Saturday Writers

My nine month old granddaughter, Alexa Reese, started walking this week.  I still am in awe of how fast babies learn and grow.  In less than one year she has gone from being a newborn infant who only knew to cry to get her needs met to feeding herself, communicating her feelings of unconditional love for her Mommy and Daddy to her delight for almost everything new she accomplishes.  It’s wonderful to watch and all of us are very proud of her. 

 The first of the year I turned in my writing goals to my writing chapter president.  Those goals came easy because I love writing and my dream is to be published.  All these goals will move me closer to accomplishing that dream.  At the end of next year the president will pull out the list and everyone in the chapter who reached their goals will receive awards if they reached those goals.  I reached all my goals last year and I’m looking forward to reaching them this year.  She made sure the goals we listed were goals we could control the outcome, goals we alone were responsible for attaining.

As for personal goals I had a hard time with these.  I came up with usual ones, losing weight and getting healthy, making more money.  I have some written on paper and some hanging on the wall in my office.  I can say as of almost the end of January I haven’t accomplished anything towards obtaining my personal goals.   I remember the passing thought of not making goals this year.  I remember thinking I could just be satisfied with the way I am and what I have.  After all, my life is comfortable.  I have pretty much everything I have ever really needed.  I have a good job, a nice house, a wonderful husband and family.  Then I saw my granddaughter walking.  I had to ask myself how could I take my life, health and time with my family for granted.  Just because I’m a grandmother doesn’t mean I’m that old.  I’m still healthy enough to exercise every day.  I still have many years ahead to accomplish lots of good things.  How could I just not care or even try to make a difference or believe I could make a difference in the way my life is lived?  I lectured myself, gave myself a pep talk, rewrote my goals and all I can say now is that I have eleven more months to accomplish them.  Thanks Alexa Reese.

I’ve never considered myself much of a “spiritual” person, but I do have a certain form of faith running through my veins.

I have faith that my vacuum cleaner will quit on me on the day I need to clean the house for guests arriving the next day.

I have faith that my car will get a flat tire soon after quipping that I haven’t had a flat tire in a while.

I have faith that I’ll get a big zit on the tip of my nose on the day I need to have professional – expensive – photos taken of me.

All sarcasm aside, there are things in which I hold strong beliefs – or faith. I believe in Fate, that things happen for a reason. 

It is this faith that caused me to sit up and pay attention when something happened in my life this week.

I was getting ready for work one day when a loud, glass shattering crash echoed through my tiny home. Searching room-by-room, I located the cause of commotion in my bedroom. A large glass framed painting had fallen from a closet shelf, landing on my bed and shattering into tiny – but potentially deadly – pieces. The very bed where I had, only minutes previously, been sleeping peacefully.

After carefully cleaning up the sharp shards of glass, I thought long and hard about why this had happened.

Clearly – in my mind - someone was sending me a message. An extreme way of getting my attention, but effective. What was on that shelf  immediately beneath the picture that possibly could have caused it to slide off?

My Quija board.

One simply does not ignore a message from one’s Quija board!

I only wish the message were more clearly defined. Thus, I’m left to interpret the message on my own, and I have a theory. Strangely enough, it relates to a story idea I’d been tossing around in my head for a while now.

The story involves a teenaged girl with the ability to see ghosts,  who inadvertently brings back an evil spirit while playing with a Quija board…in the back room of a funeral home…with a group of friends. The spirit makes his appearance by shattering the glass in all the paintings hanging in the room.

Freaky enough coincidence for you? It got my attention!

And why did it fall on my bed? I take it as a message to “put the story to bed” or finish it.

The message doesn’t end there. My dead father came to me in a dream last night. The dream was strange, disturbing, and confusing – as dreams can often be – so I looked it up in my dream interpretation book…every home should have one of these books.

Without going into too much detail about my dream, my book’s interpretation goes like this: I have choices available to me that will help me control my life but I am feeling constrained by a job that I hate but have to keep so I can pay the bills. I have a lot of hard work ahead of me, am impatiently waiting for something to happen and fear losing control of the direction my choices will take me.

