Mindi Scott's Blog, page 5

Blog: Hitting rock bottom

In fiction, there usually comes a point in the story when the protagonist feels like s/he's lost everything. Structurally, it has to happen in order for the character to get a second wind and push forward to triumph and give us all a satisfying read.

As a writer, I'm learning that every book I write requires ME to hit rock bottom. At some point after I've been toiling for months on end, I'll realize that nothing in the story is going the way I want, that I've made a huge mistake deciding to write this book, that I shouldn't be a writer at all, that my life is meaningless without writing and my misery is endless, and what is the point of any of this anyway?

Usually, these thoughts are accompanied by feelings of complete and utter despair where I cry on the floor of my home office, cry in the shower, cry in the bathroom stalls at work, cry in bed, cry in the car.

Somehow, some way, I snap out of it. I finally figure out what was missing in the story before. I finally come up with constructive ways of fixing the problems. I push forward and get it done.

Last Sunday was when things got especially horrible for me with Live Through This . For three days, I suffered misery that, at the time, felt beyond compare. The title of the manuscript was a cruel joke because I was sure that I would NOT live through this. Now, it's Sunday again and I'm plugging along with a whole new outlook and renewed focus. The number of writing days that I have left before my deadline is now into single digits. I don't know exactly what I'm going to have ready when that day comes, but it'll be something. And, as they say, that's not nothing.

The only good thing about rock bottom is that you can hit it exactly once. At least, that's what I'm counting on.

Special shout-out to Kari at A Good Addiction for doing an emergency read and critique for me last week! You totally saved me. ♥

Blog: #YASaves and all that jazz.

For the past several days, there have been discussions, debates, and the whatnot all over these internets regarding an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal about Young Adult novels being too dark. My favorite response, so far, happens to be on the NPR site and is called, "Seeing Teenagers As We Wish They Were: The Debate Over YA Fiction." If you want to find out more, searchTwitter for #YASaves and you will find a humungous collection of links to blogs and articles galore that have sprung up in response.

I've been reading many, many, many tweets and blogs about how YA has saved people in some way. I've already read opinions from a few authors that YA doesn't have to save to be legitimate. I find it all very interesting. No one is going to change my mind tha t contemporary YA isn't important or that the "dark" stuff shouldn't be written about, so I don't know why I keep devouring all this stuff. It's good to be informed (I guess?), and it's uplifting to see so many people rallying around this category of books that I love and that I also happen to write.

All the discussions got me thinking about the books I read as a teen and whether I could pin-point a dark YA novel that "saved" me. Oddly, the "edgiest" teen novel that comes to mind that I actually read as a teen is called Four on the Edge. It's a Christian-published novel by Heidi Borrink about four teens who all get up to No Good during the course of the book as they "reveal their thoughts and make choices about drugs, sex, abortion, and God."(And there are nine copies on Amazon for $0.01 cent each! You know you want one!)

This book. You guys! Oh, man. So shenanigans go on like crazy, right? It's scary that both of the girls' stories are basically about deciding whether or not to have sex and the boys' stories (these two girls' love interests) are all about coping with Pressure and Society by smoking and drinking and getting stoned.

Anyway, one of the girls gets pregnant (spoiler! It's the studious girl who is the football player's little sister who has sex ONE TIME with the stoner who also happens to be the football player's friend whom the football player's cheerleader girlfriend can't stand) and the way it all plays out makes adult me feel just TERRIBLE, particularly since the girls are punished and the boys kind of . . . aren't and it ends on the strangest note from the point of view of the stoner and I can't even.

This book was pretty racy for me at age thirteen. It's strange to realize that because I didn't even read a great many teen novels as a teen. (For reals!) I was all about stuff like Victoria Holt, Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde Pilcher, Danielle Steele, and John Grisham.

I think the fact that Four on the Edge was a book was all about teens with upbringing similar to mine made it uncomfortably . . . real. I didn't seek out many more books like it. Not because it was too dark for me to handle (please), but because I really did want to read about grown-up romances instead of "kid stuff." (I don't know why. I really don't.)

