Confessions of a Writer

It's only fair, I suppose. These tag posts go around. I hit someone up with a homework assignment of a blog post, it's only fair for them to return the favor. And talk about homework, this one's a doozy!

Courtesy of Anna Humphrey at The Muse's Lair, here's a little (a lot) about me.

When did you first start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to be?
I started writing in the 2nd grade. It wasn't intentional. Luck, really, is what did it. I loved books, was the first kid to read in Kindergarten, but I never thought about making my own story. Now, in Florida, we have a state standardized test called the FCAT, taken in 10th grade, but practiced every two years starting in 2nd to get us used to it. At least, that was how we did it then. You can't ask 2nd graders to write anything too complicated, though. They just don't know enough of the world to do an essay on economics or politics. "What I Did My Summer Vacation" is about the limit of 7 to 8 year old creativity. So we children were given one random prompt: a nonfiction one about vegetables or a fiction one about a door in the middle of nowhere. By the grace of where I was sitting, I got the fiction one, and I fell in love. After that, I knew all I wanted to do with my life was write.

What genre do you write?
I started in fantasy, and twenty years later, I still write fantasy. I also write science fiction and have ideas for horrors and thrillers, but the majority of what I do is some kind of fantasy.

Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress? When did you start working on this project?
I started my current WIP, The Business of Being Dead, for NaNoWriMo 2012. The idea came from a dream about being a grim reaper helping people pass on. Additionally, I'd always wanted to start a story with "I woke up dead this morning." I combined the two and ended up with a story about a girl who wakes up dead and is told by a sock-eating bogeyman that she's a grim reaper. Not The, just one of many meant to assist the Big D with the business of being dead: supplying blood for vampire, body parts for Frankstein monsters, keeping zombies from overrunning the Earth, that sort of thing. Unfortunately for her, she's arrived at a time of undead political upheaval, where the other undead are tired of being told what to do and where to hide. Caught on the wrong side of a revolution, she's going to have to run for her afterlife and figure out a way to save the world from the lich who would be the new Death.

What was your first piece that you can remember writing? What was it about?
I still remember that first prompt about the door (girl ran from bullies and escaped into Candyland), but after that, I wrote a two or three page story about a girl named Clarinet who was basically Cinderella but instead of going to a ball, she wanted to be a gymnast.

What’s the best part about writing?
The creating something from nothing. When you craft something, like building a clock, you have all the parts that will become the whole. When you write, it's just you and a blank sheet of paper, and it could become anything.

What’s the worst part about writing?
Having to clean it up when you're done. Being objective with your creation enough to slice it apart, find what's wrong, remove the darlings, and make it into something actually sensible and legible is difficult.


What’s the name of your favorite character and why?
Pick just one of my babies? Geez. Making me play favorites here.

I'm gonna have to go with Dave, the sock-eating bogeyman. His story is tragic; bogeymen are only formed when a person dies a gruesome, painful death. They're meant to be creatures of hatred and agony who feed on fear and children. But Dave's goodheartedness in life carried over despite his agonizing death. Despite living an afterlife of pain, persecution, and lots of hunger, he sees the good in the world around him and can't bring himself to give in to his animalistic nature. He's noble, loyal, creative, goofy, and kind, and god bless him, he tries so hard despite being a creature of nightmares. I love him.

How much time a day/week do you get to write? When is the best time for you to write (morning or night)?
I can write any time, although I prefer doing it during the day so I can have my evenings free. I do it where and when I can. It's difficult since I have a day job, but I just keep my WIP open in a Google Doc and if I have ten minutes during lunch, I do what I can.


Did you go to college for writing?
I did not. My major was in computer information systems with minors in graphic design and philosophy.

What bothers you more: spelling errors, punctuation errors or grammar errors?
Um, all of the above? Anything that disrupts the flow of the story bothers me.


What is the best writing advice that anyone has given you?
An online secret santa sent me a copy of Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman's How Not To Write a Novel. It's been the best writing book I've ever read. The advice in it has helped me become a better writer and a more observant reader.

What advice would you give to another writer?
Don't give up. When it feels like the story's crap and doesn't deserve to be finished, keep going. When it feels like YOU are crap and don't deserve to be a writer, keep going. When you haven't written in months and sit down and write that first bit of utter dreck, keep going. You can polish crap into a shiny diamond, but you have to get that crap on paper first. As long as you're trying to write, you're making progress, even if it's crap.

