Archive for July, 2008

29
Jul

Writers Offering our finest - woof woof, woof woof

By qugrainne 4 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, dogs, reading, writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Once again, Tuesday is WOOF day. W.O.O.F. - Writers Offering Our Finest Contest, for Writer’s and Writing Blogs, is sponsored by Plotdog Press. They accept posts with original work - fiction, poetry, prose, graphic novels, information about the writing process, plus photos and artwork about writing. Also check out Plotdog for book reviews, featured writers, writer’s tools, guest writers, and more good stuff. Please check out the links listed below. And of course, visit Plotdog to enter the weekly WOOF contest!

WOOF Contest - Top 5 Picks:

Fiction

Jenn, The Drawing

About Writing

Lisa Alber, Suspense and My Dog - a Lesson
Tammie McElligott, Female Characters, Check Your Weight
QuGrainne, Write on Wednesday - Practice, Pleasure, Profit

Poetry

Jennifer M Scott, Combustion

Brought to you by Plot Dog Press with First Draft - Intervention Chapter 2 

My woof today? You can’t get up for a minute, and expect your spot to be free when you get back!!

The Queen on her pillow

The Queen on her pillow

25
Jul

Author interview - j. scott savage

By qugrainne 12 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, fantasy, writing and young adult books
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Coffee House Series

After reading and reviewing the book, I met with J. Scott Savage, author of Far World - Water Keep. We had a nice chat about the book, which will be on the shelves in September. Of great interest to me was Scott’s writing process, so that is what my questions focused on during the following interview.

I’ll tell you, that Scott, he is quite the jokester!

Qu: You made it to the Milwaukee stop on your blog tour! Hope you had a great trip. How was the plane? First class, great hosts, no one had a heart attack or anything? I was on a plane, just after take-off – man had a heart attack. Pilot had to dump all the fuel before we could land. Did you know sometimes it rains plane petrol on you?

Scott: How lousy would that be? You’re heading out to that big job interview. Your hair looks good. You just bought a new suit, and suddenly 5,000 gallons of gas washes over you. Of course it would be worse if you were smoking, huh? This flight was actually pretty good. Lame movie was the worst of it.

Qu: I am glad to hear that. I know you have had some pretty wild trips. Well, thanks for popping into my office - Alterra – Humboldt Café, for a cup of coffee and a chat with me. Alterra makes the best coffee - they buy Free Trade beans and roast them right here, so it gets a little noisy sometimes.

Scott: Great atmosphere. Much better than Starbucks. But what the heck is a Free Trade bean? It sounds a little like a free range chicken. Makes me wonder if they are a whole bunch of little beans wandering around some field, hanging out, telling bean jokes. “Yeah, it’s a good life until the coffee grinder shows up. Then it’s not so pretty.” So what does the big spinning thing do?

Qu: Well when the little beans get tired of wandering around the field telling jokes, that spinner thing gives them a lift. Let me get you some coffee… or… What do you like to drink? I am going to have the barista whip up a cappuccino for me.

Scott: Looks good. You can probably read your fortune in the froth. “I see that you will meet a tall dark man with a beard that looks kind of like this.” I’m not much a coffee drinker, but I am a serious cocoa connoisseur. Do they have that here?

Qu: Of course, cocoa it is. Coffee is a big part of my writing life. Once I have that cuppa, my fingers start flying, so I do a lot of my writing here. The dog hasn’t figured out where I am yet, so I’m not interrupted by having to take walks - other than walking to the bathroom. Oh nooooo, don’t turn around… here she comes. Quick, give me your baseball cap.

Scott: Here you go. Duck your head and try not to smell like yourself.

Qu: That was a close call, but she didn’t spot me. Whew.

Scott: Yeah, I think she’s headed for a likely looking fire hydrant.

Qu: Anyway, my question is where do you do your writing?.

Scott: I like to write just about anywhere. One of my favorite places is the library. I like to imagine that I am soaking up inspiration from all the great books.

Qu: Writing at the library is a great idea. I have never tried it. Nice big tables, quiet, …..actually, I would probably fall asleep. Back to my question: I am really interested in the process…. could you describe your writing process a little? Do you write, edit, write, edit vs. write straight through and then go back, or?

