest to you. The agent will also send out 1099 forms, so it should all go very smoothly. Bottom line: she gets paid when you get paid.

Scam artists: Plenty of writers have been scammed by agents who claimed to need a "reading fee" to cover expenses so they could market an author's work; but after the writers sent in the money, they ended up with no feedback, no publishing contract, and indeed, no representation. In many cases, the so-called agents hadn't even sent out the manuscript at all; they'd charged the author money and done nothing to earn it. These are the false agents who made the original legitimate fee-charging agents look bad. There are scam artists in any field, and publishing is no exception; don't be taken in by one. Check the aforementioned "Preditors and Editors" site to make sure the agent of your dreams is legit and not--like the Pooka of Irish legend--about to take you on a wild, scary ride and then dump you in the mud.

The strongest recommendation I can make is that if you get the chance, go to a writers' conference and meet agents in person. Make appointments with them and put your very best foot forward on what amounts to a literary speed date. It's the best way I've ever found to find out how well you click with a particular agent. I've spoken to some I'm very glad I didn't sign with; we'd have driven each other nuts inside the first six months. I've also spoken to some I admired very much and found articulate, confident and professional. Some very good agents attend conferences to meet new writers. In fact, at a writers' conference a few years ago, I met the man who became my agent and remains my agent today. It's like any job interview; you can meet and hire people via snail mail or over the internet, but if you can meet them in person, it makes a big difference. Another advantage of pitching to an agent at a conference is that it takes out the whole query letter process and skips you straight to the submission stage--always a good thing in the slow-grinding world of publishing.

That's all I have for today. Good hunting.

POV

I spent quite a long time last night reading on the Internet, trying to determine the standards--if there are any--by which POV "should" be determined for urban fantasy. What I concluded is that there technically isn't a standard, though most urban fantasy does seem to be written in first person. It isn't a rule handed down by publishers; it's just become so commonplace as to be the prevalent choice in UF.

One very kind individual explained that the possible main reason so much urban fantasy started being written in first person is that the books often come across like a detective story, where the detective is relating the story after the fact. Put like that, it makes since. Even the old TV show "Mike Hammer" was narrated--supposedly by the character, Hammer--in first person.

I find, though, that I prefer third person POV. Oddly enough, I find that first person distances me from the character rather than bringing me closer. I feel that third person done right can actually be more intimate than first person, since you don't always have the feeling that the character is sitting there talking to you, telling you after the fact about events you weren't part of. With third person, I feel more as though I'm there watching events unfold as they happen. With first or with third, the narrative is almost always in past tense, so really, the feeling of distance is a product of how well (or badly) the author managed to get me, the reader, inside the main character's head.

Any other opinions on the POV subject? Likes, dislikes, preferences? I'd especially appreciate any comment on POV as it relates to urban fantasy or paranormal fiction of any kind.

Raving and Writing

The family and I went to see Iron Man tonight. Needless to say, we all enjoyed it, and I see why it's being so well received. Loved, loved, loved Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. I guess it's not hard to tell I like superhero movies, but even so, I thought this one in particular was just very well done.

Now that I've raved, I still have a scene to write for Shifts. I have a distinct feeling that I need to get this book done, pronto.

Pixie-Led

Of course, after I sent the agent article to the Briggs', I found typos, a repeated word and smart quotes mixed in with normal quotes. Grrr. This can sometimes be my M.O.--sending things in before they're perfectly polished--and I need to stop that! The good news is that if all goes well, they'll soon have my article up on the Hurog site.

For this blog, I promised to post a similar article on Finding the Right Agent. I still mean to get to that, but I'm so close to the end of Chapter 17 of Shifts right now that I think I'll write the last scene in that chapter first. Then I'll be only three chapters out from completing Shifts of Perception, which is fantastic. I'm already starting to get psyched for starting the next Brenna book, and there just might be the faintest beginnings of a completely new book germinating in the back of my mind. Only faint beginnings, mind. I won't know whether it's even worth pursuing until the literary seedlings start poking up into the sunlight--and even then it might be something far different than what I thought it was. It's like seeing a glimmer of light through the trees--you don't know what it really is, yet, until it either comes charging out at you or you follow it into the unknown and see where you end up. Sounds like being pixie-led, doesn't it? Inspiration is like that sometimes.

Agent Article

I finished the article on how to get an agent and got it sent off to the Briggs' via email. It may need tweaking, but otherwise it's done and a promise kept. It'll appear under my name on their website at some point. When it's up and there's a URL, I'll provide that. It was kind of fun, actually. It's amazing how much information needs to be in an article like that; I kept finding things that probably would have been great to include, but which I had to either cut short or just cut altogether. I'm glad I'm not writing a non-fiction how-to book; it would be hard to decide what goes in and what stays out.

Now all I need is to get Shifts finished, and I can start in on the next Brenna book.

An Outing, and a Conundrum

I had lunch and went shopping with a writer friend today--something I don't usually get to do. That was fun. While we had lunch, though, we talked about what makes a main character appealing to us. Oddly enough, I have an easier time writing my male characters than writing my female characters. I'm not sure why. But one thing I want to see in a protagonist of either sex is strength. Not perfection or even the illusion of perfection, but strength of character, inner fortitude, determination, and a strong sense of self. I'm not big on whiny characters, characters with huge chips on their shoulders, or self-absorbed, shallow characters. If I think a character is pathetic or any class of a wimp, I won't like her enough to care about her. I want to be able to admire my character, even while I'm watching what she's going through and feeling really glad not to be in her shoes. So why do I have trouble writing female characters who embody all the things I admire and who I'd be proud to have a conversation with? Sometimes, despite multiple rewrites, my heroines fail to win the sympathy of my crit group in the beginning of the book, and that could potentially be a fatal flaw. I can't afford fatal flaws--not at this stage of the game, and not ever from here on out.

Now, here's the confusing part. I'm drawn to strong characters, so in the opening of my second Brenna book, I had written her as coming across strong and confident, especially given the life-changing events of the first book. The main gripe one of my crit partners had was that Brenna seemed a little too flip, and not quite vulnerable enough. Granted, she's just been through quite a lot at the end of From the Ninth Wave, so she probably should be a little more vulnerable there than I'd portrayed her, but.... Now I need to go back and see whether I can strike a different balance--or perhaps see whether that opening even works at all. I thought it did, but maybe it didn't. I don't know.

I was still puzzling over it after I took my friend home, so I went to the bookstore and found a book on characters, and one specifically on hooking readers at the beginning of the book. Now it's study time, on top of the other research I was doing for the next Brenna book. If Brenna can't win friends and influence people, I'm sunk. On the other hand, I could just be overthinking things again. But either way, it can't hurt for me to brush up my opening gambits and character intros.

Note for any beginning writers: no matter how many years you work in this field, you never stop learning the craft. The moment you're convinced that you have no need to improve and you know it all is the moment you should throw away your keyboard. This is a craft that keeps shifting and evolving as times and tastes change, so no writer has an excuse to stagnate. And yet, these "new" techniques are as old as the very first fireside storytellers. It's all in continually learning--or perhaps rediscovering--the techniques that bring your worlds and characters to robust and compelling life.

On Assignment

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. There hasn't been a lot to report on the writing front. It does look like I may have a chance to get an article published in a local magazine, though. I've only written a couple of non-fiction magazine type articles before, published in very small newsletters and unpaid except in copies. This article wouldn't be paid either, but it would be my name in print in a bigger magazine than the aforementioned newsletters. Credits will do fine...(waving hand in a persuasive, Jedi-like fashion.)

