It's Steelers Week!

So I had been planning a followup post to my very first Ravens game and professional football game in general, but after suffering through that dismal performance in Jacksonville, I didn't feel up to it.

After yesterday's comeback win against the Arizona Cardinals, while still disappointed with our inconsistent play, at least I feel a little more confident going into the Steelers game Sunday night.

Given that nanowrimo starts tonight at midnight, and I want to get a good jump on it this first week, I thought I'd make an early post about the game.

So I am by no means an expert in football, but I have a few of the ever-popular "keys" to the game. We know that the Ravens defense is amazing and the offense has a lot of potential, but the Steelers offense right now is playing at a more consistently high level, so most of these deal with the offense.

1. Run the ball successfully. A lot. The Steelers have a great defense, but right now their pass defense is strangely enough a better this season. And we have Ray Rice, who can make something out of what looks like nothing. Running the ball lessens the chance for turnover and has the potential of running a lot of time off the clock while the Steelers offense is off the field.

2. Get Joe Flacco into a good rhythm early. Yesterday we saw Joe play very well out of the shotgun (don't ask me what that actually means…seriously) and with a "sugar huddle." I don't know if we need to do either of those things right off the bat, or just get a few short completions in whatever formation to start, but getting his confidence and rhythm going early should help with possible longer passes later.

The run and the pass can feed off each other. If that can happen, I think we can be dangerous.

3. Rack up the sacks. And hits. And hurries. We are great against the run and Big Ben and the Steelers are becoming more and more pass focused. If we can get to him and disrupt his rhythm, we can neutralize some of their effectiveness as an offense. But as always we need to beware of his ability to extend and make a big play.

4. CUT DOWN ON MISTAKES AND PENALTIES!!!!!! The offense especially (but all phases have been guilty) of making stupid mistakes, not focusing and committing penalties. How many false starts did we have Sunday at home? Penalties will kill a drive. They will make the opposing offense's job that much easier and have huge impact on field position. This is something that really needs cleaned up. I don't expect the Ravens to play perfectly, but they need to be focused and smart.

4b. Protect the ball. It's possible that the team with the fewest turnovers will win the game. No fumbles. No interceptions. 

Honorable mention: Protect Joe Flacco. The reason this is not one of my keys is that I'm not sure our O-line is capable of protecting Joe for sustained, long periods of time. That's why running the ball and getting the ball out quick is so important, it lessens the pressure on the line, who will be facing the crazy blitzes and the serious pass rushers of the very solid Steelers D.

Pounding the ball, getting Joe in rhythm so shots down field will have a better chance of being successful, and keeping the Big Ben in check so the game remains close is what i think we need to do. This might be obvious to some, but keys to the game usually are.

Whatever the game plan turns out to be, hopefully it turns out to be an epic, hard-fought game. GO RAVENS!!!!!!        

Breakthrough

The breakthrough I had last week really helped me move forward with my outline. I concentrated on what was happening with the villain's perspective. I started with what was going on behind the actions he had already taken within what I had already written and also moved his plans forward, which really helps me add complications for Dakota in the next part of the book.

I also made plans to change some things within what was already written to tighten things up. By tightening up what I really mean is connecting more things together. Whatever I can do to make elements of the plot and different characters overlap and weave together makes the story that much better, in my opinion.

So I have what the villain is doing mapped out, but not much about what Dakota will be doing beyond some broad threads. Next step: break these broad threads into possible scenes. Once I do that I can move them around and see what order seems to work best and weaves everything together the best way. I can also look if there are any that can serve double duty (be combined into one scene instead of two). Scrivener is a great tool for this.

Finally, once November rolls around next week, I can actually start writing the scenes. Actually I could start writing now since I'm not starting at the beginning of a story--as long as I don't count the words toward my nanowrimo total--but I want to save the wordcount for November so I can get as close to 50k as possible, so even if the book doesn't end up being 100k, I'll still be in pretty good shape to win.  

Getting from here to there

After two posts about sports I thought I'd better get something about writing up. So nanowrimo is coming up fast and I'm starting to get a little worried. The same problems that have plagued since I stopped writing this novel after nanowrimo last year are still issues. I'm not sure how to get from where I am to where I want to go. In other words, I know how the book ends, but what happens next is a little fuzzy.

I've brainstormed about it a couple times and it's starting to work itself out, but it's slow going and I don't have a lot of time left before November. Still, I'll be stuck on a plane this weekend so maybe I'll make some progress then. I'm also thinking about working through some of the Breakout Novel exercises appropriate for this stage of the process.