Translation: I want to quit my hateful job so I can concentrate on getting this story (and many others) finished and published, but am living with the fear of failure.

WHEW! Pretty good, huh?

No wonder life as a writer has enormous appeal to me! I have imagination to burn, can put a creative spin on any situation, and firmly believe you need to pay attention to the messages life sends you. If you’re not listening, life will smack you up side the head to get your attention…or drop a sheet of glass on you and visit you in a dream!

Now…I’ve got a story I need to get to work on…

All day yesterday on Twitter, people were posting their thoughts with the hashtag #tenyearsago. They were remembering and highlighting where they were ten years ago and how their life had changed since then.

As a writer, I’ve come a long way in ten years. I wrote a lot of words in those years. I completed several NaNoWriMo novels. I participated in several online writing communities and real-life writing groups. I read many books on writing and applied them to my stories. I made new writer friends. I started a website about writing.

And in those ten years I learned a lot about myself and my writing. Some of the things I learned…

• Strong emotion can drive a short story. It’s actually one of the best inspirations for a story.
• Regular writing practice makes the words flow easier. Julia Cameron’s morning pages are a good way to incorporate daily writing practice into your life.
• There are two kinds of books published about writing – “How to” books on craft and books that motivate you to write. You can learn from both, but the best way to improve your writing skill is by just writing.
• If you push through to the end of a story, even one that you don’t like anymore, you can learn more from finishing it, then abandoning it for a new story.

How far have you come with your writing in the last ten years? What have you learned?

In a few days we’ll be tossing 2009 off like an old pair of shoes and slipping into 2010.  Blinded by all its shinny newness we forget you have to break it in, wear it a bit before it becomes comfortable.  We’ll even glance longingly at the old year, but there’s no going back.

This sudden feeling of nostalgia is brought on by a conversation I had with one of my co-Saturday Writers, Natalie.  We were discussing her latest work, something she’d written ages ago and decided to refine.  I’ll let her fill you in on the specifics, if and when she’s ready.

Just like time, stories evolve. Something once thought a lost cause can evolve into something workable.  My own longing for the past as well as my pack-rat habits have worked to my advantage.  Many of my failed starts and old research have evolved into my current work.

Disenchanted started out as an epic fantasy. My main character just wasn’t into the whole awe inspiring history I’d built or the breathtaking landscape I’d set the story in.  I won’t even mention her less than enthusiastic feelings toward the lack of modern conveniences.

I tried–I really tried–to make it work but it just didn’t fit.  There was no hope of breaking it in, making it comfortable.  I tried new viewpoint characters, but my original main just kept pacing around in my head.  I tried new ‘bad guys’ but she still wasn’t interested.  I tried new plot lines but she would just stand there checking out her nails.  I tried new settings but all she would do is lament about Iowa.  The day I caught her fiddling with another character’s hair was when it clicked.

“It’s about time you clued in,” she said.  “Write what you know.”

I was able to use most of my research and character notes.  Only two original characters survived, others were added or changed to fit.  The setting and basic plot were changed.  My epic fantasy became a contemporary fantasy.
This would have never been possible if I hadn’t kept the first attempts and all my research.  Natalie’s current work would never have become what it is if she had trashed the first story.

With 2010 right around the corner it’s time for something new, but don’t toss out the old.  As you begin breaking it in look back fondly at 2009 and hoard those memories and experiences.  You never know when you’ll have need of them.

So, recently I’ve jumped genres. Not just a little skip-type jump, but a long-jump type jump. Over a hurdle, across a body of water, onto a moving target. For the last __ years, I’ve written what I most enjoyed reading: romantic comedy, women’s fiction with a humorous tone, sometimes spy thriller stuff, but nothing angsty, nothing uber dramatic, rarely anything traumatic.

And then two months ago, BAM!!!! I got smacked upside the head with a plot that wouldn’t leave me alone. It wasn’t in a genre I’d ever really read, it was dark, it was twisty, it was at times even gross. I can’t stop working on it.