If I do the article--which at this stage is still up to me concerning whether I think I'll have enough interesting info to submit--it will be on our local farmers' markets. I'll be taking my own pictures, too. The first farmers' market of the season is this weekend, with the other two opening on each of the following subsequent weekends. So that makes it a three week project. We'll see how it goes; at this early date, there might be more artisans than food, and I really want to focus on the local food angle. So I might wait to submit it until the season gets a little later and there's more local produce available for sale. Still not sure exactly how I want to do this one, but since it's my own choice of assignment and subject, I can put it together however I want. If it's appropriate for the magazine, then it'll most likely get published, or so I've been told. I don't know how much an article of this nature will help me out there in urban fantasy fiction land, but a credit's a credit.

Mike Briggs has also asked me to revamp an informative post I made on Patty's forum, so that they can use said post on her main site. It'll be on the subject of queries and submissions to agents, right in line with an article I was already planning for this blog, so again serendipity strikes.

Payin' it forward, payin' it forward.... Any good vibes boomeranging back at me yet??? Just kidding--sort of.

Hot Topic - The Representation Equation

I've been asked to do some articles on various topics of interest to new authors, so today I'll be addressing the dilemma most authors face at some time or another: whether representation is necessary, and why.

You've completed your manuscript, and now you aren't sure what to do next. Do you get an agent, or go straight for the publishers? Is an agent really necessary anyway? Can you or should you represent yourself?

Possible Pitfalls of Solo Navigation: The Moxie and I recently met a lady who has had several books published. At first blush, that sounded great. Good for her; congratulations were definitely in order. Or were they? She went on to tell us that she hadn't gotten much of an advance for her books, and she'd signed away quite a few rights she shouldn't have, leaving her with very limited royalties. She admitted she hadn't understood her contract--which gives me the notion that she probably didn't have an agent to navigate her safely through the Boilerplate Sea. If anyone's making money off her books, it's not the author.

Gated Community Access: Will publishers look at work from authors who don't have agents? Yes; some will. But many more will not, and openly state that their houses are not interested in seeing work from unrepresented authors. When there is a pile of unrepresented, unrequested submissions on the editor's desk, it's called the slush pile. It's the last thing that gets looked at (if at all) after all the requested, represented submissions have been read. Yes, there are lucky authors who have been discovered and published out of the slush pile. But from articles I've read and things I've heard editors say at writers' conferences, it's rare and has gotten even more so over the last fifteen years. You may need an agent to get your foot into the right door. It reminds me of that Harry Potter scene where he tries and tries to get the right winged key--without which he cannot pass through the door ahead. It might not be an easy key to nab, but once you have it, you can finally continue on. (Note: no agents are to be harmed in the pursuit of the winged key--if you recall, that key looked pretty beat up once Harry finally captured it.)

Contract Matters: You might have heard that editors go to writers' conferences and take pitches from aspiring authors. Yes, they do. I've talked to one or two in the dim and foggy past. I've even had one ask to see a manuscript. Did I get an editor to look at my work without an agent? Yes. Would I have known how to decipher the publishing contract had she offered me one? No, not really. I would have paid close attention to the language and tried my best, but...would I trust myself to negotiate the best deal? No. I'm a good businesswoman, but I'm not sure I'm good enough to gamble my writing career on my ability to understand all the possible issues and ramifications inherent in a legal contract. I could miss the fatal clause and end up like that poor woman with many books and little to no royalties. It's just not a risk I want to take. In fact, if I'd gotten a publishing contract at that time, I'd have immediately called an agent I'd met before and asked him if he'd handle the contract for me. Often, even when unpublished authors do manage to make it to the offer stage, publishers will then ask them to go and find an agent to negotiate the contract. It's just easier for all concerned. And the agent will also handle royalty issues and send out 1099 forms.

So, do you really need an agent? At the outset, technically, no. You can go through the process alone, with the right contacts and no small amount of luck and good planning. But somewhere along the line, you'll probably discover that you want or need an agent. There's a lot to be said for avoiding contract pitfalls, not to mention having a strong advocate for your book other than yourself--someone with a vested interest in getting you the best contract possible and seeing that you don't sell yourself short.

Best advice I can offer--go for the agent first, if you can. Agents can function like a sort of first screening for the editor. Chances are, if the manuscript was good enough to hook an agent, it's quite a cut above your average slush, and the publisher will be much more likely to take a serious look.

Upcoming Hot Topic: Finding the Right Agent

Marathon

This week I'm participating in a marathon on the writers' site called Forward Motion. The marathon is called--rather aptly--March Madness. Goals vary, but the first level requires a minimum of 1000 words a day for a 7000-word week total. So far, I have 3608 toward that goal...and I finished pruning all the roses today. Yay for me.

If that were all I currently needed to accomplish, I'd have it made, but life is never quite that simple. There's always more to do, more squeeky wheels that need to be oiled. Modern life is its own kind of marathon. Kind of makes a person wish for the days when things were simpler. Most people weren't driving thither and yon using up all the fossil fuel on the planet, people lived at a slower pace and went about their lives in a more mindful fashion, and just about anyone who actually found time to write could get published.

Now back to your regularly scheduled rat race....

News--And More Waiting

I called my agent today and found out where Ninth Wave's been submitted. Let's just say...it's in good hands. All I can do at this point is wait, and let everyone do their jobs. And then we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm also nearly finished with Shifts--within five chapters, anyway. I had to write the current scene in two sessions because one half is a bittersweet romantic interlude and the next half is where the POV character's world falls apart as she faces her worst nightmare. The mood of the scene changes so completely that it wasn't possible for me to do both parts in the same writing session.

Six at One Blow

Okay, so the brave little tailor actually killed seven flies with one blow, but the concept's the same. I knocked off six pages during the wee hours last night and finished the entire first scene of Chapter 15. Then I paid for it by sleeping all day. It was worth it, though. Some scenes come in bits and pieces, fits and starts of maybe a hundred or so words each. Those, I have to go through later and groom to make sure they flow the way they should. But the ones I really love are the ones that just use me to get themselves written. I start writing, and the story flows through my fingers, and the next thing I know, it's two or three hours later and the scene is complete from beginning to end, in one seamless whole. It's the holy grail for writers--being "in flow." Time just seems to stop, and magic happens. This experience is what keeps me writing and give me the impetus to go on even through the fits-and-starts kinds of scenes--the promise that sooner or later, the muse will strike and there'll be a flow scene to balance things out.

Poised

The problem with some scenes is that sometimes even when you know what is supposed to happen, you don't exactly know how. I've arrived at one of the pivotal scenes in the book, and I'm not sure exactly how the pre-showdown showdown between my heroine and the villain plays out.

I know she has to surprise him, and then he has to surprise her in turn, causing an unexpected turn of events.... And if you're still reading this after that particularly non-informative bit of information, bless you. Even though this book has no contract on the table, I still can't get too spoilerific, just in case the situation changes later. But I can say that my heroine's run-in with the villain right here changes the course of several relationships between characters, and begins to set the scene for the final confrontation a few chapters later. So I need to do it right. It can't drag or have too long of a lead-in.

I just started watching Series 5 of Ballykissangel on DVD, so my mind really isn't in Oantra at the moment (which might be part of the problem with this scene.) My mind is in Ireland tonight. It's with my urban fantasy character Brenna and the possible plot for the new manuscript. And it's in New York also, wondering what's happening with the current manuscript and the publishers. Wondering whether I'll be taking my second trip to Ireland anytime soon, and whether it'll be for business or pleasure--or the perfect combination thereof.

Everything's just...poised...at that horrible "hurry up and wait" stage. It's not spring yet, but neither is it winter. My summer tomato seedlings are up, but they can't be planted outside yet or they'll freeze. My book hasn't got an offer I know about, but it's still in the early stages of being shopped around, while meanwhile I read about book after book being bought from other fantasy writers by some of the houses I hope will offer for mine. Everything's just up in the air, and...poised. Like a vulture on a cliff. (Thanks, Amergin.)

