What's On Your List?

Not much gets me on here to blog. With such limited time for writing, I feel like I should be spending all my time working on my fiction. But when Julie Murphy put out a call for bucket lists to celebrate the release of SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY (out TODAY!! Go Get It!!), I knew I had to participate. First of all, Julie is just awesome. Second, SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is one of the best debuts I've ever read, and I'm just madly in love with the book. Lastly, I have a bit of an obsession with bucket lists. :)

I started making bucket lists when I was in elementary school, secretly writing about all the lofty ambitions I would accomplish and exotic places I would visit. In first grade, I'd pored through all the books in the classroom, so my teacher gave me a biography of Napoleon. That fueled an obsession with France that persists, as well as resulting in my first travel list, which was also my first somewhat realistic bucket list (i.e. the one that didn't have winning 3 Olympic gold medals and 3 Oscars).

From that list forward, there are certain items that pop up on almost every version of a bucket list I've ever made. I'm a big believer in writing things down if you want to make them happen, so perhaps it's no surprise that I have crossed quite a few "perennial" items off the list. I chose to share some of this "Ultimate List" to honor Alice, the main character in SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY.

1. Graduate from law school. DONE. Many people who meet me in a writing capacity are surprised when I tell them that I also practice law because I don't have the personality most people associate with lawyers. I've always loved law, but I prefer to stay behind the scenes & out of court.

A lot of hard work and tuition money went into the picture above.

 

2. Publish a book. This has been a goal ever since the first scribblings of stories in crayon, but I didn't seriously start writing fiction until November 2008. Since then, I've been working hard on improving my craft and learning about the industry. I've had two short stories published, and each sentence I write brings me one step closer to this goal. I haven't reached it yet, but I'm getting close.

My first published short story, in an anthology called UNDEAD IS NOT AN OPTION.

 

3. Visit and live in Paris. DONE. As I said, my obsession with France came early. I studied French in high school and college and fell even more in love (my undergraduate degree is actually in French). I finally visited for Paris for the first time in March of 1998, and I went back that summer to study. Unfortunately my financial aid for my program fell through, so I only stayed a month. But I was able to soak up the city and culture more than I ever would have had I sat in class all day.

 

This is Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. It's so peaceful and full of beautiful monuments.

 

4. Study great art. ONGOING. I always like to keep a few things that can't be crossed off as a reminder to keep learning and keep striving for goals. Whether through museum visits, books, or courses, I'll be studying art for the rest of my life. I definitely have specific pieces I've crossed off my list (the Winged Nike of Samothrace, Boticelli's Birth of Venus, Van Gogh's Starry Night are a few), but there will always be many more I want to see.

 



This is Agapanthus by Claude Monet at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. It figures prominently in the Middle Grade book I'm revising.

 

5. Visit the Taj Mahal. I'm a bit obsessive about architecture, especially this building. I almost got to go during law school. My study abroad in India included a short trip to Agra to see the Taj, but because of safety concerns after September 11th, they had to cancel the program. Instead that summer, my favorite professor convinced me to come take a class with him in Durham, England. As sad as I was to miss out on the experience in India, I will never regret going to Durham. Some of my favorite memories were made during that trip. I spent three weeks prior to classes in London, parts of Italy, and Brussels, then a month in Durham with side trips to Edinburgh, Newcastle, Amsterdam, the North Yorkshire area, and back to London. Two experiences really stand out: traveling halfway across Northern England following Hadrian's Wall and riding with a Belgian couple from Menaggio Italy to Brussels via Switzerland, Luxembourg, France in one day.

 

This was the view walking to class each day that I would have missed if I hadn't gone to Durham.

 

As much as I still love my lists, my experiences with crossing items off have taught me a valuable lesson over and over: never get so married to your plans that you miss out on other experiences. Going "off script" often leads to the best stories!

 

In SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY, Alice creates an altogether different bucket list. Here's the description:

 

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs. So she convinces her best friend to help her with a crazy bucket list that's as much about revenge as it is about hope. But just when Alice's scores are settled, she goes into remission, and now she must face the consequences of all she's said and done.

 

You can find the book at one of these sites or in your local bookstore.

IndieBound: www.indiebound.org/book/9780062245359

B&N: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/side-effects-may-vary-julie-murphy/1115554719?ean=9780062245359

 

Amazon:  www.amazon.com/Side-Effects-Vary-Julie-Murphy/dp/006224535X

Julie Murphy lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cat who tolerates her. When she's not writing or trying to catch stray cats, she works at an academic library. Side Effects May Vary is Julie's debut novel. Julie can best be found on her website (www.juliemurphywrites.com), tumblr (www.andimjulie.tumblr.com), or twitter (www.twitter.com/andimjulie).

Feel free to post your own bucket list and join in the fun!!





Writing 'Bad': Lessons Learned from Breaking Bad

I've just finished watching the finale of Breaking Bad, and so many thoughts are swimming in my brain right now.  My friend Lynne Kelly is putting together a post on her blog with writing lessons from the show, so I thought I'd put together a few.

WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

I am pretty confident I could do a dissertation on this show's genius. I know I annoy my friends talking about it and analyzing it, but it's such a great example of not holding back in your storytelling, using technique and craft to the fullest, and creating complex, layered characters who feel realistic even in very unreal situations.