What do I mean by brainstorming? Basically I'm ask myself a lot of questions. A lot of it can be repetitive because I like to lay the foundation again and again as I decide things and then ask more questions to build on that. From that I frequently think of random points that impact other aspects of the story and make leaps of intuition that help me solve my problem (especially after coming back to my thoughts after taking a break). For example, I've been working on figuring out how the magic behind the villain's actions works, so I can get my climax figured out. After a day or two break, I came back to my notes and realized something that can really help tie everything together.

I'm looking forward to being trapped on a plane this weekend. Hopefully I can get a lot of work done. I need to figure out how to do more work on my droid phone and be able to sync it up with scrivener, although I'll probably keep quite a bit of what I do in my notebooks.

Maryland Madness: Players don't change

I meant to put up a post sooner after the event, but I think I had to let my thoughts settle a bit. I had the awesome opportunity to go to UMD's Midnight Madness event with my brother Friday night and we had a great time. Here are my completely random thoughts about the experience.

1. For those of you who don't know, the whole midnight madness phenomena was started at Maryland by Lefty Dreisell 40 years ago.

2. Why didn't someone tell me Gymkana was competing on America's Got Talent? I would have watched and voted. From what I saw of the clip shown, they looked beautiful and amazing! Congrats to them.

3. Apparently, just like all-star games, defense is not required for these alumni games.

4. I believe Lynetta Kizer (women's team) has developed into a seriously well-rounded player from the time she started here. In my admittedly amateur viewpoint (and judging only from a scrimmage), she looks scary-good.

5. That Alex Len kid is insanely tall. I hope he makes it through waivers.

6. I reserve judgement on the men's team until I can see them actually play.

And finally, what actually struck me most is how much players don't change. They are who they are, I guess. Although given that that there was no defense, perhaps it's foolish of me to judge. Still, Vasquez still chucks up shots like there's no tomorrow, Byron Mouton still has a motor that never quits, Chris Wilcox is still extremely gifted athletically (but perhaps lacking in focus) and Steve Blake still distributes the ball before looking for his own shot. I wish Juan Dixon hadn't missed his plane. It was awesome seeing them all again especially Blake (probably my favorite Terp ever) and GV, who almost gave us a shimmy.

So we meet again

Veteran Mason seeking fresh start with Texans

This week former Raven Derrik Mason was traded to the Texans from the Jets. It will be interesting to see if he can make a go of it there after a rocky stay in New York. Although I have mixed feelings, I wish him well (just not this week against us).

As a frequent listener (and by frequent I mean every day on my way to and from work) of 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore, I listened to Mason every week of the season during his segment on Norris and Davis so I'm relatively familiar with him and he's a good guy.

So here's my mixed feelings:

1. He's a good guy, dependable receiver and leader in the locker room, but perhaps his voice was too strong. His catches did go up after the incident with Joe on the sidelines last season. And honestly, I just don't want to see anyone, especially one of our own players, grab our quarterback's facemask for any reason!

2. He plays like a Raven. He played with one arm, for a time he was our only legit receiver and he's the Raven's all time leading receiver (12th in NFL history), but his career can't last forever and he doesn't have that element of speed that we've been lacking to go with Joe's arm. It's too bad that we had to let him go, especially since he's still hunting that ring the Ravens have a chance at this season, but it opened the door for Lee Evans and Torrey Smith--I can't wait to see what they can do in tandem with Boldin.

3. Like I said, I wish him well in Houston, but the Jets? Come on! Really? We probably won't ever know if Derrik turned down a pretty good offer from the Ravens to come back after being cut or if the Ravens just didn't pursue him hard, but despite some rockiness on offense so far, I don't think anyone can doubt that the Ravens made the right decision. In Ozzie we trust!

So good luck, Mase. I hope this fresh start works out better than the last one, but this week... GO RAVENS!!! Maybe Kruger will tug your leg again. :-)

Willpower and Creative Process

[I actually wrote this over a year ago at a point when I thought I was going to start posting again. I pulled it out to see if I could use it now and I was surprised at myself... I think I did pretty good on it. Too bad I wasn't able to remember most of my own advice this year. Enjoy!]


Thanks to Nathan Bransford for writing such a great blog post and inspiring me enough to devote a whole entry to my thoughts on the subject.  There are also quite a few awesome and insightful comments.

In his awesome blog entry, Nathan Bransford talks a little about people’s misconceptions about the writing process and how non-writers (or aspiring writers who haven’t actually tried to write yet) think that all you need is a great idea and then whoosh! Type type type in an inspired and flowing burst of energy and creativity. Bam! Your novel is complete.

Um, no. That’s not how it works.

The idea is only the very first step. And inspiration is a fickle mistress. Writing only when inspired is a recipe for 1. Never finishing or 2. Finishing, but ending up with a disjointed mess (this I learned from personal experience).