With this new project came a new need: first, information, about psychotic behaviors, mental conditions, criminal tendencies, police procedure. A secondary need, no less important, has been the knowledge that someone else out there has these twisty, dark, creepy, gross thoughts and they’re allowed – no, encouraged – to put them on paper; no one comes by with a one-way ticket to the “Are you a future ax murderer?” all-inclusive hotel.

I’ve found the answer to both my new needs in similar places: online communities. RWA’s Kiss of Death chapter is home to lots and lots of women who are having similar disturbing thoughts, so that was a great place to start. But I’ve also found non-membership-based resources, such as the CrimeWriter  Yahoo group. These ladies and gentlemen are there to do nothing but address “How would I…” “What if…” “Is this possible…” questions. Many have law enforcement backgrounds. One or two seem to be psychology-minded (is that redundant?). So far I’ve learned just by reading the answers to other’s questions. I know I have a lot of catching up to do, coming late to the suspense/thriller party, but this is the most fun I’ve had learning in a LONG time!

The lesson for me? Don’t hide from the dark side. Embrace it. Pick at it. Scrape off the scabs. See what’s around that next dark corner. As my plotting partner said, “This is the best thing I’ve read of yours, ever!” Maybe going where we think we shouldn’t go is the best thing we can do for our writing. Especially when we go there with such good company!

I am a NaNo Failure this year. Yep, I didn’t complete 50,000 words on my novel. I topped out at just over 12,000.

The reason I failed this year (after winning several years in the past) is because I had too many other projects of higher priority already going on in November.

I knew this when I started and still chose to sign up for NaNo. I was temporarily optimistic and somehow thought I would get it all done. I didn’t.

The smarter thing to do would have been to NOT sign up for another commitment. Not until I was actually ready to devote time to my novel. Because this novel deserves to be my number 1 priority. As does your novel.

Sure, you can write a novel in among a dozen other activities in your life, but it is hard. Hard to split your attention among so many priorities and hard to give your novel the attention it deserves.

My New Plan

I still plan to write my novel, but obviously it won’t be done in November. Instead, I’m going to borrow a page from Holly Lisle’s strategy book. She’s been writing a novel, a book of her heart, amid her other deadlines at the rate of 250-500 words a day. That’s only 1-2 pages. She’s deliberately taking it slow for a couple of reasons.

1. She has several other projects going on, including other book deadlines, so she can’t devote a solid block of time to getting this one special novel written.

2. She wants to demonstrate that you can complete a novel at a slow, steady pace. 250 words a day does add up to a novel over the long run.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

So that’s what I’m going to do. Set myself to writing 250 words a day on this novel. Even with so many other projects going on in my life, I can manage to write 250 words. If I already know what I’m going to write, that’s about 10 minutes of writing.

I can manage 10 minutes of writing each day. And so can you.

Care to join me?

We spend every Thanksgiving with my in-laws and I’m asked to bring turkey cookies.  No, they aren’t made with turkey, just decadent butter cookies shaped that way.  The mother-in-law claims it’s because the nephews ask for them.  In truth, it’s the adults I see nibbling at them throughout the day, especially my mother-in-law’s sister.  Last year she came clean, saying she looks forward to them, her guilty pleasure.

As I rolled out the dough, it got me thinking.  These cookies and fantasy have a lot in common.  Like the mother-in-law and the cookies, most people assume fantasy is just for kids.  Not all fantasy books are for children and adults can enjoy even those that are.  I’ll admit to loving many books geared toward young adult and juvenile.

I know being a geek is cool now days, but when I was younger reading fantasy or scifi pretty much torched your social life.  Trekkies and Tolkien fans were looked upon as a social caste all their own.  Even the lower echelons of high school society looked down on the readers of scifi and fantasy.  Funny thing is many of those same bashers had fired a laser or yielded a sword of power.  Like my mother-in-law’s sister and the cookies, those books were their guilty pleasure.

Both scifi and fantasy have become more mainstream over the years.  It’s okay to carry one around in your pocket or read them in public.  I have to say some of this acceptance is due to another bastard genre, romance.  Romance comes in many flavors.  It has introduced things like the paranormal or futuristic to readers who would have never picked them up otherwise.