My intention is to do a complete rewatch of the series over several months and analyze the technique and overarching plot to help develop my own technique, and I may post about some of that. But for now, here are some lessons I've learned from Breaking Bad that I hope to implement in my own writing:

• You can still have a satisfying ending even if it's not "happy" as long as you wrap up the loose ends and keep it true to the characters and the storyline.
• When a character is wronged, it's extremely satisfying to see him/her given the opportunity to choose whether to right the wrong or not, i.e. Jesse getting to go after Todd and having the option to take out Walt.
• A central image or motif can really connect aspects of a story, especially if you're writing a series. The recurring connection to chemistry with references to elements of it ran through the story and reminded us that elements are volatile when combined incorrectly and put under pressure. The recurring theme of surveillance and being watched added to the tension and excitement, and its role became more and more sinister as the story went on.
• Ask yourself "what if" but take it to the next level. BB constantly took things to places we didn't expect because the writers would continue to ask "what if" and pick something that still made sense in the story but was surprising to us.
• Giving villains/antagonists something to humanize them makes for a more compelling story and can make them even scarier. Todd's lack of emotion made him disturbing, but his fixations on Walt and Lydia heightened that.
• As your characters change, the way they exist in the world must change in more than just how they speak and think. After the things Jesse had seen and done, he couldn't go back to partying with Badger and Skinny Pete because he wasn't the same person. But he had to try it because he hadn't quite accepted that yet and had to realize it for himself.
• Subtle and less subtle shifts in the way places and people are presented or details emphasized can show us a lot about what's going on in very subtle ways, even if we're not aware of it at the time. For example, Walt Jr. flipped back and forth between that name and Flynn when he wanted to distance himself from Walt, Marie always wears purple except in key moments on the show. This different identity through name and color is very clear with Walt's transformation back and forth between Walter White and Heisenberg in black. Shaving his head, he takes on the persona of Heisenberg. Even once he's recovered, he continues to put on that persona because he likes it. Stuck in the cabin in the woods, powerless to do anything, he tries to put on the persona again, but even that "bulletproof" persona can't help him at that point, riddled with cancer and alone. The thing that struck me the most in the last episode was how he looked like a shaggy version of the old Walt, putting that identity back on like a wolf in sheep's clothing to carry out his dirty work. If he'd shown up as Heisenberg, they would have seen him coming.

If you want to leave your own thoughts, feel free! I'd love to hear what others think about this amazing show and how it has helped their writing. Now I'm off to cry in a glass of wine and feel all the feels.

My newest zombie story is out!

The UNDEAD UNCENSORED anthology is out! I'm so excited about my story, "Save-Us", and can't wait to share it with zombie fans everywhere.

 

Here's the blurb:

 

Julie thinks she’s in for a fun day at Save-Us Warehouse, grabbing food samples and watching product demos while her parents pick up industrial-sized boxes of laundry detergent and pretzels. But when the horde ruins their shopping experience, she and her mom must dodge fleeing people, reanimated workers, and pallets of household goods to find her dad and escape. Cornered by zombies, they join forces with Luke, an ex-soldier and unlikely friend when Julie needs one the most.

Although she has supplies stockpiled for the apocalypse, Julie’s college courses didn’t prepare her for combat with the undead. Luckily, warehouse stores have plenty of handy killing devices. The name of the store may be Save-Us, but Julie’s going to have to save herself to make it out of Zombie 101 alive.

 

 

Here's a sneak peek from the story:

 

I’d always imagined zombies as male, but they apparently didn’t discriminate on gender… or age. An entire zombie family—toddler in tow—slid across the concrete floor, twisted mannequins with severed limbs. The lady giving out yogurt didn’t stand a chance. Zombie mom dove for her neck. Fresh blood blanketed the sea of white samples.

 

If you'd like to get a copy, you can order it from the following sites:

 

Amazon

Zombie Survival Crew: Undead Uncensored

Zombie Survival Crew Store

Zombie Survival Crew: Undead Uncensored

 

Thanks for all your support! If you grab a copy, let me know!

UNDEAD UNCENSORED!

I was very excited last year to have a story featured in the first anthology for the Zombie Survival Crew (ZSC), Undead is Not an Option.  You can purchase it in paperback here or as an e-book here. You can also purchase the paperback on Amazon here. So when the editors asked if I'd submit a story for a new anthology, I jumped at the chance. And starting on December 1, you'll be able to check it out! I will post more info about my contribution to this book of zombie fun at a later date. For now, you can read the briefing below sent out by the ZSC Commander-in-Chief or check out the ZSC website for more info!



From the mobile unit of ZSC Commander-in-Chief Juliette Terzieff:
 

After months of anticipation the day has finally come when we can release the cover art for Undead Uncensored, the second Zombie Survival Crew anthology. This year’s anthology is a vibrant collection of short fiction, poetry and non-fiction pieces designed to help you get your zombie freak on and prepare for what we might all face if the zombipocalypse hits!

Undead Uncensored features the work of yours truly alongside other ZSC Commanders actor Michael Rooker, award winning author LK Gardner-Griffie, and authors Jinxie G, R.C. Murphy and Amy Sundberg. ZSC crew members including Wendy Sparrow, Jessica Capelle, Robin Sellman, Amber Revelt, Stephanie Allen, Christopher De Voss and many others contributed their artistic endeavors to this creeptastic collection!!

Undead Uncensored is already available for pre-order here and orders will begin shipping on December 1, 2012.