This brings us (and Nathan) to willpower. The only way to finish a novel at all, let alone one in I-can-work-with-this-condition is to write. And that takes willpower. Some days the words flow easily, a scene feels like it’s practically writing itself or sleep is avoided not because of reading a good book, but because of writing one! But those days aren’t every day. I wouldn’t necessarily say they are even every week. In fact, they may only occur two points in the writing process: the beginning when everything is still new and exciting and the end when everything is rushing toward a climax and THE END is near.

Most days it’s easy to procrastinate. The words don’t come easily. In fact it’s almost painful to pull them out and onto the page. Finding the willpower to keep writing on these days, consistently, is why writing is hard.

To quote Nathan again: If writing is always fun you may be doing it wrong.

However, even on days that are hard, if I sit and write at the computer long enough, the words do start to come more easily (usually when I hit the conflict of whatever scene I’m writing), but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, the whole time I’m writing every sentence is a struggle (and not because I’m trying to get them perfect—I’m never in any danger of having perfect sentences!).

Welcome to being a writer—where actually writing is the only job requirement.

(Being a published writer is a whole different thing, one that I haven’t figured out yet.)

It's Been Awhile

I haven't been posting here the past couple of years, but I hope to chronicle my experience with NaNoWriMo this year. I've been meaning to do that for the past few years, but never quite managed it.

What is NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month. 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. That's not quite long enough word count for most novels (especially fantasy), but actually great for young adult.

How have I done in the past? I've been a winner (ie I made it to 50k words) for the past three years. Yay me! However, the second year I rewrote the first year's novel in first person POV instead of third so I'm not sure how much anyone should really credit me for that one! And it still needs some major revisions--deciding to add two new characters will do that.

So what's the plan for this year? So last year I started a new fantasy novel with mystery/thriller elements, regency-type manners and a clash of cultures. It follows a lost prince (after he's been found) as he navigates the treacherous waters of court while unraveling a series of mysterious deaths. I got to 50k words, but right after that I got stuck and I haven't done much since then. I've got a lot of threads coming together and am having a hard time figuring out how to tie them all together. To finally answer my own question: I will attempt to write the rest!

I think it will turn out to be more difficult for me than starting at the beginning of something. But what I do NOT need is another semi-finished or semi-polished manuscript. I need to work on what I have and get them ready to submit! Hopefully next year I'll be at a point where I can start something new again.  

So wish me luck and check back for updates.

Dire Straits of Publishing Industry

The publishing industry has not been able to escape the consequences of the financial crisis and slow-down of the economy. As a prospective author, I keep tabs on what is going on and have found the following posts to be very informative.

Literary Agent Nathan Bransford has a good overview of what is going on and the easiest solution: Buy New Books!

Moonrat of the Editorial Ass blog has an even more detailed explanation of what’s going on.


So I’ve been meaning to follow their advice and buy books, but being that is November and National Novel Writing Month, I have been trying to avoid temptation. But Borders had a buy 1, get 1 50% off sale earlier this week and I couldn’t resist. I bought four books that are not all on my to be read list once NaNo is over.

These are the books I bought in my effort to single handedly help save the publishing industry:

Fortune and Fate by Sharon Shinn

Shinn is one of my favorite authors and I usually by everything (adult) that she writes. I promise that I will look into her young-adult fiction soon. This is another book in the Twelve Houses series, which started with Mystic and Rider, about a country wracked with internal division focusing on magic users, called Mystics. Great fantasy with a hefty dose of romance.

Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Curse Tor and their free e-book giveaways! Earlier this year Tor gave away a free copy of the first book in this series and as was their intention, hooked me! I’m excited to see how the characters will dig themselves out of the hole that they have found themselves in. Great plot twists in this series.

Risen Empire: Succession By Scott Westerfeld

I read Westerfeld’s young adult series with Uglies, Pretties and Specials, which had great world building and truly human characters. I am excited to read the first in his adult science fiction series. I read somewhere that it’s great space opera.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks By E. Lockhart

This I mainly bought because it was recommended on her blog by a young adult author that I enjoy, Ally Carter. It was also nominated for a National Book Award in the young adult category. The jacket copy intrigued me, so I decided to go ahead and get it. And the cover is pretty awesome too!

So, once my own new novel is finished, I’ll have plenty to read!

Theater, Theater and More Theater

It's been a long time... Recently, my main activity outside of writing and work has been theater. I'm about to start rehearsals for my 4th show of 2008. It's a record! I've never done more than three shows in a calendar year before (and that was back in 2002 when I wasn't really working).

It's sometimes hard to do show while working full-time, especially when tech week rolls around, but it's always worth it, not only for the excitement of performing and the pride of a job well done, but for the friendships that are made (or renewed), the learning experiences and, of course, the chance to sing.

