S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 15

Light

Library Thing just gave me the heads-up that the next ARC I'll be receiving from their Early Reviewers program is Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk by Danielle Krysa, published by Chronicle Books. Since this is the one I wanted most from the October list I'm quite happy.

There are nineteen days left for National Novel Writing Month, and I regret to report that I did not kick writing ass this week. Mostly because a stomach virus and a wrenched shoulder kicked my butt, but also other things that thoroughly stomped on my spirit. It happens to us all, and when it does, all you want to do is lock yourself in a dark room and sleep or weep.

Creative people rely on inspiration to help bring beauty and joy to our work. When that goes away, and it seems like everyone around us is determined to fight or harp or feed themselves to the evil, it can get between us and the writing. It tries to poison the well. It whispers that there's no reason for what we do. That no one cares. That all there is and ever will be is that dark room, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it. Even Byron said that darkness is the universe, and has no need of us.

I guess Byron would be right if the universe was a complete void, but it's not. It's full of galaxies and stars and nebulas and planets and comets and pulsars and amazing, wonderful things we've yet to discover. Maybe if Byron had ever looked up, he might have seen some of that.

Creation is looking up instead of down. It's inviting hope instead of despair. It's going into a dark room and lighting a candle. Darkness will always be there; we know that. It's not a fair fight because we can't ever defeat it. But here's the thing about reaching for better instead of surrendering to the bleak: the light of you can be seen by someone else in the dark. You can inspire them to hope. With your light, you let them know that they're not alone -- and that may be the most important, valiant thing you can ever do. When you do, and you reach someone, the darkness loses another victim.

This is my candle for you: Look up, not down. Write this week with me. Find beauty and joy and hope however you can. Be the light, not the dark.

Im(possibilities)

It's Sunday night here, and tomorrow is my mom's 80th birthday, and the much-dreaded election is the day after that (and I'm too sick over that to even think about it.) I moved a lot of furniture last week to get my carpets cleaned for the holidays, and then put it all back on Saturday. My guy, our daughter and one of my daughter's friends helped, for which I am beyond grateful (Ryder, you are the best!) I have two big quilting projects to finish this month, and two more projects for the clients to write by the twenty-third. Thanksgiving looms on the horizon in the shape of the Godzilla turkey I might have to make this year.

I used to handle my life without even thinking about it, but I'm not a youngster anymore. I'm old. I'm tired. Everything seems a little impossible tonight.

I'm still a rabid planner, but sometimes don't go according to plan. And there is so much to do; so much that seems impossible to accomplish in three short weeks. I seriously need to mop the floors. The laundry, like the election, we will not discuss. The dogs need a bath. I also need to go shopping because the fridge is basically empty. Did I mention I need to clean the fridge out, too? Which reminds me, I need to know who is coming here for Thanksgiving so I can buy the right-size turkey, but no one wants to commit. Probably because they don't have to do the cooking, the ingrates.

Then there's Mom. I made a quilt for my mom and sent her that and flowers for her birthday, but this is the first year she didn't call me to let me know they arrived. I don't think she realizes I sent them; her dementia is advancing pretty fast. So I'll call her tomorrow and remind her of who I am, and make sure she knows she's loved and missed because that's what you do.

As for the other thing? To my surprise I wrote about 27K since last Monday. I'm going to write another 3K tonight if I can. This while I'm feeling a bit blue about Mom, my bad shoulder hurts from moving furniture, and I have absolutely no idea how many people I'm feeding for Thanksgiving. Doesn't matter. Baby, I kicked writing ass this week.

There are three weeks left in National Novel Writing Month. Three weeks to sit your butt in that chair and attack that keyboard and put your story on the page. This is your novel and your time. It's impossible, I know. Your lives are as busy or even busier than mine. You can't do it, right?

Only you can. Don't plan, don't worry, don't feel blue. Find some time. Set the rest aside, and do what you love. Kick writing ass with me this week, people!

PBW's Book of the Month

October was so busy for me I had time to read only a few books for pleasure, but the most enjoyable was 50 Ways to Wear Denim by Lauren Friedman, my latest ARC from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.

As a teenager I loved jeans, especially the hip hugger style that was so popular when I was in high school. Wearing a pair of jeans with a pretty blouse or T-shirt was practically a school uniform for my generation -- but unfortunately my mother absolutely hated denim. She considered it something that farmers wore, and refused to buy anything made from it for me (she also made me wear dresses to school, for which I was suitably tortured by my peers.) That's why I got my first pair of jeans with some money I made babysitting, and since then have never stopped buying them.

Lauren Friedman's book is a crash course in how to wear denim jeans, shirts, jackets, vests and accessories to their best advantage. I had no idea there were so many different types of denim, or that you could pair them and wear them in such a wide variety of styles. With artfully drawn illustrations the author takes the reader through dozens of denim looks for every occasion, from dressy styles for work or formal events to the most casual of cutoffs and beach wear. She clearly identifies the types of washes and treatments designers give denim, something a fashion-challenged gal like me found very interesting, and offers several options on how to wear the particular cut or style.

