Gabi Stevens's Blog, page 5

Life Philosophy…

How’s that for a scary title. But don’t be afraid. It isn’t that heavy.

Most of you know my youngest��daughter has��special needs. She’s an adult now, has a job, and is fairly independent, but she doesn’t drive, has real difficulty communicating, and we pretty much know she won’t be living alone for a while , if ever. That’s fine. We love having her around to watch movies with, play games, or just hang out. When she was little, she hit most of her physical milestones at the tail end of normal, but speech never came. Oh a word here or there, but no real talking. When she was four, however, she came up with my life’s philosophy. One day her older sister was crying. The youngest went up to her, put her arms around her and said, “Try happy.”

What beautiful words. The funny thing is they seem to work. I’m not trying to dismiss serious depression here (having been through a bout myself), and it’s never that easy, ��but I’ve tried to live my life by those two words. It’s along the lines of “fake it until you make it,” another of my favorite sayings. But “Try Happy” is better. Life is too short to let yourself get distracted by awful things. I’m not saying hide from reality, or don’t get involved, but I always try to balance out unpleasantness with something that makes me smile. Thus my choice in reading and viewing materials. I am fairly political (Not here. I won’t subject you to my opinions here because I consider this blog part of my reading and viewing materials, and thus it conforms to my rules about those matters.) and the last thing I want to do when I’m trying to entertain myself is��engross myself in dark, depressing stories. Yes, I watched Breaking Bad ( I��live in Albuquerque, after all), and while I could admire the writing, the acting, the sheer brilliance of the show, I can’t say I enjoyed it. Nope. I want to escape in my free time. And “Try Happy” is a philosophy not used in that series. I want stories that celebrate the human spirit.

So, “Try Happy.” I’m thinking of having T-shirts made up or bumper stickers.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

I can’t tell you–I’m judging the RITAs and my reading selections must remain secret.

Brick Walls and Critical Mass

In which I look at��my method of writing. . . if you can call it a method.

I usually start a book with a general idea of character and plot. I don’t make notes or do character interviews. I have an idea of where the story starts, where it’s going and how it will end. Everything else I just let happen. It’s not the most efficient way to write, but it works for me. Especially once I’ve passed the brick wall and hit critical mass.

Brick wall? It’s my term for that part of your novel that is so awful to get through that you don’t think you can continue at all. I’ve hit the wall in every one of my books.

Photo by just-in-sane at Photobucket (Click to find)

The wall is too tall to climb over, too wide to go around, and its foundation extends too deeply to tunnel under. The only way to get past the brick wall is through it, brick by brick, prying and chiseling out ��each��individual stone until your fingers are bloody, your skin is raw, and you can’t catch your breath any longer. You’re sweaty, and dirty, and exhausted. You can’t see the other side, all the progress you’ve made until this point has been futile, and your soul is crying for you to give up. Well, that’s my metaphor anyway. There is always some point in the book where I just want to throw it away and never look at it again, but I keep going. You have to keep going.

Because by now I know that just��beyond that brick wall is the critical mass. It’s that point in my novel where enough of the story is done that the weight of what’s written overpowers what’s yet to write, and the novel won’t stop writing itself. Just like a boulder rolling downhill. It starts slowly, sometimes seeming to falter, then suddenly it gathers enough speed that nothing will stop it until it reaches the bottom and comes to a rest.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg128/justin_640/HPIM0520.jpg

Reaching critical mass is my favorite part of writing. I reach a point where I want to see how it ends. Okay, I know how it ends since I’m the author, but it’s more fun to see it on paper than in my head. There’s something so concrete, so uplifting, about finishing a manuscript. I don’t care if the novel��is dreck; the dang thing is��finished. It doesn’t mean the writing is done. Oh, no, for then comes revising and polishing and fixing, but��in my opinion, which I’m allowed to express here because this is my blog, working on something that already exists is easier than fixing an empty page.

A completed manuscript in any form is an accomplishment. It’s an amazing feat, whether it’s your first book or your thirty-first. You wrote a book. You just have to get keep going, especially when you hit that wall.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Obsession by Jennifer Armentrout

Eyes Turned Skyward by Rebecca Yarros

 

Work is a Four-Letter Word…

…no matter how much you claim to love it. So is “book.” In which I explore the idea of working on a passion.

Have you ever considered your writing career as work? Most people thinks of work as a four-letter word(I know my father did), but the truth is writing is work. The secret is loving��the aspects of it. If you’re truly lucky, your avocation can be your vocation.