It is true that at times my writing/revising output may fall while doing shows. But during this time, while doing three shows, I finished a complete, from scratch, beginning to end rewrite of my very 1st novel Reluctant Mage and I'm almost through my 1st edit before I get beta readers to try it out.

In general, I'm always happier when I'm busy. The semester when I received the highest gpa in undergrad was one where I took 22 credit (including two for accompanying a musical). I was incredibly busy, but also happy--and more productive in everything that I did. The fact that I was dating someone helped keep me busy and happy, but it's definitely the busyness and feeling productive that more consistently contributes to my well-being. Guys are so unreliable, you know. Obviously, you can't depend on them to help make you happy. :-)

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be a part of The Sound of Music with Rockville Musical Theater, directed by Duane Monahan, who directed me in Nine. I'm a nun, so I'll get to do a lot of choral numbers--in latin!--which reminds me of college, so I'm excited about that.

So here's to a busy and productive and delightful fall.

Why Dumbledore being gay does and does not matter

There were so many emotions running through me when I first read this the other day that I can't remember what came first. I was surprised and felt a little consternation (er, wait, what?) at first, but what lasted was delight. This explains so much!

I guess it occurred to me that there would be people who would use this as further ammunition against J.K. Rowling and the books, but it wasn't until after I read some of the comments at cnn.com like my friend suggested in his blog about the subject that I realized how upset people were.

Now, I'm not going to respond to the people who would be shocked and morally offended by any character, especially in a children's book, who is gay. There is nothing I can say that will affect how they feel about the subject. I am sorry if this will prevent some parents from letting their children or future children read the books, but I hope those who truly want or need to read Harry Potter will find him somehow.

There were a couple other reactions as well. One was why does it matter? Another was variations on the theme: if it was really important, she would have/should have included it in the story and is therefore only revealing it now to make money/stir up controversy.

As an aspiring writer I tend to look at things I've read differently, so I do have an answer to these points. This is of course, just my opinion and I have no window into Rowling's mind and I could be completely off base, but this is how I see it. And also it's been several months now since I read the 7th book for the second time so it has faded a bit from my memory.

1. It DOES matter. Why? Because it is part of who, as a character, Dumbledore is. I do not for one second believe that Rowling did not have this planned out from the beginning (or at least from whenever she knew that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had been friends at one point). It's not something she has tacked onto the end now just because she could. I'm sure as an integral part of who Dumbledore is, this facet of his life was filtered through everything she wrote about him. It just wasn't necessarily visible to us (or Harry--more on that later). The fact that he was gay and in love Grindelwald explains so much about what Harry and we all found out about him in the Deathly Hallows. I have to admit that although I still respected and admired Dumbledore, I was disappointed in his actions as a younger man. I was sympathetic, but I, like a lot of readers, I think, had put Dumbledore on a pedastal and I wanted him to live up to my expectations, even after he was dead. I was disappointed that he could speculate on the Hallows and the power they could bring with this foreign wizard, disappointed that he let it go so far that it would cause his sister's death and disappointed that when he saw Grindelwald amassing power, it took Dumbledore so long to confront him. Now we do know. He had fallen in love that summer, with all the passion and abandon of the young. I don't know why it relieves me so much, but it does. I guess it's because I didn't find Dumbledore's actions understandable before (despite his explanations to Harry--or is that Harry's subconscious projection of what Dumbledore would have said in that weird little afterlife?). Anyway, now I do find everything understandable and therefore less disappointing. I guess I'm a romantic. :-)
   
2. Despite the importance to Dumbledore's character and all the revelations about him and the Elder Wand in the 7th book, it DOES NOT matter. Why? Because it doesn't matter to Harry and it's Harry's story. There is a reason why the books are called Harry Potter and the such and such. Except for a very few exceptions, the books are told from Harry Potter's perspective. I think by the time Rowling sat down to write the first book, she knew the whole background of all her major characters and quite a few of her more minor ones. Some of that is integral to those characters. We all have things that happen to us, people that we meet, that are of primary importance to who we are today. But if we are a minor character in someone else's story, no matter how important that event/person is to us, doesn't mean it matters in the story. This is one of those times. For the majority of the series, no matter how Dumbledore was shaped by his sexuality and how it related to "his great tragedy" in terms of Grindelwald, it didn't matter to the STORY, HARRY'S STORY, to what was happening at the time. Did it matter that Dumbledore was gay when Harry first came to school and then learned all about Voldemort and the Sorcerer's Stone? Did it matter when the Chamber was opened? Did it matter when Dumbledore and Voldemort battled in Order of the Phoenix or when he was mentoring Harry in Half-Blood Prince? No. It didn't. It didn't have any bearing on the story at all. Harry didn't even wonder about Dumbledore's family until forced to in the 7th book.
   

