Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 227
May 15, 2012
Closure
I've just realized that I need to do a writing post tomorrow, and I have no clue what to talk about. Hit me with questions about craft, the business or the life, please!
I spent a lot of yesterday pondering what kind of story could include all those elements I mentioned yesterday -- the caper, trapped with a killer and with a freedom fighter in hiding while there's internal tension and one of the characters has to step up. I'd been thinking that I'd have to come up with an entirely new story or series idea because it didn't fit into anything I currently have in the works, but now I've realized that if I give the elements a few twists, that's actually a perfect scenario for a climax to a story idea I've been mentally playing with where I have the set-up but I couldn't come up with a plot. That one's going to take a lot of research, and when I get a chance to work on it could depend on what happens with a book that has supposedly just gone out on submission. If that one doesn't sell, then this could be my next stab. If it does sell, I'll need to write those sequels.
But I suppose I may as well start some of the reading for the research, since I finished the last available book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and now I need to find something else to read. The trick will be to find the right transition. I think I need something lighter (and shorter), but at the same time, that's a pretty immersive world, and something too far from it would be hard for me to get into right now.
I must say that getting to the end (so far) and having the story still entirely unresolved, combined with the season finale of Once Upon a Time, is making me realize that I like closure. I read an essay recently on how these books aren't so much "books" as they are chunks of story. In a sense, this is similar to the way Dickens' books were published, as one big story in serial form, but instead of publishing chapters monthly to tell a novel-length story, it's Dickens-length books published every five years or so to tell one story. Meanwhile, Once Upon a Time seems to be telling one story that may morph and adjust over the course of the series without ever being truly resolved until the series gets cancelled. I guess there's a reason I never really got into soap operas because that slow progress and lack of resolution is very unsatisfying.
On the other hand, I'm also not crazy about the pure procedurals where each story stands entirely alone and has no consequences down the line. They don't do a lot of those these days because they'll at least have some kind of season arc, even if it's just in the characters' personal lives, but I remember the cop/detective shows in the 80s where an episode might end with one of the heroes seriously injured or in love with a guest character, and in the next episode he's fine and there's no sign or mention of his one true love.
I seem to like a hybrid, where there's an overall big-picture arc but there are also episode cases that get resolved, so there's some closure even while the big-picture story continues, like with Grimm and Haven. Or shows like Buffy and Angel and Deep Space Nine most of the time, where there might be a Big Bad for the season and instead of a true cliffhanger at the end of the season they'd actually resolve that season's story arc and defeat that Big Bad, and then in the last moment they'd introduce the next season's problem. In between, there might be standalone episodes with sub-problems that might or might not relate to the arc that could be resolved.
That's sort of what I've tried to do with my books. The same Big Bad is out there, but each book is about defeating a particular scheme. And now for your weekly Book 5 hint:
Book 5 wraps up the arc of the series so far. We learn who the real Big Bad is and have the ultimate confrontation with that Big Bad. Think of this as the season finale.
I spent a lot of yesterday pondering what kind of story could include all those elements I mentioned yesterday -- the caper, trapped with a killer and with a freedom fighter in hiding while there's internal tension and one of the characters has to step up. I'd been thinking that I'd have to come up with an entirely new story or series idea because it didn't fit into anything I currently have in the works, but now I've realized that if I give the elements a few twists, that's actually a perfect scenario for a climax to a story idea I've been mentally playing with where I have the set-up but I couldn't come up with a plot. That one's going to take a lot of research, and when I get a chance to work on it could depend on what happens with a book that has supposedly just gone out on submission. If that one doesn't sell, then this could be my next stab. If it does sell, I'll need to write those sequels.
But I suppose I may as well start some of the reading for the research, since I finished the last available book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and now I need to find something else to read. The trick will be to find the right transition. I think I need something lighter (and shorter), but at the same time, that's a pretty immersive world, and something too far from it would be hard for me to get into right now.
I must say that getting to the end (so far) and having the story still entirely unresolved, combined with the season finale of Once Upon a Time, is making me realize that I like closure. I read an essay recently on how these books aren't so much "books" as they are chunks of story. In a sense, this is similar to the way Dickens' books were published, as one big story in serial form, but instead of publishing chapters monthly to tell a novel-length story, it's Dickens-length books published every five years or so to tell one story. Meanwhile, Once Upon a Time seems to be telling one story that may morph and adjust over the course of the series without ever being truly resolved until the series gets cancelled. I guess there's a reason I never really got into soap operas because that slow progress and lack of resolution is very unsatisfying.
On the other hand, I'm also not crazy about the pure procedurals where each story stands entirely alone and has no consequences down the line. They don't do a lot of those these days because they'll at least have some kind of season arc, even if it's just in the characters' personal lives, but I remember the cop/detective shows in the 80s where an episode might end with one of the heroes seriously injured or in love with a guest character, and in the next episode he's fine and there's no sign or mention of his one true love.
I seem to like a hybrid, where there's an overall big-picture arc but there are also episode cases that get resolved, so there's some closure even while the big-picture story continues, like with Grimm and Haven. Or shows like Buffy and Angel and Deep Space Nine most of the time, where there might be a Big Bad for the season and instead of a true cliffhanger at the end of the season they'd actually resolve that season's story arc and defeat that Big Bad, and then in the last moment they'd introduce the next season's problem. In between, there might be standalone episodes with sub-problems that might or might not relate to the arc that could be resolved.
That's sort of what I've tried to do with my books. The same Big Bad is out there, but each book is about defeating a particular scheme. And now for your weekly Book 5 hint:
Book 5 wraps up the arc of the series so far. We learn who the real Big Bad is and have the ultimate confrontation with that Big Bad. Think of this as the season finale.
May 14, 2012
My Favorite Episodes
I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day. Although I'm not a mom, my church has the kids hand out flowers to all the women in the church because we all play a role in the lives of the kids, which I think is a nice touch and keeps the day from being depressing for those who wanted to be mothers but aren't, for whatever reason. Because I got the last minute "can you sing the soprano part in a quintet at the early service?" call, I got two flowers from singing for two services. This quintet was a little nervewracking, as we didn't get much rehearsal and as the choir director was singing with us (he's a former professional opera singer). I felt a wee bit intimidated singing what amounts to the lead in that kind of group, but I think I did okay, and I was more nervous in the one run-through we did than I was actually performing. I may eventually defeat the stage fright entirely.
While I was starching and ironing all my bedroom Battenberg lace last week, I put on one of my favorite episodes of Grimm to watch, and then I noticed that the episode was written by Jose Molina, who also wrote my favorite all-around episodes of Firefly and Haven. Either I need to start a fan club, or I need to become his best friend because we seem to like the same things. He wrote the Grimm episode "Cat and Mouse," which was the one with the fleeing freedom fighter. I'm not sure yet I'd say it's my favorite, but it's an episode I've already rewatched several times OnDemand. On Firefly, he wrote the episode "Ariel," the one where the crew robs the hospital and nearly gets caught by the Feds. There may be scenes, moments or storylines I like better in other episodes, but for an all-around episode that embodies all the things I like about the series, I think that's my favorite. And on Haven he wrote "As You Were," the one where the cast is trapped in an old hotel on an island during a storm, and then discovers that one of them has been taken over by a murderous shapeshifter. Again, there may be plots, scenes and moments I like better, but for an episode as a whole that embodies what I like about the series, this episode is currently my favorite.