My epic fantasy character, Raena, and I are in the same boat right now. She's headed up a dark staircase, about to encounter the unknown. And I'm staring up another dark staircase--the ladder to publication that leads to a different type of unknown. I just hope that what awaits me is considerably more pleasant than what awaits Raena.

Hectic Weeks

Last week was extremely busy, and this coming weekend is going to be even more so. Despite all the craziness--mostly involving the dentist, a Girl Scout Thinking Day costume, a belly dance performance and a contest submission--I did manage to get another scene written for Shifts last week. I'm going to work on the next scene a little tonight, though the cold I caught isn't helping matters.

I remember one time I was so miserable with a cold, I wrote a cold into the manuscript--infected one of my characters just for...I don't know...spite, maybe. But a cold doesn't fit into any part of the scene I'm writing now, so even if misery loves company, I won't have any this time around.

At least after this weekend, the kids' piano Festival will be over for another year, as will my younger daughter's Irish Dance recital. Maybe after this weekend, I can make up for some lost time--though as the contest submission was for a writers' contest, I can't exactly say that I made zero progress this last week-and-a-half.

Casualties of Writing

You've probably heard the rule "kill your darlings." It doesn't mean that you have to nix every sentence that you find particularly grand and wonderful. While every writer may have a tendency to wax flowery and verbose now and then, not everything that comes out of those wild moments of inspiration is garbage. It's just that sometimes we love our work so very much that we lose the ability to see when something we wrote just isn't hitting the mark--or when it's hit the mark so hard that the mark has been obliterated.

I've thrown out pages before, and I'll do it again. It's just sad that the words on the page--or this blog, for that matter--represent minutes of my life that I'll never get back. I hate throwing out words because when I do that, I'm throwing away minutes, half-hours, hours of precious time. But when it's necessary to make the story better, it's necessary, full stop.

What brought this on? I'm about to kill a page. Not too much of a sacrifice; it could have been a whole scene or chapter. But I didn't get a lot of writing time today, and man, do I hate to throw it down the virtual shredder.

I started the scene in the wrong place, is all. Sometimes it's necessary to expend effort on something that later must be ditched. If it helps you find your starting point or better understand a character or situation, then it was worth the sacrifice. The paragraph or page or scene was a casualty of writing. But it's okay; revision is part of writing. Often, it's not the writing that's great, but the rewriting.

Pages

Between what I wrote during the wee hours last night and the last couple of hours this afternoon, I've got almost eight pages for today. This last scene, which I wrote in two sessions, wrapped up one...no, two...of my plot threads, and comprised the end of Chapter 13--all twenty pages of it. I'm past the middle of the book, and now things are moving rapidly toward the climax. Literally. There's a big sex scene coming up in Chapter 15...but that's still about a week away. I'm averaging about a chapter per week lately, which is good. If I can keep up this pace and still get the kids through their schoolwork, the book should be finished by about May 1.

It's so good to be writing in the Ondine universe again, and so good to be nearly finished with my trilogy. No matter what happens, at least I'll have done that. An entire epic fantasy trilogy. Cool. At this stage, I'll celebrate whatever accomplishments I can.

Now I need to go run a few errands, while it's still daylight.

Roses for the Writer

I got nearly five pages today, and during the afternoon, at that. Gary came home early from his work to take the kids to their piano class (it helps when you're one of the owners of the business) and so I was alone in a quiet house for a whole hour-and-a-half. I worked through the must-putter-online stage and into making actual pages before they got home, but most of the pages I got today actually came into being after the family had returned. About three-and-a half pages into the scene, Gary walked into the room with a big bouquet of roses. I wasn't quite done with my scene, but...no way was I going to yell at my husband when he had roses in his hands! He can interrupt me with tea, food, or flowers if he wants. It's the surest way not to get snapped at...approach the feral writer with caution, preferably bearing gifts. Well, the roses are not a standard day's fare--they're for Valentines' Day, but hey, it bears noting that I can be successfully bribed.

And then, of course, I do love the man. After sixteen years together, I'd better. So, all in all, a good day. The roses are beautiful. So are the five pages.

Into the Frying Pan

A blog reader asked a good question the other day. Exactly how did I get myself into this mess, anyway? Okay, maybe mess wasn't the exact term used, but...basically, who the heck am I and how did I get into the writing gig?

Without going into my life history and boring everyone stiff, here's the short version. I started writing at about age five--short stories and such. Nothing all that stellar, but at least it established the habit of writing creatively. I wrote my first novel at the age of sixteen--a short, sweet little confection about unicorns, which shall forever remain in my closet--unless someone drags it out after my death just to see how bad it was. I messed with that for about eight more years, as I went through college and tried to have a "normal" career as a nurse. About the time I got burnt out on the nursing, I got married and decided to have a couple of kids. During that time frame I wrote another novel--another closet feature I'd be embarrassed to have anyone read nowadays. Good practice, though. I racked up lots of rejections from agents during that time--thank goodness. If anyone had actually picked up that turkey of a book, I'd be really worried about his or her judgment.

The real training ground began during the period from 1997 to about 2001, while my two kids were small. As soon as I could reliably leave them with their father for entire weekends without me, I started attending writers' conferences and pitching my third novel to agents. A few looked at it and I got a few encouraging compliments. No takers, though.

During this time I also got a few good comments (one was even from Marion Zimmer Bradley) on short stories I wrote and sent to the various fantasy magazines. But again, no sales. With MZB, I apparently missed it by a hair. I got the rejection letter that read, "This is a perfectly good story...unfortunately I have already purchased something similar...."

When I could not sell any of my short stories, I started a miniature book business, Pookatales Press, and sold the short stories in mini-book format for mini-book collectors and collectors of dollhouse miniatures. This didn't result in a large print run, as I hand-bound the volumes myself, but it did give me a way to be paid for my stories at last, and gave me experience in running my own small business.

My fourth novel was called Aspects of Illusion, and garnered some attention from an editor at Roc, who said if I revised it, she'd look at it again, or alternatively, she'd look at anything else I wrote. Now I was finally getting somewhere! I went to more conferences, took more classes, notably agent Don Maass's "Breakout Novel" classes, revised again, and finally hit the jackpot. The revised fourth novel gained the attention of Bob Mecoy during the fall of 2002. He became my agent and has stuck with me ever since, for which I am eternally grateful. Aspects of Illusion is the first of an epic fantasy trilogy. I have since written the middle book, called Shadows of Memory, and currently I'm halfway through the third book, Shifts of Perception. Unfortunately, all we've managed to get for these books are compliments partnered with regrets from publishers that they did not have a spot to offer us in the lineup. Epic fantasy has proven to be a hard sell, and these books are fairly lengthy, which no doubt doesn't help matters. First-time authors have a hard time publishing at lengths of more than 100,000 words. I am finishing the trilogy because I still believe in it, and because maybe at some point its day will finally come.

In 2006-2007, I wrote a new book in the urban fantasy genre, called From the Ninth Wave. This one is sleek and fast, and happens to be in a genre that is still hot and still doing well in the marketplace. In December of 2007, I completed the last revisions that Bob asked for, and by now it'll be going out to publishers. I'm at the wait and see stage with this one, so while I'm waiting to hear the initial feedback on it, I'm finishing the epic trilogy so it's done and out of the buffer. Next on the docket is to plot a second book in the urban fantasy world of my character, Brenna Callahan, so if someone picks up the first one, there'll be the possibility of more Brenna books in the future.