Now without further ado… (yes, you can stop holding your breath now)

The cover for Undead Uncensored

 

 

Memes, Zombies, and Adverbs... Oh My!

Happy Monday (on the West Coast at least).  I tend to keep blogging early Tuesday morning instead of Monday.  Maybe I should change my blogging day to Tuesday! :-)

A new meme has been going around on the Internet this week called Lucky Sevens.  I wanted to play along, really I did, but I just couldn't follow the rules.  It requires you to go to page 7 or 77, start with line 7, and post the next 7 sentences or paragraphs.  Sounds like a blast, but here's my problem: I can't post anything I'm working on.  Really.  Here's why:

1) My #norobotschallenge YA manuscript, MW: Both page 7 and 77 are pivotal parts of the book for the main character.  Within those sentences/paragraphs are things integral to the plot.  Really don't want to post stuff like that.  Plus, I'm about to query, and I don't want an agent to stumble across it before he/she receives my query.

2) My partial roughdraft, MG manuscript, TI: Both pages 7 and 77 are bare bones with compressed time scenes that need to be fleshed out and have notes woven throughout.  The sentences aren't even complete since I've been jotting notes all over them.  Not really good for playing along.

3) My zombie short story for the Zombie Survival Crew's upcoming anthology: Not going there without permission!

So, since I can't do the Lucky Sevens meme, I thought I'd do something related that's also fun.  I ran across a snippet from my first zombie short story.  I posted it on my Facebook page when I was working on the roughdraft. It's from August 31, 2009. After I wrote it, I couldn't find a home for it until I heard about the first Zombie Survival Crew anthology contest.

"Erik cold? Jaimy warm up.” She pulled my face down to kiss me. After

a long kiss, she paused and pulled back. She opened her mouth

unnaturally wide and worked a loose tooth out of her decaying gums. It

popped out like she was 8. She giggled and made a comment about the

Tooth Fairy. That’s the thing with dating a zombie; you have to watch

out for errant body parts.

Now compare it to the final version, published in May 2011 in the anthology UNDEAD IS NOT AN OPTION:

“Erik cold? Jaimy warm up.”

Her hands hold my face in a vise-like grip as she pulls me toward her

deformed lips. Zombies are surprisingly strong for dead people. After a

long, drool-soaked kiss, she pushes me back and feels around in her

mouth. She opens it unnaturally wide as she yanks a loose tooth out of

her decaying gums, and a smell similar to rancid meat fills my nose for

just a second. As the acid rises in my throat, she giggles and mumbles

something about the Tooth Fairy. It doesn’t take me long to compose

myself since I’m used to it by now. Dating a zombie, you learn quickly

that you have to watch out for errant body parts.

What is with all those adverbs?! Yikes! LOL It's interesting to see how the structure remained the same, and even a lot of the language, but I think I upped the "ick" factor. :-)

 Not only is this cartoon awesome, it's by the fabulous Debbie aka Inky Girl. You should check out her site. Like now.  She rocks.

It's amazing to look back at my writing from when I first started seriously working on it (late 2008) and compare it to now.  I've learned and grown so much, but I continue to learn every day.  Craft improves the more you work at it, but there's always room for improvement.  I'll be continuing to hone my craft and learn as much as possible while I'm still breathing.

This time, the adverbs are going down.

Everything I Need to Know About Goals I Learned From My Cats

Some people would call me a crazy cat lady, and they’re probably right.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hoarding 100 cats and avoiding relationships with people.  But, I do refer to my three cats as my boys, talk to them, and post way too many pictures of them on Facebook.  So if that makes me a crazy cat lady, then hey, I own it. *

There’s nothing funnier to me than the cat craze that has swept the internet.  It started with LOLCAT pictures (what is an LOLCAT? See here), specifically this little guy:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Simon’s Cat continued the cat obsession with its adorable videos here.  Heck, when you type in “cat” on You Tube there are 1,760,000 results!  Then there’s the awesome collection of cat-related posters and comics on The Oatmeal (If you don’t know The Oatmeal, you must drop everything and run over here, then please come back and finish reading.  GO NOW I SAID!!)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of all animals, but obviously I’m not alone in thinking cats are hilarious.  A big reason why is cats are pretty entertaining when they’re curious about something.  A cat’s goals are generally simple: get food and attention, play, sleep, and chase things.  But while they may be simple, a cat’s goals are just as important to him as our goals are to us.  People can learn a lot about goals from cats, even so-called “dog people”. **

Take Cat 1 for example.  He’s built like a linebacker, and no one would call him graceful.  He’s also one big mess of fur (I threaten to turn him into a dustmop so he’ll earn his keep).  Being klutzy is a handicap for a cat.  It results in lots of skidding across tables, rolling off couches, and climbing half-way up the tree trunk before freezing and sliding back down slowly.  I feel bad laughing when he tries to jump on the coffee table but glides across it and lands on the other side.  Really, I swear I do. ***  But even when I laugh, Cat 1 ignores me.  He’ll jump right back up on the table and plop down in his favored position.  He does what he wants to do, even if he doesn’t get it the first time.  If he can’t climb the tree right now, he’ll wait a few minutes and try again.  If it’s still not happening, he’s back the next day.  Cat 1 pushes himself but also accepts that he won’t meet his goals all the time.  Often, he’ll fail miserably, but he doesn’t give up and won't let criticism affect him.