I don’t believe anyone who tells me they love every aspect of writing. There’s plenty about it that resembles work the four-letter word. You have to plan and schedule your time; you have to get supplies; do research; you have to deal with outside forces passing judgment on your efforts; you have to deal with the empty page that can be daunting; you have overcome the self-doubts that plague you. You have deadlines, carpal tunnel syndrome, and isolation from those who don’t understand what you’re doing and just what it entails. Frustration and pain go hand in hand with writing. So don’t tell me it’s not work.

So why do we keep at it? Because our work gives us joy and satisfaction, and fulfills our creative needs. We tend to forget the pain when the joy is upon us (kind of like going through a second–or more–��childbirth) because the joy is so much more powerful.

So in this new year, I’m telling you to get back to work, and may your joys outweigh the pains this year. And any to follow. ��Work hard and reap the joys.

And when you’re done with work…

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

The Mean Vet by MC Beaton

Obsession by Jennifer Armentrout

A Little Loneliness…

…but don’t feel sorry for me. It’s my way of life and I like it, and you should too. If you’re a reader. In which I examine the life of writing.

So much of writing is a lonely endeavor. Authors aren’t known for being social. We live in our made-up worlds by ourselves and stare in silence at the bank page/screen (Unless you talk to yourself, but I won’t get into that here.) For many of us it’s how we actually enjoy living our lives. I, personally, am an introvert. My mother laughs when I say that. She can’t understand how I could have performed so easily as a younger adult on stage and that��I still enjoy being in front��of people but still call myself an introvert. I believe it’s because that’s not really me there. I enjoy the attention, but I’m not really exposing myself; that’s a persona up there.

Still, like all (most) humans, even writers crave interaction with others. That’s what writers’ groups are for. When I get together with other writers, I can feel less alone. Here are the others who know what I am going through. They have suffered my disappointments, lived my successes, cheered for me as I have cheered for them.��My writing circles make me realize I’m not alone out there. My dream is not outrageous or crazy. Have friends who share the same dream. So as I embark on writing yet another novel and exploring a new world by myself until the��time that I expose my world to other explorers (readers), I buoyed with the knowledge that I have people I can lean on when the seas get rough or the journey stalls. Thanks in advance.

RWA book signing

Still the world has changed and this new publishing world requires me to put myself out there and be “social”. Social media, advertising, promotion are all part of the author’s responsibility now, especially if you’re self-publishing, but it’s also true if you are��on��the traditional path. Self-promotion��can be overwhelming. Am I crossing some��line? Did I say too much? Are people sick of me yet? How can I pimp myself and my books? ��Are you sick of me yet?

But the rewards are great. To hear from someone you’ve never met that your book moved/entertained/helped them is amazing. Yes, the writer friends offer support, but the praise from��readers is that treasure that makes the hours of loneliness and agony of putting words on the page worthwhile. And readers can’t do that unless��they can find you. And in order to create the stories that readers will respond to requires embracing the loneliness.

And you wonder why authors have the reputation of being a little crazy.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now

Bad Luck Trouble by Lee Child

With This Ring by Celeste Bradley

Introducing Agatha Raisin: The Quiche of Death by MC Beaton

“Ride, Boldly Ride…If You Seek for Eldorado”

In which I explore the nobility of following��a dream with the aid of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe.

��An English teacher told me once I would never be a writer. At the time I didn’t listen because I thought I was going to be an actress, but those words stuck with me. When I finally realized that I had stories inside me (I had just been acting them out instead of writing them), I remembered what that teacher had said, and ignored her. I had a dream to pursue.

All artists have much in common. We pursue dreams. We aren’t always successful, depending on your definition of success (yes, that’s one of those words where the definition can mean different things to different people despite having an entry in the dictionary). Many of us don’t make money, many of us have day jobs because we can’t support ourselves with our art, many of us have other responsibilities. So we worry about being real artists, but if you valiantly make the effort, don’t worry. The pursuit of the��dream is as noble as the dream itself.

Think about it. If you dream about being a writer or whatever, and you do nothing to achieve that dream, then it’s a nice fantasy, but little else. But if you are actively writing (or whatever), and learning, and trying, and submitting, then you are as valid a writer as Ms. Bestseller whose 400th book comes out next week (there is that propensity for hyperbole again). The pursuit of the dream is as noble as the dream itself.

I’ve put Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Eldorado” here, because it embodies this��ideal.��A knight spends his whole life searching for Eldorado, but in vain. It’s a poem about perseverance. Yes, he fails, but look at that last stanza. As the knight is dying, he meets a ghost, and the ghost tells him to keep on. “Ride, boldly ride.” That doesn’t sound to me as if the ghost is trying to dissuade him from his quest.

So go on. Ride.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy

Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens by JK Rowling

Slacking Off

In which I ask for help in either, a) getting inspiration to continue to work, or , b) getting permission to take a break.