If you look closely you will find touches of the fantastic in many genres.  You probably just didn’t recognize it at the time.  From scientific discoveries and futuristic settings to myth and lore, all veiled in the literary or mainstream.

As an example how many of you have read a book where the main character, a dead little girl tells her story?  To me this book borders on the fantastic but is shelved in mainstream.  What about all you Stephen King lovers?  Anne Rice?  Alice Hoffman?  How about Heather Graham or Nora Roberts?

Browse the shelves of your local library or bookstore.  It’s no longer contained, caged in one section.  Instead it’s spreading, giving readers what they want and need.  From a trip into the farthest reaches of the galaxy to sexy monsters and super heroes, an escape from reality even if it is just for three hundred pages.

Some will continue to hide these books behind paper bag covers or the guise of another genre, never admitting their trips to these other worlds.  But that’s okay.  Sometimes we need to keep things to ourselves, making it special.  A sweet escape from reality, our guilty pleasure.

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for all the authors who have made my not-so-guilty pleasure possible.

November is a month of thanks for me. Not because it’s the month of Thanksgiving but because of everything happening this month. I am participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. I am managing to stay close to where I should be on my word count. I am writing my first western romance and enjoying the story. My reward for finishing NaNoWriMo this year will be buying and reading books by one of my favorite authors, Lori Wilde. She has two new books out, Zero Control Harlequin Blaze and The Sweethearts’ Knitting Club Avon. I can’t wait to read them but not until after I finish NaNoWriMo.

I’m thankful for being able to spend a Saturday writing and doing research with my friends from Saturday Writers. We made a trip to Woodward Iowa to visit the library where one of the women in the group works. We did some writing, playing in the stacks of books and taking pictures. We also did some research on my western but that’s another topic I might cover some day. Somehow I think stud fees for bulls belong in an entirely different blog.

I’m thankful for another writers group I belong to, Two River Romance Authors. They are not only a group of writers who have the same goals and aspirations I do but they are also a group of friends. We spent a retreat weekend together writing. We reserved a hotel suite from Friday to Sunday, brought food, drinks and whatever we needed to write. We set up our laptops, put on our headphones, set the timer for 20 minutes at a time and wrote. Taking breaks between each twenty minute writing session to clear our heads or run ideas past each other, we helped our stories continue to flow. Some of us brought magazines and books to do research on stories or to get ideas for new ones. It was a great weekend and I managed to write 5,000 words towards my NaNoWriMo total. Watch for these authors to be published in the next year, Emma Robuck, Jordyn Meryl, Malynda McCarrick, Annette J. Freeman, C. Deanne Rowe, Hannah Harris and of course, adding more to bookstore shelves, our President Maggie Rivers.

One more thing I have to be thankful for is I found out this week I am going to be a Great Aunt. My niece Brigette and her husband Rey are going to have a baby. It will be the first child for the couple and also the first grandchild for my sister, Becky. Congratulations.

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with love, family and friends.

I get asked a lot – what do you write? And I hedge. Okay, so technically my genre is romance, but there are so many different categories of romance it’s hard to pigeon hole myself into any one specific area. So I don’t say romance. People look at you like you’re a freak if you say you write romance – and don’t even get me started on the list of stupid questions you get regarding  your subject matter and research materials.

I started out writing – what I called – contemporary. That is your normal every day story about boy meeting girl in modern days, struggling to get together through all the trials and tribulations of life, then living happily ever after.

I got bored with that real fast.

Then I decided I wanted to write romantic suspense. Boy meets girl, antagonist tries to kill girl, boy saves girl, they live happily ever after.

Okay, so there were only so many ways I could come up with a believable conflict in a contemporary setting to write romantic suspense. I kept writing about stalkers or old abusive relationships.

I got bored.

So what did I do next? I threw some ghosts into the mix. Hey, ghosts can be fun, right? You can’t pin down a ghost. Ghosts can be from the present or they can be from hundreds of years ago. A plethora of ghosts adds interest, depth and texture to the picture! Okay now this was getting exciting! And it can be funny if you have some ornery, bored ghosts in the story.