Cat 2, on the other hand, is borderline reckless.  He lacks fear, so it's fortunate he’s super strong and graceful. Everything he does looks choreographed.  He flings himself out of trees onto rooftops.  He leaps onto my shoulder from the top of a bookcase.  He stares down large dogs, raccoons, and possums and convinces them to run away.  This makes for some awe-inspiring viewing (of course never when I have a camera handy).  Cat 2’s brain is always working the angles.  He studies, calculates, and plots.  It reminds me of the scene in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movie where Holmes envisions every second of the fight to come in great detail and then executes it flawlessly.  I once watched Cat 2 sit on the landing of my staircase and analyze how to make it around the room without touching the floor.  His head moved back and forth, eyes focused, as he studied each piece of furniture to determine a path.  A few minutes later, he stepped out with no hesitation onto the back of a chair, the treadmill, a bookcase, the tv, another bookcase, the fireplace mantle, another chair, an end table, the sofa and another end table.  He then leaped onto the stairs and started the process again, probably to see if he could do it faster.  It’s rare that Cat 2 doesn’t meet a goal, but I often see him repeating something or doing it in a different way.  He is always striving to do things better and more efficiently.

Cat 3 is still a kitten, so he’s not 100% comfortable in his own skin yet.  At times he’s just as klutzy as Cat 1, careening off the couch or dangling from the kitchen's pass-through bar because he misjudged the distance.  However, he can be as graceful as Cat 2, shimmying up a tree and leaping from branch to branch with no effort.  When he executes one of these amazing feats, he runs to me looking for praise.  If I’m not quick with it, he gives me a certain “rolling” meow that increases in volume to get my attention.  It’s the feline equivalent of a kid yelling “Mommy, Mommy” and shoving a picture he drew in her face. ****  When Cat 3’s efforts to meet a goal fail, he heads straight to me and cries with a certain high-pitched squeal.  This one’s like a kid crying for Mom when he falls off a bike into the grass, more wounded in pride than in body.  He isn’t good at gauging his limitations and strengths yet, nor is he good at figuring out ways around them or learning from his mistakes.  Cat 3 has ambitious goals, as any kitten does, but he wants to jump headfirst into achieving them without the preparation needed.  Sometimes luck is on his side, but often he’s not quite ready and fails over and over since he won’t adjust his technique or expectations.  After several tries, he’ll sulk off and attack one of the other cats or my feet in irritation.

Sometimes I’m like Cat 1, fumbling and making lots of mistakes but plugging along trying to accomplish what I desire.  I occasionally make a fool out of myself.  Sometimes I figure out I’m not quite ready and need to regroup.  However, I often meet my goals.  Like Cat 1, I don’t let it get to me and keep trying until I get it.

Other times I’m like Cat 2, refusing to accept that it won’t work and fearless in taking something on.  I’ll leap out and grab what I want with both hands and not let go.  Confidence carries me through sticky situations just like it carries Cat 2 across the divide between tree and roof where failure means a long drop to the ground.

With my writing, though, I’ve often been like Cat 3.  For the longest time, I wasn’t comfortable in my writing skin at all.  Like lots of new writers, I looked for praise and when I didn’t find it, I’d get discouraged.  If I tried something and failed, I’d beat myself up and whine.  I couldn’t accurately gauge when to make a leap, and my lack of preparation would drag me down.  Sometimes I’d get lucky and hit the target, but usually I fell just a bit short.

I might never be 100% comfortable in my own skin as a writer, but I’m growing into it, like I know Cat 3 will do.  I’m at the point where I recognize my limitations and difficulties and am finding ways to work around them and improve in those areas.  I know I have issues with certain aspects of my writing, so I’m working around them by using critique partners and doing revision passes to look for these issues.

Just like Cat 1, I need to recognize my limitations but not be afraid to keep working towards my goal even when I fail.  Just like Cat 2, I need to keep my confidence in my abilities high but recognize there is always room for improvement.  And, just like Cat 3, I need to remember that sometimes I need to curl up in a corner, have a good cry, and lick my wounds.  The tricky part will be to learn to balance all three.

So what about you? Are you more like Cat 1, 2, or 3 in your life and/or your writing?

Hope you enjoyed this post.  See you next week!

*DISCLAIMER: As much as I love cats, I would get a dog also if I didn’t have a crazy schedule and had an actual yard.  I heart doggies.

** “Dog People” isn’t meant to be an insult, it’s just a handy reference for people who prefer dogs as pets.  Please see disclaimer above.  Dog people rule too.

***Laughing when your cat does goofy things is not animal cruelty, so please don’t send me any nasty messages.  You can, however, ask me to post videos on YouTube for a fee.

**** Yes, I compared my cats to your human kids.  As anyone with pets (cat, dog, rabbit, ferret, etc.) will tell you, taking care of pets is often not that different from taking care of children.  Many will even talk back to you.  I’m not saying I’m better than you, busier than you, or work harder than you.  I am, however, much more likely to grab my passport and fly off to Paris at a moment’s notice unencumbered by anything other than changing the cat litter and dumping a bunch of food and water into bowls.

Blog Relaunch with a FABULOUS Cover Reveal!

I've been a very bad blogger.  *hides face*

So recently, I made a commitment to myself to relaunch my blog. I'd planned to start again at the end of the month, but then I saw a post from one of our Houston YAMG members about her upcoming cover reveal...  What better way to kick off my new and improved blog! I'll be tinkering around with the format a bit over the next couple of weeks, but you can count on a blog about some random subject at least every Monday.  Once I get that down, we'll see about other days!