Then because overanalysis is pretty much my hobby, I started trying to figure out what these episodes have in common that seemed to push my buttons. One thing I determined is that they all center on some of my favorite story tropes, which would be an argument for the "best friend" plan, but they give the familiar trope a twist or two that makes it even better. The Firefly episode is mostly a caper -- an elaborate and intricate scheme that requires the whole team to work together. But this caper goes awry not because there's a flaw in the plan but because one of the team members turns traitor, and that then turns this seemingly one-off episode into an arc episode because it brings our characters right up against what had been a mostly off-screen antagonist.
The Haven episode is a wonderful example of the "group of people is stranded in an isolated, spooky place -- and one of them is a murderer" story (that I still want to write), but unlike the Agatha Christie style take on the plot, motive doesn't really come into play. There's no reason (that the characters are aware of) for the shapeshifting killer to have taken any one form over another, which makes it more difficult to ferret out who the shapeshifter is. Then the Grimm episode is pretty much a classic WWII resistance/spy thriller plot, just set in modern Portland and with fairy tale creatures. Books about that kind of stuff (the resistance/spy stuff, not the people who are also wolves and foxes) were my bread and butter in junior high and high school.
But then further analysis uncovered more parallels. One thing all of these episodes have in common is that they've got a lot of tension and conflict -- but much of the conflict is internal to the regular characters/good guys rather than between the good guys and the bad guys. In the Firefly episode, the Blue Hands guys and the Feds are there and are a threat, but Jayne is the real antagonist because he's the one willing to betray members of his crew. He's out to get Simon and River, and he thinks that will earn him favor with Mal. But even before his plot comes to fruition -- though after it's too late to stop it -- even he starts having second thoughts. A lot of the tension in the episode comes from how he reacts to the fact that Simon trusts him and thinks he's really trying to help them.
The Haven episode is really a showpiece of internal conflict among the regular characters because the "villain" of the episode isn't actually doing anything to stir things up, other than getting them into the situation. They're all doing it to themselves because the situation brings out all the underlying tensions. Aside from one newcomer in the group, all of these people have known each other most of their lives, so there's a ton of baggage. We've got the older generation vs. the younger generation, the mother and daughter who love each other but can't seem to stop fighting, the father and son with a rift that can't really be overcome because the father thinks the best thing he can do for his son is toughen him up and that makes the son think his father thinks he's a weak idiot. There are the brothers who are usually close but who also have very different opinions of what should be done. There are three cops in the group and one career criminal. There are the young men who've been "frenemies" since they were five -- you get the impression that they were actually friends at some point but that there have been a lot of betrayals and disappointments along the way. And there are the cop partners who get along well and consider each other friends but who realize in these circumstances that they don't actually know each other all that well. Throw in the fact that one of these people has been replaced by a killer shapeshifter and they don't know which one it is, and things get extremely volatile.
The Grimm episode has more of a presence by the bad guy, but there's still internal conflict, with the woman whose family connection with the resistance drags her into it, and that then drags her friend into it when he's tried to stay out of that stuff. Then there's the fact that our main character, Nick, the "Grimm" who normally would kill people like them, would traditionally be the enemy of the freedom fighter, plus he's also a cop and the freedom fighter is a murder suspect. And then the audience knows that Nick's boss is in the middle of all this, while Nick doesn't know, so we get the tension of knowing more than he does about how perilous his situation is.
But the real thing that I think makes these episodes resonate with me is that they're all turning points for a character and are about a character really stepping up to face a challenge. Since this is all arc-type stuff, it may not come from this particular writer, but he does seem to get assigned those stories. In Firefly, Simon has up to this point considered himself an outsider. He may be a federal fugitive, but he's not a criminal like the rest of the people on the ship. Here, though, he's the one who crafts the elaborate (and extremely successful) heist, proving that he just might be the best criminal on the ship. We also get to see him in his element in the hospital, and then we get to see him really rise to the crisis when they're captured. He stands up to their captors, never losing his cool, and then he's able to take out one of the guards with his hands chained behind his back. One of the disappointments of the premature ending of the series for me was that we never really got to see where this led. I loved the idea of Simon as budding criminal mastermind. We did see in one more episode after this one (by the same writer) that Simon was capable of scaring even Jayne. There was a lot of potential for a character arc stemming from this episode.
On Haven, the turning point wasn't so much something that changed for the character, but rather that it changed the way we (the audience) and the other characters saw this person. Up to that point, they'd mostly focused on the nice-guy aspect of Nathan. We knew he had some seething anger beneath the surface, but for the most part, he was the sweetheart of a guy who turned into mush in the presence of a baby, got shy and awkward when talking to women and who was capable of empathizing with people in emotional distress. We knew he was physically tough because of the "curse" that keeps him from feeling pain, and we knew he was a smart, good cop, but we weren't sure that his father wasn't right about whether he could handle the tough stuff emotionally. And then in this episode, he's the one who solves the case and who is capable of coldly shooting someone who is an exact duplicate of someone close to him, so we learned that there's a lot of steel under that nice-guy exterior. This is not someone you want to mess with, and you really don't want to mess with someone he cares about.
On Grimm, this was the episode that really made Nick stand up and take a side in the conflict in this magical secret world he's found himself in, and this was the time he ended up acting in that role rather than as a cop. In previous situations, he's come down on the cop side, regardless of whatever else he knows is going on. Here, he witnesses a murder (though in self-defense) and lets the killer go because he knows that even going through the process of booking and going before a grand jury will only cause more harm to the secret world. I have a feeling there will be a lot of ramifications from this episode.
Now I think I need to find a way to force a character to step into a destiny-like role and amp up the tension among the good guys -- while they're pulling a caper in a remote hotel where freedom fighters are hiding. That would be the best book ever.
While I was starching and ironing all my bedroom Battenberg lace last week, I put on one of my favorite episodes of Grimm to watch, and then I noticed that the episode was written by Jose Molina, who also wrote my favorite all-around episodes of Firefly and Haven. Either I need to start a fan club, or I need to become his best friend because we seem to like the same things. He wrote the Grimm episode "Cat and Mouse," which was the one with the fleeing freedom fighter. I'm not sure yet I'd say it's my favorite, but it's an episode I've already rewatched several times OnDemand. On Firefly, he wrote the episode "Ariel," the one where the crew robs the hospital and nearly gets caught by the Feds. There may be scenes, moments or storylines I like better in other episodes, but for an all-around episode that embodies all the things I like about the series, I think that's my favorite. And on Haven he wrote "As You Were," the one where the cast is trapped in an old hotel on an island during a storm, and then discovers that one of them has been taken over by a murderous shapeshifter. Again, there may be plots, scenes and moments I like better, but for an episode as a whole that embodies what I like about the series, this episode is currently my favorite.
Then because overanalysis is pretty much my hobby, I started trying to figure out what these episodes have in common that seemed to push my buttons. One thing I determined is that they all center on some of my favorite story tropes, which would be an argument for the "best friend" plan, but they give the familiar trope a twist or two that makes it even better. The Firefly episode is mostly a caper -- an elaborate and intricate scheme that requires the whole team to work together. But this caper goes awry not because there's a flaw in the plan but because one of the team members turns traitor, and that then turns this seemingly one-off episode into an arc episode because it brings our characters right up against what had been a mostly off-screen antagonist.
The Haven episode is a wonderful example of the "group of people is stranded in an isolated, spooky place -- and one of them is a murderer" story (that I still want to write), but unlike the Agatha Christie style take on the plot, motive doesn't really come into play. There's no reason (that the characters are aware of) for the shapeshifting killer to have taken any one form over another, which makes it more difficult to ferret out who the shapeshifter is. Then the Grimm episode is pretty much a classic WWII resistance/spy thriller plot, just set in modern Portland and with fairy tale creatures. Books about that kind of stuff (the resistance/spy stuff, not the people who are also wolves and foxes) were my bread and butter in junior high and high school.
