Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 55

Happiness is a New Possible Self

In an NYT essay, “Want to Make a Change? Conjure Your ‘Possible Selves,” Joanne Lipman argues for the power of positive imaging of a future you, building a bridge from “the now self to the possible self.” Building that bridge, Lipman suggests, means taking active beginning steps, finding a support person/”expert companion”, sharing your goals with others, and reach out to people who aren’t close to you.

I am clearly at a place where I need to change my life, so I am looking at all of those things, the big thing being, what do I want my possible self to be? I’m still not sure, but imagining different possible selves, doorways to the future, is making me happy this week.

What possibilities (and anything else) made you happy this week?

Happiness is a Tribe

So Friday was a nightmare, five guys and a truck and house full of stuff to go through. I had a panic attack in the middle of the night, followed by an allergy attack, followed by no sleep, and the the truck came . . .

But before the truck got there, Krissie was there, and then Mollie came, and then Jamie was there, and put chairs out in front and made me sit there with them, and we laughed a lot and I just sat there amazed: people were taking care of me. My best friend, my daughter, my therapist, all showed up to surround me and make me feel secure and loved in spite of what a mess I am.

I think a lot of us just take care of people, it’s what we do, so when the world flips around, we get dizzy with emotional vertigo, and we have to let others step up, and it can be terrifying. Unless you have a tribe. Then you just laugh and eat breakfast at noon and hug each other. That was the other thing: They all like each other a lot, they all have friendships and respect for each other, and I’d be lost without them.

So this is to thank Mollie and Krissie and Jamie for being the best of all possible tribes and for getting me through Friday. You are the best, and I’m the luckiest damn woman I know. And this is also to ask a comment request: If you have a tribe, who’s in it? How do you support each other? What makes you laugh together and hold onto each other and show up for each other?

And finally, how did you find happiness this week, with a tribe or solo?

This is a Good Book Thursday, May 4, 2023

I’m swamped this week–houseguest coming today, Junk Doctors coming tomorrow, nervous breakdown coming Saturday–so I haven’t been reading anything but Bob’s e-mails on the collaboration–he asked if the bears are helping with the clean-out–and the contracts on the new place in PA. And pieces of Murderbot whenever I start to scream. Things will be back to almost normal next week. Probably. Argh.

What did you read this week?

Working Wednesday, May 3, 2023

It’s May. I mean I’m grateful for spring, but that was fast. And now I’m spring cleaning, although it really more death cleaning, cleaning to move, so it’s radical. Not just washing sheets, throwing sheets out. I have my tribe coming on Friday–best friend, daughter, therapist (she volunteered) to help Junk Doctors fill a big truck and leave me lighter and freer. It’s terrifying.

What terrifying work are you doing this week?

Happiness is a Cat Who Cuddles

Two years ago, I adopted a feral, three-pawed cat that was living in my garage. I put food inside the door into the house, and when the cat came in to eat–it was very thin–I pulled the door shut and trapped it. It was not happy, but there was a lot of designer cat food and clean water and an electric heating pad to sleep on and nobody hassled it–the dogs kind of shrugged and gave it space and I petted it whenever it came near but otherwise, the cat stayed in the back of the house and we lived in the front–so it just settled in. Then it started coming to the door of the bedroom where we were hanging out–me typing, dogs sleeping–and watching us, ignoring me when I patted the bed for it to join us, chowing down on all that cat food and bulking up (it’s a Maine Coon and they are not small by nature). And then one day, it jumped on the bed, curled up beside me, and purred. I called it Emily William, since I had no idea what sex it was, and Emily W. moved into the front bedroom with us and never left.

Emily turned out to be a cuddler. She likes sitting in the bay window during the day, examining the landscape for whatever, but at night she’s right by my side, bumping her forehead into my arm to get an ear scratch, putting her head on my pillow to touch her nose to mine, squirming her way between me and Veronica as we sleep. I’m used to dogs being cuddlers, but a cat cuddler is a new experience for me, a big warm thank you and a soft demand for me to pay attention to this relationship. Happiness is Emily William settling in for the night, and settling me in, too.

What made you happy settling in this week?

State of the Collaboration, April 29, 2023

We’re working on Rocky Start and talking about moving, not together obviously, but really great planning for both of us to shift housing at the same time. But we are keeping stiff upper lips:

Thinking About Patreon

Bob and I have been thinking about doing another online writing course, this time through Patreon. We’d do a response to the HWSW writing posts from fifteen years ago, one of us writing the new response and the other of us responding to that, followed by the old posts just for reference. Then we’d do another post talking about a scene from one of our books and apply that week’s lesson to talk about what we did right and how we’d revise today so there’ll be a specific example. Three posts a week for four (or in some months) five times a month. The first tier would be $5 a month; there’d probably be a second tier, too, but we need the first tier to be solid, useful, and educational first.