I’d love to be able to just write straight through, but I’m a write, edit, write, kind of guy.

Qu: Do you ever hit a wall?

Ooops. Not that wall. You know what I mean.

Scott: Each day I reread and edit what I wrote the day before. It helps me get back into the story and get my imagination flowing.

Qu: Does anyone read your work while you are writing? Who do you have read your work after it is completed?

Scott: I usually let my wife and my critique group (the infamous Women of Wednesday Night) read my book before it’s done. Also some other family members.

Qu: Since this is a YA book, do your kids have any part of the process?

Scott: I prefer that my kids wait until a complete draft is done, so they can enjoy it more. But hey, if they promise to clean their rooms . . .

Qu: I don’t think that bribe would work with my kids, but I guess I could try it. How much time a day do you spend on this job of writing? I mean the whole thing, from blogging to talking to agent/editors, and so on.

Scott: Way too much. I suspect I spend as much time on my writing as I do on my full time job. It really is a second job.

Qu: Do you have more than one project going at a time?

Scott: I have lots of projects in my head. But I try to focus on writing one book at a time. It’s too easy to confuse voices if I don’t.

Qu: When you started Water Keep, did you already have in mind that this was going to be a series?

Scott: I knew the basics of the series when I started. But for me, part of writing is discovery, so I knew a lot more about the world and what was happening. I have a lot of “light bulb” moments where I discover something major about the story that I didn’t expect. I know quite a bit about the series now. Definitely how it will all end.

Qu: Can I get you something else to drink, or eat? They have great bakery here…the scones are really good.

Scott: How can you turn down a good scone? They do have honey-butter right?

Qu: Sure, they have that too. (Okay guys, now that I have primed the pump, maybe I can sneak in this trick question and he won’t notice…..) Can you tell us something about the next book in the series?

Scott: Mmm, scones the plot of the next book is . . . hey wait. The old scones and cocoa trick. I should have seen it coming. That’s it. I’m calling your dog back. Okay, how’s this for a clue. There is no such thing as a Land Elemental.

Qu: Oh boy. A clue. I am going to have to mull that over. Well, thanks so much for coming all the way to Milwaukee to chat with me today, Scott. Before we say goodbye, I have to tell you I loved Water Keep. I was a teacher of students with special needs, so your hero really touched me. The review of the book was posted on July 23rd, so folks can go there to get a taste of this great fantasy.

It was great meeting you, and I wish you good luck with the upcoming release of Far World - Water Keep in September! Are you sure you wouldn’t like a chocolate filled croissant or something, before you head back to the airport?

Scott: Chocolate-filled croissants? Are you kidding me? Shoot, I’m filling up a bag. It was great meeting you as well. I’m so glad you liked Water Keep, and I totally applaud you for your teaching. I hope that if my book does nothing else, it will give kids hope that they can overcome any obstacle. Hopefully I can get a chance to tell them that in person as I visit schools. And thanks for the fun interview and the great review!

Qu: It has been my pleasure, Scott. Look out for the dog when you go out the door. She likes croissants, too.

To make fantasy readers doubly happy, there is a book give-away. If you would like to enter the drawing for an author-autographed (with a personal message!) copy of the advance reader’s edition, just make a comment on this interview, or the review of the book. You can have a copy of this book before it hits the shelves in September, ensuring the envy of all your friends! Winner chosen on July 30th.

Note: coffee, food, and coffee house pictures belong to Alterra.

24
Jul

Write on Wednesday - Thursday, as usual

By qugrainne 11 Comments
Categories: books, life, reading, writing
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Becca’s prompt for Write on Wednesday was a fourth p…. provoking.

What do the three P’s of writing…practice, pleasure, profit…mean in your writing life?

The day I decided the manuscript was complete, edited and re-edited… to death… I started sending out the query letters. And when I use the plural ‘letters,’ it is an understatement. I can’t even tell you how many incarnations that query letter went through. But I persevered. And then I wrote another novel, and the subsequent query process began again. A week ago I sent out the first query letter for that project. Just one query, to prime the pump, I told a friend. I haven’t received a response from that first letter out, but I revised the query letter and sent it out again. I received a very kind and speedy rejection (they are all kind, actually, but usually not too speedy). I told my friend I received a rejection, and that I was heading back to the drawing board. This is the conversation that ensued:

There must be some kind of shift of mind that takes hold about rejections. To work with the rejection you seem to have accepted it as an encouragement to ‘back to the drawing board’. Smart gal.

