Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 208

Stirrings of Spring

I had a productive morning in which I got most of the errands I've been procrastinating about done in one fell swoop. Yay! That included getting the knitting supplies, so now I can practice a bit on the right kind of needles. I've never used circular needles before. This project doesn't require knitting in a circle, just using the extra length to hold a wide project. Still, I suspect there will be logistical things to get used to, so I'll practice a bit before I actually start the blanket.

They had tulips in the "manager's special" section of the grocery store flower shop, so I now have fresh flowers in my living room. Although I do enjoy cold weather, I'm starting to get the first stirrings of spring fever. That means we'll probably get snow next week.

I'm very close to being able to make my big announcement, but I have to coordinate it with some other people. Let's just say it's something I'm very excited about.

Meanwhile, I think I've decided what my next new project will be. It's actually a rewrite, but one of those rewrites that really is a rewrite, not a revision. I had this idea for a book late in my college years. A few years after I graduated, I wrote the first chapter and a synopsis for a writing competition being held in conjunction with a conference I was attending. And I won. Then I finished writing the book and submitted it a few places. It was rejected. But I could never really forget about the characters and the story. I reread it recently and found that I loved the voice and the characters and situation, but the plot didn't quite work. It was very episodic instead of driving toward something. And, in general, I wasn't a good enough writer at the time to do the story justice. But the characters and situation are perfect for what I need right now, and I've improved drastically as a writer since I wrote the first version. So, I'm going to start from scratch, writing it as though it's a brand-new book.

But there are a few other things to get off my plate first, which means my subconscious will have plenty of time to play with it.

Now I need to go figure out something for the kids to do tonight. We have a new song to start learning, which means I need to learn it. Otherwise, I may bring some ballet music and just let them dance (while indoctrinating them with classical music).

Switching Projects

I think I've given up on crochet, for the time being. I got some yarn for my blanket project and the appropriate hook, but it turned out that this yarn didn't work so well to crochet with (the pattern said any yarn would work, but apparently that depends on your skill level). I got frustrated, and the more frustrated I got, the worse the results and the more I had the death grip going, so my hand started hurting. Then I found myself thinking that this yarn would knit beautifully. It's so very soft that I wanted to knit something just so I could snuggle up in it. So I got out my knitting needles and started playing. And I was right, it's lovely to knit with. I've now found a pattern for a lacy knitted throw, and I've been practicing the fancy stitchwork involved. I think I can do this. But I will have to get a set of circular needles to hold a big project. I'll also need more yarn because I just got one skein to test with before I really went nuts. Fortunately, this yarn is on sale this week, and the craft store is next to the grocery store I must visit today (if I want to eat the rest of the week). I may buy a bunch because I really love the way this yarn feels, and the color goes perfectly in my bedroom.

And now all the knitters out there are nodding and saying, "Yes, that's how the yarn stash begins."

There's definitely less hand cramping with the knitting. I was doing a lot of it yesterday because I was using that as a mental break while editing (edit a chapter, knit a row, etc.) and my hand isn't at all sore this morning. I think it also goes faster and is a little less tedious, though with this pattern I'll have to be careful to stay focused and not lose my place. I haven't ever knitted anything from a pattern before. I've just made up my own things. This, though, involves fiddly stuff like slipped stitches, knitting two together and yarn over (which turns out to be more like yarn under, the way I was thinking of it, so I was doing it wrong for a while until I looked it up). When/if I get it all done, I'll have to post a picture.

I'm doing the final round of edits on Enchanted Inc. book 7, which I'm currently calling Kiss and Spell. It goes off to the Japanese publisher at the end of this week. Then I suppose we'll set things in motion to get it ready for US publication, though I haven't yet talked to my agent about that. A lot of it will depend on the queue of other projects for both me and the agency. I would guess that a summer release date is likely.