To sum up. I suppose if Rowling had managed to give Harry away to find out along with everything else in the 7th book, she could have done that. It would have been nice to know when learning about Grindelwald and his sister and everything. But I think it would have been a difficult thing for Harry to find out and really, compared to everything else that was going on, very unimportant.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

World Fantasy, Here I Come

After a couple months of dithering, I have finally officially registered and paid up to attend this year's World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York. As this convention is more geared toward professionals than newbies, I doubt there will be much on how to get published or changes to meet agents in pitch sessions or anything like that. Instead there will be panels on different literary topics, lots of published authors and publishing professionals around and books galore. At least that's what I think it will be like. The theme this year is ghosts, which isn't that relevant to my work, but perhaps I will be inspired to write something. I've gotten ideas from stranger places. :-) I'm hoping to enjoy the atmosphere, meet interesting people and talk about books.

I'm still waiting to hear that my hotel reservations will be confirmed, but hopefully they will call me soon. I put my credit card number in and everything, so if I don't get word soon, I'll have to call them, which will not make me happy.

I signed up to go to the awards banquet and have added almost all the nominees to my booksfree.com list. It will take some work to read them all before the convention, but I'd like to at least be informed about one category. I'll probably have to buy some of them, since booksfree isn't really good at sending me books in the exact order I want to read them. But that's ok. They've all been nominated, so they should be really good, right? I might do a post on my pre-read impressions and then maybe follow-up with post read impressions. Definitely be on the look-out for a post or two about my experiences at the WFC.

Speaking of Young Adult novels...

I read a series of young adult novels not too long ago that I absolutely LOVED! I read the series pretty much two times in a row, the first book three times (the last time I mapped out the first book's plot on note cards) and I had to force myself not to keep reading them! I felt like I was going through withdrawal when I stopped. lol.

The books are (drum roll please!)...Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer! These books inspired and absorbed me so much that not only did I go back to my first novel (which will probably be considered young adult), but I had an idea for a young adult forbidden love story with fantasy elements as well. I'm really excited about it, but I can't talk about it yet as I don't even have the world/magic background worked out, let alone characters or story. Stephenie Meyer has said she had the idea in a dream and so the characters and world and heart of the story came to her all at one time. I'm not so lucky this time, but I think if I can figure some things out, it will be a good world with plenty of potential angst to explore. :-)

I also read another book (this one dealing with fairies rather than vampires) that has also gotten some buzz that I've seen on the Internet (i.e. I have heard of the book--that's why I read Twilight, I kept seeing posts about it on agent's or author's blogs). It's called Wicked Lovely. I didn't like it quite as much as the Twilight series but it was still good. :-) And isn't that cover beautiful?

My Marla book (the young adultish) novel that I'm working on doesn't have a love story--at least not yet; the second book in the series should start developing some of that--and isn't atmospheric like these and it also doesn't take place in the real world, but I'm still enjoying working on it, although I have come to a pause for the past week or two. My real job got in the way. lol. Anyway, I had some ideas with the plot that should really tighten it up. I'm forever saying that. I wish I could come up with a plot and STICK to it! Hopefully, I'll gain that ability as I grow as a writer.

I miss my Veronica Mars!

So I THOUGHT I was recording Veronica Mars all summer so I could re-watch the third season this fall, but apparently, the DVR was set only to save 3 episodes or something, so no luck. This leads me to the first item on my Christmas List--normally non-existent except for vague things like clothes is good, or gift cards for books :-)--the first three seasons of Veronica Mars on DVD.


The picture is for the Season One and Season Two set, but here is the link for the set including all three season, which doesn't have an image yet. Veronica Mars: The Complete First Three Seasons.

So now I've watched the first three or so episodes of the third season and I only have two more (and the Season Three 2-episode finale) saved. I have no idea how it got screwed up, but my episodes will surely end in the middle of a Veronica/Logan breakup, not to mention before the rape case is solved! But I guess since the whole series ends with similar unanswered questions... ah well. And I have seen them all before.

I've been boycotting the CW even though Kristen Bell narrates Gossip Girl and that Reaper show seems kind of interesting. I may not have been able to resist listening to Kristen's perfect snarky voice, but the prospect of seeing her on Heroes (hopefully soon!) has given me the necessary willpower. :-)

And as to the question of whether Veronica Mars of Buffy the Vampire Slayer would make the best Gallagher Girl? Veronica Mars! No question. (But I may be biased considering that I never watched Buffy.) Go to this blog if you want to know what I'm talking about. Ally Carter has written a totally cool young adult series about a secret spy school for girls. Or just buy the first book: I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You.