One gets used to rejection quickly, in this business. I continue to try and focus on the joy of the process, rather than the reward for the result. It’s the only way to survive!

I’m beginning to realize I know a true writer! What a joy.

Wow. What a compliment! I did not come up with those wise words about the joy of the process, myself. I am sure it has been said a thousand times in a thousand different ways. And I try, but I don’t always believe myself, when I say the reward for the result doesn’t matter. I would surely love to see my name on a cover at the library. I write with that dream in mind. But I also write because I love to write. I just started reading Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. (I don’t know why it took me so long to find this fabulous, funny book.) She says it beautifully:

Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do – the actual act of writing – turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.

Yes! That is it exactly. If I can hold that thought somewhere in a corner of my consciousness, I feel content in my writing.

I must admit I also have little reasons - little excuses - for why my work was rejected. Such as - there are so many people trying to be published. It is a very subjective business, and one must be approved by an agent, and then there are five or six other hoops to jump through before the top guy in the chain says, “Okay, let’s publish this book.” Those hoops have a lot to do with salability, which is a huge, huge part of convincing someone to publish your work.

The comment I received in this most recent rejection was “there’s not a big market for [them] these days.” As my nephew said when he was four years old and had put all three of his pennies in the bubble gum machine, “All my pennies shot to hell and I didn’t get a single green one.” Should I have decided not to write that particular book, knowing that there wasn’t a big market for it? How could I have known, when I started the book, what the market would be like today? Should I figure out what the market is going to be when I believe I can have a manuscript finished, and write whatever that is?

No, of course not. I just have to write for myself.

Writing on this blog is my practice, and I certainly don’t make any profit from it. It forces me to do something that is difficult for me – I write it, post it, and someone reads it and immediately has an opinion. I don’t necessarily hear what that opinion is, but I know they have one. It doesn’t even matter to me whether their opinion is positive or not – that is not the point. The point is, I let someone into my brain, and that is difficult for me. Of course the writing part of the practice doesn’t hurt either, but I am better at writing than I am at revealing. The better I can get at that, the better my writing will become. Writer Not Reading, who says so many things so well, said, “Good writing requires passion. It also requires the part … that makes you feel as vulnerable as a skinned cat: risk-taking.” That is what I need practice at.

The p for pleasure? Sara Nelson, in So Many Books, So Little Time, says:

I’m reading along and suddenly a word or phrase or scene enlarges before my eyes and soon everything around me is just so much fuzzy background… The book – this beautiful creature in my hands! – is everything I’ve wanted; as unexpected and inevitable as love. Where did it come from? How did I live without it for so long? I have to read and read and read, all the while knowing that the more aggressively I pursue my passion, the sooner it will end and then I will be bereft.

It would be lovely if something I wrote evoked that kind of reaction in a reader some day, but I don’t write with that thought in mind. It is enough that I feel that way when I am writing it.

All writer’s face some sort of pressure (maybe that is the fifth p), whether self-induced or from an outside source. I have an angel on my right shoulder who I try very hard to listen to, exclusively, and who puts no pressure on me. I also have a devil residing on my left shoulder, to whom I allow myself to say “shut up” to regularly. There is an interesting story behind an incredible manuscript written in the 13th Century. The monk who copied this manuscript had an altogther tougher devil than I.

[This monk]…attempted to expiate his guilt by writing the world’s biggest book in a single night. Realizing the task to be beyond his powers, he invoked the aid of the Devil. The Devil aided him, had his portrait painted in the book and demanded the monk’s soul as payment. The monk was rescued but lost his peace of mind, until finally he turned to the Holy Virgin, beseeching her to save him. She agreed to help but the penitent died on the very point of being absolved from his pact with the Devil.

The Codex Gigas, created at the monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia is now preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm. It is 36 inches tall and 20 inches wide, and weighs 165 pounds. It is an incredible book.

The lesson of the story is, don’t listen to that devil, and just write for yourself.