In the back pages there is a short history/timeline of denim that I thought was delightful. I also appreciated the section on how to recycle denim, which provides some ideas on upcycling. Just as an aside, quilters often make heavy-duty quilts out of patchwork made from old denim, which I've always wanted to try -- only I'm too attached to my old jeans to cut them up just yet. My only criticism is the author's recommendation never (or rarely) to wash your denim. It may help preserve the fabric but I'm too much of a clean freak to do that. I also think that the more denim fades, the more attractive it becomes, so that may color my opinion here.

Since my daughter is young, hip and much more fashionable than I'll ever be, I asked her to take a look at the book and give me her take on it. Here's what she said:

She's not a huge fan of denim (she must get that from her grandmother) but it will always be timeless and popular.

The styles are well put together and very trendy.

It would have been nice to represent more diverse body types in the illustrations (her only criticism.)

50 Ways to Wear Denim is a fun read, and a great way to learn more about the fabric and how fashionably flexible it can be. I recommend this book for the jeans lovers or anyone who wants to get more mileage out of their denim garments.

NaNoWriMo Begins

Today we kickoff National Novel Writing Month, during which hundreds of thousands of writers all over the planet will be racing to write 50,000 words in thirty days. If you want to join in but have never done so, the official web site has a How It Works page that will explain the official participant details.

For the first day of NaNoWriMo I could crush you with tons of writing advice (and if you search under the tag NaNoWriMo on my blog, you will find plenty of pep talks, link lists, writing tricks and other advice I've offered in years past) but I'd like to start off with something else this year: writing as the other thing.

There are lots of things in life we have to deal with, like the fact that in about a week my country will elect a new President. This campaign has been the dirtiest, meanest, most disgusting and offensive political mess I've ever seen (and my grandmother forced me to watch the whole Watergate debacle when I was a kid.) I am appalled by the way most people are behaving over it. I get hate mail every day from one of the candidates; so much so that I make my guy pick it up from our mail box now so I don't have to touch it. I dread the outcome and the impacts it will have on me, my guy, our kids and everyone we know. As situations go, it's beyond toxic.

I could easily give myself another ulcer while I wait for the outcome of the election, or I could do something else. Something productive. Something I love. Something that helps me deal with an ugly world. The other thing.

Another thing that weighs on me daily -- three of my family members are also having a rough time in their lives right now. Really rough. I love all three, and am doing everything I can to help them, but I can't fix their problems. That frustrates me so much that I've been having trouble sleeping. I want the people I love to be happy, safe, and in good situations, and it kills me to feel so helpless while they're not.

I could wallow in dread and despair over any or all three of these situations until they come to their inevitable conclusions, and even work myself into a depression so deep I have to take another two-month hiatus. Or I could do that other thing.

Writing is never ugly. It doesn't send me hate mail. It doesn't get itself into impossible-to-solve situations. It simply is. It always waits very patiently on me to get on with it. It doesn't take offense when I use an excuse to avoid it. No matter what I do, it's always there to rescue me from reality, give me secret worlds to escape to and provide me with income and an outlet for my creativity. Writing is the silent best friend who saves me every day from everything else.

Writing is not just the other thing. It's my thing.

I wish every one of you who are participating in NaNoWriMo this year the very best of luck. Now I'm off to do my thing -- how about you?

Wishing You

Off to Write

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I'm unplugging to catch up on work today. See you next week for the NaNoWriMo kickoff.

In Eight Days

National Novel Writing Month begins in eight days, at which time hundreds of thousands of writers all over the planet will start their race toward the 50K finish line. In order to win NaNoWriMo, a writer has to produce at least 1667 words per day, or 12,500 words per week. It's madness, and crazy fun, and the best free writing competition out there.

Why should anyone try to write 50,000 words in thirty days? In the two years since I went freelance as a ghost writer I've averaged writing about 75,000 words per month (and that's not counting free stories or what I wrote here at PBW.) As a pro novelist before that I averaged about 50-60K per month -- and I did that for sixteen years. I am very fast, so I do write more per day than the average writer. That said, if you want either job, you probably should give full-time writing a test-drive first. NaNoWriMo is an excellent way to find out if you can handle writing a great many words under the pressure of a deadline.

For experienced writers, writing a novel in November is a chance to play with new ideas, take a break from your ongoing projects, and/or just write something you've always wanted to. Does it pay off? Depends on what you write and what you decide to do with it after November. I eventually sold the rights to Harry's Charm, the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2009, which was later published as the first book in my AH steampunk Disenchanted & Co. series. I just sold the French rights for those books and two other stories to an overseas publisher this past summer, too. Bottom line: if not for NaNo I probably would never have written any of them.

