Linda Maye Adams's Blog, page 88

Creativity and Business

I always like reading business books and articles to see what else I can learn about business and apply it to my writing.  Sometimes I run across a quote that makes me stop and go, “Wow.”

This one comes from Always In Fashion: From Clerk to CEO — Lessons for Success in Business and in Life: From Clerk to CEO — Lessons for Success in Business and in Life by Mark Weber

Creativity without knowledge and business skills is very limiting.  Learn as much as you can about every aspect of the business and the industry you’re in.

Very appropriate, even for writers. 

And it’s a fascinating book to read.

Filed under: Fashion, quotes Tagged: Business, creativity, Indie Publishing, money, writing fiction

Bicycling in and out of the story

I’ve found it curious that anything that works really well for a pantser (person who doesn’t outline) is often deemed by the writing community as a “Do not” and a “Really Bad Idea.”

Like moving around in the story as you writing and making changes.  It’s called cycling.

It’s not editing or revising as you write, because I’m still creating the story.  Unless a sentence is making me go “huh” I don’t fix at the sentence level.  Well, except for typos.  They’re fair game.  I add more description, foreshadowing, maybe whole scenes that I realize I need.

But I have some set guidelines too.  I don’t need to them any longer, really.  But the major two:

Don’t move around when I’m stuck, since it can turn into a procrastination tool.  On my first novel in the Dark Ages, I’d get stuck and cycle back and start actual revision—changing big things.
Don’t change sentences because they have to be perfect. I used to work with a cowriter, and he was always trying to change the individual words because the thought if we used happy instead of glad, it might be less marketable.

Knowing these helped me resist temptation to fix something that didn’t need fixing and focus on the story instead.

 

Filed under: Writing Tagged: creating, cycling, Pantser, pantsing, writing without an outline

Not Fixing it on the Revision

One of the “rules” I’ve seen around is not to edit or revise as your write.  It leaves writers to race through the draft and deal with a more worse problem:

I’ll fix it on the revision.

Last week, I hit about 10K on my science fiction novel Sinhollow, and I realized I had a problem.  One of the characters wasn’t working.  I included her initially because I wanted to make sure I have enough women characters.  I didn’t want my heroine to be the only woman.

My choices were to leave the character in and deal with it on the revision, but I know that’s a way that leads to a whole lot of unnecessary work (having gone down that path before).  I spent about an afternoon pulling her from the scenes and adding new dialogue.  Wasn’t all that hard to do.  But if I’d waited until the story was done, a lot more would have been tangled up, and each change would have rippled into other changes that would have in turn caused other changes.

And it made me think about the character, because I didn’t want to get rid of her.  So she has a new role, and I’m going back to add scenes.

Not revision.  No editing.  It’s creating.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: characters, creating, novel, revision, science fiction

Miss USA on Women in Combat

Miss USA has largely become of those events that time has passed by, but still hangs around. But the winner of last night’s event was a military reservist.  When she was asked about women in combat, this is what she said:

“As a woman in the United States Army, I think it was an amazing job by our government to allow women to integrate to every branch of the military. We are just as tough as men,” she said to lots of cheers from the crowd. “As a commander of my unit, I am powerful. I am dedicated. And it is important that we recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States Army.”

I don’t have an opinion on women in combat one way or another, other than if the doors had been opened to the infantry while I was in the service, I wouldn’t have volunteered.  However, there was something inherently wrong with the old system.  Combat was always ranked higher in importance, and soldiers got more awards—and promotion opportunities—for it.

But honestly, it all boils down to this:

If you have two people on the same incident involving guns, artillery, and things blowing up do the same things to save lives, there’s something wrong with giving one of those people medals and recognition and telling the other person, “Sorry, women aren’t allowed in combat, so it doesn’t count.”

Filed under: Military, Opinion Tagged: Army Reserves, Miss USA, Women in Combat

The Women of the Memorial Day Parade

Sometime last year, I signed up to  march in the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC, as part of the Desert Storm timeline in the parade. 

This year, we have a bunch of big anniversaries:

911 – 15 years
Desert Storm – 25 years
World War II – 75 years

The parade was done in a timeline form, starting with the Revolutionary War and moving up through all the wars we’ve had people serve in.  The Desert Storm portion was sponsored by the Desert Storm Memorial.