23
Jul

Far World - water keep By J. Scott Savage

By qugrainne 10 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, fantasy and uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

In the real world, it is pretty hard to be a hero, especially if you are a little kid. Now imagine yourself as a kid who has to get around in a wheelchair because of physical disabilities. Okay, go ahead and try to intimidate the bad guys. Impossible? Not if you are Marcus Kanenas, the hero in Far World – Water Keep, by J. Scott Savage. From the cover blurb:

Other people may see thirteen-year-old Marcus Kanenas as an outcast and a nobody, but he sees himself as a survivor and a dreamer. In fact, his favorite dream is of a world far away, a world where magic is as common as air, where animals tell jokes and trees beg people to pick their fruit. He even has a name for this place-Farworld.

When Marcus magically travels to Farworld, he meets Kyja, a girl without magic in a world where spells, charms, and potions are everywhere, and Master Therapass, a master wizard who has kept a secret hidden for thirteen years, a secret that could change the fate of two worlds.
But the Dark Circle has learned of Master Therapass’s secret and their evil influence and power are growing. Farworld’s only hope is for Marcus and Kyja to find the mythical Elementals-water, land, air, and fire-and convince them to open a drift between the worlds.

As Kyja and Marcus travel to Water Keep, they must face the worst evil the Dark Circle can throw at them-Summoners, who can command the living and the dead. Unmakers, invisible creatures that can destroy both body and soul; and dark images known as Thrathkin S’Bae.
Along the way, Marcus and Kyja will discover the truth about their own heritage, the strength of their friendship, and the depths of their unique powers.

I really enjoy well-written fantasy. To find a great fantasy that also has a positive message (that doesn’t hit you over the head) is a double bonus. J. Scott Savage has done that, along with creating realistic and love e‘m or hate ‘em characters. He has also introduced a fabulous fantasy world I can picture clearly. And if that isn’t enough coolness, there is a map! I love maps in books. The first in a five book series, this is a great read for young adults, and adults too!

Published by Shadow Mountain, fabulous illustrations by Brandon Dorman.

Read the J. Scott Savage interview in the Coffee House Writing Series, coming up on July 25, 2008

To make fantasy readers doubly happy, there is a book give-away. If you would like to enter the drawing for an author-autographed (with a personal message!) copy of the advance reader’s edition, just make a comment on this review. You can have a copy of this book before it hits the shelves in September, ensuring the envy of all your friends! Winner chosen on July 30th.

22
Jul

woof woof! woof woof! writers offering our finest

By qugrainne 4 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, writing
Tags: , , , , , ,

Once again, Tuesday is WOOF day. W.O.O.F. - Writers Offering Our Finest Contest, for Writer’s and Writing Blogs, is sponsored by Plotdog Press. They accept posts with original work - fiction, poetry, prose, graphic novels, information about the writing process, plus photos and artwork about writing. Also check out Plotdog for book reviews, featured writers, writer’s tools, guest writers, and more good stuff. Please check out the links listed below. And of course, visit Plotdog to enter the weekly WOOF contest!

WOOF Contest - Top 5 Picks:

About Writing

Kimota - “How to Become a Writer - the Harsh Reality”

Annetta Ribken - “Finding The Time To Write”

Robert Stevenson - “For improved writing think visually”

Qugrainne - “Cluttered Desk, Cluttered Mind, Clear Desk……”

Fiction

Jennifer M Scott - “In Pursuit of Jack”

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PLOTDOG PRESS FEATURING: “Stephen King’s Bones“

Here is my WOOF today, sitting on her throne. She is hoping to be invisible in order to avoid a bath:

20
Jul

Fess up friday… or is it sins on saturday

By qugrainne 10 Comments
Categories: books, flowers, garden, life, mystery, photography, writing
Tags: ,

There was a fair amount of writing going on this week. Unfortunately, it has also been a very unsettling week, with a lack of a certain kind of focus. I did spend a lot of time on query letter, synopsis, and first thirty pages of the WIP. I was able to dive into that fantasy world without too much trouble.

