S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 187

Journal Evolution

I've been keeping handwritten journals since 1974, and every now and then I like to take out one from an earlier year and compare it to what I'm writing now. Here are the two I was looking at tonight: July 2011 on the left, and July 2008 on the right.



Obviously I was a much neater journal writer back in 2008, but since completing Keri Smith's Wreck This Journal last year I think I've loosened up quite a bit. All my journals used to be absolutely flat and perfect, now they're filled with all sorts of things I never put in my older journals (fabrics, souvenirs, cards, clippings and what have you.) I also recovered the 2011 journal with paper printed to look like rain on a window because while I loved the pages the cover was beyond ugly.

Some things don't change, however. In July 2008 I started an entry by complaining about laundry, and did the exact same thing in 2011. Laundry seems to be my personal demon no matter what year it is.



My personal journals are filled with art. I added a lot more watercolor paintings in my journals in years past; now I tend to put in more of my photography. I still leave some pages blank, which is not me being mysterious -- I just don't backtrack through my journals, and sometimes skip one by accident.



Art populates all my journals, especially when I'm sad or going through a tough time. Here in 2011 I pasted in some fabric scraps from a crazy quilt project on the day I lost my uncle (and that passage is deliberately blurred for privacy); in 2008 I actually ironed one of my paint rags and pasted that in along with some trimmings from my watercolors after a stressful day dealing with the downside of Publishing.



Of the several hundred journals I've filled I've given away only a few to friends, but those were journals I wrote especially for them. I've also destroyed a pile that I felt didn't need to survive me, and I think that's important. If you don't want it published or passed around after you're gone, you should absolutely destroy it now, because no matter what your wishes are, they will probably be disregarded once you've gone on to the next place. If there are only certain passages you want to remove, I advise tearing out and trashing those pages.

After thirty-seven years of journaling I can't imagine not having one. With everything being electronic these days I'm afraid the handwritten journal will soon go the way of the handwritten letter, so I'm more determined than ever to keep up with mine. I don't think mine are especially interesting to anyone but me or possibly my family members, but it's good writing practice and it helps to clear my head and get me prepped to focus on the work.

Do you guys keep handwritten journals? What do you put in yours that you consider unusual? Let us know in comments.

NaNoWriMo

Get the Countdown Clock widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)

I put a reminder on my virtual calendar to decide now whether or not I want to join in National Novel Writing Month 2011, which is only three months away. I've got a book being released in November and another due in December, plus all the usual holiday prep to deal with, so unless some miracle or disaster clears my schedule, I'm probably just going to be in the cheering section this year.

Are you guys planning to participate this year? Got any special plans? Let us know in comments.

A Tale of Two Roses

Hang around me long enough and I will tell you a story about my roses. It's inevitable; I'm a rose addict. I began growing them because I like to have fresh flowers in the house, and roses remind me of what happened on the day I fell in love with my guy. That's why they're my favorite flower -- and why our daughter's middle name is Rose.

Most people don't realize just how long roses have been cultivated. The Chinese were probably the first to add them to their flower beds about five thousand years ago, and they've been bedevilling gardeners ever since. The ancient Romans used them in perfumes and medicines, and showered rose petals on their armies as they paraded through the streets. Many cultures consider the rose a sacred symbol, and have used them to represent everything from love to war.

I read a couple of books last week that reminded me of two of the roses I grow, which prompted me to cut a bloom from each of them while I wrote this post. The image up top there are the two roses just after I cut them and put them in water. You might think at first glance that the showpiece of my garden is my lady rose on the right. She produces white flowers with just the faintest tinge of pink, and they are always perfect, from bud to bloom. Lady's roses have the classic rose scent, and she also has perfect leaves and a nice shape. She responds well to pruning and produces steadily right on schedule, from late spring to early fall. They all look just like this one:



Then there is my cranky old rose bush, who is responsible for the dark pink bloom on the left. Cranky and I have a colorful history. She's pretended to die on me multiple times only to come back to life; I should really call her Zombie Rose. She also blooms whenever she feels like it; one year she gave me roses for three weeks in the middle of winter (that was right after the summer she got the black pox and spread it to every other bush in the garden.) I never know what to expect from her; one day she gives me a dozen blooms that all open at the same time; the next she turns into a brown stick and plays dead.

For an heirloom rose Cranky is old, ugly and she refuses to be cultivated, pruned or otherwise tamed. Her blooms don't smell like roses at all; they're a bit like baby powder plus cotton candy plus something else. They also look more like carnations than roses, and their crinkly petals will never win any beauty contests. Cranky spits on the word showpiece. I'm pretty sure she hates me, too, and I have the thorn scars to prove it.