Commercial interruption here:  The Desert Storm Memorial is looking for donations:  http://www.nationaldesertstormwarmemorial.org/

The uniform was khaki pants or chocolate chip pants and a brown t-shirt that had a big 25 on the back.  The optional hat was the boonie one that we wore over in the war.  I opted for the khaki pants because I already had them; most of the people had to go out and buy the chocolate chip pants and the hat.  I didn’t want to spend money on something I was going to wear once.

About three days before the parade, our cold rainy spring in DC ended, and summer marched in, all hot and bothered.  Humidity shot up, and we were getting 80-90 degrees.

My day on Memorial Day started at about 8 AM.  I was assigned to the first group in formation, with about 100 people, and we hopped the Metro to go downtown.  We took over the first two cars, so I’m not sure what the other passengers thought!

Though one of the men commented that it was probably the safest car on the train.  If anything happened, 50 people would be all over it in a heartbeat.

Our first staging area was by near where would start, by Constitution Avenue.  A tent had been set up nearby with water, and we needed a lot of it!  We were going to be out there until the parade started at 2:00, and it got hotter and hotter.

Suppose there’s a sense of irony in that …

So it was a lot of hurry up and wait.  We watched a WWI truck (for the WWI memorial) stop by, manned by a Navy guy who put it together with parts from all over the world.  There were also bands in some pretty cool looking uniforms (hardly the ugly mustard yellow from my high school days), though they had to be even hotter than us.  At least we had short sleeves!

At 2:00, we lined up out by the Smithsonian castle and waited for another hour—but at least we had a building with real bathrooms in and not porta potties.

At 3:00 thereabouts, we were a go.  I was in the first group, the last one in line, on the right side.  Most of the photos were taken of the left side.  We marched down the street connecting to Constitution, past two bands, who collectively turned and watched us.  That was kind of weird, because we were all in the same parade.

We pivoted at the corner and the viewing stands were right there.  Packed with people.  Cheering for us.

We were stiff and formal at that point.  I think everyone was screaming “Don’t screw up!”

And it was overwhelming.  I’d worried about going to the bathroom while I was out there, and I forgot it for a while.

We marched until we came to a stop.  It was like a traffic jam—you can’t see what’s going up ahead to know what’s going on.  Later we found out someone in a group ahead of us had a heart attack.

But after we got moving again, things changed a bit.  It was like suddenly we were freer.  A couple of the men broke away from the group and ran to the sidelines to shake the hands of veterans watching.  A spotter behind me identified the veterans by hats or t-shirts.

A woman in an Air Force uniform had five men launch for her; I think she was a little dazed at it all.  Two of the women ran out giving high fives to the crowds.

And the crowds loved it all.

All the way down Constitution, people were lined up, calling out to us, and waving.  We finally reached the end of the route and turned off.  The fire department had a hose aimed into the air so the spray would fall down on the marchers.

Better still, there was a stand of porta potties, and a bunch of made a beeline for them.  After that, the Kuwaitis asked us all to sign a flag so they could take it home.  I signed it with my name and my unit.

Then it was time to go home.  By the time I got back, it was nearly 6:00.

There was an immediate camaraderie among us, though I only knew people from when I went on the reunion cruise last year.  But we all had the same shared experience.

This is a photo of the women participating in the parade, taken by one of the other veterans.  I’m standing behind the service dog.

* *  *

And I have a new contemporary fantasy short story out on Amazon:

 

Filed under: Military, Travel Tagged: Desert Storm, Memorial Day, Washington DC

Memorial Day Parade

Just dropping in for a quick note:  I was in the Memorial Day Parade today in Washington DC.  I’ll write more about it when I come up for air–I’m bushed!  But we appear on this video at about the 1:10 mark.  I’m not visible in the video, but I’m in the first batch of soldiers, on the right, at the end.

Filed under: Military, Videos Tagged: Desert Storm

The Accidental Dining Room Table

This last week, I bought a new dining room table.   The old table was left over from when I was in the Army.  I’d just moved in, had no furniture at all (because I’d lived in the barracks prior), and a fellow soldier sold it to me to for $200.

The table was serviceable, but honestly, generic furniture for parents and kids.

Last week, I saw something in Real Simple about a pedestal table, and I thought I’d look around.  Because, really, the table I had took up a lot of space, and besides, I hadn’t ever picked it because I’d liked it.  I’d gotten it because it was there.

So I wandered into one furniture store.  Meh.  Didn’t see anything I liked. But I was only just looking. Get an idea of what I liked.

Saw the furniture store that had replaced my Borders.  Hadn’t been inside the building since Border’s closed.  Sure I could look inside and see how different it was (I couldn’t tell it had been a bookstore).

