Jeffe Kennedy's Blog, page 242

Lucky Me

I'm over at Word Whores today, talking about the Perfect Man.

After the First Mile

David and I have been dragging rear a bit this week. It's probably a mild virus, possibly something that hitchhiked from the tropics. Not awful, but we haven't been hopping up and hitting the gym like usual.

Today, though, we mustered up the will power and did the workout. Afterwards, David said, "It didn't feel good at first, but after the first mile, I got my rhythm and then it felt great."

You know me – I thought of writing.

I've been working my way back into the groove this week with Middle Princess. I know I've talked about it before, how difficult it can be to get back into the writing every day and, more, trying to hit at least 1,000 words/day. A lot of people out there are doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which calls for 50,000 words in the month, or about 1,666 words/day.

For me, I've really found that that first mile is really the hardest. Wordcount-wise, it's somewhere around the first 350-400 words. Those can be painful and take forever to get out, but after that, it starts to feel good. Oh sure, some days I have to eke out to the very end, but often if I can just get past the 500 word mark, I can go pretty easily.

David said he thinks the hormones kick in after the first mile and I said, no, that shouldn't be the case, because I see it with the writing like this.

What I think it is? The subconscious. Our subconscious is like a little kid or a pet. They like to play, to have fun, to run around and enjoy life. It's the conscious, the left brain, who says "no more goofing off. you're going to sit down and accomplish something."

No, the subconscious doesn't like hearing this. And, like a toddler or a puppy, it will test you.

Oh look! A yummy book to read!

Oh, let's go outside!

What's going on in Twitter-land?

If we want to get something done, we have to keep gently steering the subconscious back on task. I do mean gentle. If you scream at it, it'll shut down and sulk.

But, if you keep running on the treadmill, keep tapping those keys, eventually the subconscious will play along. Then it starts to have fun. And, that, my friends, is when you hit the glory point.

It's there. Believe me.

The Hallowed Ones

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Big news today! One of my favorite people, whose writing I also just love – which makes for serendipity all around, because these two things don't always come together – has a Big Announceament! (Yes, I always hear that in my head as in the Legally Blonde musical. This man is gay AND European!)

Ahem.

So, Laura announced yesterday that she's signed a two-book deal for her new Young Adult series!!

Let the hooting and rejoicing begin!

The first book is called The Hallowed Ones. The official spiel is: pitched as "Witness" meets "28 Days Later" in which an Amish girl must protect her family from a violent contagion, even as fear and denial threaten to erode her community from within.

I can add that for an image for this post, I looked for a good one of a raven in a denuded field, since we don't have a cover yet. I really need to get out and snap some corvid pics. It's a great story and I'm proud to say I was there for the initial brainstorming. In fact, I don't think it's going too far to say this story was totally my idea. Maybe even 95% my idea. I mean, sure, Laura came up with a few things here and there. Well, and then she spent all that time actually writing it – but really, I think this could totally be all about me.

Don't you all agree? Yeah, I totally thought so.

At any rate, for the writers out there, Laura's agent is the ever-charming Becca Stumpf at Prospect Literary Agency. She sold the books to Graphia, the YA imprint at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for a very decent advance on the two books.

SO exciting!

Congratulations Laura!

Bioluminescing for the Win

One more shot of the infinity edge pool and the Caribbean Ocean beyond. So lovely.

What I don't have photos of is the bioluminescence, which is why we picked Vieques in the first place. See, in Vieques, there's a bay that's famous for bioluminescence. The tour guides call the place "the bio bay," also known as Mosquito Bay. Because of a combination of the warm, nutrient-rich Caribbean waters, the mangrove swamps and an extensive barrier reef, this bay is the best in the world for seeing bioluminescence. For those readers who aren't biology geeks (*gasp* – how can it be??), these are glow in the dark organisms.

In Mosquito Bay, it's dinoflagellates like these that do the glowing. Thanks to the Allen Centre oceans site for this pic – they have more info on the geeky end of bioluminescence.

What I want to tell you about is the magic.

We paddled out into the bay in sea kayaks, after full dark. The fingernail moon hung low in the sky, which was serendipitously perfect lighting. The tropical air matched the temperature of the warm water. Then they tell you to dip a hand in the water and let it run down your arm.

My skin looked like it was covered in thousands of stars.

They're quite large and glow brightly when agitated. So the brush of any touch lights them up with a sparkle that rivals the constellations above. Like fairyland.

More, as you paddle over the water, you can see the fish light up below. As they swim, they brush through the dinoflagellates, so they look lit up with Christmas lights, leaving trails of sparks like comets. Deeper down, huge fish loom like dimly glowing Zeppelins. A sea snake whizzed past, undulating like a fireworks show.

Amazing. Astounding.

Enchanting

Weekend in Vieques

At last, the final wind-up of my week of work in San Juan – and our little weekend side-trip to Vieques.

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The Big Fear

I'm over at Word-Whores today, making up for missing yesterday, when the lovely Laura Bickle/Alayna Williams filled in for me.

Listing to the Side

I tried to make it straight. Last morning in my great balcony room. Finishing work today, then catching the ferry for a quick ride to Vieques. Have a great weekend everyone!

Sailing Along

I'm over at Carina Press today, doing a guest blog spot. Stop on by!

Sapphire and Old San Juan

[image error] I had a little glass (okay, cup) of champagne at the pool bar after work yesterday, to celebrate the release of Sapphire. The pool area, with the ocean beyond. Lovely

[image error]Then we went into Old San Juan for dinner. Cats are protected there and lounge in every quiet stairway.

This passage was full of cats, though they're not easy to pick out.

Requisite statue pic.

[image error]We ate at AquaViva. Love these lights.

The View from My Room This Morning