I'm finding that yet again I have weird parallels with the TV series Haven, with stuff I noticed on this round of edits that turned out to be similar to things that happened on the series after I wrote the first draft. That seems to be a habit, where I write something, and then something similar appears on the series, but before it's been published anywhere. There was already the premise of the woman immune to "magic" (which I got to way before they did, but apparently they were already working on ideas for the series before the first book in my series was published). Then those who've read book 5 may have noticed a certain similarity to a revelation in the first season finale and a scene that came after that. I'd already written that book and turned it in to the Japanese publisher earlier that year, before that episode aired in the subsequent autumn. It seems like we get the same ideas around the same time. We must be tapping into the same things in the collective unconscious.

Maybe I can figure out how that impossible season cliffhanger will resolve based on what I write this spring. I don't know if that will work, though, as I'll most likely be revising something, not coming up with new ideas. And nothing spinning around in my head at the moment involves disappearing barns or meteor storms.

After this book is done, I have final edits to do on another book so it can be submitted to publishers and maybe find a home (but I've already decided to self-publish if it doesn't). Once that's done, I'll get back to organizing my office and do a big spring cleaning of the house while I let some ideas percolate and see which one bobs up first.

Celebrity Moments

I had a busy but good weekend, and now I'm tired, but I have work to do and a very busy week. Saturday morning was the first combined choir rehearsal for the Mozart Requiem. This is a benefit concert being performed in April involving choirs from at least four churches and two colleges. They're anticipating about 250 singers at the concert. We had probably more than 100 at the rehearsal, filling the chapel at the church where we rehearsed. I love singing in big groups like that, especially music like that.

The rehearsal was good for my ego, too. I had a minor celebrity moment. During a break, the people around me in the soprano section were introducing ourselves, which got into the kinds of conversations you have when making introductions, talking about unusual spellings of our names and what people seem to think our names are. I mentioned that people were always trying to call me "Shannon," but it was actually "Shanna." One of the ladies I was talking with said, "There's an author who has that name, Shanna Swendson." I don't know if she believed me at first when I said that was me, but then all the other ladies were impressed that someone had heard of me, so I must be famous. I didn't have to sign any autographs, though.

And then I was really flattered when the lady sitting next to me turned out to be the director of one of the participating choirs, and she passed me a note during the rehearsal, asking if I could sing at her church for Good Friday. I told her I needed to sing at my church. Then on Sunday morning I told my choir director that he'd better treat me right because other directors were trying to poach me. I don't know if she just wanted to fill out a choir (and I have a pretty big voice, so I can be a second soprano section on my own, as I had to be on Sunday) or if she thought I was a soloist.

Then Sunday morning my kindergarteners sang. We had a moment of panic when the other director forgot to bring the scarves (fortunately, she lives nearby and was able to get them in time), but the kids mostly needed to practice singing because they keep forgetting the words. Or else they get bored halfway through the song because the same words repeat and they just stop singing them midway through. There's not a lot of unison in the movement because they are five. I think there was also some "left" and "right" confusion. I had worked out how to do the movements for them in mirror image, so they could just look at me and copy me, but there were a few who insisted on doing exactly what I was doing, with the same hand I was using, so they're opposite from everyone else. If you can tolerate high levels of cute, here's the clip:



Now I need to come up with something to do for the Palm Sunday song. I hadn't thought you could make hosannas boring, but apparently you can.

Lateness and Waiting

I did not get an auspicious start to the day. I have a lot to do, so I planned to get started at a reasonable hour. I woke at a reasonable hour, and then I thought I'd take a moment to gather my thoughts for the day. I lay there and mentally ran through my to-do list, planning how I'd fit in the things I needed to do. There were a few mental rabbit trails as thinking of one thing would lead to a train of thought. Then I glanced at the clock and saw that it was an hour and a half later. It really did feel like just five minutes, so I must have fallen asleep again without realizing it. Then I started thinking about how I'd have to readjust my day, and then the phone rang. As soon as I answered, a recorded voice said "please continue holding," which irked me because, hello, you called me. If you weren't ready to talk to me, you shouldn't have called. I actually stayed on the line to tell them this, and it turned out that the call was for the person who last lived in this house. That was really weird because I brought my phone number with me and had it for five years before I moved here -- nearly 15 years ago. I never met this woman, though I did get mail addressed to her for a while. She was a renter, and I bought the house from her landlord. I get the impression she has some bad debt issues and that they're doing a reverse directory thing, looking up the phone number that goes with her past addresses. Every few years, I get a phone call for her. But you'd think after fifteen years, they'd know she's probably not at this address anymore. At least that made me finally get out of bed -- 30 minutes after the last time I looked at the clock.