Simple Pleasures

I've been thinking recently about the simple pleasures of life. Do we take a moment to stop and really enjoy them? Isn't it these moments that add richness and texture to our lives?

Here are some of mine:

1. Caramel Apple Cider (yes, with whip cream and toppings) from the Seattle's Best Cafe in my local Borders. This treat is pure heaven! I find myself craving it even though it's summer. Every time I had one, I took my first sip and sighed with pleasure. I would go and write just to give myself an excuse to have one. :-)
2. The song "Flying" from the soundtrack of the movie Peter Pan that came out a few years ago with Jason Issacs (a.k.a. Lucias Malfoy) as Captain Hook. This song is AWESOME! I feel like I'm flying whenever I hear it and it never fails to make me smile. The whole soundtrack is great, but this is my favorite song. And the movie is great too. Check it out, if you haven't seen it. Jeremy Sumpter (Peter Pan) is a heart-throb waiting to happen. His mischievous smile was perfect for the boy who never grows up.
   
3. The scent of the crab apple tree in front of my house when it's in full bloom. The tree always blooms around my birthday, so it's like an extra present. :-) This year it only lasted a few days and I didn't get a chance to enjoy it as much as I wanted. I'll do better next year.
   

Those are some of my simple pleasures. What are some of yours? Enjoy!

Perils and Pitfalls of Plot

It's been a long time, but I'm back with a topic that I'm excited about. Plot.

Plot is essential for any book, even literary ones. But my novel (yes, I'm still working on it) isn't literary, so it's supposed to have a great plot. I think i started with a great concept and a plot that worked ok in my mind before I finished writing it, but somewhere between the middle and the end it died. And I was having a hard time figuring out how to fix it.


Enter a writing book. I've read lots of writing books, but not so many about plot. So, I bought Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell and it was great. It stimulated my imagination and I've worked through some issues in my book using the concepts that he laid out, and I think it's much better. He has examples from both commercial and literary fiction, but the commercial side is heavy on the thriller/suspense/horror novel. That was the only fault I had with the book, I would have liked to see examples from a wider range of genres.

Bell's book helped me figure out that I had two main problems. First, there was nothing really compelling my protagonist to the climax, she was just going because I needed her to to finish the book. There were reasons, but nothing so essential that her choices felt like there was no other choice. Second, the conflict between my protagonist and my antagonist was not direct enough, not central enough to the story. It was there, but not at the forefront. So I redid my plot, scene by scene on notecards, changing things and hopefully making them better.

The core of Song of the Prophecy is still the same, but I was able to solidify and tighten everything--well that's what I think will have happened when I finished my rewrite. I'm hoping to be able to send it out to agents in the fall and I now don't think that's an unrealistic goal!

Wish me luck!

QUESTION: James Scott Bell, says there are three types of plotters: outline people, no outline people and people who are somewhere in the middle. In the past I've been in the middle, but I think I may become a more pure outliner in the future. Which type are you?

Daydreams about the new house

I spend a lot of time daydreaming about my new house and what I'll do in all the different rooms to make it suit me perfectly. One of the rooms I'm having the most trouble with is office. First I don't know if I'll be able to use a third bedroom (a lot of the third bedrooms that I've seen are just too small and only suitable to become a large walk-in closet--which would be fun, lol!) or if it will be in the basement or have to be combined with the guest room or dining room. So that's part of the problem. I can't really decide anything until I know the room's situation.

But even when I think about an ideal situation (which I think would be a large bedroom), I still have trouble. There are some things I know. I'd like to have room for a chaise lounge as well as a desk/work table and bookshelves. I also know I want to put cork on one of the walls to make a super large bulletin board for notes, ideas and inspiration. I don't know what colors I want it to be either. I really like some marble paper that I found at papermojo.com when I was working on my MFA book project, but they're out of stock now and apparently the line is being discontinued. The only other place I can find it online you have to buy 15 sheets for $50. Which unless I want to paper a wall with it, is more than I would use to hang up and use for inspiration for the color scheme. Actually I did think about papering the wall with it, but I can't find my sample at home and I don't know how it would look. Each page is unique so there is no regular pattern to match up. Anyway, the colors in that paper were that really fresh green you see around. I've heard it called celadon, but I'm not sure it's that exactly (again, I lost my sample) and I don't think it's quite a lime color either. Then the green had a swirl of pink running through it. And I'm sure there were other shades of color that I can't remember now. So I'm stumped. I'm afraid to pick out a green like that without inspiration just because that group of colors is so tricky. I don't want to end up with a pukish color or a neon color.