Reality world was a bit overwhelming, however, so other writing, thinking, planning, doing, was quite unfocused. I sat down Saturday, as usual, to write my (late) confession, and couldn’t pull it together. Tried again, later in the day, couldn’t do it. This evening, I stopped pushing and pulling. I went out in the garden and listened to the water trickling into the pond. I walked around and looked at all of the plants (domestic and otherwise) having their way with my back yard. I took deep breaths, shook out the kinks in my hands, and took a few photos. I am not going to write any more today, when normally I would take advantage of the very quiet house. I am going to share these pictures, and…

Of course I wanted these plants to spill over the bricks and onto the path.

Yes, these too. all part of the master plan.

It is good I didn’t get around to buying tomato plants this year. The strawberries obviously had other ideas for that space.

Pond? What pond. Looks like a thyme patch to me.

Don’t worry. We can just climb over the flowers that are growing in the middle of the path at the gate.

Creeping thyme is supposed to be walked on. It doesn’t matter that there is a flagstone path there. Somewhere.

Relax. Nobody uses that back gate anyway. Let the larkspur just grow in the path.

Right. The garden is doing just fine on its own. Tomorrow is another day for writing. I am going to grab that mystery and a mug of chai, and climb into bed. It feels quite nice, being lenient with me.

17
Jul

Write on Wednesday - late again

By qugrainne 13 Comments
Categories: life, writing
Tags: , , , ,

Becca asks:

How does writing fit into your daily life? What’s your ideal time to write, and why? Do you “write on schedule” or “when the spirit moves you”?

This Write on Wednesday just never seems to get done on time…. Does that say something about my writing schedule, or lack there of?

I actually have a pretty strict scheduled time for writing, but what happens within those hours isn’t quite as strict. I can be carried away from my set plan by all of the tempting blogs out there, and in a few seconds I am far, far away from my original goals. I would probably be more successful if I turned the internet off when I am supposed to be writing…….

During the summer, I go to the Humboldt Café five or six mornings a week. During the school year, it is only on the weekend and the occasional day off. I get a lot more writing done when I am not at home, where there are so many distractions: refrigerator, vacuum, good book, dog, telephone ringing, children, weeds to pull, and countless other wonderful things to do. Not that writing isn’t wonderful – I love writing.

I get here around 8 a.m. and I leave at noon. I talk to people occasionally, but everyone who knows me, knows I am writing, so they pretty much leave me alone. A friend I haven’t seen much of lately, just walked up to me and said, “You have such a look of concentration on your face, breathing through your nose, it is amazing you don’t have to come up for air.”

So here, I don’t hear the music, the people talking around me, the coffee grinders, the roaster turning the beans, and whatever else is going on that I am not hearing! And I don’t have a cell phone.

I write at home, too, but it is sporadic – whatever the schedule can bear. And look who’s waiting for a walk! She can tell time.

17
Jul

Cluttered desk, cluttered mind - clear desk……..

By qugrainne 14 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, fantasy, mystery, writing
Tags: , , , ,

Oh my gosh. What a mess!!

Today is catch up, announce, sort through, throw away, and otherwise clear my desk so I can clear my mind.
Laurence Peter said, “If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?” (Too funny. Yes, he is the originator of the Peter Principle.) I need to clear my desk regularly, however. It gets extremely messy, and then my mind starts to get blurry, too. Once the desk is clear, I can think about one thing at a time again. I have this conversation with my daughters regularly:

“Do not talk on the phone while you are driving. Your brain can only focus on one thing at a time.”
“Not true, Mom. I can do both at once! Watch.”
“Nooooooooo, look out for that squirrel!”
“Ooops.”

You know that we can do something on automatic pilot while also doing something you are focused on, but you can’t focus on two things at the same time. It is not possible. You do not believe me? Then try this experiment from Aza Raskin:

Think about the about the taste of chocolate (that glorious silky rush of sweet earthy flavor) at the exact same time as you add 47 and 56. Really try. At the same time. If it makes your brain fuzzy in the way your mouth feels after you’ve had an unripe banana, you’re in good company: it’s impossible. You can switch back and forth really quickly, but you can’t actually think about both things at the same time.

I really like the use of chocolate as part of this experiment.

Back to clearing my desk to unclutter my mind. If it is clean and orderly, I can take one task at a time from the pile that is organized according to due date, and I get a lot more done. Here goes with mental desk clearing, after which, I have committed to the physical desk clearing:

#1 New Banner!