That's about it! No awards, no legitimate publications, no track record except that of hard work and stubborn, stubborn persistence. My entire career to date is riding on this new book--so any positive energy sent in its direction is greatly appreciated! In a few months, weeks, or days, we'll have a much better idea of just how much longer I'll be an unpublished writer. The one sure thing is that I'll be a writer for the rest of my life, and one day, my books will be on the shelves. Then I'll be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

New Blog

I've created an additional blog for the people who are interested in environmental or green issues, the locavore lifestyle, gardening, etc. That way, if you just come here for the writing-related posts and don't really want to see the other, you'll get mostly writing-related posts. Or if you'd rather read about the green stuff but don't care much about the writing, you can go to Green By Choice and read my environmental musings there. If you're into both...right on. A few things may occasionally slip from one blog onto the other, but for the most part, I'll try to keep the subjects separate. Either way, thanks for reading.

Time

A writer's time is one of the most delicate and precious things in our lives, and yet somehow it seems as though it's the easiest thing to have taken for granted.

I've read published writers' blogs which detail what must, to them, be a really perplexing problem. They're successful, some of them so much so that they hardly have time to write due to all their other writing-related responsibilities--press, online interviews, chats, book tours and signings, travel to and from the above, and the ever-present edits. Some have more than one series on the table at any given time, and they're expected to do both.

I don't have any of those responsibilities yet, but I have others, and mine are such that sometimes I truly wonder whether if I ever get to the level of published-author-in-demand, I'll be able to meet all the writing-related responsibilities due to my current level of non-writing-related responsibilities. I'll make it, somehow. I'll have to, therefore I will. There's not really a choice in the matter. But at the moment, I admit the prospect of juggling all those balls is a little daunting. And to think I once thought just getting a publishable manuscript into the hands of an agent was the most challenging hurdle to face.

I'll cope. I'll find a way to do it all. But just once, I wish we could value my writing as the important career it is, and find a way for me to give it the attention it deserves, every day. Actually having it bring in some income will help, but even before that happens, I have to find a way to have my cake and eat it, too. If I could draw a salary for all the things I'm currently responsible for, my price would be simply this: time. Time to write, time to create, and maybe even a little time to just be.

Major Re-org

I went through my chapter outline for Shifts of Perception and decided to do some shuffling of scenes in chapters 1 - 12. It's not so much that things were in the wrong order--they weren't--but some of the chapters were extremely long, while the last one was short. That isn't a problem and I've certainly read plenty of books with wildly varying chapter lengths, but for whatever reason, my test readers seem to like it if my chapters have a consistent length. More importantly, each chapter also has to end in such a way that a reader will want to keep reading. Not always a cliffhanger, necessarily, but a definite intriguing note that makes people wonder what's going to happen next.

Kudos to Patricia Briggs and her latest success, Iron Kissed, which not only made but topped the NYT bestseller list and is one of the type of books I just mentioned--the type that keeps you wondering what happens next, so that you have a very hard time putting the book down.

Snowflakes and Feathers

Four pages today, all told. I know I've stayed up late again, but even though that's not great, at least I have progress to report. I had several writing sessions at different intervals during the day (Tuesday). It was a snow day; my older daughter and I didn't even go to dance class due to the snowy roads and the fact that one of my rear tires has sprung a slow leak. So I stayed home and made as much progress as I could.

I helped my younger daughter write a report for Science, working on the book after she and her father left in the 4-wheel drive pickup for her dance class. Something about knowing I have lots to do and have to learn to be productive in smaller chunks of time just flat did it for me today. Every time I sat down to write, I did a lot more writing than internet browsing, and got into flow right away without any trouble. In this wee hour of the morning, I have four new pages to show for it, and a completed chapter as a result. Moxie is on Sunday, and this time I will have pages to bring that are not just another rewrite of something the ladies have already read.

At least in part, I owe my productivity to the new featherbed we got to go on top of the latex topper we got to go on top of our failing pillow-top mattress. I know, I know. I'm like the Princess and the Pea. I just keep adding layers onto the mattress, hoping it will help. But even the Huz, who'd never admit there was anything wrong with the old mattress, slept better last night with the new featherbed, so maybe we've finally found the combination of layers that will work until we're rich enough to buy a new mattress. At least this is definitely an improvement, and I'm betting that if I sleep better, I'll write better. Really? You think?

Working Hours

I shifted my schedule enough last night that I went to bed at about 1 a.m. and got up at 10:30 a.m. (with allowances for a two-hour interruption between 3 and 5 a.m. where I woke up from the mattress being uncomfortable and remembered I'd promised to send an important email to a group I belong to. Time sensitive stuff, so I couldn't delay it or it would have messed up somebody's plans for the day. My schedule has never been stellar, and time management is my Achilles' heel. I'm always working hours when I should be sleeping, and sleeping hours when I should be working. Comes from having started my adult working life on a night shift, I guess, but even now, years later, it has still carried through and done me no favors. I beat the 20-somethings for crazy hours. Well, now I need to change it for good and work hours that are more...ah...normal.

Another obstacle for me is the homeschool. I need to work with my kids for a certain amount of time each day, and even when they're supposed to be working independently, they need more structure in their day. So I'm trying a new system--or maybe it's an old system. Anyway, it involves visual aids and, literally, working hours.

I have two hourglasses. Today, I put one in the kids' homeschool office and one in my office. I got the kids started working and turned their hourglass over, then went upstairs to my office and turned mine over. When my sand ran out, I went down to check on them and see how much progress they'd made. As this is a Saturday but we're playing the catch up game, if they make enough progress they get to go to a movie tonight. And the hourglass in their office lets them know exactly how much time they've got left until Mom appears to lower the boom. The hourglass in my office keeps them from cheating the time on their hourglass.

This means I have to write in one-hour increments, which is hard for me. At the end of an hour, I'm just getting warmed up. But I don't have a choice at this point. I'll just have to learn how to get into flow faster, and be grateful that I get any time at all to write during the day. After all, some writing is better than no writing. Problem is, none of this takes housework or errands into account...but no system is perfect, and this is just a starting point. We'll see where we can go from here. From what I see today, we've all made some progress.

News and Happy Dance

Okay, here's one of the moments I've been waiting for. I emailed my agent Wednesday; he replied Thursday that From the Ninth Wave is finally in a marketable condition! No more rewrites--at least, not until an editor at a publishing house picks it up. Now he's going to start showing it around the Big Apple, and hopefully it will find a great home with a publisher. Whoohooo!

This might be the one that does it. Now I just have to wait and see, and let Bob take it from here. In the meantime, I'll be working on the second half of the last novel in my epic fantasy trilogy. I'd like to get Shifts of Perception finished as soon as I can, just in case Ninth Wave makes it. And I need to work on the plot for the second Brenna book--assuming I'll need one. Busy, busy, busy....

In other news, I performed (bellydance) at a coffee house earlier tonight. It was fun--this was my third time performing bellydance in public, and it seems like each time I do it, I get a little less nervous. I'm hoping this is a good omen for some future time in which I have to do some kind of press or something for the novels...ah, we're back to the novels again.

Optimism abounds at the moment. Bob likes the book; ergo, all is right with the world (or at least this little part of it). Everything else will take care of itself in due course.

De-cluttered

The new bookcase came in, and I've nearly got all my books shuffled around the way I want them. I love it. It's going to be so much easier to work in my office without all the clutter and stacks of papers and books. I'm so pleased at the way it's turning out. I can even open my door and still not hit a bookshelf--the wall I put the new bookshelf on was just long enough to hold two bookshelves and still allow the door to open. Helps that they're quite tall and not extremely wide. After months of clutter, finally there's a place for almost everything and almost everything is in its place. Sigh.