I wouldn't say that the book saved me, necessarily. But you know what it did do? It made me think. It made me put myself into each of the character's points of view and ponder what I would do in their situation. And as I got older, I did find myself in each of their situations, eventually. Sometimes, often, I was able to make smarter, better choices than they'd made. Not because of the book's preaching--because I didn't buy into most of it, even then--but because I'd seen how these scenarios had played out, I'd considered the consequences, and I'd decided what I wanted to do differently and how to go about it.

So thank you, Sonia, for losing your virginity at fifteen without considering at the time whether contraceptives should be used. You were a character with whom I could really identify, and I never wanted to make your mistakes. And thank you, Holly, for driving your boyfriend away with your shrill piousness, because damn girl, I really didn't want to grow up to be like you.

Knowledge is power, y'all.

(Side note: You know what I think really did save me in some ways? Seventeen and YM magazines. Sure, they had tons of shallow stuff about self tanner and clothes and such (which I loved to read!), but they also taught me about self esteem, boys, and especially what is NOT okay in relationships. I really credit those magazines for writing about things that I needed to read about in a style that made me want to keep reading and learning.)

Blog: I made all the crafts this weekend!

I have long, fine hair. It falls well beyond my waist these days. It's my own fault, of course, that my hair is so crazy-long, but I continue to not cut it because I don't know what I want it to be like. Living in Western Washington, I can curl and wear my hair down only occasionally because of the rain and wind, and as it happens, pulling my hair back in a ponytail isn't always the most flattering look.

A while back, I decided to make hair accessories be a thing in my life. I wore lots of hats in the fall/early winter, and lately two looks that I've become a huge fan of are The Messy Side Braid, and also Fake Flowers Stuck in My Hair. Sometimes, I combine these looks.

Recently, I trekked out to the mail in search of all new flowers for my hair and came home instead with two new headbands a.k.a Fascinators. They were cool and all (and I swear, a man gave up his seat on the bus for me because he was so enchanted), but not what I had set out to find.

And so! (spoiler: this is where the crafts come in!), I went to the craft store and bought several bunches of fake flowers, a few different hair fastener concepts, and a hot glue gun. This weekend, my sister and I spread everything out on table and combined those flowers, fasteners, and hot glue to create all this loveliness:



What we have here are flowers of different sizes and types on hair pins, clips in various sizes and styles, and elastics. Three hours of tedious work gave us both lots of new flowery hair accessories to wear this summer. Hooray!

(Did I mention that I'm not really, totally the crafty sort? If the mall hadn't let me down with their non-having-of-awesome-flowery-hair-decorations, I would have wanted to take this project on. Thanks a lot, The Mall! But, why complain? Because these are all totally custom and as long as they don't fall apart the first time we wear them, they are going to be GREAT!)

Oh, and I almost forgot. Here are a few pics of Lindsey, Ella, and me modeling some of our favorite pieces from our exclusive collection:

       

Did you enjoy Freefall? Please check out this very special item up for auction!

Hey everyone,

I've donated a VERY SPECIAL item to help benefit tornado disaster relief in Alabama! This is one for All 4 Alabama and the proceeds of the auction will will go to helping some of the smaller communities devastated by the April storms. 

Now, whenever I've contributed items for auctions or contests in the past, I've opted for a signed copy of Freefall for the winners. (Although, in December, I also knitted Harry Potter-inspired scarves.) This time, I decided to do something different.
 
Okay, it's still a signed and personalized copy of Freefall, but this time it is SUPER-PERSONAL and totally one of a kind!
 
I am going through a copy of the book and writing notes on EVERY SINGLE PAGE. I'm revealing everything I can think of to reveal to you about the inspiration for scenes, the stories behind the characters, things that changed from first draft to finished book, quotes and occurances that came from my real life, and much, much, much, much more!

I've already put four hours into this project and I'm only on page 90!  Yes, I have a lot to go, but I'm having so much fun doing it. So, I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that someone out there who might like me, but who really likes Freefall, will be interested in bidding on this book! :-)

Here's a sneak peak of a somewhat scandalous selection with behind-the-scenes info scribbled in by me:

 

So that's the stuff! If you are interested in bidding (and I really hope you are!), please go here! Thank you so much! ♥

Blog: Note to self: USE YOUR INHALERS.

Taku, a character in Freefall, doesn't like to use his inhaler. The reason he doesn't like to use it (and the reason he has it at all) is because I don't like to use one of my inhalers. It isn't out of stubbornness for the sake of it, I don't think. The way my hands shake and the powerful drowsiness that sometimes comes over me right after I use it (even with a spacer) are really off-putting side effects.