I'm sorry for saying 'crap' so much there. But I think I made my point.

What are your favorite writing sites or blogs that you turn to for help, tips or encouragement?
The Absolute Write forum, which has educated me in ways I never imagined. Through the people I've met there, I've started to complete and submit short stories, learned about all the behind-the-scenes stuff I never knew about, the things to look for and avoid when picking a publisher or agent, and in general become a more educated writer. Add that on with the support group of friends I've made in the chat threads, the world updates from the Politics & Current Events forum, the thousands of pages of general writing advice, and the Share Your Work section to practice critiquing query letters and chapters, I can't imagine a better place for a writer.

Besides writing, what else do you enjoy doing? What are your hobbies?
Video games, mostly. I'd like to pick up a more physical creative hobby, but I'm lazy and overly busy. When I have the time, though, I enjoy cooking, and I've always been fascinated by dollhouse props and furniture. I don't think I have the patience for it, though. I'm too much of an impatient perfectionist, not very good when you want to work with small, delicate objects.


What’s the best thing you’re watching on television?
I don't watch television, actually. Not Netflix either. The last thing I watched from TV was a few episodes of Agents of SHIELD, which rules. 

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
Oh geez, I've read so many. Let's go with a non-Discworld book, since most of my latest reading has been that. Did I ever mention I finished? Yeah, October 5th, I finished The Shepherd's Crown. I might've cried. A lot.

Best this year, it's hard to pick one. I've read a lot of excellent books by my AW friends, like S. L. Huang's Zero Sum Game and Joshua Roots' Summoned Chaos (unsubtle plugs) but I think the winner for best this year will have to be Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I just absolutely loved it, if you couldn't tell by the blog post I made about it.


What is the best movie you’ve seen this year?
Another hard one. It's been a good year for movies. I'd have to say either Ant-Man (come on, I gotta pick at least ONE Marvel movie, and I think I liked Ant-Man just a wee bit better than Age of Ultron) or Mad Max: Fury Road. But oh, The Martian is so good too! I'm hoping, though, optimistically, that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will blow them all out of the water. Guess we'll see.


What is your favorite book or series of all time?
The Discworld series. Every single one of them.

Who is your favorite author?
Terry Pratchett

What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of your writing?
Not much left for the rest of the year! Like I said before, I'm hoping to finish NaNo with two completed novels. They'll need to sit, soak up the new stuff in preparation for editing. After that, it's preparing for the annual Absolute Write Secret Solstice Science Fiction/Fantasy Story Swap, the short story gift exchange! We'll receive our prompts on Dec 25th, and then it's time to get writing.

Where else can we find you online?
Where CAN'T you find me online? Well, not on Facebook. I'm waiting to have something published before I make a FB page. And I have a Wattpad account, but nothing on it yet. I'll add it to the list once I do. For now, you can find me at any of the links on the upper right of this blog.

I'm guessing you all abandoned ship 17 questions ago. It'll be safe to come back next week. I promise it'll be shorter. Maybe I'll have more con pictures from this year's NC Comic-con.

Oh right, I'm supposed to tag people. Hm, who to victimize this time?

M. J. Ravenhill!
Lillith!
JR!
PK Baxter!

Y'all're it. And if anyone wants a tag and a link, please leave a comment! Happy Friday!

Just to make it easier on you, here are the questions:
When did you first start writing? Was being a writer something you always aspired to be?
What genre do you write?
Can you tell us a little about your current work in progress? When did you start working on this project?
What was your first piece that you can remember writing? What was it about?
What’s the best part about writing?
What’s the worst part about writing?
What’s the name of your favorite character and why?
How much time a day/week do you get to write? When is the best time for you to write (morning or night)?
Did you go to college for writing?
What bothers you more: spelling errors, punctuation errors or grammar errors?
What is the best writing advice that anyone has given you?
What advice would you give to another writer?
What are your favorite writing sites or blogs that you turn to for help, tips or encouragement?
Besides writing, what else do you enjoy doing? What are your hobbies?
What’s the best thing you’re watching on television?
What’s the best book you’ve read this year?
What is the best movie you’ve seen this year?
What is your favorite book or series of all time?
Who is your favorite author?
What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of your writing?
Where else can we find you online?