But that's not the only thing I'm behind on. I know last week I said I'd have something to announce this week, but it turned out things were moving even more slowly than I expected, and the delay is not due to me. It's due to other people getting stuff done. It was supposed to be done last Friday afternoon, but then there was an issue, and it couldn't be resolved until after the Monday holiday, and then apparently that took longer to resolve than they expected and is going through some bureaucracy. I'm paranoid enough not to put anything on the Internet where it's searchable and will remain forever until everything is finalized and I have something in writing. So, you will have to wait. Trust me, I'm more impatient than you are. This is probably why I was suddenly compelled to take up crochet. I needed a way to work off the nervous energy and anticipation.

Oh, and so far, all guesses of what it's about have been wrong.

Now to try to catch up on my day. It will be a busy weekend, with a choir rehearsal across town tomorrow morning and then my kindergarten choir singing in the early service on Sunday. I also have to lead singing for preschool Sunday school and sing in the late service. There may be hibernation on Sunday afternoon.

Finding Calm Among the Squirrels

In crochet news, I found that wrapping some duct tape around the hook's handle helped ease the grip (plus, I'm now ready for emergencies), and I found a pattern for a "summer weight" granny square that's all airy and lacy and that can be put together in a blanket. It took me a lot of tries to get it kind of right, but I think I can do it, and it will likely go better if I get the right kind of yarn. I'm using some old knitting yarn to learn and practice, and it tends to stick to itself and get caught in the hook. I need to work on keeping a consistent tension. That seems to be what makes the square get skewed. A trip to the craft store is in order.

But the next week will be focused on making edits to book 7, now that I have my agent's notes. That will even put the office organizing on hold. I got the furniture rearranged and a lot of decluttering done, and I set up the business file system (while also doing a bit of a purge). Now I have to purge and set up the personal/reference/fun files. And then put everything away. At the moment, the loft is a mess. Taking a lot of books to the library will help.

I had crazy kids last night. The final rehearsal before we sing in church on Sunday didn't go too well. The kids had a "squirrel!" moment and completely forgot the song when we rehearsed in the sanctuary (after having done it just a few minutes earlier in the classroom). But they were probably on overload because we'd also had a show-and-tell about stringed instruments, and they got to try playing harps, a hammered dulcimer, a violin, an autoharp and a bowed psaltry. The little girls loved the Celtic harp because it looked like something Merida from Brave would have (she's the current favorite princess, and apparently there's now a book about her and a harp). I'm hoping that they focus a little better Sunday morning when we can just run through the song without a lot of distractions. And if all else fails, they're ridiculously cute, so I don't think anyone will care if they get sidetracked. And then I have to start teaching them the Palm Sunday song and figure out how I can stop them from swatting each other with palm branches.

Then I had what was supposed to be a women's sectional rehearsal for the Mozart Requiem, except only one other person showed up, and she was an alto. It was a little intimidating singing that soprano part by myself. It gets really high, and I hadn't warmed up other than singing along with the kids (and that doesn't go above the staff). We rehearse with the other choir this Saturday morning, so I may need to get my score and sing along with the recording when I'm taking writing breaks.

Now, to work!

Editing Yourself

One of the panel topics at the convention I attended last weekend was self-editing, and since that's also a phase I'm currently in, I thought I'd talk about it here.

Conventional wisdom is that you really need a second set of eyes to look at your writing, and to some extent that's true, but it depends on your skill and experience level. I went to journalism school and have worked as an editor, so I'm probably a bit ahead of the pack, but this is a skill anyone can learn. You can find books on editing and grammar to learn all the rules (and when you can break them), and reading good work also helps you internalize the way language should work. When you have other people review your work, you can learn from what they point out. I pay attention to my copy edits so that I won't repeat those same mistakes. Even if you do get someone else to read your work, you should make it as perfect as you can before you send it to them, so you need to learn to edit yourself.