It’s that time of year when the desire��to do actual work fails me completely. I have presents to buy and wrap, special cookies to bake, and possibly travel plans to make. I get visitors or at least a chance to see people I haven’t in a long time. But I also have THE BOOK calling to me from in my brain. And with it’s call comes a healthy dose of guilt. I should be working, but instead I’m wrapping (hey, at least I’m not rapping. That would be frightening.) I should be plotting, but instead I’m partying.

So how do you keep on track? Do you cut yourself slack at this time of year (Or whenever your “time of year” may be)? Do you set a rigid schedule? Do you allow yourself to take a break? Is it okay to take a break? Inquiring minds want to know.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens by JK Rowling

Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy

 

Screw the Muse; It’s the Internal Editor I Worry About

In which I talk about the struggle between getting it right and just getting it done. The story is there; it’s the writing of it that’s hard (Well, that’s a no brainer).

Not only am I the world’s worst typist (You have learned about my penchant for hyperbole, right?), I tend to be anal about grammar, punctuation, etc. So turning off that internal editor just to get words on the page is one of the most exhausting elements of novel process that��I go through. I want to correct as the symbols, letters and words, hit the page. It’s excruciating to let the mistakes lie and move onto the next thing for me. But without that haranguing voice echoing through my��brain, I��can write with more feeling, with more freedom. That bitch’s voice telling us the writing��is no good, error-laden, and pointless, freezes the product. Only when you ignore the urge to go back and edit every sentence will you get past that first sentence, that first paragraph, that first chapter.

My current WIP, chicken scratches and all.

Not all of us��work in the same manner. Some of us are final draft writers. Every word we put on the paper is perfect. But we’ve already done a lot of the prep work ahead of time. We’ve outlined, plotted, planned, and meditated to make that draft possible. Some of us are first draft writers. We don’t care what we put on the paper; we can always go back and revise later. ��I fall somewhere in between and drift from one extreme to the other and visit the entire scale along the way. In any case, that internal editor can keep us from producing anything. If the bitch is telling us that we’re not good enough, we can freeze up and never produce a sentence. And that’s what we’re aiming for: producing sentence after sentence until we have a book.

I wrestle with my internal editor daily. Only after I lock her in a cage can I get to work and produce my stories. She struggles to��pick the lock every time, but if I just get lost in the story, I can keep her there. I’m happy to let her out when it’s revision time. Then I can use her input, but until then, she needs to disappear. I still can’t let myself just write anything on the page–I stop to find the right term, the proper historical reference, etc.–but I’m getting better. ��When I hand write, I can just circle a word I don’t like, put a check mark over it and leave it. I’m not so good when I type directly onto the computer.

And there’s always that little voice that tells me I’m not good enough. If I could learn how to shut her up, I’d be a much happier writer. I’ve heard she never goes away. The bitch.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens by JK Rowling

A Rant about Math

In which I take issue with this culture of fearing and mocking intelligence, and the T-shirt that makes it sound as if it’s all right to do so.

I know you’ve seen it–on either the bumper sticker or the T-shirt or the meme. ��The sentiment��that reads, “Yet another day has passed and I didn’t use Algebra.” Or the one that says, “I’m an English major; you do the math.” I understand the humor behind it; it’s punny, it’s sarcastic, it’s ironic. Heck, I’ve even used some version of it myself. ��I regret��that. I don’t find it funny any longer. The more I think about it, the more disturbed I get. No, it’s not a major important��issue in our society, but it troubles me nonetheless. Here’s why.

First the goal of��this sentiment is to make��the displayer��feel superior to all those teachers and students who love math and use it;��and it somehow tries to make��their accomplishments unimportant. As an author you’d think I never use math, but you’d be wrong. Just the other day someone asked me to edit an essay. I moved sentences around to form a logical argument and wrote in my comments, “See, you still use your Geometry for writing. Remember proofs?” Geometry proofs teach logical thinking. It doesn’t require numbers. ��And looking at royalty��statements, taxes, business expenses–all a part of writing–does require some number acuity.

Here’s one for Algebra that does use numbers: if you go the grocery store and they offer 5 for $3.00, but you only want to buy one. Ta da: Algebra. So what? you say. You still don’t really use it. Well, do you really use history, art, dance, PE, wood shop, or science every day? And having read many, many essays, emails, tweets, and manuscripts, I would say some of you don’t even use English every day. Besides, you probably do use Algebra for simple equations more often than you think, only it’s so ingrained in your head that you don’t even recognize you’re using them (think about calculating expenses, or date entry, or comparing the price of cell phones.)

And there are many many people who do “use” Algebra every day. And even higher levels of math. Robot Guy is one of them. He told me to consider formulae and equations as a language. I use words to create; he uses math. Engineers are highly creative people. Their language is just different.