But then further analysis uncovered more parallels. One thing all of these episodes have in common is that they've got a lot of tension and conflict -- but much of the conflict is internal to the regular characters/good guys rather than between the good guys and the bad guys. In the Firefly episode, the Blue Hands guys and the Feds are there and are a threat, but Jayne is the real antagonist because he's the one willing to betray members of his crew. He's out to get Simon and River, and he thinks that will earn him favor with Mal. But even before his plot comes to fruition -- though after it's too late to stop it -- even he starts having second thoughts. A lot of the tension in the episode comes from how he reacts to the fact that Simon trusts him and thinks he's really trying to help them.
The Haven episode is really a showpiece of internal conflict among the regular characters because the "villain" of the episode isn't actually doing anything to stir things up, other than getting them into the situation. They're all doing it to themselves because the situation brings out all the underlying tensions. Aside from one newcomer in the group, all of these people have known each other most of their lives, so there's a ton of baggage. We've got the older generation vs. the younger generation, the mother and daughter who love each other but can't seem to stop fighting, the father and son with a rift that can't really be overcome because the father thinks the best thing he can do for his son is toughen him up and that makes the son think his father thinks he's a weak idiot. There are the brothers who are usually close but who also have very different opinions of what should be done. There are three cops in the group and one career criminal. There are the young men who've been "frenemies" since they were five -- you get the impression that they were actually friends at some point but that there have been a lot of betrayals and disappointments along the way. And there are the cop partners who get along well and consider each other friends but who realize in these circumstances that they don't actually know each other all that well. Throw in the fact that one of these people has been replaced by a killer shapeshifter and they don't know which one it is, and things get extremely volatile.
The Grimm episode has more of a presence by the bad guy, but there's still internal conflict, with the woman whose family connection with the resistance drags her into it, and that then drags her friend into it when he's tried to stay out of that stuff. Then there's the fact that our main character, Nick, the "Grimm" who normally would kill people like them, would traditionally be the enemy of the freedom fighter, plus he's also a cop and the freedom fighter is a murder suspect. And then the audience knows that Nick's boss is in the middle of all this, while Nick doesn't know, so we get the tension of knowing more than he does about how perilous his situation is.
But the real thing that I think makes these episodes resonate with me is that they're all turning points for a character and are about a character really stepping up to face a challenge. Since this is all arc-type stuff, it may not come from this particular writer, but he does seem to get assigned those stories. In Firefly, Simon has up to this point considered himself an outsider. He may be a federal fugitive, but he's not a criminal like the rest of the people on the ship. Here, though, he's the one who crafts the elaborate (and extremely successful) heist, proving that he just might be the best criminal on the ship. We also get to see him in his element in the hospital, and then we get to see him really rise to the crisis when they're captured. He stands up to their captors, never losing his cool, and then he's able to take out one of the guards with his hands chained behind his back. One of the disappointments of the premature ending of the series for me was that we never really got to see where this led. I loved the idea of Simon as budding criminal mastermind. We did see in one more episode after this one (by the same writer) that Simon was capable of scaring even Jayne. There was a lot of potential for a character arc stemming from this episode.
On Haven, the turning point wasn't so much something that changed for the character, but rather that it changed the way we (the audience) and the other characters saw this person. Up to that point, they'd mostly focused on the nice-guy aspect of Nathan. We knew he had some seething anger beneath the surface, but for the most part, he was the sweetheart of a guy who turned into mush in the presence of a baby, got shy and awkward when talking to women and who was capable of empathizing with people in emotional distress. We knew he was physically tough because of the "curse" that keeps him from feeling pain, and we knew he was a smart, good cop, but we weren't sure that his father wasn't right about whether he could handle the tough stuff emotionally. And then in this episode, he's the one who solves the case and who is capable of coldly shooting someone who is an exact duplicate of someone close to him, so we learned that there's a lot of steel under that nice-guy exterior. This is not someone you want to mess with, and you really don't want to mess with someone he cares about.
On Grimm, this was the episode that really made Nick stand up and take a side in the conflict in this magical secret world he's found himself in, and this was the time he ended up acting in that role rather than as a cop. In previous situations, he's come down on the cop side, regardless of whatever else he knows is going on. Here, he witnesses a murder (though in self-defense) and lets the killer go because he knows that even going through the process of booking and going before a grand jury will only cause more harm to the secret world. I have a feeling there will be a lot of ramifications from this episode.
Now I think I need to find a way to force a character to step into a destiny-like role and amp up the tension among the good guys -- while they're pulling a caper in a remote hotel where freedom fighters are hiding. That would be the best book ever.
May 11, 2012
Greeting Cards for Geeks
Earlier this week, I was shopping for a Mother's Day card, and if I had any artistic talent and if I were capable of being pithy and terse, I think I sense a potential untapped market: Greeting Cards for Geeks.
None of the cards the store had really fit my situation. For starters, the syrupy sweet cards with "meaningful" poetry and drawings of flowers just wouldn't work. As my mom would say, "Urp."
There were some amusing cards about Mom taking a well-deserved break that might have applied while the kids were at home, but my mom is retired and the kids are grown. My dad's the one who needs to tell her she deserves a break because he's the only other person in the house.
The cards about now appreciating how tough it must have been to be a mom don't work for me because they're about the shared bond of motherhood now that you have your own kids. Spending 45 minutes a week with preschoolers hardly applies (even if I do have 17 of them at a time).
A lot of the cards are about how awful you were as a kid and needing to make that up to your mom now. I did have a bad bratty phase when I was about ten and probably should have been stranded in the woods without even any breadcrumbs, but for the most part, I think I was a low-maintenance kid. I did my homework, made straight As, practiced my band instrument, didn't spend that much time on the phone, didn't stay out late, didn't run with a bad crowd, didn't go through a rebellious teenager phase and didn't get into trouble. I don't think I'm responsible for that many gray hairs.
A lot of the cards meant for adult daughters to send their moms are based on the idea of what mom taught and how your relationship has transitioned to a friendship, and I like that concept, except that all of the cards seem to express that through shopping or shoes (or shopping for shoes). Newsflash: women can do other things. I'm not opposed to recreational shopping (though I haven't done it for anything other than books in ages), but that's definitely not anything I learned from my mom, who hates to shop for things other than books.
What I need is a card about a mom who started the geeky indoctrination early by watching the original Star Trek with me when I was an infant, who took me to all the Disney fairy tale movies and gave me books of fairy tales, who introduced me to Broadway musicals and who gave me my first Narnia book. We're more likely to watch Firefly or Doctor Who together than to go shopping. Our conversations are more about this week's episode of Grimm or the last Terry Pratchett book we read than about shoes.
So, what we need is a line of cards that expresses that kind of sentiment. Ditto for Father's Day, though in that case it would be about my dad dragging me to see Star Wars, Star Trek the Motion Picture, the original Battlestar Galactica pilot (it was released as a big-screen movie overseas) and Raiders of the Lost Ark. We also need birthday cards for geeky friends. Instead of stuff about shoe shopping and drinking martinis, we need cards about Firefly marathons and seeing movies on opening weekends. It's really difficult to find birthday cards for female friends that celebrate female friendship in some way other than buying shoes together. Forget about finding a card that's appropriate for a woman to give a platonic male friend. All the cards aimed at men seem to be about beer and sexy women -- unless they're about getting old. It does seem like platonic male/female friendships are more common in the geek world, perhaps because a lot of geeky interests are stereotypically "male" and geek girls grow up hanging out with guys because those are the people they have more in common with. Hallmark doesn't seem to acknowledge that men and women might be friends and might not want to give each other cards laden with innuendo, though.