For this phase of editing, I'm not talking about working at the story level -- fixing plot holes and the like. This is more like doing your own pass at what a copy editor would do for your book if you sold it. I like to do this kind of editing in a couple of passes because they require different kinds of reading. First, there's what I think of as the continuity pass. This is a fast read, where I try to read as much as possible of the book in one sitting, the way a reader might. That helps me spot any variations between what's said at the beginning of a book and at the end -- does anyone's eye color suddenly change, does the house move down the block, etc. It's also a good way to spot jokes or descriptions that may get repeated. When months have passed between writing chapter one and writing the end, I may forget what I've written, and a joke or a description that seems really apt may come up early in the book and then be used again later in the book. Oops. A fast read will also reveal any obvious pet words. You may use a word only once a day or even a week when you're writing, but that can still be too many times when you read the book all at once.

And then it's time to proofread, to make sure all the words are right. Some people like to print out the manuscript at this point. I'm used to editing on the screen from my old job when I was editing the work of people around the country, so I do that, but I change the font so that the book looks different to me. It puts words and sentences at difference places on the page, and you'd be amazed at the difference that can make. Then I read the whole thing out loud, word-for-word. That keeps my eyes from just skimming over the screen and forces me to notice if there's a word left out or a word that's wrong. Your brain is really good at filing in blanks and reading what should be there rather than what is, and reading out loud forces you to see what's there.

Ideally, you should try to take a break between passes to get the book out of your head and make it fresher, but deadlines don't always allow that. When you're trying to sell a first book and don't have a deadline, it's in your best interest to take your time and put the book aside between drafts so it's like reading a new book when you get back to it. Even when I write a blog post, I go get a cup of tea or read a few web sites before I go back and edit it.

Gothic Crochet!

Oh, gosh, that crochet thing gets dangerous, fast. I'm going to have to get a bigger hook -- the one I have I got to put fringe on a knitted scarf -- because my hand hurts from clutching it. The death grip I probably have doesn't help matters. Fortunately, I have dance tonight, so I won't be spending hours at it while I watch TV and my hand can recover. I think I've also figured out why I had trouble learning to knit more than straight lines. My mom stuck the old book I used to teach myself to knit when I was a kid into a Christmas package, which was what started all this, and I believe it was written by someone who does this instinctively and probably was taught as a child by her mother or grandmother, so she can't really explain how to do it. Her explanations make no sense whatsoever, and the illustrations seem to have been drawn from her explanations. I bet I can find some online videos to illustrate the steps, and that should help.

I need to come up with something useful to make if I'm going to use this so I don't get bored while watching TV. I don't need more scarves. I already made a tea cozy and a phone cozy, but maybe I could do some in different colors. If I figure out more of the crochet, maybe I could make a lacy throw for my bed. I like to have a little weight on me when I sleep -- probably a security thing -- and that means in the summer I struggle to find that sweet spot with enough weight in covers to feel secure but not so much that I get hot. A lacy openwork throw might lend some weight while being able to vent body heat. Needlework is terribly addictive, but it's a great way to prevent myself from snacking while I watch TV. Only when my hand started hurting did I remember that I had chocolate cake.

Now for more on my recent reading, the last library book in my huge stash: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. I'd describe this as a contemporary teen gothic novel. I love gothics. Give me a book with a girl in a nightgown fleeing a spooky old house while a storm rages overhead, and I'm all over it, though I prefer twists on the genre, like the Madeleine Brent books, in which the heroine gets to use her mad circus/Outback survival/mountain survival/skin diving skills rather than fleeing the spooky old house. This book is one of those twists on the genre.

An aspiring Intrepid Girl Reporter starts a newspaper at her village school, and her first big expose is going to be on the family that owns the town's manor house. There are all kinds of stories, rumors and legends about them, and they've been gone for years, but now they've returned, and at the same time, there have been these spooky noises in the woods. Her investigative reporting is somewhat hampered by her imaginary friend. Ever since she can remember, she's been able to talk to a boy in her head, and he talks back. They've shared thoughts and feelings her whole life. And then she discovers that he's a real person when he moves to town. Awkward!