I am pleased to draw your attention to my new banner, courtesy of my blog buddy, Deb at Vintage Moon Studio. There is also a button on the side bar if you are interested in visiting her site. Deb is a wonderful artist, and also has a store at Etsy with her fabulous artwork. If you are in the market for a new banner, send Deb an email. Not incidently, she is great to work with.

#2 The Coffee House Series.

I am very excited to have some cool, coffee house posts coming up in the next month. My number one (and pretty much only) addiction in life is coffee, especially if I am drinking it in a coffee shop. Whenever I travel, the first thing I look for is a coffee shop. I avoid chains at all costs – my experience has been there is little personality to be found there.

At my personal office – Alterra’s Humboldt Café, my first order of the day is always a cappuccino. After that, I will drink a couple cups of coffee. Afternoon is for tea. In the winter, at dinnertime, I can drink a whole pot of English Breakfast all by myself. A lovely Chai latte is good any time of the day or year. Combine caffeine, coffee house, reading and writing; I am in absolute heaven. Check out this You Tube video – this is how I start every, delightful day, thanks to the wonderful barista’s at Alterra.

Sorry, got sidetracked. Back to books.

First up in the Coffee House Series will be an interview with F. Scott Savage. Scott is the author of Far World - Water Keep, the first in a four part YA fantasy series. Scott is meeting me at my office at the end of the month, and a review of his book and the interview will be coming up the first week in August. There will also be a book give-away! Scott has autographed a copy of the ARC (advanced reader copy) that I will send to the contest winner. What is the contest? I haven’t figured that out yet; I’ll let you know.

#3 The Coffee House Series.

Sandra Balzo is the author Uncommon Grounds, the first in a delightfully funny series starring Maggie Thorson. Maggie owns a coffee shop, which is what first attracted me to this book. Coincidently, they happen to take place in Brookwood, a pseudonym for a suburb of Milwaukee. Sandra has also agreed to meet me at the Humboldt Café for a chat. I will post a review of the book the day before the interview is posted, in early August. The first book in the series, Uncommon Grounds, will also be given away in a contest. If you enjoy mysteries that make you laugh at the same time, be on the lookout for this.

That is it for the ‘announce’ part of my desk clearing. I will deal with the rest of the catching up, sorting, tossing, cleaning chores by myself. See what a nice clean desk looks like? Now I can really get something done. Or not. Here comes the dog with the leash in her mouth. Oh well.

15
Jul

PlotDog Press and Woof contest winners

By qugrainne 12 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, dogs, garden, terminus ad quem, writing
Tags: , , ,

Plotdog Press – Writers and Writing by T.L. Raun, runs a Woof Contest every week. Writers send a blog-post to the site, and everyone who enters votes to choose the top five posts. The following are the top five posts that have something to do with writing for this week:

Woof Contest- Top 5 Picks

Short Story - JHS, Esq. - “Independence Day Reflection”

About Writing

Catherine @ Sharp Words - “Thoughts about reviewing books“

Qugrainne - “Climax and the Battle of the Adjectives and the Adverbs“

Fiction - Flash/Fiction - Serial Fiction

Jenn - “The Pseudonym”

Poetry / Collaborative Poetry

Jennifer M Scott - “Independence Day“

Check out these winning posts (each one is linked). Also, I encourage you to add Plotdog to your list of favorites, and enter the contest next week!

Here is my Woof…. she is not thinking about fishing, she is looking at that bird under the tree on the other side. This garden is not a safe place for ground feeders!

12
Jul

‘Fess up Friday … Write on Wednesday, all rolled into one

By qugrainne 11 Comments
Categories: book reviews, books, flowers, garden, history, mystery, writing
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Of course I have to start with a fun photograph.

Handsome herron on Galway Bay.

I can only blame myself. Too many things going on, and then there is the seductive allure of the internet. Have you ever gotten lost in a large woods? I find myself on a main path, looking for something specific. I get distracted and turn off the main trail, and lose track of the first, and then turn off on another….. Pretty soon I am in the middle of the woods and I don’t know how to get home. Maybe taking breadcrumbs along….