I bet cards for geeks would sell really well at conventions -- unless geeks are more inclined to just send e-cards and have forgotten how to use postal mail. For special occasions, I do like to send or give a real, physical card, though, and the right card is very hard to find.
None of the cards the store had really fit my situation. For starters, the syrupy sweet cards with "meaningful" poetry and drawings of flowers just wouldn't work. As my mom would say, "Urp."
There were some amusing cards about Mom taking a well-deserved break that might have applied while the kids were at home, but my mom is retired and the kids are grown. My dad's the one who needs to tell her she deserves a break because he's the only other person in the house.
The cards about now appreciating how tough it must have been to be a mom don't work for me because they're about the shared bond of motherhood now that you have your own kids. Spending 45 minutes a week with preschoolers hardly applies (even if I do have 17 of them at a time).
A lot of the cards are about how awful you were as a kid and needing to make that up to your mom now. I did have a bad bratty phase when I was about ten and probably should have been stranded in the woods without even any breadcrumbs, but for the most part, I think I was a low-maintenance kid. I did my homework, made straight As, practiced my band instrument, didn't spend that much time on the phone, didn't stay out late, didn't run with a bad crowd, didn't go through a rebellious teenager phase and didn't get into trouble. I don't think I'm responsible for that many gray hairs.
A lot of the cards meant for adult daughters to send their moms are based on the idea of what mom taught and how your relationship has transitioned to a friendship, and I like that concept, except that all of the cards seem to express that through shopping or shoes (or shopping for shoes). Newsflash: women can do other things. I'm not opposed to recreational shopping (though I haven't done it for anything other than books in ages), but that's definitely not anything I learned from my mom, who hates to shop for things other than books.
What I need is a card about a mom who started the geeky indoctrination early by watching the original Star Trek with me when I was an infant, who took me to all the Disney fairy tale movies and gave me books of fairy tales, who introduced me to Broadway musicals and who gave me my first Narnia book. We're more likely to watch Firefly or Doctor Who together than to go shopping. Our conversations are more about this week's episode of Grimm or the last Terry Pratchett book we read than about shoes.
So, what we need is a line of cards that expresses that kind of sentiment. Ditto for Father's Day, though in that case it would be about my dad dragging me to see Star Wars, Star Trek the Motion Picture, the original Battlestar Galactica pilot (it was released as a big-screen movie overseas) and Raiders of the Lost Ark. We also need birthday cards for geeky friends. Instead of stuff about shoe shopping and drinking martinis, we need cards about Firefly marathons and seeing movies on opening weekends. It's really difficult to find birthday cards for female friends that celebrate female friendship in some way other than buying shoes together. Forget about finding a card that's appropriate for a woman to give a platonic male friend. All the cards aimed at men seem to be about beer and sexy women -- unless they're about getting old. It does seem like platonic male/female friendships are more common in the geek world, perhaps because a lot of geeky interests are stereotypically "male" and geek girls grow up hanging out with guys because those are the people they have more in common with. Hallmark doesn't seem to acknowledge that men and women might be friends and might not want to give each other cards laden with innuendo, though.
I bet cards for geeks would sell really well at conventions -- unless geeks are more inclined to just send e-cards and have forgotten how to use postal mail. For special occasions, I do like to send or give a real, physical card, though, and the right card is very hard to find.
May 10, 2012
"Real" Work
Last night was the final session of preschool choir, and while it's kind of a relief to have that one thing off my schedule, I think I'm going to miss all the hugs, having little people snuggle into my lap and having trusting little hands curl around my fingers. They make me feel so loved while also being a little overwhelmed by the awareness of the responsibility that comes with that trust and adoration. I'll still see these kids around. I have a couple more Sundays to lead the singing in preschool Sunday school, and I imagine I'll still have my fan club for singing in choir (they get all excited to see me, like I'm their celebrity they actually know). I did get a lovely drawing from one of them that will have to go on my refrigerator.
But before children's choir starts again in the fall, I have a lot to do, like getting a book out. It's been a while, so I have to adjust my mindset. For the past few years, "work" has been focused on writing new stuff. Promotional activities were procrastination techniques to avoid the real work of writing. My work tracking system even focused exclusively on time spent actually writing. But now, I need to get back into business and marketing mode, which is difficult because I've trained myself not to think of that as real work. If I'm sitting at my desk, doing Internet stuff, I'm not really working, and I should be away from my desk at the other computer, writing. This week I've been doing some proofreading, so I have had that regular "writing" time, but next week I'll have to remind myself that this is stuff I need to be doing. Doing stuff like deciding I need to brainstorm a story idea or re-read an old book with an eye to revising it will be my procrastination techniques, while doing stuff online, updating my web site, etc., will be the real work.
I still feel a little twitchy about not having a book in progress, though. My problem is that I have several proto-books swirling around in my head, and I can't seem to focus much on any one of them. I have fleeting moments with each of them. I guess that's okay at this point in the process, as I don't yet know what I'll need to be working on next (there are a lot of things pending), and any development puts each of these ahead of where it was. There's that mystery series idea, there's a kind of YA past dystopia steampunk meets Orwell thing, there are always more Enchanted, Inc. ideas (those people just will not shut up), there are subsequent books in series I've written but not sold, there are old books I'd like to revisit. Since no one of these is urgent and no one is predominating, they're all just kind of jumbling together in one big mass of noise. I wonder if picking one to deliberately focus on might ease some of the noise. I'll need to do something, since most of the TV season is drawing to a close, and I'll have free time that I should probably fill with writing.
But first, proofreading and promotion. I'm trying to do my household chores for the next couple of days today so that I don't have to do any of them tomorrow and can focus on work. I've already made a good start on laundry, and I've even washed the Battenberg lace from my bedroom (since it's the week for the thorough bedroom cleaning). Starching and ironing will have to be my between-chapters break today.
But before children's choir starts again in the fall, I have a lot to do, like getting a book out. It's been a while, so I have to adjust my mindset. For the past few years, "work" has been focused on writing new stuff. Promotional activities were procrastination techniques to avoid the real work of writing. My work tracking system even focused exclusively on time spent actually writing. But now, I need to get back into business and marketing mode, which is difficult because I've trained myself not to think of that as real work. If I'm sitting at my desk, doing Internet stuff, I'm not really working, and I should be away from my desk at the other computer, writing. This week I've been doing some proofreading, so I have had that regular "writing" time, but next week I'll have to remind myself that this is stuff I need to be doing. Doing stuff like deciding I need to brainstorm a story idea or re-read an old book with an eye to revising it will be my procrastination techniques, while doing stuff online, updating my web site, etc., will be the real work.
I still feel a little twitchy about not having a book in progress, though. My problem is that I have several proto-books swirling around in my head, and I can't seem to focus much on any one of them. I have fleeting moments with each of them. I guess that's okay at this point in the process, as I don't yet know what I'll need to be working on next (there are a lot of things pending), and any development puts each of these ahead of where it was. There's that mystery series idea, there's a kind of YA past dystopia steampunk meets Orwell thing, there are always more Enchanted, Inc. ideas (those people just will not shut up), there are subsequent books in series I've written but not sold, there are old books I'd like to revisit. Since no one of these is urgent and no one is predominating, they're all just kind of jumbling together in one big mass of noise. I wonder if picking one to deliberately focus on might ease some of the noise. I'll need to do something, since most of the TV season is drawing to a close, and I'll have free time that I should probably fill with writing.