But ultimately what I'm going for is a room that will inspire me to write and I can also use for book crafts. That is a skill that I don't want to lose and would perhaps like to develop. (even if it is expensive). I suppose I shouldn't even call it an office, since that's not really it's purpose. It's more of a creative room. I think I'm going to try and have another space for all my bills/financial/health etc stuff anyway. Keep that negative clutter (I find it negative and overwhelming anyway) somewhere else. Since I have a laptop that should be feasible. I can have a little desk and file cabinet tucked away in the living room or dining room.

Ok. Enough about that room. The next room I was most obsessed with was my bedroom. I wanted to paint a grid of four squares in different shades of blue on the wall behind the bed (I saw that done on some design show) and I was having trouble picking out the colors. But I found a bookmark with three different shades of aqua and blue on it and so I have those colors basically picked out. I'm still searching for the perfect bedspread. I'm going to invest in new bedroom furniture, including a queen-sized bed (yay!), which I know will be dark wood with simple lines, possible a sleigh bed or something similar. I've also decided after seeing some different comforters online, specifically one of Ty Pennington's from Sears, to use chocolate brown as an accent color. So I've actually found a bedspread that's mostly chocolate with a some light blue/aqua threaded through that might work, but of course I can't buy it until I know for sure and I'm not sure it matches yet anyway.

So since I almost have my bedroom figured out, I've now decided to obsess about the kitchen as well. Most of the places I've seen have tiny kitchens, which bothers me because I want to be able to cook. If I don't cook, I know I'll eat a lot of junk and takeout. But I have to like my kitchen. I have to enjoy it. Well, I think I do. I cooked the other night when our kitchen at home was a mess, so maybe I'd be ok. Anyway, if it's nice and updated with new stuff, that's fine. If it's not that's ok too, because that will give me the opportunity to tear it all out and put it new stuff. And I should actually be able to afford it if I use Ikea. And I read in Consumer Reports that Ikea is up there in the ratings. I wouldn't get a couch from them, but bookshelves and kitchen cabinets? Definitely.

My final problem is that I have this nice picture frame and pillow that my previous boss gave me for my birthday in this great dark purple color that I want to use somewhere and I just haven't figured out where they would fit yet. The pillow has muted gold stitching on it and the picture has beige ribbon and pink buttons.

Enough rambling about all that for now. I'm sure I'll figure it all out anyway.

Distractions galore!

I haven't touched my writing recently (not since Labor Day weekend) and while that's disappointing to me, I have still been thinking about SotP (Song of the Prophecy) and I think I'm working things out in my subconscious. I hope I am; otherwise this incredibly long break I've had has no excuse!

Anyway, I've found some new things to be distracted by. Some of them I think are legitimate, while others aren't and I should attempt some discipline.

1. House hunting
   Yes, I'm looking to buy a house or a townhouse. I was promoted to a full time position at work, which barely allows me to afford something in the city. The problem is finding something in a suitable neighborhood. Living by myself will be an interesting experience, considering the fact that I don't like to do dishes or laundry or clean really in any way. lol. BUT I do like to cook sometimes, so that is good. I also like to look at a number of distracting things on line such as: house listings, furniture, paint colors, bedding, Ikea kitchens, decorating advice etc. etc.
   
2. New Television Season
   What is more addictive than Grey's Anatomy? Anyway that's my favorite show I think. Other returning shows that I love include: Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars and House. Other returning shows that I like include: ER, Bones, L&O: SVU and NCIS. My favorite new show is Studio 60 (please watch so it doesn't get cancelled, it's awesome!) I also love Heros. They come on back to back. How cool is that? I've also been watching: Friday Night Lights, The Nine, Brothers and Sisters and Standoff. Can you way WAY TOO MUCH TV??? I can! I watch WAY TOO MUCH TV!!! And it's even easier now that the big networks have their shows online for free (although Fox does not--boo! and neither does CW, which isn't surprising).
   
3. booksfree.com
   I have always been addicted to reading. I haven't updated my books read list for a while, but trust me it's now a lot longer. This year I've spent so much money on books I don't even WANT to know how much it is. So joined this service that is similar to Netflicks, except that it is for books. You pay a monthly fee and you can check out up to four books at a time, but you can receive and send them back as many times as you want per month. They ship in groups of two so there's a little bit of lag time if you're not careful, but so far it's worked well for me. I think I read six or seven books in October. Anyway, except for the fact that, despite the list that you keep, you can't really control what book you get when (don't put the 2nd book in a series on your list until they've mailed you the 1st), I've been enjoying it. I think I'll read books I might not have read otherwise with this service.

So there you have it. My top three distractions. But not to worry; I had a new idea for a character (I can't believe I actually started with a character) just the other day. My brain isn't creatively dead, it's just resting or something. I think the drive to work on SotP will come back soon enough.

Do you see all the books I've read?