In the meantime, I'm so happy to announce the cover for Rachel Harris' MY SUPER SWEET 16TH CENTURY! I'm so excited for Rachel, and I cannot wait to read this book!

ISN'T THE COVER GORGEOUS?!

MY SUPER SWEET 16TH CENTURY by Rachel Harris releases September 11, 2012. It's available for pre-order on: Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Also, be sure to add it to your TBR pile on Goodreads!

Be sure to connect with Rachel at:

www.RachelHarrisWrites.com

www.twitter.com/@RachelHarrisYA

www.facebook.com/RachelHarrisYA

www.goodreads.com/RachelHarris

Here's an excerpt from the book:

I hear their muffled whispers and understand every Italian word. Every witty comment made at my expense.

It’s like my brain is automatically translating.

I bunch the soft fabric of the dress in my hand and then reach up to feel the ribbon in my hair. I lightly skim my fingers over my chin and feel my lack of zit. I take in the costumes of the crowd, the stench of the animals, and the Italian I can now speak and understand. And suddenly it hits me.

Reyna must have pulled some kind of gypsy mojo.

Maybe this is one of those nifty “change your life” magic scenarios like in the movies. I mean, mostly I’m still expecting to blink and be right back in the midst of overpriced, gaudy tourism, but for now, the gypsy-time-warp explanation is infinitely better than thinking I’ve lost my mind. As I decide to go with that option, I feel my frantic tension melt away.

The growing crowd seems to notice my change in demeanor and begins shooting one another amused looks, but I don’t care anymore. A smile stretches across my face. Evidently, I was wrong earlier; Reyna is a psychic mind reader, because if this is her special brand of bibbity-bobbity-boo, then she made my exact daydream from earlier in the courtyard come to life.

The long red gown, the braided hair, the Italian merchant’s daughter, the time period. I am in Renaissance Florence.

I stare dumbly at the ground, the words and reality sinking in.

I’m in Renaissance Florence!

So cool! Major congrats to Rachel!  The cats give it three paws up since it's set in Italy... they're demanding Rachel take them in her suitcase when she does research for the sequel.

See y'all next Monday!

Funky but Not in a Good Way...

I've been in a bit of a writing funk lately. After the craziness of November, working on edits for book 1 and dictating book 2, I've been burnt out. Add to that a lot of stress and not feeling well, and I've accomplished little during the month of December. Well, I got a short story edited and submitted, but that's about all.

Thanks to one of my fabulous friends from #amwritingparty on Twitter, the amazing L.K. Gardner-Griffie, I realized that I needed to get over this funk and put my butt in the writing chair. (BTW- please go to L.K.'s website here and read samples of her awesome work and buy her books!) In order to motivate myself, I realized that I needed a deadline. That's why I like NaNoWriMo so much- it keeps me accountable because I will not lose face with everyone by quitting! lol

So, I'm creating my own little "writing month" to get me out of this funk and get my butt in the writing chair. If I ever want to do this full-time (which I do), I have to get used to writing every day like it's my job. Even if it's only a page, I need to be consistent. Not having a set work schedule this year has been great for me in some ways but has really hurt me in other ways. It makes it so much easier to be lazy and procrastinate.

I love book 1, but now that I'm halfway through book 2, I realized that I want to change a few things in book 1. I know my characters and where I want the story to go better than I did when I started. I'm at 65,000 words now, but I'd like to be at 70,000. I think there's a lot of places where I can make the book stronger by increasing tension, adding some foreshadowing, and adding some scenes that give more "meat" to the story, including some that were originally going to be in book 2 but I feel will fit better if I move them to book 1.

So here's where I need help. I must have a deadline to keep me accountable. I need everyone to encourage and support me and (gently) kick me in the butt to meet my goal. By the end of the night on January 25, I will be done with additions, edits, and changes to book 1, including any comments from my critique people and beta readers. By the end of the night on January 31, the first batch of query letters to agents will go out.

I'm making these goals public so that I will force myself to meet them! lol Sometime in the next few days I'll be posting my overall writing goals for 2010, as well as a look back at the books I read this year. There will even be a contest in which I'll be giving away some of the books I read in 2009, new and old.

Here's to a great end to 2009 and start to 2010. It's gonna be a great year!

Watch Where You're Going

The other day I saw a great post on creating visual tools to help you stay inspired as you move from that spark of an idea for a story to the finished product. You can read the post here.

This is a technique I've used for years for various things in my life. Call it visualization, The Secret, law of attraction... it really doesn't matter. I've used it to stay focused on my goals, such as saving money for a trip or getting through school, but I've also used it try to attract certain qualities into my life, like a job that has flexible hours or an apartment with both a fireplace and a safe place outside for my cats. The more I focus on the things I want, the better things always seem to go.

Since I've always used pictures, vision boards, or vision notebooks representing what I want in my life, when I began writing my first novel, it made sense to me to have some visual "representation" to keep my goal in mind. I did what I had always done when I had a big goal- made a vision board. I cut out pictures of people reading books and smiling, headings from review magazines, and witty sayings related to writing that I'd find in magazines like "Do You Have the Write Stuff". I taped them to posterboard along with handwritten cards saying "Welcome to our guest author, Jessica Capelle" or "Ascending Angel, the debut novel by Jessica Capelle, will be released in the Fall". This board was my dream for my writing life, showing people enjoying my writing, showing myself successful and published. And that was a great vision to focus on, but I just didn't know how to get to that dream without a visual picture of the book that I hoped would take me there someday.