I've caught up on a lot of reading--now I only have one borrowed book left in my house where before there was a pile of them. I've also read Patty Briggs' new book, Iron Kissed, twice--once for myself and once aloud to my husband. My daughters will want to borrow it next.

Now if I can just finish writing the magical battle scene I'm stuck on for the Oantra book, Shifts of Perception, I'll be almost back on track. And one day soon, I'm going to have to work up the courage to call my agent and ask him if this last rewrite of From the Ninth Wave was good enough for him to start showing it to publishers.

Many thanks in advance to everyone who's been sending along good thoughts. I appreciate them more than you can imagine.

Happy New Year

My resolution: to get a publisher's contract this year. It's time.

I've spent some time trying to de-clutter my office, and I've come to the conclusion that I need yet another bookcase. It shouldn't come as a surprise, when I've been steadily collecting books for reference and pleasure all this time, but I already have four tall bookshelves in the office. I can't fit in more than two additional bookcases, and I'd really rather add no more than one. If I added two, my armchair would either have to go out (leaving only the desk chair in the room--not preferable) or I'd have to set the armchair in front of one of the bookcases--also not preferable. So somehow I have to make do with only one more, and if things expand beyond that, I'll have to figure out some other arrangement in the closet, I guess. Anyway, the main thing is that I can't function in the clutter anymore, and I have to fix it. It's gumming up the writing gears...or something...and I need to be working on the last Oantra book before I get the final verdict on Ninth Wave. Reorganizing the office will facilitate so many other things that I can't and won't put it off any longer. I've already done two of the bookshelves and am working on the third--that's how I realized that I have to have another one.

Before I moved my stuff into this office, I faux-painted the walls myself. Hours of work. Now those walls will be mostly covered by tall bookshelves. Sigh. Oh, well. I guess I need the books more than I need faux-painted walls. And I can still see some of my handiwork here and there behind the all-important writers' resources.

One of these days, I'll list the books I used for reference on the Brenna book alone, and it'll be obvious why I need another bookshelf. At least reference books are better than bridesmaids' dresses--I'll definitely use the reference books again.

Promises Kept

I finally got out to do the mother/daughter date with my younger daughter tonight. I'd had to put it off for a very long time due to various constraints.... Okay, the writing was a big part of why I kept putting it off. Deadlines will eat up resources, especially time. But I had a promise to keep, and I'm relieved that it's been kept at last. She needed time with me, and I needed time with her, and she needed to know that she'd been put on the top of the priority list. We had a lot of fun; she wanted to go shopping at the mall, have dinner, and go to an arcade. We managed it all, plus a few errands that also needed doing. It was a very long outing, and now I need Tylenol and a hot pad for my neck and shoulders--they always bother me if I'm on my feet for too long. But it was worth it. She's worth it.

Writing-wise, I'm taking a little time off to clean and organize my office. It had become a horrible pit into which only fools and desperate writers dare enter. But I cannot function any longer in the clutter, and it must be set to rights. Then I will continue to work on the third Oantra book, Shifts of Perception, until I hear from Bob about the latest incarnation of From the Ninth Wave. If I've gotten it polished enough this time, it should start to go out to publishers soon. Then we'll see.

Done, Again

I finished the last round of edits from Bob and the Moxie. Now here's hoping it's really the last round--before an editor at a publishing house gets hold of the manuscript, anyway.

In the morning, it's out the door. Again.

Now I'm looking forward to Christmas shopping, cleaning my office, and going to see The Golden Compass--not necessarily in that order.

Projects

Unless I missed something, I finished Bob's edits on Saturday. Sunday I met with the Moxie and passed a copy of the revised manuscript of Beyond the Ninth Wave to them. They're going to do a quick read-through and get it back to me in the next couple of days, and I'll be mailing it out this week. Wednesday is technically the end of the six weeks I had for revisions. Tonight I need to read through the existing synopsis and see whether my manuscript changes need to be reflected in it, or whether it's still okay the way it is. And I need to do my own quick skim-through of the manuscript to see whether I think it flows well. Sometimes I still catch things to change, like a word here or a phrase there, but I think that's pretty much the case with most writers. The work is never really "done", but eventually you have to shove it out the door anyway.

Next I need to help the kids get caught up on their schoolwork, get my house and office clean and in shape for the holidays, and get the shopping and mailing done for Christmas cards and gifts. I knocked some of that off the list today after the Moxie meeting, but there's more still to do. I also have quite a few holiday-related craft projects, some of which need to be completed by mid-month for a kids' activity. We're going to be making holiday clothespin dolls and yule logs (with fake tea lights, of course). Should be fun.

And then, provided there are no more necessary changes to Ninth Wave, I'll go back and write more on the third Oantra book, plus work on plotting for the next Brenna book. (See, I'm being optimistic here--I'm assuming I'll need a second Brenna book.)

Edits Have Arrived

Bob's edits came in the mail today. The person who delivered the box stuffed it into the space below the mailbox and on top of the newspaper receptacle, which, if it had been raining, would have ruined it. They're supposed to bring a package up to the door and set it close to the house if it won't fit in the mailbox. Grr. Thank goodness it wasn't raining or snowing today.

It's funny--the edits I had slated for myself are actually more extensive than the ones Bob has asked me to make. It wasn't as bad as I feared, nor did he want anything very elaborate. He did want me to eliminate one of the remaining two of Brenna's movie references, so I guess they all need to go. Here's why: as movie/TV references are pop culture references, they will end up dating the book too much if I leave them in. Now that he's explained it, I can understand. One of my crit partners even mentioned the same thing earlier, but I didn't think it would be a problem. Since Bob says it is, I'll bow to his greater wisdom and remove them all. But I will miss Brenna's movie quotes. They were a quirky part of her character that I liked.

There are some changes I won't be able to make without damaging the worldbuilding, but I think I can at least re-work the references in question so their significance is more apparent. I'll do just what he wants as long as it doesn't knock anything important off kilter, and if that happens I'll find a work-around or a compromise if possible. It helps that Bob used to be an editor; this is good practice for when I have to consider changes for an editor at a publishing house. Bob did tell me that I don't have to make the changes verbatim; his corrections are more like guidelines rather than actual rules.

Hah! Movie reference.

One By One

Okay, I'm knocking edits off the list I made...one by one. After talking to Bob on the phone, I had made a list of about six different minor issues that needed to be addressed in From the Ninth Wave. At this point, I've finished trolling for adjectives and eliminated all of the extraneous ones. The ones I kept needed to stay because they clarified some description or otherwise made a difference to the readers' understanding of something. The ones I eliminated were in places where I had two or three when I really only needed one, or the noun was strong enough to stand alone and ditching the adjective didn't paint too austere a picture.

Then there were the content edits. My character had the habit of making occasional movie references. I had to eliminate any of those that undercut an otherwise tense scene. It's really too bad; thinking in terms of movie quotes was my heroine's way of lightening the mood when things got too tense for her, and it showed who she was as a character. But if she did it in a place where it also diffused the tension for the reader, it had to go. Even my favorite one--a quote by Milady DeWinter from Disney's The Three Musketeers. Dang it. I know, I know. Kill your darlings. Well, I only kept two in the entire book; neither was a direct quote, and neither diffused the tension because they didn't come in the middle of a crisis. Tricky little bit of work, that was.

As for the rest, I still need to go through and find a few places where I can spice certain things up here and there, and I need to find all the places where I somehow managed to make my point twice. That's going to be trickier for me to find, but I'll do it. I should be nearly done with this round. I'm hoping it's the last until a publisher gets her/his hands on it.