Most of the time, I technically don't need it. But there are times--like when I get a cold--that it is essential. I was reminded of this fact yesterday when I went to the doctor to find out why I wasn't responding to any brand of cough medicine, why I was getting worse and worse every day instead of better. She asked, "Are you using your inhalers?"

*forehead slap*

No. No, I wasn't. I haven't used them for months because I felt fine. And, I don't know, somehow I forgot that I need them. How that happened when I have them on my bathroom counter all the time to remind me, I don't know. But I need to remember this in the future. 

MINDI: YOU HAVE INHALERS FOR A REASON. USE THEM!!!

Okay. I hope this will help. Because I am so exhausted and worn down and I don't want to have another week like this one if I can help it. *Sigh*

Blog: Down with the sickness

This past week, Dwayne and I both came down with the same cold symptoms within hours of each other. From what I know about virus incubation periods and such, it would seem that we were exposed at the same time. In the twelve years that we've been together, I don't think this has ever happened! Usually, if one of us gets sick, the other might become sick after several days or not at all.

At first, I thought it was going to be kind of fun. I mean, not that being sick can ever be fun! But we'd get to share our misery, which means that we'd get to be all bonded while hanging out being weak and stuff. It even started out great with a joint trip to the drug store to pick up Puffs Plus tissues, throat lozenges, vitamin C, and other cold symptom remedies. Whoo hoo!

Things pretty much went downhill from there, though. These days of illness happen to have occurred during my time off from my day job, so I've stayed home and worked on my manuscript as much as I could tolerate being upright. Dwayne, however, has been working his regular job, doing a side job, gallivanting off to make a major purchase, and meeting a friend for a movie.

I'm coughing and sneezing and snotty and feverish and he's acting like this is just an average week. When I say, "ARE YOU REALLY EVEN SICK AT ALL," he's like, "Of course, I am. *weak cough* I just have things that I have to do."

I have things to do, too. But I can't because I'm, you know, too busy being sick and miserable and stuff.

I mean, seriously.

Bleh.

Blog: Death Cab for Cutie at the Showbox Sodo

Tuesday was an ordinary morning. I got up, got ready for work, and got a call that my sister was at the hospital having her baby.

Well, okay. That last part wasn't so ordinary.

Before heading to the hospital, I decided to go into the office for a few hours to get my work done so I could be free the rest of the day to visit my newborn nephew. In the car on the way to the park & ride that morning, I happened to be have the radio tuned to the station that happened to have members of Death Cab for Cutie on the air, announcing a surprise benefit show at a small(ish) venue to take place on Wednesday--the following day! Tickets were going on sale in exactly ten minutes, and I was pulling into at the park & ride with no computer access! 

I called Dwayne. He was working on the golf course and didn't have a computer available, either, so I asked him to try to get online to buy us tickets using his phone. (I have a Blackberry. It's great for many, many things, but not for loading blogs--which happened to be the place one had to go for the tickets.) He said he'd try, but he didn't seem very optimistic. I rode the bus to work, and felt a little down and frustrated. We've been wanting to see Death Cab for years, but I am (mostly) opposed to arena/stadium shows. It's hard to get in to see these guys at smaller venues around Seattle. This show would have been perfect for us! If only we would have been able to get the tiiiiiiiickets before it sold out!

Then I got a text from Dwayne saying that he was able to get them and we were going.

And last night, WE DID GO.

It was Death Cab's first time playing live in about two years, so there were a few funny things that happened, making it even more fun. There's a great recap of how it all went down here and the list all the songs they played, if you're interested. We got to hear them for two full hours playing songs from old to new, including several from the forthcoming "Codes and Keys."

When I'm seeing a band whose catalog I am super familiar with, I like to try to predict which songs they'll choose to perform--specifically the first song, the "last" song, and the encore songs. This time, I got the first song right: "The New Year," which was very exciting for me, considering that they have over 80 songs to choose from. During the encore, I very much expected to hear "We Looked Like Giants" (even though I have no idea if they ever play that live), but they ended with two others from Transatlaticism instead: the title track and "Title and Registration." I was little disappointed because "We Looked Like Giants" is kind of my favorite and also one of my least-favorite Death Cab songs. I was very curious how I would feel about it, hearing it live.