This ‘Fessin-up-Friday sponsored by The Literate Kitten is also a Write-on Wednesday, sponsored by Becca, all being published on Saturday. I think you start to get the idea.

Confessions first.

1. I finished an edit of (and came up with a working title) On the Court With No Shoes. No, sorry, there are no sports involved. After completing this edit, I realized I must rewrite the ending climax. It is blech. My post of 7/8/08 helped me figure that out. Back to the drawing board.
2. Wrote a query letter for above WIP and sent it out to one agent. Said agent is a great guy, and already sent me a polite reject letter. This was done to prime the engine. One down, who knows how many to go!
3. Wrote (very rough draft) a synopsis for WIP. I hate, hate, hate, writing these. They are either too short and include nothing, or end up being a novella themselves. I struggle.
4. Completed a short memoir (1000-2000) words to submit to A Cup of Comfort (series rather like the Chicken Soup stuff). Must edit now for August 1st deadline. It is at 1,924 words right now, so there is room to delete and add what is needed when I revise.
5. Blogged far too much. I don’t like being addicted to anything, so this is bothering me. I may have to take a forced break…..
6. Reading must count! The Watchman by Robert Crais (I love Elvis Cole - who couldn’t, with a name like that), The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett (just found him… really left you hanging with this one, I can’t wait for book three in series), Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich (I thought 12 and 13 rather lacked in the out-loud-people-think-you-are-crazy belly laughs, but this one served up nicely), Written in Bone by Simon Beckett (first in the series), and The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson (greatly enjoyed, but with some reservation about the author trying to teach me history at the same time). I am planning to review one of these and post the review this weekend. Obviously, I had a lot of fun reading during the past week and a half.

Raining. Again. Warning - path to garage under water - wear your wellies.

Now to get to the question posted by Becca on Write on Wednesday.

Do you ever feel the need to jump start your writing? What drains the energy from your “writing mind”? What do you do when your creative battery dies?

I have the opposite problem. I usually have too many things going. That may be the key, however, to the dead battery. When I start to flag on one project, there is always another to turn to. This is a kind of a relief for me, and keeps me going. For instance:

Friday morning, I researched some agents and of course many agents request a synopsis with the query letter. As noted earlier, with vehemence, I do not care to write synopses. Gotta do what you gotta do, though. I wrote a synopsis. It was torture, but I wrote it. It was not a final draft, by any means, but it was at least roughly done. Congratulations, Qu. Now you can do something else. What a relief! So, I went on to something else, and rewrote a scene for the current WIP. Done. Put WIP away. Congrats, Qu! For your reward, you can work on a different project. Phew!

I read a couple blogs and wrote to the bloggers - short little comments to let them know I appreciate their writing. That could go on forever, there are so many great blogs. One just has to STOP at some point.

Next, I got to read. Super treat!! And walk the dog, and figure out dinner. After that, I was really good to myself and wrote something new. I didn’t have to go back and torture myself on anything I already worked on earlier in the day. It was so hard to decide, though: should I write a memoir piece, or a query for a history magazine, or, or, or, or. So many topics, so little time. I don’t feel guilty about not writing, because I am the only one who says I have to. My kids don’t depend on it, my checkbook doesn’t depend on it, and the fish in the pond don’t depend on it. I write for myself, so there is no pressure. I suppose it might be different if I had to write….

As far as my advice, or at the very least, my method of solving the dead battery problem: switch to a different vehicle. You don’t have to drive the same thing all the time; break it up occasionally.

Once again, I have to refer to the very timely post from the WOW – Women on Writing Blog, Friday, July 11, 2008. They suggest the writer take a little time every day to write. Don’t worry about huge blocks of time, they don’t necessarily work that well. I find I do have an issue with the time thing. During the summer, when I do not work, I am successful with my large chunk of time. During the school year, I bemoan having bits and pieces of time, and fear I will lose the flow of thought. I will take the advice from WOW to heart this fall.

I leave you with this thought:

Terra Firma says, “There is no problem a nap and a dish of ice cream won’t solve.” I concur.

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11/1 - 1,743 words
11/4 - 2,578 words... not good, but something
11/9 - 3,777 words - dismal :(
11/15 - 4,444 words - it is going to pick up now. promise
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