How fun! So then I told people I write paranormal romance. So I wrote one.

Okay, that was my ghost story. I can’t write about ghosts again. I’m bored.

What do I do now?

How about stick with paranormal but choose another avenue.

Now I’m writing about mystics. I’m not sure if it will be witches or psychics. That’s the beauty of revisions. I don’t have to decide right away, my story will evolve as I write it.  This has a lot of room to be creative,  as long as the details are believable - and it gives me the excuse to research! I love to research.

So for now, when asked, I will say I write paranormal…if I’m asked today…

What I’ll say tomorrow…who knows? I still need to explore a little before settling in to a niche. But for now, I’ll just enjoy the ride.

November has been dubbed National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) by Chris Baty, a writer from San Francisco. For 11 years, he’s sponsored an event for writers, challenging them to write a novel (50,000 words) during the month of November. Thousands of writers have taken him up on the challenge and participated through the NaNoWriMo website.

I’ve been a part of the challenges for several years and I’ve learned some things in the process that I’d like to share with you.

Challenge Yourself

Use NaNo as an opportunity to challenge yourself. You don’t have to adhere to the “50,000 words on a new novel” rule. It’s more of a guideline, than a rule. The point of NaNo is to challenge yourself–stretch beyond what you think you’re capable of.

• If you already have a story started, write 50,000 more words on it in 30 days.
• If you’re writing short stories, instead of novels, write 50,000 cumulative words on a variety of stories in 30 days.
• If your novel is done, edit 50 pages a day on it.
• If you’re submitting, send out 5 queries a day for 30 days.

Think of what you could accomplish under normal circumstances and then double your output for a month. You don’t have to keep it up forever, just for a month. See what kind of a kickstart that gives to your writing.

First Draft Freedom

NaNo requires fast writing. For many writers, 50,000 words in 30 days is really fast. You don’t have time to edit, to fuss with point of view, to layer your characters. You just write and get it down on paper.

As a writer who gets stuck in perfectionism, NaNo is a refreshing change for me. I can’t fuss over the first chapter for six months, getting the words just right. Instead, I have to throw something on to the page and keep going.

Now, mind you, I’m not deliberately throwing garbage on to the page and calling it my novel. No, I’m writing the story the best I can without self-editing during the process. Forward motion is my goal. I’ve come across several writers who feel that writing the first draft is necessary for you to figure out what story you’re actually telling. Then in the second draft (and subsequent ones), you shape the story to that vision. Since I know the story will change (possibly radically), then getting my first draft perfect isn’t necessary. It’s kind of useless, even, since I’m going to change it. So write fast and get to the end of your first draft so you know your story.

Help, My Plot Has Fallen and It Can’t Get Up!

One of my favorite “tools” I learned from NaNo is the plot ninjas.

Let’s pretend that you’re writing along on your novel and you start to realize that your characters have been sitting in a kitchen, sipping tea and chatting for the last 30 pages. Drinking tea in a kitchen is the kiss of death for a novel. Where’s the tension? Where’s the conflict? You need to get those characters moving and reacting to something.

Suddenly there’s a knock at the back door. Your main character answers the door and discovers ninjas who immediately start attacking him!

Now there’s tension and conflict in your story. Nobody stands passively by while ninjas are attacking.

Ninjas may not fit your genre, but you can adapt the plot ninja idea to other types of stories.

• If you’re writing a mystery, someone totally unexpected is murdered.
• In a romance, another man (or woman) shows up and claims to be married to your main character.
• In a scifi story, aliens attack or a nanite plague breaks out.
• In a crossover novel, the secret spouse of your main character’s love interest is murdered by aliens wielding nanites.

The only criteria for using plot ninjas in your story is that the ninja event be something unexpected and startling. Something that your characters must react to. Then they’re no longer in the kitchen drinking tea.

I’ve learned other things from participating in NaNo, but these are three biggies–enjoy the challenge, write freely in my first draft, and use plot ninjas to shake things up when my story has stalled.

What things have you learned from NaNoWriMo?

I’ll be participating in NaNo again this year. If you’d like to follow my progress, add me as a Writing Buddy.