I'd have kicked Cranky out of the garden years ago, except for the fact that (when she wants) she produces incredible, complex roses that seem to change color from year to year and last for more than a week after cutting. That and the fragrance of her blooms is like a drug (after one sniff you keep wanting to smell it, which is what gave me the idea for the Darkyn's l'attrait ability.)

I appreciate my lady rose, too, but for all her excellent qualities and endless perfection, she's really not much use to me. I can't cut any of her blooms because they fall apart immediately. Here are the two roses again, 12 hours after I cut them:



Now onto the books I read. Book #1 was by a writer who shall remain nameless (it's no one who visits here or knows me.) This writer is quite attractive, very popular, has won industry awards and is well spoken of by people who think all that stuff is important. These are also the reasons I've never read this writer, but a family member asked me if the writer's books were any good, so I thought I'd better actually read one and test the waters before I offered an opinion. While I was wading through the cloned characters, the knockoff worldbuilding, the pinhead plot, the endless housekeeping dialogue and sex scenes that read like Pilates instructions, I also realized how perfect this writer was. Technically speaking, I couldn't find a single thing wrong with the writing. The novel contained zero grammar mistakes, typos or broken genre rules. The writing also had no voice, no passion, nothing to distinguish it from a hundred others just like it. Reading it was like what I imagine eating library paste tastes like.

I read Book #2 a day after recovering from Book #1, and I was convinced I would hate it, too (#1 really left me in a hateful mood, which is why I probably went to another book I didn't want to read, to get all the suffering over with at once.) #2 was a Christmas gift from a friend across the pond; a literary novel set in a time period I don't especially care for. The main character was, God help me, a writer. There is no character that makes me cringe more that a fiction protagonist who is a writer. The title was waaaaay too long. The characters were poorly named. It wasn't even structured like a novel. But it was a gift from someone I care about, so I had to read it. Started out slow, but by the middle of the story I was on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as I could to find out what was going to happen next. The terribly-named characters stole my heart. So did the story, which wasn't like anything I'd ever read. It was brilliant stuff. I will remember this book forever (and once I get more copies, I'll tell you more and have a giveaway for it.)

When you're writing for publication, you will be pressured to deliver perfection. You'll be handed a lot of rules about what you should or shouldn't write. You'll have agents, editors and even writer friends give you advice on what you have to write to win awards, be more marketable, and appeal to the readers of other, better-selling writers. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to improve the work, or to train yourself to turn in the cleanest manuscript that you can, but don't be bullied into sacrificing who you are as a storyteller so that you look better. Don't surrender what is unique about you just to be more acceptable. Pretty might look really good, but as my poor lady rose proves, it has no substance, no surprises, and it never lasts.

Cover Déjà vu

I've seen the preliminary cover art for Nightborn, which is pretty spectacular, and as soon as I get the green light from my editor I'll be showing it off to you guys. There was something about it that was driving me a little bonkers, though -- one of the background elements, a fountain, looked really familiar. As in a serious déjà vu , I'd-photographed-it-myself moment. But where?

I started going through my old photo files and pulling everything I'd labeled with fountain:



Wasn't this behemoth.



Or this one, which I dubbed Le Crane Upchucks.



This Honey, Call the Plumber fountain wasn't it, either.



I never realized I had such a fetish for fountains.



Kind of weird fountains, too.



Possibly radioactive fountains.



Have you ever noticed how many fountains are built around the concept of the regurgitating critter?



Or critters who are relieving themselves in, um, other ways?



Anyway. After going through several dozen more image files, I started becoming annoyed with myself. Everything is not a message from the universe, and my memory is certainly not the steel trap it used to be when I was younger. I told myself I was just imagining things.

Only I couldn't leave it alone, so I looked at the artwork again, this time with a magnifying glass. I then saw two tiny details that escaped me on first glance: something behind the fountain that hadn't been altogether photoshopped out, and something in the middle of it. And then I knew exactly what it was, and where it was, and nearly fell on the floor.

Why I didn't recognize it immediately is anyone's guess, but I think it's one of those knee-jerk, "No, it couldn't be that" assumptions we make when we have a déjà vu moment. I've actually seen the fountain from my cover art in person a couple dozen times. It happens to be one of my favorite spots in the world. The last time I visited it, I didn't just photograph the fountain, I sat next to it for about an hour and wrote about it in my research journal, which ended up becoming part of a novel I wrote six books back.

Here's the last photograph I took of it in 2008:



I know it's probably just a coincidence, and it's silly to get happy about such things, but I'm still taking it as a good omen.