But first, proofreading and promotion. I'm trying to do my household chores for the next couple of days today so that I don't have to do any of them tomorrow and can focus on work. I've already made a good start on laundry, and I've even washed the Battenberg lace from my bedroom (since it's the week for the thorough bedroom cleaning). Starching and ironing will have to be my between-chapters break today.
May 9, 2012
Digging up the Backlist
I had a fun little moment of minor fame last night. It was the church women's supper, and when I was checking in, one of the ladies at the check-in desk heard my name, gasped a little and said, "The author? Oh, I love your books!" I guess she didn't realize I went to the same church, but then, who thinks that an author you read might be around you in your daily life?
Last summer I pondered the idea of seeing if I could get the rights to my old Harlequin romances back and then e-publish them. It turns out that wouldn't have been a possibility because even then, Harlequin had already put them out for Kindle and Nook (strangely, I can't find them on the Harlequin site itself). I learned this when I got an unexpected royalty statement in the mail. Since they never told me they were releasing these as e-books and they don't seem to be making any effort to link them to my real name, which is far better known than that old pen name, I suspect that this is more about keeping the rights and keeping me from being able to e-publish than it is about making any money.
However, if you're a completist and want to read everything I've written, these are available. They're strictly romantic comedy and not fantasy at all (unless you want to pretend that all the characters are wizards, which could be fun). They were written in the mid-90s, so I'm sure they're dated, and I hope I've grown as a writer since then. Buyer beware, since I haven't re-read these books in ages and am kind of afraid to, since I can't fix them. But if you want to give them a shot, go for it.
Dateless in Dallas is about a pair of reporters assigned to field test the advice in a dating how-to book. Back when I came up with this idea, the hook for the line involved the written word -- that the plot had to revolve around some element in writing, like personal ads, letters, etc. By the time the book was published, I think they'd moved beyond that because they realized it was a little narrow and it became a sort of proto-chick lit/romantic comedy line. This was one of those strange books that popped into my head fully formed. I'd read the guidelines looking for books focusing on the written word, and I was waiting for the box office to open to buy theater tickets when the idea, the characters and their names just sprang into my head. The inspiration was probably one of my favorite books from when I was a teen, The Alfred E. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations by Ellen Conford, in which each chapter starts with an excerpt from the school handbook, and the chapter shows how that really works. This book works a similar way -- each chapter starts with a bit of dating advice from the book, then shows how it really works. Some of those things may or may not have actually happened. I wrote a query letter and sent it off, then got a request for a proposal, and then months later I got the phone call that they were buying the book. Oddly, I wasn't able to find a copy of the Conford book while I was writing this one, so it was purely inspiration from vague memory. I did find a copy a couple of years ago, and it wasn't quite the way I'd remembered it (but is still one of my favorite teen books).
Dateless in Dallas for the Kindle
Dateless in Dallas for the Nook
The next book is The Emergency Stand-By Date, which is sort of self-explanatory from the title. It sprang from my ten-year class reunion and some other events. I was at a phase in my life when I wasn't dating anyone and didn't really even know anyone to date, and yet I had a lot of events where I felt like a total outsider because I didn't have anyone to bring. I'd been involved in a committee to put on a charity ball and ended up giving the tickets that were a mandatory purchase to a friend because I didn't know anyone to take and the tickets were only sold for couples, so going alone would have been miserable. There was that reunion coming up, where I'd have to go solo. Our company social events were very couple-oriented, where not bringing someone was kind of frowned upon. And there were a lot of weddings. I know people are always saying that weddings are great places to meet people, but that has not been my experience because every wedding I've been to has been like Noah's Ark, where everyone has a date, even if it's someone they dragged in off the street. If you go alone, you end up sitting alone and feeling invisible. I found myself thinking one day that what I needed was an emergency stand-by date, someone I could bring to those kinds of events who was a close enough friend that I'd be able to have fun with him but who would know that me inviting him didn't necessarily mean anything. And then I realized that sounded like a great book idea and proposed it to my editor, who bought it. The irony is that although the opening scene involves the aftermath of a miserable reunion without a date, which I wrote before going to my reunion, I actually had a lot of fun at my reunion, even without a date. Again, some of these events may or may not have actually happened (the one involving the wedding where everyone the heroine had dated in the last few years was there did happen, but not in quite that way).
The Emergency Stand-By Date for Kindle
The Emergency Stand-By Date for Nook.
It looks like those books are available at Google books, too, so you can search there if those other formats don't work for you.
I was using the pen name Samantha Carter at the time, and I had it before SG-1 came on. I signed the contract for that first book with that name in early 1995, and it was actually an X-Files reference because the episode where they meet the fake Samantha Mulder had just aired, and my co-workers thought she looked a lot like me and had started calling me Samantha. When I had to pick a pen name (Harlequin required them at the time), I thought that would work because it started with the same letter as my real first name, which gave me time to recover from brain lock during autographs, and I chose Carter as a last name because it was an X-Files reference that put me near the top of the alphabet. When the second book came out and I was doing Internet searches to see if anyone was talking about it, I learned about the SG-1 series. It was on Showtime then, which I didn't get, but when it came on in syndication, I watched it to see who this person with my name was, and it was a long time before I quit giggling every time someone said her full name. Now it's been so long since I've used that name that my brain first goes to the character, not to my pen name.
My alter ego is no deep, dark secret, so if you feel inclined to write reviews at those sites, feel free to mention the connection. I haven't found a way for me to get into the system and get those books linked to my real name.
Last summer I pondered the idea of seeing if I could get the rights to my old Harlequin romances back and then e-publish them. It turns out that wouldn't have been a possibility because even then, Harlequin had already put them out for Kindle and Nook (strangely, I can't find them on the Harlequin site itself). I learned this when I got an unexpected royalty statement in the mail. Since they never told me they were releasing these as e-books and they don't seem to be making any effort to link them to my real name, which is far better known than that old pen name, I suspect that this is more about keeping the rights and keeping me from being able to e-publish than it is about making any money.
However, if you're a completist and want to read everything I've written, these are available. They're strictly romantic comedy and not fantasy at all (unless you want to pretend that all the characters are wizards, which could be fun). They were written in the mid-90s, so I'm sure they're dated, and I hope I've grown as a writer since then. Buyer beware, since I haven't re-read these books in ages and am kind of afraid to, since I can't fix them. But if you want to give them a shot, go for it.
Dateless in Dallas is about a pair of reporters assigned to field test the advice in a dating how-to book. Back when I came up with this idea, the hook for the line involved the written word -- that the plot had to revolve around some element in writing, like personal ads, letters, etc. By the time the book was published, I think they'd moved beyond that because they realized it was a little narrow and it became a sort of proto-chick lit/romantic comedy line. This was one of those strange books that popped into my head fully formed. I'd read the guidelines looking for books focusing on the written word, and I was waiting for the box office to open to buy theater tickets when the idea, the characters and their names just sprang into my head. The inspiration was probably one of my favorite books from when I was a teen, The Alfred E. Graebner Memorial High School Handbook of Rules and Regulations by Ellen Conford, in which each chapter starts with an excerpt from the school handbook, and the chapter shows how that really works. This book works a similar way -- each chapter starts with a bit of dating advice from the book, then shows how it really works. Some of those things may or may not have actually happened. I wrote a query letter and sent it off, then got a request for a proposal, and then months later I got the phone call that they were buying the book. Oddly, I wasn't able to find a copy of the Conford book while I was writing this one, so it was purely inspiration from vague memory. I did find a copy a couple of years ago, and it wasn't quite the way I'd remembered it (but is still one of my favorite teen books).