Hanging With the Dog

I worked on the edits last night (Friday) until late, got four hours' sleep and then had to take the kids to a club meeting in the morning. Then we went to a movie matinee, and by the time we got home, I just wanted to take a nap. Four hours' sleep just doesn't do it for me. So I napped for another three or four hours in the middle of the day, then got up and worked on the book again in the evening. There were the usual family interruptions, and then I wanted a late night snack. So after everyone else had gone to bed, somehow the dog and I ended up hanging out downstairs for a while. She doesn't always want to go to bed when everyone else does, either. Now I've just let her into the kid's room that she sleeps in--after another 2-hour nap on the couch--and I'm about to finish my last two chapters worth of adjective-slaying. Yes, in the middle of the night. I have always been a night owl to one degree or another. I need to fix that, but as long as I have edits to do, I'm not going to try to fix my broken schedule. I'll do whatever works. The dog doesn't seem to mind, and now that she's gone to bed at last, the cat is in my office with me, snoozing on the ottoman next to my desk. One snoozy animal or another.... Even asleep, they're good company. Makes me feel a little less like a vampire, though whether I'll ever be a perky morning person is another question altogether.

Priorities

I'm still blasting adjectives. At this point I'm a little over halfway done, and should now be able to finish a bit more quickly and move on to the few plot-related things that Bob and I discussed on the phone.

The past two weeks have been really busy for me, between my manuscript corrections, critting another Moxie member's manuscript (for her first book, which she has finally finished after a lot of hard work), getting costumes, etc. ready for Halloween, and then getting ready for our annual bellydance Hafla (sort of a party/bazaar/performance all in one) this weekend. My older daughter and I performed in one group dance and one duet, and since our bellydance wardrobes are still fairly limited, I had to do some costuming in order for us to have something special to wear this year.

Someone asked me why I spent a few days making costumes for the Hafla rather than working on my manuscript, when I had a deadline. The biggest reason is that my daughter isn't going to be an early teen forever. There will probably come a day when she no longer thinks performing on stage with Mom is cool--when she wants to do her own thing and hang out with cooler people than me. This Hafla only happens once a year, and other performances are rare for us. I have no way of knowing what will change in the next year or even the next month. (This is a teenager, after all.) Once I have the sought-after book contract, things will change in ways I may not be able to predict. If this should happen to be the only time we ever get to do a dance performance together, then I wanted it to be special. I needed (needed, not wanted) a new top for my costume, and she wanted something new as well. It took time--one of my most precious resources--but it was worth it. She loved the new top I came up with for her, and she looked wonderful in it. It made her look and feel pretty and raised her confidence, so it was worth every minute of my time. We shared a fun experience that brought us closer as mother and daughter, which made it priceless. The costumes and practices cost me many hours, but if I'd begrudged those hours, I could have regretted it for the rest of my life. Now that the Hafla is over, I'm back at work on my novel, and I'll still finish within the three-to-six week deadline Bob gave me. He said, "three weeks--six if you want to have a life." Well, I do want to have a life, and I want to live it in a state of balance.

Priorities. They need to be in balance, or else what's the point? I could easily be a workaholic. I could focus on the writing to the exclusion of every other pursuit or hobby. But I have the feeling that if I did that, I'd end up like so many other driven writers often do...with a dry well. And one day when my kids had fled the nest and gone off to live their separate lives, I'd wonder whether it was all worth it. I don't want to wonder what might have happened if I'd been more involved with my kids or the activities I love. I also don't want to wonder what might have happened if I'd been more devoted to my career. I want both, and somehow I will have both.

More Progress

I'm still on my quest to eradicate extraneous adjectives. I'd be going at the rate of one chapter's worth of adjectives per day since last Wednesday when I talked to Bob, but my older daughter and I had belly dance class today (Tuesday), and afterward had a few Halloween-related errands to run. I only got part of Chapter 7's adjectives highlighted while we were at dinner, but I did get Chapter 6's adjectives pruned down this evening on the computer. We also carved pumpkins and got the goodie bags ready for the trick-or-treaters. After the kids went to bed, I finished most of my younger daughter's costume; all it lacks is a little bit of hemming, which I'll do now before I hit the hay.

There's always just one more thing to do. Oh, well. No rest for the wicked, they say--and if staying up late and working helps get me published, then wicked doesn't sound so bad.

Behold the Adjectives

I haven't received the marked-up manuscript in the mail yet, but I'm using the time to go through and find all the adverbs and adjectives I can. I can find most of the adverbs by doing a search for words that end in "ly", but unless Word has a "find adjectives" feature I don't know about, I have to go through a print-out with a green highlighter and catch them by hand. I can do this at a coffee shop, which gets me away from the distractions at home. Then I take it home, highlight the adjectives green on my manuscript page in Word, and work on weeding all the unnecessary ones out. I had no idea I had such an adjective infestation! I have no other way to describe it. It is an infestation. Yikes!

As I sit here typing this after my night's work is done, I've worked my way through Chapters One and Two (one chapter per night since I talked to Bob) and nixed as many adjectives as I thought I could. Some of them, I must keep to clarify things in the story, but I definitely don't need all of them. I also notice that I seem to have a surplus of adjectives in some places but not in others. So far, I don't notice a pattern to the problem, but I may notice one as I get farther into the manuscript. I'm just glad Bob pointed it out to me so I can fix it now. Of course, I want the manuscript to go out to publishers in the best possible shape, and sending it out with all those extra adjectives would be like sending out roses with aphids.

News

I called Bob today to find out what he thought of my rewrite, and as a whole, it's good news. The issues he had with it before are gone and he says I'm in good shape. Now all he wants is for me to do the last little polish that I admit I didn't take the time to do when I was feeling time-crunched in September. He's actually sent me a marked-up manuscript in the mail this time; it's supposed to arrive soon. I'm supposed to take three to six weeks to go through it and fix the little details that I neglected to fix before (note to self and other hopeful writers: don't skip any of your normal revision/polish steps before sending out your manuscript). Apparently I have a few extra adjectives/adverbs in the first half of the book--not surprising considering that I usually go through and highlight all of those and take out at least half. If I'd done that this time before I sent it to Bob, I doubt it would have been an issue. The other details I'm supposed to fix are minor things; this is not supposed to be another rewrite--just a little tightening and polish, and nothing to panic over. I must admit I'm relieved at the news that my rewrite worked, and it'll be great to get the mark-up from him so I can see what types of things he notices vs the things I notice.

Best of all, he already has a plan for which publishers he intends to send it to first. Excuse me while I do my happy dance....

I See Red

I finally got sick of my tri-colored hair and did something about it. I'd been growing out the last dye job (blonde) and had gotten down to where there was only about five or so inches of blonde left in my hair. It used to be naturally blonde when I was younger, and then it darkened to a mousy dishwater blonde/light brown. This time when it grew out, I had tri-colored hair: mousy brown, grey, (which actually wasn't truly grey--it was colorless hair. No pigment of any kind whatsoever, not even white) and the last of the blonde dye on the ends. I've gone "green" in so many areas of my life, I've no intention of using chemical dyes on my hair ever again. But that grey/colorless/whatever had to go, so I used henna. I've used it before, but hadn't done so since I was about 26. It makes a great red color, especially if you do it right. When I went to Ireland in 1992, I had henna-dyed hair, and was mistaken for a native--by a native. This time I used a slightly different technique to prepare the paste, and the hair came out a really nice red and not too brassy. It's still darkening even now, and will for the next three days. It probably won't end up auburn, but just a nice shade of red, like fall leaves. I was ready for pretty much anything, just as long as grey was no longer in the picture, so I'm really pleased with this.

The book is going decently, too. I'm about halfway through that troublesome magical battle scene, and I think it's going to be fine. The scene directly following it is one from a POV we see only four times in the whole book, but the character's culture is so different from the other characters' that stepping into her mind is a really great writing exercise and great fun to do. When I finish that, I'll be at Chapter 12. So...onward.