Widget Quest

Now that I've tried reinventing the bookmark, my second creative challenge is to come up with three widgets to use with promo for my upcoming Lords of the Darkyn trilogy. The immediate problems: I'm not a widget lover; I think 99% of all widgets are a waste of time and materials. I want something unique and different that is my idea, which rules out all the mass-produced advertising-type junk (thank heavens.) And I want to make it myself, which limits the range of possibilities to what I can reasonably produce without making a complete hash of it.

I've been keeping my eye out for inspiration and hoping the universe would conk me on the head with something fabulous. Which it did last night when I made a stop at World Market for some international treats. I always check their bargain bins for interesting sale items, where this time I found a set of three notes made into scrolls:

     

It was a real eureka moment. Scrolls are what books were before there were books, and as it happens Nightborn, the first novel in the new Darkyn trilogy, features a scroll as an important part of the story. Perfect idea for a widget! I even knew what I could do with different materials to make it low-cost, give it my own personal spin, and end up with something that has a good chance of not landing in the trash bin.

Next problem: I've never actually made a scroll, so I needed to do some research. I promptly went over to BAM to hunt for some how-to guidance, and in the process found Alisa Golden's Making Handmade Books . This is practically an encyclopedia of book making, and features a wide variety of beautiful and unusual bindings and forms. Ms. Golden offers fully illustrated, step-by-step instructions paired with beautiful finished examples of the different styles, so you can see what the end result should look like. Btw, if you're an art journalist, book maker or someone who for whatever reason fashions and binds your own books, this should absolutely be in your library.

Lucky for me it also included how to make a scroll book, the instructions for which I can adapt to use for my widget project. Reading through it also gave me a great idea on how I can secure the scroll in an interesting way and still assure that every component of the widget can actually be used for practical purposes. I love art, but I love not wasting or throwing away things even more. Now I just have to experiment with the design and put together some prototypes to test out the vision and see if I can make it work in reality.

Test Your Vocab

Ever wonder what size English vocabulary you have? Here's a test you can take online to give you an estimate.

I took the test and gave honest responses (it's honor system based, so you can lie and say you know the tough words and probably make yourself look better.) I thought I'd absolutely bomb, especially when I hit the final column, but my results surprised me:



Test link nicked from Gerard over at The Presurfer.

Freeware Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Book Tracker is "an organizer program for the book collector or manager of a small library. Book Tracker was designed to be simple to use, yet feature rich. Many of the features can be implemented with a single click or hot key and most of the information is presented on the main screen. Book Tracker Collector's Edition is a freeware program designed to be used by anyone needing to organize their books including avid readers, book collectors, law librarians, small school librarians, corporation librarians and more" (OS: Not specified but it looks like Windows)

Fusion "allows merging several images of the same scene in one. You can merge photos taken with the same exposure or images taken with different exposures. When blending together images taken with different exposure, the program creates an image with high dynamic range of brightness (HDR). Subsequent tone mapping to low range (LDR) uses nonlinear algorithms and allows preserving maximum details of the original images" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)

ManicTime is "a time tracking software which automatically collects data on your computer usage. It records active and away time, as well as which applications you used and for how long you used them. The data ManicTime collects is stored in a local database on your computer. Once data is collected you can use our simple click and drag feature to accurately tag how you spent your time. Time tagging allows you to see how you spent your time based on your own time tags and gives you accurate information on how efficient you really are" (OS: Windows XP/2003/Vista/7)

NoteFly is "a very small, colorful note taking application. Features: very small application (Less than 200kb setup) if .net framework 2.0/Mono is installed; several skins for notes to select; make sticky notes on top or roll them up to save screen space; a lot of settings to customize NoteFly to your needs; fully xml based (does not need windows registry, except for running on logon) (OS: Win 2000/XP/Vista/7 + Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.)

NoteLiner "helps you structure and track your work; it provides a place to record meeting and conversation notes, manage todos, and store key project information that might otherwise be scattered about. It is a simple tool that will not slow you down, but will give you a means to stay on top of what you need to do and remember" (OS: Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7)

Piggydb is "an open source Web notebook application that provides you with a platform to build your knowledge personally or collaboratively" (OS: Windows/Mac OS X/etc with Java)

Qumana is "an easy-to-use desktop blog editor, enabling you to write, edit and post to one or more blogs. You can use Qumana even when you are offline. Save your blog posts to your hard drive and upload whenever you like. Great for bloggers on the move. Qumana features include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, and advertising insertion with Q Ads" (OS: Mac OS X)

Skim is a speedy pdf reader that Mac lovers say is better than Preview. It comes with a few powerful built-in editing tools such as adding an arrow/circle, or striking out unwanted text. With Skim, you can quickly sort through and edit your PDFs in a pinch (OS: Mac OS X)