Brief NaNo Update

So far so good. Six days in and, after a slow start, I've caught up to my daily 2k goal. I'll likely loose some of that tomorrow when my mother comes to visit. Sunday and Monday will be catch-up days. Whether I'll hit 50k or not is still up in the air, but the story is moving, at least. Current project is The Business of Being Dead and I'm enjoying the new direction a lot more. The characters are growing better as people. They've hit rock bottom. Now to start pulling them out of the hole they dug.

I'm having a slow wordage day, so no big posts today. Next week, look for a huge post about my writing on a tag challenge from my friend A. F. Humphrey. If you take a look and want to take part, leave me a comment and I'll hit you up!

What, What Do You Mean It's Oct 30th?

NaNoWriMo starts in two days.

I am not prepared.

That is all.

...

...

...

No, that's not all, really. True, I'm not prepared, but it's been difficult to get ready. I'm rebelling this year. You remember how at the beginning of the year- well, maybe not, you guys have better things to store in your long-term memory than my blog posts. So here's this post: Evicting Eventually. Goal 1, I completed on the last possible day. Goal 2, done. A day late, but done. Goal 3...

Flop. Flop flop flop. Like a fish on land. Floppity flop. Goal 4, I didn't even attempt. I'm the kind of person where if one thing gets away from me, I'm bad about getting the rest of the list done.

But I'm not giving up. Yeah, goal 5 is pretty far right now. Three novels completed in two months? And one of those months is December? Ha. Haha. No way. But I can still do two. At least, that's my NaNo goal. I've got two novels 50k done. One, Trickster's Gambit, just needs an incomplete scene completed, the climax, and the ending. Maybe 10k to go. The rest of it is pretty good, I think. Mostly on track.

The other, The Business of Being Dead, is going to take a lot more work. While writing it, I got lost. I rambled and hemmed and hawed and backtracked and ended up at a climax where the heroes couldn't win. They didn't have the knowledge to defeat the bad guy, and the bad guy didn't have the ability to beat the heroes. Stalemate in the last 2000 words. The current plan is to scrap it back to the "shit hits the fan" moment and go from there with a new plan. My problem is that the plan has only barely begun to come together. I'm likely going to end up plotting like the buffer bar on a slow-loading video: just barely keeping ahead of the work. With some luck and a lot of praying, I'll end up at a much better climax, where the bad guy has almost won, but the heroes seize victory from the jaws of defeat at the last second and get to a satisfactory The End. I suppose only time will tell now. If I can have two complete novels at the end of the next month, whether I wrote 50k or not, I'll consider myself a winner.

And I don't like to lose.

Moments of the Week: Greenville, SC

I went to visit my mother up in the mountains of NC last weekend. After weeks of cancelled events due to weather, we were finally, luckily blessed with a glorious weekend for spending it outside. Which is what my mother planned for us to do. Her local walking group had taken her to Greenville, SC for a trip, and she wanted to share it with me.

My friends, if you have need of a quirky city setting for a story, go to Downtown Greenville. Oh my gosh, we couldn't walk anywhere without seeing something inspirational, educational, or just plain cool.

I had no idea the place would be so cool, so I didn't bring my camera. Luckily, since our Maine trip, my mother upgraded her cell phone to one with a better camera. I commandeered it for a considerable portion of the trip.

Okay, so first thing about downtown Greenville? It has a river in it! With waterfalls! And a park around it!

(Look at that sky. What a beautiful day it was.)

How gorgeous is that? All natural too. And as you can see from the second picture, there's a bridge that crosses the gorge, a suspension bridge! When you're on it, looking over, you can ever so slightly feel the bridge move under your feet. A gentle swaying as a constant reminder that you are very high, and the water beneath you only ankle deep. I stayed on longer than my legs wanted to, just watching the people climbing on the rocks below.









There are tons of paths around the park, leading to restaurants, amphitheaters, the local zoo (a two mile walk from where we were). Partway towards the zoo is a memorial to a U-2 pilot killed during the Cuban Missile Crisis. A local boy, the monument suggested that his untimely death led to the cessation of hostilities and the end of the crisis. All I could think while looking at the memorial was, "This could totally be a plot device." I mean, it's a decommissioned F-86, a Sabre, (a plane the pilot flew before he became a U-2 pilot) just sitting in a park. It just screams "potential conspiracy theory" or "what if it still works and someone had to take it to save the day?"