Starting with a blank piece of paper and an idea, even an idea you've had for 8 years like mine, is a bit daunting. So of course I made an outline, but it wasn't visual enough for me to "see" the book. I then started collecting pictures that reminded me of my story or the characters and (poorly) drew pictures of key scenes in the book and items that were unique to my world. I found a beautiful picture (wish I could figure out the artist) that looked almost exactly like my main character and essentially summed her up perfectly. That picture became my desktop background on my laptop. While writing book 2, I even wore an ring shaped like angel wings (my story is about angels) that a friend gave me. When the ring went on, typing was on the book. If I'd veer over to Twitter or Facebook, I'd notice the ring and be reminded to head back into Word. All of these strategies helped me stay focused on where I wanted to go, who my characters were, and what I wanted in the world I'd created for them.

But I was writing a series, so I also needed to know where I was headed in the future, even though I was a ways away from that. I didn't want to have inconsistencies to deal with later, so I needed a plan. The brief outlines I'd written (like 2 paragraphs) for each future book were great, but I couldn't see the whole story arc at one time. Then I had the idea to put up a board for each book in my office. I'd be surrounded by my world (literally) and be able to see all the books at the same time, so I could change things easily. I used dark purple post-its for the big themes that ran through each book and light purple post-its for key plot points and action.

Everything I did served as a visual reminder of my goal and the fact that I need to be working towards it. Having the picture of the book to keep in front of me has been so valuable in making my writing stronger and more consistent. It has kept me focused on wrapping up loose ends and making sure if I don't explain something now that I sure know the answer for later. I believe that when (not if, but when) I become a successful writer, the hard work that went into creating the "visual book" will be a big part of what got me there.

You can see my initial boards for Book 1 and 2 in the picture below (there are a lot more purple post-its now!), as well as one of my notebooks for the series on the desk (how cool that my friend found a notebook that had a heart with angel wings on it?!)



Are there any visual representations you use for your book or characters?

On NaNo Eve... A Look Back

In honor of starting NaNoWriMo today, I decided to re-visit something I wrote after I finished last year’s NaNo (my first). I learned a lot while writing my first book, which I am finishing final edits on as we speak. It will be going out to my critique peeps for a final look in the next day or two, and then query letters will go out mid-month. I think it’s quite appropriate that I’m finishing book 1 as NaNo is starting. NaNo got me to put my butt in the chair and write. I’d had the idea for the book for 8 years, but it was always something I’d do “one day”. Thank you to the NaNo gang for getting me to finally write that book!!

If you want to track my progress or be my NaNo buddy, my NaNo page is: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/433001

Tonight at 6:45pm, I finished with 50,229 words. I met my personal deadline of finishing by 7pm so I could watch a movie and relax in front of the fire tonight. There is no way to describe how I'm feeling right now. I've had the idea for this book for years. I had done some outlining and character development and a lot of research but hadn't really written much. The NaNo challenge was my opportunity to force myself to do it- if I told people about it and gave myself a deadline, I'd have to write it, right?

My novel is not terribly pretty right now. It's like a diamond when it comes out of the mine- dirty, a little yellowed, and needs to be cut. But then the master jeweler starts cleaving, polishing,and cutting... and before you know it, it's sitting in the window at Tiffany's as a flawless piece of art. I have a lot of chipping, polishing, and cutting to do. I have to beef up wimpy sections,rework awkward transitions, and break up lengthy dialogue passages. But I have a diamond in the rough. I have the raw material to shape now. I'm no longer sitting there with the map and shovel planning my dig. And you know what? A lot of it is pretty darn good! :-)

What did I learn along the way?

- 50,000 is a lot of words. Supposedly 50,000 words is a 175 page book. Think Catcher in the Rye sized.

- The first sentence is the hardest (I knew that, but this cemented it).

-The last sentence is the easiest.

- The first 10K words go by really quickly. The last 10K feel like eons.

-17K to 18K, 27K to 28K, 37K to 38K, 47K to 48K were the hardest sections for me to write. Every time. Don't know why that particular set, but so it goes.

- There are a thousand things a day that will keep you from your novel. Don't let them.

- You can consume too much coffee, tea, apple cider, coke, vitamin water, root beer, etc., etc.

- Novel writing requires crunchy and salty things (and lots of them), as well as creamy and sweet things. You must have all on hand because you never know which craving will strike.

- Having a writing cap helps tremendously. It keeps all the ideas contained so they don't fly away.

- Cats do not like it when you spend too long typing on the computer. Just saying.

- Electronica music is surprisingly good for writing.

- Something I knew already, but need reminding of constantly : Anything you dream of doing, you can do. You just have to take the first step and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Even if this novel never were to be published, I am a novelist. No one can take that away from me. I think that's pretty cool. It will be cooler when I can say "published novelist" though! :-)

So now, I’m embarking on NaNo number 2 with book number 2. I’m revisiting all my lovely characters and throwing a few new ones in along the way. This year, though, I don’t think I need the writing cap. Instead, I’ve got a sparkly writing ring that a friend gave me in honor of my angel book. :-) And yes, I'm a NaNo Rebel this year because working on a sequel is breaking the rules. At least I'm a rebel WITH a cause! lol

I’m stocked up on drinks and snacks, have told everyone I’m on a Twitter and Facebook fast for the first week, and figured out a way for Cat 2 to snooze in my lap while I still type on the laptop. Now to put on my writing ring and get to work!