An Unbiased Opinion

I haven't talked to Bob yet about what he thought of the Ninth Wave manuscript. I'll shore up my courage and do so soon--it's been a month now, so he's probably had time to finish reading it.

In the meantime, I've heard a little back from an impartial test reader. The news was both good and bad. I haven't talked to her directly, but was relayed the info that some things in the first 25 pages made her want to slap my main character. Urk! On a more positive note, two of her three gripes can be easily fixed, if more people have the same issues with Brenna. But so far, this is the only reader who has, so I'm not sure if these issues will be addressed or not. I'll ask Bob what he thinks when I talk to him. The good news is that the test reader kept reading anyway, and by the time she'd gotten to about the hundred-page mark, she'd since gotten hooked and was really enjoying the book. That's very good to know. Little issues, I can deal with. It's only the ones that are intrinsic to the story that I can't change, and I know I can't please everyone every time. I just want to please enough people enough of the time that I make it as a writer. The trick is in knowing which things are serious enough to change and which are non-issues. That's why it's good sometimes to get a fresh pair of eyes and an unbiased opinion.

Hooked On My Book

This probably sounds really arrogant. It's not meant to be. It's just...I was rereading the first ten chapters of the third book of the Oantran Triad, and I was hooked--on my own book. That actually doesn't happen too often, and I think it's because usually I've read the thing too recently and have gotten to a state where I can't see or "hear" my own words very well. Too familiar, especially after however many rewrites. But with Shifts of Perception, I hadn't read it for months. I'd spent all that time working on the urban fantasy, and now that I've finally reread Shifts after all this time, I find I'm pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it reads. I don't know if that means I'm getting better or blinder. Heh.

I also don't know how much longer I'll be getting to work on it. I should hear the verdict on my rewrite of From the Ninth Wave pretty soon. I did get a fortune cookie slip that said "Your efforts will be favorably acknowledged." Hmm. We'll see. I can't sit with my fingers crossed in the meantime, though--too hard to type.

Just a Nice Day

Today we went to an apple orchard. I've picked apples before, of course, including the very few I got off my own tree this year, but I've never gone to an actual orchard and picked them. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that I got stung by a bee and my arm is still a little sore. It wasn't even the bee's fault, and I feel terrible that the bee had to die because of an accident. I was picking an apple near where the bee was, and either the branch whacked the bee or another apple fell, but the next thing I knew, the bee had been knocked out of the air and fallen down my sleeve! I tried to be really gentle and shake it out, but being trapped in my sleeve, of course it stung me. It managed to sting me just slightly in one spot and then really released the main load of venom, stinger and all, in the other spot. Of course I had a first aid kit in the car, and of course it was one of those little worthless store-bought ones that had nothing in it but band-aids and Tylenol, when what I needed was baking soda and Benedryl. Fortunately, I'm not allergic to insect stings, so all I got was a local reaction. It still stings a little, even hours later, though if I didn't know where I'd been stung it would be hard to tell by appearance. I dealt with the lack of adequate first aid supplies by fishing some ice out of a cup of ice water we had in the car and icing the sting site while we paid for our apples and scooted on home. Fortunately the bee incident happened right at the end of the apple picking, so we missed nothing of the experience and brought home a trunkload of apples. My only regret is that bees die after they sting you, and as evidenced by my post of earlier this year, the last thing I want is for any bees to die. I guess I should take it as a good sign that so many bees were in the orchard in the first place.

All in all it was a nice day, stings notwithstanding. Nothing to do with writing, but sometimes you just need to go pick apples or do something that feeds your soul.

Chocolate

I've been struggling with a battle scene. The problem is that this one's a magical battle, and I just can't seem to get it started. It needs to happen--has to happen for the book to move forward. I'm just having trouble with it. It may also be that I'm moving into a portion of the novel where my visioning of what happens is still a little sketchier than I'd like. I have all the scene blurbs, and I know exactly what has to happen to take us down the path to the end, it's just that sometimes even when I know what has to happen, I don't always know how it happens. Right now, the distinction is wreaking havoc with this particular scene. I'll get it, though. It happens in Chapter 11 of Shifts of Perception, not long after the midway crisis point. Hey--didn't I have some trouble with Chapter 11 in the last novel as well? Hmm.

Anyway, one thing that might make it better is chocolate. For me, not the characters. I just read somewhere that chocolate is actually healthy in moderation because it raises endorphins, makes people happy, lowers their stress, or something like that. And maybe--just maybe--it inspires writers. I'll be happy to put that to the test. My favorite chocolate is produced by this company. It's better than any other chocolate I've ever found, and if it can't inspire me, I don't know what can.

Reading

During this little hiatus, I've been catching up on my reading. Currently, I'm enjoying Shirley Damsgaard's Witch Way to Murder. I've also been re-reading some of Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, and working my way through several books by Dion Fortune. One of these days, I'll post a list of the books I used when researching myth, folklore, magical/psychic practices, etc. for From the Ninth Wave.

Also, one of these days I'll post my playlist--the musical "soundtrack" I picked for Ninth Wave. Ambiance is important to me when I write, and sometimes picking out a song as the theme for a scene is my reward for finishing said scene. It's kind of fun, and then whenever I hear that song, I remember that scene, from that novel.

A Loss

Robert Jordan died Sunday. A quick google search will take you to his blog, where you can find the latest news and offer condolences if you wish.

In 1990, I moved to Idaho and was introduced to the Wheel of Time series by a friend. I was so young then--a twenty-something with something to prove. One of the things I wanted to prove was that I could write in his arena and give him a run for his money. Other authors emerged in the interim, as did new, revised goals for me. The important thing, though, is that in the intervening years, his example gave me a brass ring to aim for. A brass ring, and a lot of happy hours reading his books, trying to learn how it was done, or how a pro would do it. He'll be sorely missed. The gifts he gave readers and writers alike are invaluable--he went beyond mere fiction and into the realm of legend.

He was quoted as having said he'd keep writing until they nailed the lid shut on his coffin. It seems he was true to his word, writing at every possible opportunity, even through his last days. I stand sobered, humbled, and in awe. Blessings to him and to his loved ones. He was and always will be an inspiration.

Play Time

I figure I've got at least a couple weeks before I hear back about the rewrite of From the Ninth Wave (formerly Beyond the Pale), so while I can, I'm going to play.

My first love in writing was epic fantasy, and I still have half a book to write in order to finish the third book of my Oantran Triad. So while Bob's reading the UF rewrite, I'll be cranking out more scenes for Shifts of Perception. Here's my logic:

If Bob says Ninth Wave is ready to go out this time, then I'll need to start thinking about what new book I'm going to write next. I already have an idea for a second Brenna book, which of course will be UF like the first. If the rewrite's okay, then I should start doing my scene cards and figuring out an outline of events for the second Brenna book, just in case we get a nibble on the first one.

The first two books of the epic fantasy trilogy haven't sold, so the third book is dead in the water without a publisher's contract for the prior two. If Ninth Wave sells, then assuming it does okay in the market, the publishers are much more likely to want another Brenna book than to take a chance on the Oantran Triad. And if I'm suddenly busy (let's hope so!) cranking out Brenna books, then Shifts will never be finished--I won't have time for it. By the time I do have a chance to finish it, my voice might be different. I want the third epic fantasy to fit with the other two, so I need to finish it now, while I can still remember the characters' voices. And somewhere in there, if there's time, I'll go back and try to revise the first book one more time to see if I can get it shorter. I'm wondering whether its length is what killed it. Unless Bob hasn't told me about the brutal rejections, none of the publishers hated it. From what he said, many liked it but couldn't find a place for it. Just wasn't in the right place at the right time, I guess. That's the roulette wheel any book faces. Sometimes it's all in the timing, and if the timing just happens to be a day or even an hour wrong, it's a no go. So...if I want to finish Shifts, now's the time to do it. It's a narrow window, but I'll take it.