We’re working on the Table of Contents now, and we have a rough draft. Since you’re my guinea pigs (and now Bob’s), the Table of Contents is below. For those of you who are interested, could you scan it and see if we’re missing anything? Any and all comments are welcome.

(Note: The dates are just tentative; we have no idea when we’ll start. The titles in the parentheses are the titles of the post from the old HWSW.)

He Wrote She Wrote Again

August 28: Introduction

Sept 5 The Heart of Your Story: Idea, Character, or Conflict. (The One Sentence Idea)
Sept 12 The Focus of Your Story: Plot vs Character (Situational vs Character ideas)
Sept 19 Conflict (Protagonist vs. Antagonist)
Sept 26 The Core of Your Story (The Central Question)

October 3 Character (Character Development)
October 10 Goal (External and internal Goals)
October 17 Motivation (Levels and Types of Motivation)
October 24 Vulnerability (Character Traits, Needs, Flaws, and Change)
October 31 Arc (Character Arc)

November 7 First Person POV (First Person)
November 14 Third Limited POV (Third Limited)
November 21 Third Omniscient (Third Omniscient)
November 28 Handling Multiple PoVs

December 5 Dialogue (Dialogue)
December 12 Sidekicks, Ficelles, Minions, and Spear Carriers
December 19 Family, Friends, and Lovers (Relationships)
December 26 Community (Community)

January 2 The Basic Linear Plot (Narrative Structure)
January 9 Beginning (Beginnings)
January 16 The Mess in the Middle:Expectation and Escalation (Expectations)
January 23 Ending (Climaxes)
January 30 Subplots (Subplots)

February 5 Scene Structure (Scene Structure)
February 12 Crowd Scenes
February 19 Action Scenes (Action Scenes: Violence)
February 26 Love and Sex Scenes (Action Scenes: Sex)

March 4 Unity (Unity)
March 11 Focus (Goals and MacGuffins)
March 18 Bookending (Beginnings and Endings)
March 27 Plot and Character (Plot Arcs, Character Arcs)

April 2 Time, Place and People (Setting)
April 9 Codes (Symbols and Metaphors)
April 16 Repetition and Motif (Repetition and Motif)
April 23 Theme (Theme)
April 30 Structure as Meaning (Structure as Meaning)

May 7 Revising: Conflict Box and Turning Points (Story Editing)
May 14 Revising: Outlining (Outlining, Tightening the Story)
May 21 Revising: Collage, Soundtracks, Sensory Details (Collage)
May 28 Revising: Critiques (Beta Readers)

June 4 Working with an Agent
June 11 Working with an Editor (The Editorial Letter)
June 18 Copy Editing (Copy Editing)
June 25 The Cover

July 2 Social Media
July 9 Reviews
July 16 Booksignings and Author Talks
July 23 The Writing Life (Being an Author)
July 30 Good Luck with All That (Conclusion)

This is a Good Book Thursday, April 27, 2023

This week I read the read The New York Times. the Washington Post, and Buzzfeed. I miss fiction. Reality is just too dystopian.

What did you read?

Working Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Bob and I have been working together for just over a year (we started our second try at collaboration in April of 2022) and we haven’t killed each other yet. There have been a few moments when, even though we communicate entirely in e-mail, the tension was such that the entire Spike program throbbed with “If we were were in the same space right now, I would kill you where you stand.” Fortunately, we are both much more mature (I’m too old to fight any more and he’s getting there), so we de-escalate, apologize, and thank the gods we’re in different states. That are not next to each other.

But a year’s anniversary means time to take stock, and we did almost four books in one year, which boggles my mind. It usually takes me a year and a half, except for Lavender which took twelve years, speeding up considerably once Bob got his hands on it and ripped half of it out. We’d have four books done if I hadn’t face-planted for most of 2023 so far, and Bob has been incredibly patient with me while I lost my mind here. I know he’s used to me, but this first four months was extreme.

So I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Robert Mayer who’s put up with me for the past nineteen years (the story of how we met is here), on and off. (We took a break so as to to kill each other for about thirteen years in there.). If you ever need a collaborator, I highly recommend Bob Mayer. Unless you have an unreasoning dislike of zombie pirates.

Any milestones at your work? Or anything else at the work you do?

Happiness is a Government Agency with a Sense of Humor

I remember how happy I was when I found out the CDC had a zombie apocalypse plan, which they have now tragically retired. And when California came up with a plan for sharks in a tornado, that was great, but now it appears to be gone, too. But then I found out about the National Park Service.

The whole twitter feed is great, relentlessly upbeat while suggesting that tourists stay away from the wildlife; avoiding “the bitey ends.” It’s the Twitter version of the Tom Holland Lip Sync: spend three minutes and feel better.

How did you achieve happiness the week by avoiding the bitey ends?