In all, it was a great first show for us long-time Death Cab fans to check out. I told Dwayne that we can never see them again, but who knows. Maybe the stars will align the next time they play a surprise show at a club in Seattle and we'll happen to find out about it just in time!

FYI: I wore my boots with three-inch heels as an experiment to see if being 5'7" at a concert instead of 5'4" made a difference in how well I could see the band. Things were swell until a girl who was 5'8" (and who smelled either like super-skunky weed or super-skunky armpits) pushed right in front of me with her boyfriend who was 5'10." Whenever I was able to maneuver my head just so so that her head wasn't blocking everything, I did, in fact, see the band pretty well. However, my toes fell asleep from me being on my feet for 3 hours. I haven't yet decided if it was worth it. If I was going to see a band with a few openers (which is much more typical), I don't think I could tolerate the boots all night if I had to stand the whole time.

Blog: The Help Write Now Charity Auction

Help Write Now is a writing community auction to benefit Southern storm relief. What this means is that authors, bloggers, editors, agents, and others have made donations--either of items or of their time--and the proceeds from these donations will be added to the Red Cross's general disaster relief fund. 

Each day, new donated items are listed. They are on day 8 right now and there are lots of great choices for writers and readers alike!  I've offered up a signed and personalized copy of Freefall. Bidding for this item started this morning and will be open for three days.

I've also spotted lots of signed books, new ARCs, Skype interviews, manuscript critiques, and artwork. The link to the full auction is here, and you can click the tabs to learn more about who is running things and how it all works. So check it out! Maybe you'll find a great gift for someone else or for yourself!

Blog: A happy memory of a song

What song reminds you of the happiest times in your life, and why?

Submitted By h_9531

View 475 Answers

At this moment, I can't write about The Happiest Time because if put a lot of thought into this and try to quantify it, I will never end up posting anything. And that would defeat the purpose of a blog Writer's Block prompt, yes?

So this is about A Happy Time. The song was "Luka" by Suzanne Vega (probably not Vincent Vega's cousin). It might seem like an odd choice since the lyrics are about a boy who is being abused. I didn't fully grasp that at the time, though. Also, I'd assumed that Luka was the name of the woman performing it.

I was around ten years old when "Luka" came out and I remember singing along with the radio and my Aunt Tracy, who was 23 at the time. I didn't have a great singing voice, but I'd belt it out with a lot of sincerity and she'd laugh. Whenever I think of this song, it always takes me back to that summer and spending time with my super-cool aunt. :-)

"My name is Luka. I live on the second floor. . . "

Blog: This ISN'T a blog about why I haven't been blogging frequently.

I regularly see posts online where a blogger will say, "I'm so sorry I haven't been posting lately!"

Then they go on to explain their absence and/or resolve to post more frequently.

When I come across those posts, I always think, It's really okay! You don't have to explain yourself. If you want to blog more, just do it. If you can't, don't. 

Now that my own blogging has been less frequent in the past few months, I understand why so many people feel the need to apologize or make promises. I'm not going to do that, though! Instead, here's a picture I just took of myself with my new slightly-red hair color. I'm not wearing makeup and the photos is taken at a strange angle. I do my best, you know?



Also, here's a list of things I could have written about recently, but didn't for whatever reason:

 1. Everything I love about "Longview" by Green Day, and the one thing I don't love.
 2. Grieving, death, and moving on.
 3. Ongoing debates regarding publishing/YA writing/book blogging that have gone way beyond driving me up the wall.
 4. Dwayne's ongoing Porsche Discussion.
 5. Every minute detail of my day-to-day frustrations and triumphs in drafting LIVE THROUGH THIS.
 6. The dream I had in which I was a teenager with a boyfriend who became very, very confused when an adult male author kissed me.
 7. Reading and the joy it doesn't bring me sometimes.
 8. The book I keep obsessing over and saying that I want to buy, but that I continue to not buy because I don't feel that I have time to read it.
 9. The Norman Rockwell art exhibit that I saw at the Tacoma Art Museum.
10. The 9-year-old restaurant gift certificate that we finally used yesterday.
11. My new dress that might or might not make my hips look big.
12. Why I'm hooked on Justified.

Ta-ta for now!