The amazing thing about this book is that it manages to be spooky and atmospheric while also being laugh-out-loud funny. That's not something you see in a lot of gothics, but it all comes from the voice of the heroine, who's rather deliciously insane and has a very unique perspective on the world. The teen emotions are realistically rendered, so it may not necessarily be an "adult-safe" YA if you tend to get annoyed by teenagers, but I found that both the fun and the spooky balanced that out.

Now I suspect I may go on a gothic kick. I may also need a long, floaty white nightgown. I wonder if I could crochet one.

I Declare a Holiday

It's the Monday after a convention weekend, and although it was a pretty low-key convention at which I mostly just hung out with friends, I'm still dead tired. It's a holiday in a lot of places, so I may declare it a holiday for myself.

I think the best panel/presentation I attended, including the ones I was on, was an unofficial, impromptu one in which we got the scoop on the "asteroid go boom" incident in Russia from a NASA scientist. Though it wasn't very reassuring to hear how many objects that size are nearby and how we can't see most of them. Our former HOA manager used to say our roofs could survive a direct meteor strike, and I guess I'll just tell myself that it's true so I can sleep at night. The fact that our roofs can survive a direct meteor strike is actually a problem because apparently the material under the roofs isn't so good, but because the outer part is so sturdy, we can't manage to get the roofs replaced and have insurance pay for it after a good hailstorm, since hail doesn't damage these roofs. They're concrete fake clay tile. Anyway, when the meteor storm hits, party at my place, if you can dodge falling objects to get here.

In other news, I'm in Downton Abbey denial, and I had a weird dream last night in which I was secretly a famous sculptor whose work was all over downtown, in the lobbies of all the big high rises. Strangely, this came as a shock to me because I didn't remember making those sculptures. I also finally figured out how to do more than just crochet one long chain. I've been trying to learn to crochet since I was a kid, and it never worked, but it finally clicked. I don't think I'm to the point of being able to actually make anything, but it's rather therapeutic just randomly crocheting while I watch TV. Maybe my sculptures in the dream were crochet sculptures.

And now to enjoy my holiday/recovery day.

Musical Adventures with Kindergarteners

So, it seems that the way to get lots of blog response is to talk about romance in science fiction and fantasy. I'll have to keep that in mind.

I'll be at ConDFW this weekend. I'm not scheduled for anything today, and I'm very close to being well but not quite there yet, so I may just stay home and hope I'll be 100 percent Saturday, when I have programming. I have a panel at noon Saturday on self-editing and one at 6 on surviving in parallel worlds. Sunday at noon I have a reading, and I have a panel at 2 on short stories vs. novels. There's something big that I will informally announce this weekend at the con. Stay tuned for an official announcement here later.

The latest in musical adventures with kindergarteners: There's a man in the church who collects flutes, and he brought his collection to show the kids. We worked on the bigger=lower tone, smaller=higher tone concept with the flute vs. the piccolo. He also had a didgeridoo, and the most angelic-looking little girl blurted, "That sounds like someone's stomach doesn't feel well." Another girl decided she wanted the shrillest glass flute because it would be good for getting her sister out of her room. I play the flute, so it doesn't generally occur to me that it's something pretty difficult to do until I try to teach kids the concept of blowing across the top instead of straight into it. Usually only one or two per class can actually make a sound on it. I'm not sure any of this bunch managed it, but they'd have had to stop bouncing off walls long enough to really try.

We also worked on incorporating scarves into the song we're singing next Sunday. It's sort of a liturgical dance/rhythmic gymnastics (but without the actual gymnastics -- though they really want to do cartwheels) thing so no one falls asleep during the song. They learned how to do it pretty quickly, though one did lament that they weren't as good at it as I was. I pointed out that I'd spent the day practicing so I could teach them. Seeing how they handle it in church will be interesting.

Now to see if I can force my sinuses to completely clear in the next 24 hours.