Dateless in Dallas for the Kindle
Dateless in Dallas for the Nook
The next book is The Emergency Stand-By Date, which is sort of self-explanatory from the title. It sprang from my ten-year class reunion and some other events. I was at a phase in my life when I wasn't dating anyone and didn't really even know anyone to date, and yet I had a lot of events where I felt like a total outsider because I didn't have anyone to bring. I'd been involved in a committee to put on a charity ball and ended up giving the tickets that were a mandatory purchase to a friend because I didn't know anyone to take and the tickets were only sold for couples, so going alone would have been miserable. There was that reunion coming up, where I'd have to go solo. Our company social events were very couple-oriented, where not bringing someone was kind of frowned upon. And there were a lot of weddings. I know people are always saying that weddings are great places to meet people, but that has not been my experience because every wedding I've been to has been like Noah's Ark, where everyone has a date, even if it's someone they dragged in off the street. If you go alone, you end up sitting alone and feeling invisible. I found myself thinking one day that what I needed was an emergency stand-by date, someone I could bring to those kinds of events who was a close enough friend that I'd be able to have fun with him but who would know that me inviting him didn't necessarily mean anything. And then I realized that sounded like a great book idea and proposed it to my editor, who bought it. The irony is that although the opening scene involves the aftermath of a miserable reunion without a date, which I wrote before going to my reunion, I actually had a lot of fun at my reunion, even without a date. Again, some of these events may or may not have actually happened (the one involving the wedding where everyone the heroine had dated in the last few years was there did happen, but not in quite that way).
The Emergency Stand-By Date for Kindle
The Emergency Stand-By Date for Nook.
It looks like those books are available at Google books, too, so you can search there if those other formats don't work for you.
I was using the pen name Samantha Carter at the time, and I had it before SG-1 came on. I signed the contract for that first book with that name in early 1995, and it was actually an X-Files reference because the episode where they meet the fake Samantha Mulder had just aired, and my co-workers thought she looked a lot like me and had started calling me Samantha. When I had to pick a pen name (Harlequin required them at the time), I thought that would work because it started with the same letter as my real first name, which gave me time to recover from brain lock during autographs, and I chose Carter as a last name because it was an X-Files reference that put me near the top of the alphabet. When the second book came out and I was doing Internet searches to see if anyone was talking about it, I learned about the SG-1 series. It was on Showtime then, which I didn't get, but when it came on in syndication, I watched it to see who this person with my name was, and it was a long time before I quit giggling every time someone said her full name. Now it's been so long since I've used that name that my brain first goes to the character, not to my pen name.
My alter ego is no deep, dark secret, so if you feel inclined to write reviews at those sites, feel free to mention the connection. I haven't found a way for me to get into the system and get those books linked to my real name.
May 8, 2012
The Title
It's now time for your weekly (or as often as I have something) tidbit about the upcoming Enchanted, Inc. book 5.
How about a title? Drum roll please ….
The book will be called Much Ado About Magic.
If you were aware of the Japanese edition, you may have seen that the English title Spell Bound was on the cover. That was the title I gave the book when I turned it in to the Japanese publisher, since I figured they'd give it a Japanese title anyway. I didn't think it was the best title ever, but it does fit the book. However, since then, that seems to have become a very popular title in paranormal romance and urban fantasy, in all the variations -- one word, two words, hyphenated. When I did an Amazon search on that title, I came up with at least five pages of results, and the first two pages were published in the last couple of years. So, I figured that was an overused title and I needed a new one because I want my book to stand out.
I spent a day or so listing the key elements of this book, then finding some common sayings, quotes, movie/play/song titles, etc., and seeing how I could plug something relating to magic or fairy tales into them. I came up with a page-long list of possibilities, with Much Ado About Magic at the top. That one just clicked, and my agent agreed. There has been another book by that title, and by an author who gave me a cover blurb on one of the series (I think book 2), but it was more than five years ago, so I figured I'm safe and we can cross-promote each other.
I guess my writing tip for the day would be to plug your title ideas into Amazon and see how unique they are. You don't have to be totally unique, but you don't want so many that there's a risk you could be on page five of the search results, and you want to see if there's any baggage associated with the title, like another book that's either a huge bestseller that might eclipse yours or another book that's a huge flop or that's caused negative controversy that might get confused with your book.
Picking a title was one of those slightly scary "working without a net" things. The publisher usually has final say on titles, so if a title didn't really work, I could always blame them. This time, I did seek input and advice from others, but it still came down to my final decision, and this wasn't a book that seemed to come with a ready-made title.
How about a title? Drum roll please ….
The book will be called Much Ado About Magic.
If you were aware of the Japanese edition, you may have seen that the English title Spell Bound was on the cover. That was the title I gave the book when I turned it in to the Japanese publisher, since I figured they'd give it a Japanese title anyway. I didn't think it was the best title ever, but it does fit the book. However, since then, that seems to have become a very popular title in paranormal romance and urban fantasy, in all the variations -- one word, two words, hyphenated. When I did an Amazon search on that title, I came up with at least five pages of results, and the first two pages were published in the last couple of years. So, I figured that was an overused title and I needed a new one because I want my book to stand out.
I spent a day or so listing the key elements of this book, then finding some common sayings, quotes, movie/play/song titles, etc., and seeing how I could plug something relating to magic or fairy tales into them. I came up with a page-long list of possibilities, with Much Ado About Magic at the top. That one just clicked, and my agent agreed. There has been another book by that title, and by an author who gave me a cover blurb on one of the series (I think book 2), but it was more than five years ago, so I figured I'm safe and we can cross-promote each other.
I guess my writing tip for the day would be to plug your title ideas into Amazon and see how unique they are. You don't have to be totally unique, but you don't want so many that there's a risk you could be on page five of the search results, and you want to see if there's any baggage associated with the title, like another book that's either a huge bestseller that might eclipse yours or another book that's a huge flop or that's caused negative controversy that might get confused with your book.
Picking a title was one of those slightly scary "working without a net" things. The publisher usually has final say on titles, so if a title didn't really work, I could always blame them. This time, I did seek input and advice from others, but it still came down to my final decision, and this wasn't a book that seemed to come with a ready-made title.
May 7, 2012
Flavors of Geekdom
I had a rather challenging Sunday. For one thing, it was my third week in a row to have to sing for two services. For another, one of the songs we did involved Hebrew text (fortunately it was written phonetically) and the other was Mozart in Latin. And then the preschoolers sang in the late service, and the song they did involved rhythm sticks. Yes, we gave sticks to preschoolers in church. We like to live dangerously. But they were good and didn't hit themselves or anyone else with the sticks, and they mostly just hit the sticks when they were supposed to. And they were so very, very adorable. I just have one more Wednesday session with them, where all the choirs do a program for the parents. And then we eat pizza.
Now I feel very, very drained and tired, but this will be a busy week. Essentially being my own publishing company is a fair amount of work, even with delegating everything to experts. I suppose I'm not doing much more actual work than I was doing while working with a regular publisher, but it weighs more on me. Before, they might run stuff by me, but I didn't have any more say than they wanted me to have. They might or might not take my suggestions. Now, though, the buck stops with me. If I don't like something, it doesn't happen that way, and there's a lot of responsibility to that. It's also a big mental shift to make. So far, I've liked most of what's been done, but when I haven't, I've had to remind myself that it's okay to say so and that they have to listen to me. I'm mostly just trying to stay out of the way and let the experts do their thing, but I do have to make the ultimate decision. The other difference is that the timeline is seriously compressed. We're doing in a few months what would take a regular publisher a year or so to do.