There's also inspiration in the form of tiny little mouse statues scattered, hidden around the town. You can walk right by them without noticing. Unless someone knits one a tiny little scarf for the oncoming cold. There's magic here, I tell you.

And in this tree too. Look at those roots. Can't you just imagine some kind of portal opening from that? It's practically a hidden doorway.












If all these don't convince you to visit Greenville, then maybe this will.

Neat huh? A little old courthouse, nice square out front. Actually, it's pretty standard from this point of view. Let's go inside.

SURPRISE! IT'S A BOOKSTORE! 

M. Judson's is a relatively new independent store, only open three months ago, and if you don't fall in love with it as soon as you walk in, see a doctor for your missing sanity. The aged courthouse architecture embraces the warmth and openness of the store. With plenty of space for spreading out with a book and a drink and baked good from the in-store coffee shop, or settling in with your laptop to do some writing (NaNoers welcome, they're hosting write-ins!), it's heaven in a store. Even the coffee bar is getting in on the whole "books" thing. 

Yes, those are real books lining the walkway in, and it almost looked like you could pull them out and read it right there. I didn't ask if that was an option.

Seriously, it all was almost enough to make me want to move, but my area's got it's own share of great bookstores. Sure, they're not in adorable ex-courthouses with gorgeous stairs leading up to it, and they don't have write-in space, or quirky coffee bars with book-lined halls, but...

Yeah, okay, I want this bookstore in my town. I want this TOWN in my town. All the above, plus potential characters on every street (from the girl with green hair and the man rocking out on his scooter as he drove down the street to the drooling boar statue), countless restaurants to try, and a zoo to explore, I will definitely be going back when the weather turns for the warm again.

By Order of Victoria Fry: I Must Share My Work

I've met a lot of lovely people through my Pinterest addiction, especially running a few group boards. I'm proud to call a number of women who are MUCH better bloggers than me friends, like Mandy Wallace, whose pins to her excellent articles for writers pop up daily on my feed, and Victoria Fry, who put a lot of effort into making a training video for writers who want to use Pinterest for their work, including myself, Mandy, Kristen Kieffer of She's Novel and Jenny Bravo of Blots and Plots as examples.

And then Victoria had to go and tag us to take the 7/7/7/7 challenge. It's a simple idea meant to encourage sharing of works-in-progress. The challenged pick their WIP, turn to the seventh page, count down to the seventh line, share the next seven lines, and then tag seven other writers to share their own. It's completely optional to the tagged, and it's okay to tag fewer bloggers. But I've never been one to step down from a challenge.

The only issue is, which WIP? I've got, well, many. I am not the best at reaching that fabled "The End." I get distracted or bored, or I realize things that need fixing that overwhelm me. It's bad. It's why I decided that instead of writing a new novel this NaNoWriMo, I'm going to work on finishing two of the old ones. I just can't bring another baby into the world while continuing to neglect the older children, so to speak. I decided to finish up my novels from NaNo 2012 and 2013: The Business of Being Dead and Trickster's Gambit. And since Victoria posted samples from two works for her 7/7/7/7 challenge, I'll go ahead and do the same.

So without further ado, please enjoy these samplings and hold the tomatoes 'til the end of the reading.

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The Business of Being Dead (this was the end of the chapter, so there were only 6 lines), a paranatural urban fantasy about Hannah MacIntyre, recently deceased, assistant grim reaper, and undead herder. Dave is the sock-eating bogeyman who discovered her dead:

“Okay, okay, let’s go,” Dave said, waving her over. She took one last look around before joining him in front of the open door. “Ready?” She nodded with a lump in her throat. Ready or not, she had no idea what she was doing. As Dave took her by the hand, she questioned the wisdom in trusting a strange, inhuman creature who showed up in her bedroom, told her she was dead, ate all her socks, and was about to lead her through a black portal to the unknown. She didn’t get a chance to change her mind as Dave stepped into the blackness, pulling her in with him.

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Trickster's Gambit, a fantasy western about James Proctor, conman and wizard/illusionist. Helen is the soon-to-be victim of an unfortunate magical accident:

“Oh it is now, ay?” Helen scowled. “I remember you now. You were running a Find the Lady stall and picked my pocket when I wouldn’t play. I thought they hanged you.”