Math is about problem solving. The skills you learn, the way you look for solutions is math. It’s something that your brain was trained to do in math class. Besides, why is it bad to have knowledge that you don’t necessarily use everyday? I like to learn things just for the sake of knowing them. You never know when you may appear on Jeopardy! Or just play Trivial Pursuit with the family.

I don’t like the trend I’ve seen lately of intelligence shaming. Suddenly being smart is not something people value. TV does it. Look at��the Big Bang Theory, a show I like and enjoy, but when you think about it, it makes fun of those members of society we label smart. No, I don’t believe going to school necessarily equals being smart, but this fear of knowledge that pervades our culture right now is a trend I’d like to see stop.

Yeah, I’m taking this too seriously. You don’t have to tell me.

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens by JK Rowling

It’s Never Too Late. . .

In which I talk about learning, errors, the importance of questions, the value of knowledge, and an embarrassing story that makes me laugh to this day.

I’ve been at the writing gig for many years now and I’ve found two constants in this endeavor: one is that everything changes–editors change, houses change, styles change, public tastes change; and two there is always something new to learn, whether it’s research, vocabulary, genre, or grammar. People often speak about the changes, but I get excited about the learning. Call it the nerd in me, but I love to learn a new word or some minute grammar point. And don’t get me started on research. For my last manuscript, I had to visit a brewery, take a tour and taste some beer. It’s hard work.

Today, my competence in English is solid. Of course I make errors, but they’re more likely to be typos or skipping words because my thoughts are faster than my fingers, or just not seeing mistakes on the page because I’ve stared at the screen for too long than actual lack of knowledge. But it wasn’t always the case.

In the past couple of days, I’ve seen several mentions of the fight over one space or two after a period. It reminded me of my very first term paper. US History (I still remember the title: The German-American Bund: the Fritz Kuhn Years: 1937-1939).  I have never taking any typing classes (thus the reason for so many typos when I write), and the requirement was ten typed pages, double spaced. It was my first typed paper. I had to borrow the typewriter (in return I bought a new cartridge for the owner–remember those?), get some unlined paper (I bought onion skin–yuck), and hunt and peck my way to ten pages. But I did it. And being the kind of student I was, I was the first person in the school to turn it in. Done. Relief.

A few hours later, my roommate (I went to boarding school, remember?) said that the teacher had held it up to show how not to do a paper, that it wasn’t doubled spaced. Well, I went straight to the teacher and told him he was wrong. I had double spaced. He said it didn’t look like it, but I told him again he was wrong because I had double spaced.  And indeed I had–type a word, space, space, type another word, space, space, and so on for ten pages. I thought it an odd requirement at the time, but it wasn’t until years later that I realized where I had made my error. I think my paper was actually 1.5 spaced as regards the line spacing.

Ask questions, people. Questions are good things. (By the way I received an A- for the paper. Thanks,Mr. Waples.)

–Gabi

Books I’m reading now:

Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen by JK Rowling

It’s alive!!

In which I parade my new tweaked and redesigned book covers, including two brand spanking new ones.

One of the most fun aspects of self-publishing are designing the covers. You have complete control. If you are traditionally published, they ask for input, but the final say is theirs. I’ve had quite a few covers I’ve loved, and one I’ve hated. My all time favorite cover of mine (I didn’t say book, mind you, because that would show favoritism and I don’t want to hurt any of my books’ feelings) is the one for The Wish List. It had every element of my story and looked, well, magical.

So without further ado, here is the parade of new tweaked covers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For these three, we made my name bigger and consistent, enlarged the people and cut off a bit more of their heads (Have you noticed that cut off people are big in covers these days?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For these two, again we made my name much bigger and kept the consistency with the first three. Took the guy off To Tame a Rose, just to see how it does.

 

 

This one is brand new. Different people, different background. Notice the name is the same as on the others, but we had fun putting the dragon in the corner of the name block just to make sure you know it’s a fantasy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This two are part of a series so we gave them the same look. Ever Yours was already out there, but we made the mask bigger and moved it slightly, and, of course, my name is bigger. And then it was easy to match the look for Yours Always.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here’s the last one, the one I introduced earlier this week. The Sea Eagle is a brand new book out for the first time. Swashbuckling hero, feisty strong heroine, and a tale that spans from the Caribbean to the Scottish Highlands. Yup. It’s big.

 

 

 

 

So there you have it. All the books are live on Amazon, Nook, and Kobo (except Yours Always, but I swear it is going up today!) I hope you go check them out.

Oh, and Happy Halloween.

–Gabi

 

Books, I’m reading now;

The Splendor Falls by Susanna Kearsley

The Way of Kings by Brian Sanderson