I may have to hand in my geek card because I didn't see The Avengers this weekend, and I have to admit that I'm not overly keen to see it. It's one of those things that I feel like I ought to be into but that I could actually take or leave. I've never been all that into the whole superheroes thing, I guess, aside from that mad crush I had on Robin in the old Batman series when I was in second grade. There are flavors of geekdom, and that isn't one of mine. I also don't do games of any kind. I don't enjoy computer games, video games, card games or tabletop games and I've never played roleplaying games. I might occasionally play solitaire (with cards, not on a computer), and when I was a kid I liked to play Payday against myself, using different money-management strategies for each game piece to see which one did best. Otherwise, I get bored with any game within about two minutes. On the other hand, I read fantasy novels, can discuss Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Doctor Who, etc., and go to conventions, so I think I'm plenty geeky enough, even if I do have weak spots. I'll just never win the gold medal in the all-around geekiness competition. I'll have to be an event specialist.
Now I feel very, very drained and tired, but this will be a busy week. Essentially being my own publishing company is a fair amount of work, even with delegating everything to experts. I suppose I'm not doing much more actual work than I was doing while working with a regular publisher, but it weighs more on me. Before, they might run stuff by me, but I didn't have any more say than they wanted me to have. They might or might not take my suggestions. Now, though, the buck stops with me. If I don't like something, it doesn't happen that way, and there's a lot of responsibility to that. It's also a big mental shift to make. So far, I've liked most of what's been done, but when I haven't, I've had to remind myself that it's okay to say so and that they have to listen to me. I'm mostly just trying to stay out of the way and let the experts do their thing, but I do have to make the ultimate decision. The other difference is that the timeline is seriously compressed. We're doing in a few months what would take a regular publisher a year or so to do.
I may have to hand in my geek card because I didn't see The Avengers this weekend, and I have to admit that I'm not overly keen to see it. It's one of those things that I feel like I ought to be into but that I could actually take or leave. I've never been all that into the whole superheroes thing, I guess, aside from that mad crush I had on Robin in the old Batman series when I was in second grade. There are flavors of geekdom, and that isn't one of mine. I also don't do games of any kind. I don't enjoy computer games, video games, card games or tabletop games and I've never played roleplaying games. I might occasionally play solitaire (with cards, not on a computer), and when I was a kid I liked to play Payday against myself, using different money-management strategies for each game piece to see which one did best. Otherwise, I get bored with any game within about two minutes. On the other hand, I read fantasy novels, can discuss Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Doctor Who, etc., and go to conventions, so I think I'm plenty geeky enough, even if I do have weak spots. I'll just never win the gold medal in the all-around geekiness competition. I'll have to be an event specialist.
May 4, 2012
Sea Monsters and Other Stories
I've done my major errands for the day and my exercise. I walked over to the library to pick up the next George RR Martin book and to do my early voting for the municipal elections (it's very convenient to vote in the library). And I really wish I'd brought my phone or some other device containing a camera. The library is on the side of one of the canals, and the walls facing the canal are floor-to-ceiling windows. They put the voting location against the windows, and apparently it was a slow day because all the election judges were staring out the window when I got there. Instead of asking for my voter registration card, they pointed to the window and said, "What do you think that is?" There was this thing floating in the canal that could have been a log, but it also kind of looked like a baby alligator or like the top of a hippo. After I did my civic duty and got my book, I went down to the canal path to look, and one of the election judges went with me.
And that's when I wished I had a camera because the thing was a bloated fish corpse. A huge bloated fish corpse. Or maybe a sea monster corpse. It was easily as long as my leg and twice as big around -- or bigger (mind you, I'm not a very big person and my legs aren't exactly enormous). It had these weird fins that looked kind of like stunted tentacles on one end and spikes along the top.
However, it turns out that we could maybe use a few sea monsters because apparently there's a huge turtle problem. While we were gawking at the sea monster, there was a lady trying to capture some ducklings to take to a wildlife rehab facility. One of the ducklings had an injured leg from a turtle attack. She said that the turtle population in the canals has exploded, and they're eating the ducklings, attacking the ducks and going after the other waterfowl. If you look into the water, you can see the turtles swarming just below the surface.
Once again, I'm glad I don't have a house directly on the canal. They'd have to move nearly a block away from the water to swarm all over my house and attack.
In other news, I went back to the grocery store where the employee asked me if his orange safety vest kept him from being invisible, and this time, I was in the meat department, deciding what I should cook this week, when one of the butcher guys came up to me and asked if I needed anything. I said I was doing mental menu planning, and he said, "Okay, but if you decide you need the love of a good man, I'm right here, and there are a couple more guys in the back." But he said it in exactly the tone he'd use to say, "Okay, but if you don't find what you need, I can check in back for you," so I sort of did an auditory double-take because for a second I couldn't believe he'd said what I thought I heard. They must hire based on quirk at that store, or maybe there's something about me that says I'm quirk tolerant. I just kind of laughed and said thanks and made a beeline for the bakery.
Where I suffered a total self-indulgence fail. This store sells hand-made tortillas that are baked in the store. On the bakery clearance cart, they had a few packages of different varieties, and they had some cinnamon sugar ones. I decided to indulge. Then I got them home, heated one, went to eat it, and found that I'd somehow managed to grab a package of whole wheat (it was labeled correctly, but I guess I didn't read the label). It was supposed to be a treat, and I managed to get something moderately good for me. It was so disappointing. I may have to bake a cake to get over it.
Except today may be a little too hot for baking. I really need to get my living room ceiling fan fixed or replaced, but it looks like all my income this year (if I have any) will come in the last quarter of the year, so I'm really trying to put off any major spending. The fan itself isn't all that expensive, but getting it installed up in that vaulted ceiling may be. Then again, it is pretty essential for getting through the summer.
Finally, it's Star Wars Day -- May the 4th be with you (get it?). I celebrated early, as one of the pieces of music used in last night's ballet class was a piano arrangement of the cantina band music. I amuse myself by playing "name that tune" with the class music, and that one cracked me up (we've also used the "Oompa Loompa" song in class -- the teacher has fun with music).
And that's when I wished I had a camera because the thing was a bloated fish corpse. A huge bloated fish corpse. Or maybe a sea monster corpse. It was easily as long as my leg and twice as big around -- or bigger (mind you, I'm not a very big person and my legs aren't exactly enormous). It had these weird fins that looked kind of like stunted tentacles on one end and spikes along the top.
However, it turns out that we could maybe use a few sea monsters because apparently there's a huge turtle problem. While we were gawking at the sea monster, there was a lady trying to capture some ducklings to take to a wildlife rehab facility. One of the ducklings had an injured leg from a turtle attack. She said that the turtle population in the canals has exploded, and they're eating the ducklings, attacking the ducks and going after the other waterfowl. If you look into the water, you can see the turtles swarming just below the surface.
Once again, I'm glad I don't have a house directly on the canal. They'd have to move nearly a block away from the water to swarm all over my house and attack.
In other news, I went back to the grocery store where the employee asked me if his orange safety vest kept him from being invisible, and this time, I was in the meat department, deciding what I should cook this week, when one of the butcher guys came up to me and asked if I needed anything. I said I was doing mental menu planning, and he said, "Okay, but if you decide you need the love of a good man, I'm right here, and there are a couple more guys in the back." But he said it in exactly the tone he'd use to say, "Okay, but if you don't find what you need, I can check in back for you," so I sort of did an auditory double-take because for a second I couldn't believe he'd said what I thought I heard. They must hire based on quirk at that store, or maybe there's something about me that says I'm quirk tolerant. I just kind of laughed and said thanks and made a beeline for the bakery.