“I didn’t break out from any jail, if that’s what you’re implying, Miss Helen. Hangin’ was the plan, but your kind sheriff took pity on a poor, old, desperate fool. Think you could ever find it in your heart to forgive me yourself?”

She continued to scowl.

“What was your name again, Mister Man of God?”

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And now it's my turn to pick the unfortunate victims dear friends whose WIPs I'd love to see samples of.

M.J. Ravenhill at The Ravenhill Express
JR at Bobo the Bard
A.G. Carpenter at A.G. Carpenter
Abner Senires at Abner Senires
Lillith at Eclectic Little Dork
and Anna Humphrey at The Muse's Lair

Tag, y'all!

edit: Updated JR's link to her new Tumblr instead of her old blog.

Requiem for a Happy Cat

Once upon a time, there was a little black cat with a white spot on his chest who lived outside. There were many houses around, but none of them were his. There were many people around, but none of them were his. He was all alone.

One day, he found a bowl of food outside a house. No one seemed to mind, so he helped himself. The next day, the bowl was refilled, so he helped himself again. Again and again, the food kept coming back, and eventually, a woman began to join him. He let her pet him, but he was too scared to let her pick him up. But she was nice and brought him food, so he kept coming back.

After a while, the food was in a box. How strange! But he was hungry, so he went inside. BANG! The box slammed shut behind him, and the woman came and took him somewhere where he saw a doctor who cut off the tip of his ear. Ow! Then the women took him back and put him in a dark, scary garage. But a man came out and opened the door, and the cat bolted out!

The woman was afraid she'd never see the cat again, but after a week, he was hungry, so he came back, meowing for food and attention.

It got cold outside, very cold, and one night when colorful lights were exploding is the sky, the cat came back for food. This time, the woman grabbed him and before he could fight her, brought him inside her house which was nice and warm and quiet. She stayed with him all night while the lights exploded outside. There were other cats, and eventually they liked him, and there were other people, but he liked the woman best, and there was always food and a warm lap and pets.

He had a house and it was his. He had a person and she was his. And he lived happily ever after to the end of his days.

RIP Brumus. You had 13 wonderful years as the happiest cat I'll ever know. What better life could a cat have asked for?

Moments of the Week(s): Crickets and Creepy Places

Hey everyone! Been a few weeks, I know. I haven't really had much to say. My Discworld reading is progressing (29/41) and I have no idea what I'll be working on come NaNo in a few months. I'm sure I'll panic as soon as I'm done reading. For now, here are the moments I've managed to scrounge up.

• If you need to drive a character batty in an innocent way, I've discovered that a hidden indoor cricket or other mysterious noise does the trick a charm. There's nothing like storming through your house only for the sound to stop, start, step, stop, restart, step, etc. After a day of this, I caught the culprit hiding in our laundry room: a large cricket that was very happy to be let outside, and two homeowners happy for some peace and quiet. He was a fascinating little critter, with a body the length of a quarter and legs twice that. He also seemed to have his own kind of gravity, because after I'd caught him in a glass with a paper towel over the top, he hung around at the bottom for a minute, his front legs up on the side. Then he tipped over backwards and as soon as he hit the ground bounced up onto the paper towel. I never saw him flip over. It was just as if he'd decided Up was Down. He hung around there until I let him go.

• I've talked before about my friend who invites us to her house in the woods for a writer's day every few weekends. This past Sunday, we took her dogs for a walk down to the small main road in front of her neighborhood. Out on the main road, we passed a pair of ivy-covered cement markers with a sign that declared the inside to be an arboretum. Sadly, my friend informed us, pointing out a newer Do Not Enter sign, it is now private property and entering would be trespassing. A block down the road, there were two other ivy-covered concrete columns. Atop each one was a large, detailed gargoyle, watching and daring anyone to enter. Shortly inside, the driveway ended in a small pile of rocks, making the path impassable. In the middle of the day, it was a lovely sight, but at night, by the light of a low moon, I'm sure the statues have scared many a roadside traveler.

Not much, I know, but I couldn't leave everyone hanging another week. I'm hopefully going to finish the remaining books in the next two weeks and then I'll be back to my writing and panicking. Have a great weekend, everyone!