Am I a bookaholic or what? Listed to the side are the books that I've purchased since the beginning of the year. This does not include any books that I have re-read. For example, I read the first two Naomi Novik books twice, I re-read Patricia Bray's Devlin series, and I'm pretty sure I've re-read a couple of other things in there as well.

My intention when adding this list to my blog was to review the books, but I immediately got behind and I didn't want to leave anyone out. Unfortunately, reviewing them all is not going to happen. I wouldn't be able to do justice to the books I read several months ago and I don't have time to re-read them, even though I'm sure I would enjoy it.

But here are some highlights:

Favorite New Authors:

• Naomi Novik

I LOVE this world. Like I said, I've re-read the first two books already and would have the third as well, but I'm not sure exactly where it is right now. I've been trying to get my brother to read them, but he's addicted to video games rather than books so spends most of his free time (and not free time) doing that. But he will read and love them, I promise. The combination of dragons, historical period, and action-adventure is wonderful as well as the author's style, which is in keeping with books written in the period. I CAN'T WAIT until the next book is out. That sneak preview at the end is almost cruel & unusual, since we have to wait so long after these three came out in quick succession. :-)

• Sarah Monette

I don't remember why I picked up Melusine. I think it was reviewed well on locus or something and compared to Jaqueline Carey in terms of orignality and detail. Maybe I'm attracted to "bad boys" or something since both the main characters could be considered "bad boys" in different ways, but I love them both, even if one of them really is a prick a lot of the time. He just doesn't realize he's doing it and then he's sorry. Anyway, I read Melusine in paperback last month then immediately wanted to read The Virtu. Of course the books stores didn't have it. Nor did the library. So i bought and electronic copy, just so I could read it IMMEDIATELY. Even though it's a total rip-off b/c it costs the same as a hardcover (I think, anyway, it was more expensive than a paperback which is much more reasonable). Hello! Part of the reason hardcovers are so expensive is the paper they're printed on and the printing costs. An electronic copy is much cheaper to make. I assure you. So the price should be less. Sigh. Yet I bought it anyway. Wonderful, wonderful books. Again, looking forward to the next one.

This took longer than I expected. I'll try to add more highlights about my reading later in the week. Now, I really should be writing, not letting this blog distract me!

Hit a roadblock, pushed through it

PROGRESS: 14 pages/4,000 words, Ready for Chapter Four

I got stuck less than 50 pages into Marla, Book One. I couldn't decide the best way to handle something, but I think I've got it now. I was writing a whole scene to acomplish one thing. Now, I've folded it into the next scene and I think it moves the plot along better that way.

I wrote a whole scene filled with important information that I almost immediately cut, realizing it revealed too much information. Still, once Nat has suspicions about the villain, I can put the scene back in.

After spending a relatively miserable weekend feeling sorry for myself about various things including my personal life and my job life (and reading a book and 1/2) , I finally got back in the groove and wrote last night. I've been looking foward to writing this scene ever since I thought of the changes I was going to make in it. It's an action sequence and I had a good time writing it.

This scene sets Marla's goal back and attracts the villain to poke her nose in again. :-)

Next: Three scenes that are direct consequences of the action-scene I just wrote.

GOALS FOR THE WEEK:

• Write the above three scenes and more
• Organize writing space in spare bedroom; add bulletin board and dry erase board for notes and ideas
• Continue to think about Song of the Prophecy, especially the addition of a secret society for the Mother or one for each of them.
  

Marla lives!

Ok, well, she doesn't live, but the project does!

I didn't accomplish any of my goals for Song of the Prophecy, but I'm up to chapter three in Marla, Book One. Of course, in my original manuscript Chapter Two is really long, so I'm only about half way through that if we compare. But who's comparing? The manuscript is really too long for the kind of story it is anyway, so I wouldn't mind shaving off a bit of length, say 20,000 words anyway.

So what did I do?

• I cut all scenes not from Marla's POV in the first chapter.
  
• I cut a extraneous sub-plot that doesn't have enough meat to it to be included.
• I made the second chapter all from Nat's POV (my secondary POV character)
  
• I made the villainess more prominent in both POVs.
• I cut a character.
• I made both antognists that Marla meets in Chapter Two more interesting, I think.
  
• I included bits about the new magical system.
  

What do I need to do in Chapter Three?

• Marla needs to figure out what's going on with Nat.
• Some interaction with Byan and Russ? (not sure)

Obviously, since I'm only on Chapter Two in the old version and Chapter Three in the new version and there are seventeen chapters in the old version, averaging 26 pages each, I still have a lot of work to do. But there are definitely scenes that I will be able to use parts of.
Overall I am very pleased with my progress and my enthusiasm so far. I chose to write instead of read on the beach and that's saying something!