Twu Wuv

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm not a big fan of this holiday, and not just because I'm terminally single. I just think it sort of saps the romance out of things to have a particular day arbitrarily declared to be a day for romance, whether or not it actually means anything to you. It seems far better for each couple to find their own days and ways to celebrate their relationship rather than having a huge advertising industry dictate it to them.

Of course, this is the day when everyone comes up with themed articles about most romantic this or that. There was one on most romantic science fiction and fantasy couples on tor.com, and I found that while I liked many of those movies or shows, the relationships didn't strike me as all that romantic.

For instance, The Princess Bride. I love both book and movie, but I don't think it's all that romantic, and I'm not sure it's meant to be. In the book, it was definitely treated as a satire of romance. "As you wish" and all the talk about the most perfect kiss ever aside, there's not really anything to the relationship between Westley and Buttercup. She's dismissive of him, then when they're reunited he's kind of a jerk to her. I never really figured out why he'd even be interested in her, since she's kind of useless. The book even hints that their "happily ever after" may not be that happy.

Then there's Han and Leia from the Star Wars movies, and again, there are some good lines, but I don't really get a sense of what their relationship is. They snark at each other, then snark at each other with a dose of sexual tension, then confess their feelings in a snarky way, then snark a little more. I'm never sure what it is they actually like about each other or why they want to be together.

So now I'm trying to think of what I do consider romantic. I think near the top would be Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese in The Terminator. He traveled through time for her! Okay, so they only actually spent a couple of days together before he died, but he'd loved her from afar (way afar) up to that point, and then she loved the memory of him after that point, and when they were together, they seemed to have a real connection. They got each other on a fundamental level, and knowing him changed her life and helped her achieve her true potential. (And I think this story is why I loved the latest season of Haven, because it gives us that kind of relationship, but with her getting to come forward in time and be with him in his time.)

There's Amy and Rory in Doctor Who, whose relationship is initially put under stress by the arrival of the Doctor, but who then manage to grow together, in spite of him being killed and erased from existence. Her memories and love for him are strong enough to bring him back. He waited two thousand years to protect her, and she willingly got trapped back in time so she could stay with him and they could grow old together.

Stardust makes me romantically swoony, in general, both book and movie. Yeah, it's sort of a standard romance novel relationship, in which they start out sniping at each other, but I think it does a really good job of showing how their relationship evolves into love as they have to work and travel together and as he learns how different their relationship is from the shallow crush he had on the girl back home.

It's not technically romance, but I love the way the relationship between Ripley and Hicks develops in Aliens, the way the two of them recognize each other's competence and quietly trust each other in a terrible situation. This is the main reason the remaining movies Do Not Exist for me. In my head, the two of them got together and adopted Newt.

This one is going to seem unusual and unlikely for me, but I rather liked the odd relationship that developed between Wesley and Lilah on Angel, where they started as enemies, then both were surprised when they realized they'd developed real feelings. I'm still angry that they dropped this because they kept pushing his weird thing for Fred, the most Mary Sue character who ever Mary Sued (down to the cutesy nickname, short for Winifred). Though I then did like the relationship that developed between him and Illyria when Fred was killed and taken over by the hell goddess, who found herself developing an odd soft spot for this guy. I've got entire rants about some of the plot flaws in this series that I otherwise loved. I guess I like the idea of the nice guy meeting the bad girl while taking a turn on the dark side, and ending up coming close to redeeming her.

For the slightly older folks who haven't given up on finding love eventually, Sam Vimes and Lady Sybil in the Discworld books have such a wonderful relationship. They're an unlikely couple that works. They're from totally different walks of life, but they have similar values and strengths. She's so delightfully unflappable and one of the best cop spouses in fiction -- this is one lady who's never going to pout if her husband has to miss dinner because he needs to catch a murderer. She'll just lend him a portable dragon and send dinner to the police station for him.

I don't really have Valentine's Day plans. I'm still recovering from cold #2, so I imagine I'll spend the evening on the sofa, watching TV. I do have something to celebrate, but the celebration may be slightly deferred. I have some chocolates that the children's music director gave me, so I did get something this year. Right now, though, I'm still stuffy enough that I can't properly appreciate chocolate.