Wandered around. They were having a half-off sale, and the table was on sale.  And it was what I wanted, so I bought it.  Didn’t buy the chairs, even though they were half-off too, because I didn’t like them.  I’ll get those separately, though I have one I can use with it now.

I want to replace all the Army legacy furniture (bed frame, sofa, drawers).  But the table was a particular focus because it’s the only piece of furniture I never actually picked out.  I also I wanted the dining room space for my writing office (the table is small enough to be in the living room, and by the window).

And I wanted to respect the meals more than I have.  Getting a table I want to eat on is a start.

—

Rogue God is out on Amazon.

 

Filed under: Entertainment, Food, Thoughts Tagged: dining room, furniture

Strolling Downtown Amidst the Mud Architects and Mud Cloth

This weekend I decided I really needed a fun day.  It’s kind of hard going out on fun days, because I don’t want to do them every weekend—it’s supposed to be fun and not feel like I’m “supposed” to do it. 

May’s also probably the only time I will have now to go downtown.  Starting in June, Metro Rail (the subway we use to go into downtown DC) will undergo major maintenance that will include shutting down lines.

So it was off to the see the Natural History Museum. 

We’ve had rain all week, and the nasty kind of rain, where you can’t see where you’re going.  The sky was clear and pretty when I got up, but by the I finished my early morning grocery shopping, clouds crowded in, gray and promising rain.  In fact, I debated going or not because I really didn’t want to caught in a downpour.

Ultimately though, I needed to get out and have fun.  I took my umbrella and hopped off the Metro down near my quarry.  It was a lot of walking, even though I was pretty close—I only needed to cut across the mall, turn right and go down a block.  DC is deceptive like that; you never think you walked very far until you realize you walked pretty far.

I picked the Natural History Museum because I wanted to see an exhibit called the Mud Architects of Mali.  The Mud Architects practicing an ancient craft of masonry, using the mud of the local area.  Doesn’t that sound cool and the perfect thing for a fantasy novel?

That exhibit led me to the African Voices one, which had the Mud Cloth.  They are women who make intricate designs on cloth.  They take a plain cloth and dye it with mud.  The designs have specific meaning—for example, one pattern represented marriage.  That’d be cool for a story, too.

The exhibits were interesting, though I wished the curator had done more on them.  So when I came back home, I stopped off at the library for three books on Mali–like I already didn’t have enough books to read!

This is from a prompt by the Daily Post, though I handily took a stroll beforehand

—

Cover preview for Rogue God, due out in June:

 

Filed under: Travel Tagged: Washington DC

Writer’s Smart Book

I published three new stories over the weekend, and it made me realize I needed some kind of information sheet for them.  There were a lot of moving parts!

The military had what was called a “Smart Book.”  It refers to a book the trainees were given in Basic Training.  We kept it in our cargo pocket, where it got all sweaty and smashed up.  Any time we stood in line, we were supposed to have it out and be reading it.

What did it contain?  Basic things about the military, like rank.  Designed as a reference for the trainee and easy to read.

I decided I needed a “smart book” for my indie publishing.  The three stories below make ten (woo-hoo!).  Partially, the reason was that the process was starting to get complicated, and I didn’t want multiple files.  For example, I just downloaded an image for Rogue God, my novel.  I haven’t done anything else yet, but I needed to save the cover credit somewhere.

Smart Book.

Then there’s the keywords, which I can dash off at any time.

Smart Book.

So I have all the following:

Title
Original Title (because I have some stories I retitled, for various reasons.  Devil Winds was originally called The Devil Dances on Whisky Flats.  It sounded too much like a Western, and the new title is a much better one).
Type of manuscript (short story, novel, etc.)
Blurb
Submission History (where I submitted and dates rejected.  I hate, hate, hate keeping a spreadsheet).
Epublishing History (includes the price and the dates I published it; the categories for each vendor, since some of them varied, particularly on Foggy Paws; ISBN; Cover Image Credit; Keywords)

I like having it Evernote because it’s not much effort to access it.  I don’t fuss with tags; I just put them in a folder called Smart Book.  Meanwhile, here’s the covers to the three books.

Filed under: Books, productivity, Writing Tagged: Basic Training, Evernote, smart book

Muscle Woman and High Fiving a Robot

First up, some bragging points:  My short story “A Quartet of Clowns” got an honorable mention in the Writers of the Future Contest.  No publication, but I’m moving up.