Speak-a-Message "replaces written text with your voice: Just record and send. Speak-A-Message provides a rich communication experience that enables you to create and email your own audio messages and to listen to audio messages in your inbox. Speak-A-Message is free for private use. Speak-A-Message can also be used to add audio comments to text documents or to add your voice comments to presentations" (OS: Windows Vista/7)

VueMinder Lite is a "calendar and reminder program for Windows. It supports multiple calendars displayed simultaneously in layers. These can be viewed and printed by day, week, or month. They can also be visually distinguished using unlimited combinations of fonts, background colors, and gradient styles. It also integrates a semitransparent calendar into your Windows desktop, so you´ll always be able to see your upcoming events" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

Fake Agent E-mail Scam

I just read about this today over at YAHighway, and since this is a horrific scam I thought I'd post the info as well as my comment here, too.

From Publishers Lunch:

Writers House has learned that a series of fake emails claiming to be from WH agent Jodi Reamer have been circulating to self-published authors this week. "These emails, which contain a number of false statements, have not in fact come from Jodi Reamer and should thus be disregarded." One easy "tell": they advise that any e-mail from a non-Writers House address "expressing interest in representation is counterfeit."

I've been a client of Writers House for twelve years. When I queried WH back in 1998, I had a personal rec from a Big Name Author and a two-book contract offer from a major publisher in hand. My agent (Robin Rue) did not sign me instantly; she asked to see the full manuscripts plus other samples of my work, and then she called me to talk about my career goals. Then she had to think about it. The whole thing took about three weeks.

While some agencies or agents do move faster, and occasionally a promising writer will end up having agents fighting over them, when it comes to signing with a prestigious agency it generally does require some time.

Characters R Us

Welcome to Characters R Us, the ultimate online character shopping experience. If you've got a story, we've got the perfect someone to star in it!

Today we're featuring a 10% discount on three of our most popular Standard Romance Heroine Models:

Anna All-American: A classic top selling model, Anna is the epitome of the ideal girl-next-door, and comes equipped with a stubborn chin, nose freckles, a large, untrained canine pet and a loving but constantly interfering spinster relation. When ordering, please specify unfashionable hair type (long ponytails, thick braids or short curly mop.)

Kitty KickButt: What's an urban fantasy without the perfect kickbutt heroine? Boring, that's what. Our Kitty model is strong, sassy and so ready to save the world that she'll take on (or have sex with) any monster you throw at her. Kitty comes complete with a weapon of unparalleled power, more tattoos than a biker gang and a tragic, troubled but wholly understandable wayward past. Please choose from the following ethnicities: Almost Asian, Kinda Caucasian, Not Quite African-American, or Half-Hybrid Hell Spawn.

Sally Shy Thang: This sweet young heroine is perfect for every ellipsis-lover, as she can mangle any line of dialogue you provide. Bitable lips, fluttering eyelashes, twistable fingers and a lifetime supply of adorable blushes are included at no extra charge.

Victoria Virgin: this multi-purpose model can give a delicate but determined feminine sparkle to your historical, paranormal or steampunk stories, and comes complete with uncut hair, unpainted features, uncommon education, uncompromised virtue and a battered trunk of shabby but serviceable period-appropriate gowns. If you order before 6 pm today we'll include a bonus destitute but devoted maid servant (colorful accent $5.00 extra.)

But wait, that's not all! Order in the next hour and we will send you absolutely free of charge one of these wonderfully supportive secondary characters:

Fond Friendly Father -- the amazing Dad none of us ever had

Boisterious Best Friend -- the ideal BFF, lots of spunky lines, no life whatsoever

Meddling Emotional Mom -- when she's not baking or cleaning she's crying or lying

Somewhat Skanky Sister -- has worked her way through the football team (twice) but always has sage advice and boxes of condoms

Not Altogether Evil Twin -- there but for the grace of God, huh? (includes your choice of gender!)

Thanks for shopping at Characters R Us, and stop in next week for our annual Hard Sci-Fi Fire Sale to pick from the best of the leftover/refurbished folks from the future!

One Week Only

Although writers almost never have any input as to the cover price for our books, every now and then we're given the opportunity to participate in a reduced price sale that is not covered by the terms of our contract. I got my chance the other day when one of my publishers asked if they could nominate my YA title for just such a sale. I gave them the green light, and to make it a very good sale I suggested they go with the lowest price possible.

My publisher agreed, and the sales people picked my title, and everyone was okay with the big discount, so if you're a Kindle owner and would like to save 90% on the Kindle edition of my YA debut novel After Midnight, head over to the Kindle Store sale page and get it now for just $0.99. This sale is only good for the next week, so if you're interested don't wait too long.

Still 100% free for everyone: Dark of Heart , my e-book novella set in the After Midnight universe, which you can read online, download, print out and share for non-profit purposes.