Absent, But In a Good Way

Yes, I have been horribly remiss in updating my fledging blog. I know that I need to post regularly if I'm going to get more followers, build my writing platform, etc. But, you see, there's this book I'm writing...

The book has been taking up my time lately... okay, life stuff has too, especially as the Fibro/CFS has been acting up, but I digress. I've been going through final revisions and edits before sending off the finished product to my critique peeps. Once that's done (first half minimum out tomorrow, rest to follow 2-3 days later), I will be revising my query letter and will send agent queries out mid-November. I'm also getting ready to start National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) again to work on Book 2 of my series.

Because of all this going on, I took a self-imposed exile from Facebook for several days. I stayed on Twitter because I have support from other writers, especially through #amwriting, #wordathon, and other hashtags. Being off of Facebook for a few days freed up some time to write (no more Bejeweled! no more watching funny You Tube vids posted by my friends!). One thing I've learned from dealing with Fibro/CFS is that I have to pace myself and manage my time well, and I hadn't been doing so hot with that the last few months.

In the spirit of putting my biggest priorities first, I have decided to join my Twitter buddy Nova Ren and many others in a Twitter and Facebook break from November 1 through November 7. A lot of the time when I'm not working goes to resting and doing things I need to do to manage my health, and that amount of time has increased over the last few months since I've had a lot of flare-ups. So, with the free time I have left, I have to put my writing first. NaNoWriMo is great for doing that, but I also can't afford to get behind on it. Twitter and Facebook are huge time sucks for me, so I'm admitting my addiction and facing the problem head on. :-)

If you want to read more about the break, I've posted the link to Nova's blog here: http://novaren.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/twitter-break-november-1-7-2009/#comment-43750 If you want to check out my NaNoWriMo page, I've posted that link here: www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/433001 I'll be checking email (jesscapelle at aol dot com) and NaNo mail during the week, as well as direct messages that come through to my email from the two social networking sites that shall not be named!

I'll also be blogging here during November about NaNo if you want to check in from time to time. Would love to have you stop by! :-)

xo

My Little Banned Books Protest

I know we already had Banned Books Week, but I'm a little behind the eight ball since I've been busy and not feeling great. A couple days ago, I saw a post about the American Library Association's list of the most banned books from 1990-2000. The list is here: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_2000.cfm

I was quite surprised by some of the books on the list, like Where's Waldo?, To Kill a Mockingbird, and How to Eat Fried Worms. Others, I was not so shocked to see because of their subject matter, like Madonna's Sex, Curses Hexes and Spells, and The Anarchist's Cookbook. I have read quite a number of these books but was surprised by how many I had not. So, I decided to read them... all of them... as my personal protest to people trying to tell us what we cannot read. No, I don't think kids should have access to be able to read some of the adult books on the list, but I don't think books should be banned from libraries because someone deems them controversional or against their own morals and beliefs.

So, over the next year, I am going to read these books under the following guidelines:
1) If a series is mentioned, I will read at least one of the books.
2) I will re-read books that I have already read.
3) I will not read the following books, only because they don't apply to me now or never did: The New Joy of Gay Sex, What's Happening to My Body: Book for Girls, Asking About Sex and Growing Up, Boys and Sex, What's Happening to My Body: Book for Boys, Girls and Sex.
4) I will keep a list of the books on this blog and will update it as I cross them off. I will report on these books and their appropriateness from time to time.

Anyone who cares to join me in reading the books on this list is welcome to. Now I just have to pick which one to start with! :-)

P.S. Why are the books "What's Happening to My Body" banned so frequently?! Maybe if kids had more information on what was going on with their bodies they wouldn't "experiment" on each other at the age of 10!

Update- have decided to start with A Wrinkle in Time. Have no idea what happened to my original copy but saw it at Half Price Books a few weeks ago and picked it up. I figure it's a good start!

Why can't writers follow the rules?

So I'm finishing edits on my first full manuscript (eek!) and therefore working on my query letter and synopsis. Accordingly, I am soaking up the information on agent blogs like a sponge. There's some darn good information on agent blogs, including some truly important items... rules for submission. However it appears that many writers have some kind of visual blockage that doesn't allow them to see those rules. Hmmm- writers can read just fine until it comes to following rules for sending in their writing. Maybe the AMA needs to coin a new disease name for it: "Writer-itis"

I see so many blogs by agents reminding everyone what NOT to send. On every one of these blogs, I've looked at the rules for submission/submission guidelines. The rules always include the EXACT items they want submitted and the EXACT way they want them submitted. One wants just a query letter, another wants the query plus the first 10 pages. One doesn't accept fantasy, another doesn't accept picture books. Everything is clearly spelled out on the submissions page.

So why do the agents have to keep reminding us what NOT to do?! Why can't writers follow the rules? Every time someone sends in things outside the guidelines, it makes things harder for the rest of us. I for one don't want my submission to be read the same day that an agent has to wade through 50 submissions for adult fantasty when he/she only represents YA and 45 queries with no sample pages. That would be enough to put me in a foul mood, and I'm not an agent. I personally want my agent to read lots of wonderfully compliant submissions, grab a bottle of Chianti and some good chocolate, and then sit down to read my submission in front of a nice fire.