Work prevents me from joining in this year, but I've got my pom poms ready for all of you who decide to dive in on November 1st. In all the years I've participated what's always delighted me most is how beautifully our community of writers comes together to support each other. The NaNoWriMo forums are wonderful places to chat with other participants, ask questions and find some valuable resources. You can also find local groups in your region that meet up in real life to have write-ins and encourage each other. As promised I'll be posting lots of things here at PBW that I hope will be helpful during November, too.

If you're not thrilled by the ninja can opener official participant badges they have this year, here's one I designed:



The tiger photo is one I took this year, and everyone has my permission to use and distribute it for nonprofit purposes. For supporters like me, here's another:



Also a photo I took, and the same permission as the tiger badge applies.

Finally, to kick off the helpful stuff, here are some NaNo treasures from my archives:

Writer's Knowledge Base -- Elizabeth S. Craig's search engine for writers can find the writing-related online help you need very fast.

OneLook Reverse Dictionary -- for when you have a definition or concept for which you need a word. Describe it in the search box, click and get a related words list.

For links to my Outlining 101 post and thirteen other links to outlining resources and tools, click here.

All ten of these word count meters I listed last year for NaNo are still available online.

So who will be writing a novel in November? Let us know in comments.

Second Time Around

This is my Gypsy quilt that I made during Hurricane Matthew, constructed entirely of cutter quilt pieces, an old quilted pillow sham, the sham's backing fabric and some vintage soft white muslin. Even the binding is a leftover from another project. I tried this as an experiment to see if I could make a new quilt out of some old quilted pieces, and it turned out even better than I expected (the Roman numeral II in the center was just a happy accident, btw.)



Here you see what I started with as raw materials. My pillow sham had different fabrics from the pink quilted pieces, but the colors went well together. For more contrast or a crazier look, you can use pieces that are all wildly different. You'll want to trim and lay out everything as you want it to fit together to assure you don't have any spaces between your quilted pieces. Also, keep your main pieces fat-quarter size or bigger to cut down on the number of joining strips you'll have to use to put them together.



I cut the pillow sham backing fabric into 2" strips, which I ironed into 1-1/2" strips with 1/4" folds on either side. These strips are what you use to join the pieces of your quilt together. You can also use wide single-fold bias binding if you don't want to iron strips.



It's important to have very straight edges on your quilted pieces, because you're going to join them together with your folded/bias strips. Pin them together so the quilted piece edges are flush, not overlapping, under your folded/bias strips, and then sew down (by hand or by sewing machine) each side of the strips. Two notes on this step: If your quilted pieces are very thick you'll probably need to use a walking foot on your sewing machine. Also, if you don't want to do any hand-sewing, start joining the back of the quilt first, and make your strips for the back 1/4" to 1/2" narrower than your strips for the front of the quilt, so the front strips hide the machine stitching.



This is what it looks like when you join two quilted pieces together. From there you just have to pin and sew your strips all over.



The back of my quilt, with Skye hiding her head behind it. I hand-sewed the white strips to cover the joined seams on the back because we didn't have any power.

Because the pieces I recycled for this were already quilted, once I finished sewing my joining strips all I had to do was bind the quilt, and it was done -- and it took only four days from start to finish. If you have some old damaged quilts or quilted pieces you want to recycle, this is a fun way to make them into a practical, pretty project. This also works if you want to quilt smaller pieces and then join them together (versus piecing and basting your layers and then quilting the whole quilt.)

My idea was inspired by Bill Peschel's wife, Teresa, and her series of very cool NotQuilt posts on his blog.

After Matthew Part II

Things are finally getting back to normal here after Hurricane Matthew. The power is back on (hopefully for good this week), our cable is working again, the roads have been cleared and we've finished cleaning up our yard mess. All my guy has left to do is chop up the one tree we lost:



My guy and I decided to take a drive down to Daytona to get away for a day and find out how they fared, and as you can see from the pictures I snapped the beach took a hard hit:



The Hilton's first floor was completely flooded, and they've had to gut every room on that level as they dry out. Everywhere we saw things that were sand-blasted, warped or buried by the storm surge. Even the boardwalk stairs down to the sand were smashed to smithereens. It looked to me like half the beach itself was gone. Part of A1A was still closed as they worked on repairing the road. But their cleanup efforts were stupendous, and the local businesses and hotels were open, so recovery is well underway.

After Matthew

Thanks to everyone who prayed and e-mailed and left messages for us during Hurricane Matthew. We made it through the storm in better shape than we expected; some of the siding on our house peeled off, and we had some roof and tree damage, but we lost only one old oak at the back of our property.

The wind was definitely the biggest issue for us; it took my guy a day to clean up all the debris that blew into our yard from other places. We have lovely neighbors who helped out without us even asking. Other than some big rain puddles we had no flooding to speak of here. The power failures, phone and cable disruptions during and after the storm could have been a lot worse, too. No one in our extended family suffered any unfixable damages, either.

Bottom line: we were very, very fortunate. Much of our part of the country was not as lucky, and we are keeping everyone in the southeast in our prayers.