This weekend, I was at Ravencon, a science fiction convention that’s held every year, now in Williamsburg, VA.  It used to be in Richmond, but the hotel hired new staff, who jacked up the price, so they moved to the new location.

I was hoping for nice weather.  Instead, it was rain and gray skies all the way up.

I had two goals for the con.  The first was to use the hotel’s swimming pool and get a little swimming in. For the con, it was to participate more, because when I do I’m memorable.  Not sure why, but everyone remembers me.

So I had to pick better panels than I’ve had in the past.  A lot of the writing ones tend to be beginner level, so I don’t want to participate (and in some cases, I think what they’re giving out is really wrong).  I scoped out the panels about week before, though first contact changed that.

I got in a quick swim before the con started. About ten laps, which wasn’t much (the pool was small). I also did pool pullups. I use the handles on the ladder to do it.

Then off to the con. The first sessions included a panel on world building.  I think one person suggested the world building topic, because there was a lot of world building panels, and nearly always the same writers on the panels.   One of the commentaries on horses came from a horse enthusiast on panel.  In fantasy novels, everyone always has a horse, but horses are really expensive (why they hung horse thieves).  That made me note a comment to add to the short story I was working on (called Lady Pearl and now in submission).

After that, it was off to a Star Trek 50th anniversary panel—it’s hard to believe it has been 50 years.  The panelists went through all the various incarnations of Trek.  There had been two panels on Star Trek scheduled that I planned to attend, but after this one, I had my fill.  Never thought I’d say that about Star Trek.  When I was growing up, I had a shrine in my room—everything I had all displayed.

I chatted with the panelists before the panels—sitting in the front row is great for interaction.

Saturday started with another trip to the pool. Then off to a panel on robots, which is where my post title comes from.  There was team of teenagers who had participated in an annual contest for building robots.  They’re given a task—in this case, climbing a ramp—and they have to build and program a robot that can accomplish the task.  Everything is Open Engineering Book, so all the teams can use what someone else comes up with to learn.

Two of the team members were girls.  They built a robot which looked like the lunar rover.  It had a hand on the top that gave you a high five, which was pretty cool.

And it was girls, which was awesome,

Then off to Flags on the Moon, which is exactly what it was.  The panelist talked about the trials of trying to stand a flag up on the moon and how many were standing.  We got to hear some clips from NASA and see some moon videos.   This is from NASA on the status of the flags.   No one’s been there, but NASA can tell their presence by the shadows they cast in photos.

World Building: Creating Fictional Political Systems was next.  This one presented an interesting idea, which is that a lot of writers just use the U.S. system.  How our system is unique and the only one like it, so others are better choices.  The panelists thought if there was a world government, it would be more parliamentary.

Next was the Baen Traveling Roadshow.  Reps from the company show us what’s going to be released and give away books. Honestly, it was great looking at the posters of covers they had up. Some really awesome artwork.

And back to World Building with First Contact and Politics.  Hmm.  Do you think the election might be influencing the panels?  First contact is always depicted in films as the aliens contacting the government, but the panelists thought aliens would contact merchants.  Merchants are always the ones branching out to find more markets.

My last panel was on Writing the Short Story.  The panelist was Bud Sparhawk, who’s been in Analog and Asimov’s.  He was joined by another writer, whose name I can’t recall.  That writers was a pantser, so he was the opposite of everything that was Bud.  I didn’t get as much out of the panel as I was hoping, and it was at a really bad time (10:00), so not much on the audience side.  The woman sitting next to me took notes on her checkbook register and had green lipstick that Bud said was distracting (okay, well, it was a con, and at least she wasn’t wearing one polka dot).

For Sunday, it was back to the pool first thing in the morning. This time, a mother brought her daughter, probably no more than 12, to play in the pool. It was 7:00 a.m., so this was very odd. After I did the pool pull-ups, the daughter tried it. Couldn’t do it at all. But then I’m Muscle Woman. I’ve been working on my arm muscles.

I looked at the panels for Sunday, and the only one I might have attended was late in the afternoon.  I booked out at 8:00 a.m., hoping to avoid the predicted rain.  Needless to say, it rained the entire way back and turned into a downpour once I hit Quantico.

Oh, dear.  Need to go off line.  Thunderstorm is coming in.

Filed under: Culture, Entertainment, Thoughts Tagged: Moon, NASA, Ravencon, Short Stories, Star Trek, Virginia, world-building