Why would a writer want to do that anyway? Why would you spend all those hours of perfecting and polishing your "baby" and then send it out to someone who isn't going to look at it? And why would you submit something they specifically said not to send and risk them rejecting you on that alone?

Do yourself and the rest of us writers a favor- learn to read the guidelines and follow them. Oh, and one more thing- don't rely on old copies of Writer's Digest from the library. Look up the agent's website and see what they currently are looking for, how they want submissions, and for goodness sakes make sure their bio doesn't say they're closed for submissions!

This has been a public service announcement on behalf of unagented writers everywhere. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Thank you for your attention!

Oh, and agents... I've got a nice submission for you with only things you want in it that I'll be happy to send along when you're sitting in front of that fire.

Guilty Pleasures

So I haven't posted since the 1st (boo, hiss on me), but this month has not quite gone as planned! :-)

Been hearing about lots of book sales, paperback releases, foreign releases, etc. SO happy for my fellow writers. Their success is all of our success, because it means publishers are buying books. Anything to get publishers buying more books is a good thing for writers, right?! So it disheartens me to see so much negativity all over the Internet with writers criticizing other writers who are selling a lot of books. I'm not talking constructive criticism here people- I'm talking downright attacking.

It definitely puts an ugly spin on things. Now, to be fair, not all writers bash others, and I am not talking about someone saying "I just don't like that book". We're all entitled to our opinion, but over the last couple of years I've seen a lot of "this person can't write at all" or "his/her writing just absolutely sucks". Obviously there is a market out there for everyone, from high literary concept to trashy beach reading. There's a time and place for all of it.

There are plenty of books that I have enjoyed despite poor writing. Those authors know how to tell a good story, even if the characters aren't developed that well, the grammar stinks, or the history is a little "off". In my mind, someone who can keep me interested in the story and focused on it instead of the errors and problems is a great storyteller. Not a great writer, maybe, but a great storyteller.

Compare it to movies... I love David Fincher's directing style, and I love Michael Bay's as well. They are two completely different directors in style and genre. Fincher is very dark, artistic, and symbolic in his directing. The setting is another character in his movies, and his genius continually amazes me. Michael Bay, on the other hand, directs movies that require an "in your face", blunt style. They're over the top and have lots going on at the same time, with things blowing up everywhere. He has signature camera shots that are just cool, and the colors are always vivid.

Would I say that Michael Bay deserves to win an Oscar? No- he doesn't do that type of film. What he does is give me an escape from the stress of the real world. His movies aren't the best written or acted, but I don't focus on that when I watch them. The effects, music, and visuals distract me from the flaws. His movies are candy for my brain.

When I watch a David Fincher film, I think and analyze and pay attention to the symbolism. He directs movies that are complex, nuanced, and layered in the storyline. His way of directing makes me appreciate the story and the acting even more. His movies are gourmet meals for my brain.

Gourmet meals and candy both have their place in life, and both are to be enjoyed and savored. Why should writing be any different? So embrace the "guilty pleasure" book, just like you do movies and t.v. shows. I find my mom's comment the other day pretty relevant here- "most people buying books don't care about how perfect the writing is, they just want to be entertained". I think it's time for us to lighten up on ourselves and each other and write things we enjoy. Hopefully others will get the chance to enjoy our writing too, even if we misuse commas sometimes. :-)

My favorite guilty pleasures at the moment:
T.V. Show- Gossip Girl
Book- Dan Brown- The Lost Symbol (just started it)
Movie- Any movie where things blow up or there are zombies

Got an opinion? Let me know!

Chapter One- all about ME

So, here I am, putting all the mess that is in my head into cyberspace. I almost called the blog Jessica's Mess, but thought that was putting out the wrong energy into the world.

So why am I here and why should you care?

Why I'm here is pretty simple actually. I've writen my first book, and I want to document the triumphs and frustrations of getting published and trying to transition to making a living as a writer. My focus is on writing fun novels for mid-grade (MG) and young adult (YA) readers. My first series is for YA and it's action-packed with angels, demons, and a little romance thrown in. The next series in my brain is MG and is a mystery/thriller story. I'm also working on a children's book with a friend of mine that will be for probably 2nd-5th grade. I haven't left the adults out though: my first series is smart enough to be adult-friendly, and I'm working on a horror story for my writing group anthology that will scare your pants off!

You should care, because I'll be on the bestseller list before too long and you can say you knew me when! Kidding, kidding. Maybe you shouldn't care, but I appreciate the support, for sure. :-)

Since you asked , here's more about me: By day I practice law and tutor high school students. I'd love to hang up my law license soon and just teach and write. It's coming along slowly, but I'll get there eventually. I'm a native Texan, and make my home in Houston with the two best cats in the whole world, Dolcebello ("Bello") and Zucca. Both are learning Italian in anticipation of moving to Lake Como and getting George Clooney to come visit.

This blog will of course talk about books and writing in general and my progress in the publication machine, but I'll also ramble on about legal news, music, movies, and other assorted things. If you ever have something you want me to post for you and publicize, pass it on. You can email, Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter me (hey- watch yourself buddy).

Grab a cup of your favorite hot beverage, curl up in a comfy chair in front of the fire, and stay a while. More to come...
-Jess