I had fun jumping back into it. I wrote half a scene last night from the villain's perspective, and my next will be from the POV of a different but good minor character. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to change POV characters with each scene. This'll be good, harmless fun to keep me from bouncing off the walls while I wait for the verdict on my rewrite.

Posted

The manuscript is finally off, as of this afternoon (Wednesday the 12th). I've been playing single mom for a couple of days while the Huz is out of town, but he gets back tomorrow (Thursday). Of course, we've had a very busy couple of days. What else could they be when I'm trying to mail off a manuscript?

This afternoon I dropped the girls off at their piano class and went to the post office to mail the package. There was no line. But I realized that I'd forgotten to include the cover sheet for the manuscript, and I still needed to figure out the final word count. The P.O. wouldn't let me purchase postage for the manuscript and then just come back and drop it off later. Apparently when it's over a certain weight, then they have to receive it in person, across the counter. (Why that doesn't apply to the self-service kiosk, I have no idea.) So I rushed home, did my word count, printed the cover sheet and hurried back to the piano class to pick up my kids. Then I dropped one of them off for a different class and hurried back to the post office to try again to mail the package. This time, there was a line--a long one. Of course. When I finally made it to the counter, the clerk encouraged me to save money by using a flat rate box. I could just rip my labels off the manuscript box I had and reattach them to the outside of the flat rate box, and it would save me about $7. I had no intentions of ripping the labels off and/or re-packing my manuscript. No freaking way. Usually, I care about saving money. Today, I'd just had enough hassle. Slap the Priority Mail label on my box, dang it, and shove it in the mail. I'm done. Just...done.

Bye, bye, nice manuscript. Make me proud.

Perceptions

We as readers will either demean or romanticize a character in our heads based on our very individualized impressions of said character no matter whether the writer envisioned the character the same way or not. I'm sure that for every fictional character ever created, there is a reader somewhere who, if they were to meet that character on the street in flesh and blood and living color, would say, "I thought you'd be taller."

I've recently had the chance to see this dichotomy from two different perspectives. The first was as the writer. For example, I found my main character (MC) to be completely sympathetic, and everything she did made sense to me. However, aside from the aforementioned skimpy emotional layer, one of my crit partners had some trouble with my MC when I made her less of a skeptic about magic. Seems like every time this particular crit partner tries to write fantasy, one or more of her characters ends up with a blaster gun instead of a wand. The lady is very down-to-earth, practical, and of a scientific bent. Her characters' magic usually takes the form of advanced tech, rather than actual mysticism. So she wasn't prepared for my character to accept the magic in my story as quickly as she did. She'd have rather seen my MC cling to her skepticism longer. My other crit partner tended to see one of my secondary characters as more of a jerk than I'd intended him to be. She even wanted me to change his language in a couple of places to make him meaner. If I'd done so, he'd have become closer to her image of him, but he wouldn't be the guy I envision him as. As always, I value the ladies' opinions very much and will alter details if I think the change is important to clarify or improve the plot or characters. But ultimately, the characters have to be who I need them to be for plot purposes, whether they completely fit a reader's ideal image of them or not.

From the reader's perspective, I've been lurking on a couple of other authors' message boards, and I've watched threads that ranged from heated discussions to out-and-out flame wars because the readers/posters had differing opinions on character motivations and personality traits. And many's the time I've heard someone say, "My gosh, that character's blond? I pictured him as having dark hair." We all do this type of thing. As readers, we just can't help ourselves. We form our impressions of the characters and then often cling to them despite what their fans, detractors, and even authors perceive them as. In short, it's the same way we form our impressions of friends, neighbors, and strangers. And then eventually a curious thing happens. Readers sort of "adopt" their perception of a character, so even if they hear that the character's creator sees him/her differently, readers will often continue to nurse their own vision of that character, as if in a sense, the character has somehow become theirs.

I think the tricky thing for a writer is to let go of the character and accept that your readers will read all sorts of traits into the character that you never meant to put there. And as a reader, it may be equally as tricky when you learn that the author never really liked your favorite character as much as you did, or that he or she in fact adores the one you love to hate. If anything, it makes me want to strive to be even more open-minded as a reader while still retaining my right to like or dislike another person's character as I see fit. And as a writer, I'll write them, dress them up and send them out the door knowing that someone somewhere is going to fall in love with my villain or hate my heroine's lover's guts.

New Opening

Okay, time to take off the kid gloves. I changed the opening of Chapter One--again. I hope that the new version will not only orient the reader just as well as it did before, but will connect the reader to Brenna's emotions right at the outset. Maybe if they can see just how much her trip to Ireland means to her, then they'll already be on her side when the **** hits the fan on page two. It didn't take much to change--just switched around her feelings about being in Ireland so we open with that feeling of connection and see that that feeling even eclipses her frustration at being lost in the dark. She's lost, but she's lost in Ireland. She isn't being bitchy, tired and put out. She doesn't like being lost, but as long as she's in Ireland, lost is a relative term.

Take that, hah! Me are a writer, dammit.

Ouch

Today was the Moxie meeting. The ladies brought me their crits of the manuscript, and none of it was anything irreparable. A few details here and there that are easily enough addressed. The only part not so easily addressed was not having a character the ladies could fully relate to.

Say, what? If my own crit group can't relate to my main character, that's bad. After the initial shock (NOW you tell me?) I went about figuring out what went wrong, where, and why. They say it's not that bad. They say they'd still happily buy the book even if it wasn't mine, and they'd read it more than once. But they wouldn't make the same choices my character does, they don't always jive with her take on life and her reactions to events, and apparently they failed to connect to her because I'd failed to put in one of the layers of emotional content found in the sequels to some of the action scenes. They felt distanced from her because she wasn't internalizing enough.

That's a tough one for me. I was trying to hone my craft a little. I know how to give a character an internal monologue and make her analyze what she's feeling. But this time I'd tried to do a little less internal monologuing and instead put more of her emotion in visceral, physical reactions. I could say "She was shocked." Or I could say, "She sucked in a breath, unable to do more than stare. Moments ticked by while she waited for the punched-in-the-gut feeling to pass."

Both convey the emotion of shock. The first one merely tells, while the second one shows. That's the kind of difference I was trying to achieve. Where you don't need to openly state the emotion because you show it in the character's physical reactions. If my heart rate speeds up, I doubt I'm perfectly calm. If my breathing changes or I clench my fist, shouldn't that give some clue as to what I might be feeling? I'd have thought so. But maybe I screwed up somewhere. If I did, I'll fix it.

I'll go through and edit in another layer of emotion where I can. It's possible I did truncate my sequels (or ends of scenes) a little too much. In trying to tighten up the middle, I left my character with scarcely a breath between scenes. But there are some definitely emotive moments, and I'm shocked (shocked, I say!) that those moments that seemed emotional and poignant to me failed to touch my friends.

I hate problems with a manuscript. I hate them, hate them, hate them. Especially when no one is able to tell me what to do to fix it. Every time I think it's fine, someone waits until the last minute to tell me its not fine. And I'm out of time. Maybe it'll never be fine. And maybe not fine is still pretty damn good. I don't know. Dang it.

Maybe we've all seen this manuscript one too many times. I need hot tea. I need fresh eyes. I need Bob to read the book and give me some clarity on it. Tonight, I'd go kill something if I thought I could get away with it. But then I'd hate myself in the morning.

Arrgh! Back to the drawing board.

Moving on....