Where I suffered a total self-indulgence fail. This store sells hand-made tortillas that are baked in the store. On the bakery clearance cart, they had a few packages of different varieties, and they had some cinnamon sugar ones. I decided to indulge. Then I got them home, heated one, went to eat it, and found that I'd somehow managed to grab a package of whole wheat (it was labeled correctly, but I guess I didn't read the label). It was supposed to be a treat, and I managed to get something moderately good for me. It was so disappointing. I may have to bake a cake to get over it.
Except today may be a little too hot for baking. I really need to get my living room ceiling fan fixed or replaced, but it looks like all my income this year (if I have any) will come in the last quarter of the year, so I'm really trying to put off any major spending. The fan itself isn't all that expensive, but getting it installed up in that vaulted ceiling may be. Then again, it is pretty essential for getting through the summer.
Finally, it's Star Wars Day -- May the 4th be with you (get it?). I celebrated early, as one of the pieces of music used in last night's ballet class was a piano arrangement of the cantina band music. I amuse myself by playing "name that tune" with the class music, and that one cracked me up (we've also used the "Oompa Loompa" song in class -- the teacher has fun with music).
May 3, 2012
Housekeeping for Creative People
So, I've managed to keep the house relatively clean for nearly four weeks now. If a neighbor dropped by, I'd have to move the computer and some papers off the sofa to sit, and I might be a little embarrassed by some dirty dishes in the sink (not a tower worth), but I wouldn't feel like I had to stand in the doorway, blocking their view of the interior of the house. If I knew I was going to have company, it might take me half an hour (depending on how many dishes I needed to wash) to get the house ready. My parents are coming over this weekend, and I don't have to do anything special to prepare. It may be a case of the blind leading the blind for me to give housekeeping tips, but I think what I've done might be helpful for other creative, disorganized people. This has been a gradual process over the year, with one big push a month ago that got things into the current state.
Mostly, I've created a chores schedule. I assign the basic house maintenance tasks to days of the week. Monday is dusting, Tuesday is the bathroom, Wednesday is a flex day that I can use to catch up, get ahead or do anything else that needs doing that's not on the schedule, Thursday is floors, Friday is laundry. These aren't in-depth cleanings by any means. Dusting involves running a Swiffer duster around the house. The floors mostly means vacuuming the traffic patterns and any other areas I can easily get to and dust mopping the few hard floors. Bathroom means a spray with the scrubbing bubbles, a wipe and a rinse. I generally spend fifteen minutes tops on each of these. Then I also have each week of the month assigned to a particular room, and when it's that room's week, I'll do a more thorough job of the daily task in that room. So, say when it's bathroom week, that's when everything gets a more thorough scrub. When it's living room week, dusting will mean moving stuff around and using furniture polish, and vacuuming will mean moving small furniture or getting under big furniture, as well as vacuuming the upholstery. Plus, I try to come up with some other daily task in that room if the daily task doesn't involve that room. It comes down to maybe half an hour of housework a day, at most.
I'm still struggling with the office, which is a little overwhelming, and I still have my task jar with decluttering projects for when I'm in the mood and have time, so that's a project in progress.
I think there are two keys to the success so far. One is that I've convinced myself that perfectionism isn't necessary. Doing anything is better than doing nothing. Even if I just sort of swipe at something, it'll be cleaner than if I did nothing. The schedule isn't rigid, so if I miss a day, I can catch up the next day. If I want a day off, I can do two days worth of tasks ahead of time. I can do the bare minimum and catch up the next week. And that brings me to the other key success point: consistency. If I'm dusting and vacuuming weekly, I'm more likely to keep things off surfaces and floors, and any clutter stands out more. At the very least, if I'm doing a thorough job once a month, that gets clutter out of the way then, and not much can build up in a month. Plus, once I've done the thorough job a couple of times and the weekly quick jobs in between, even the more thorough job becomes pretty easy. I can also skip a week on a task or barely do it if I really can't get it done without things getting too bad, as long as it was in good shape before and as long as I pick it up again the next week.
One of the keys to consistency is to find your own "broken window." This refers to the broken windows theory of communities. There's a correlation between broken windows that stay that way and high crime rates. They used to believe that it was probably because if they have high crime rates, the community doesn't have the resources to waste on little things like fixing broken windows. But then they found that if they fixed the broken windows, crime rates went down, even if they didn't do anything else. Little things can make a big difference, and that one change in environment made people more sensitive to other things, and that eventually added up to a drop in crime. So, find the one little change you can maintain that triggers your need to keep everything else in order. There's one housekeeping system that uses the sink -- if you make sure your sink is empty and clean every night, your house will likely stay clean. What works for me is making my bed every day. If I don't make my bed, the extra decorative pillows and pillow shams stay on the floor, which makes it easier to drop clothes on the floor, which makes the room look sloppy, so I accept the sloppiness everywhere. Worse, since I have a featherbed, I have to undo the bed, shake out the featherbed, and remake the bed every day if I want the bed to be comfortable, and if I don't make my bed, I just have to do all that at night before I go to bed, and then I'm tired and more likely to get sloppy about stuff like putting clothes in the hamper. If the bed is totally made every day, the bedroom stays neat, and then any clutter in the rest of the house is so jarring I want to do something about it when I leave my bedroom.
The test will come when I get busy with work and lose myself in a book. Then we'll see if I can keep this going. I tend to find that I can either write or keep a clean house, but not both, but I have high hopes that this method will still work. I do like having things neat.
Mostly, I've created a chores schedule. I assign the basic house maintenance tasks to days of the week. Monday is dusting, Tuesday is the bathroom, Wednesday is a flex day that I can use to catch up, get ahead or do anything else that needs doing that's not on the schedule, Thursday is floors, Friday is laundry. These aren't in-depth cleanings by any means. Dusting involves running a Swiffer duster around the house. The floors mostly means vacuuming the traffic patterns and any other areas I can easily get to and dust mopping the few hard floors. Bathroom means a spray with the scrubbing bubbles, a wipe and a rinse. I generally spend fifteen minutes tops on each of these. Then I also have each week of the month assigned to a particular room, and when it's that room's week, I'll do a more thorough job of the daily task in that room. So, say when it's bathroom week, that's when everything gets a more thorough scrub. When it's living room week, dusting will mean moving stuff around and using furniture polish, and vacuuming will mean moving small furniture or getting under big furniture, as well as vacuuming the upholstery. Plus, I try to come up with some other daily task in that room if the daily task doesn't involve that room. It comes down to maybe half an hour of housework a day, at most.
I'm still struggling with the office, which is a little overwhelming, and I still have my task jar with decluttering projects for when I'm in the mood and have time, so that's a project in progress.
I think there are two keys to the success so far. One is that I've convinced myself that perfectionism isn't necessary. Doing anything is better than doing nothing. Even if I just sort of swipe at something, it'll be cleaner than if I did nothing. The schedule isn't rigid, so if I miss a day, I can catch up the next day. If I want a day off, I can do two days worth of tasks ahead of time. I can do the bare minimum and catch up the next week. And that brings me to the other key success point: consistency. If I'm dusting and vacuuming weekly, I'm more likely to keep things off surfaces and floors, and any clutter stands out more. At the very least, if I'm doing a thorough job once a month, that gets clutter out of the way then, and not much can build up in a month. Plus, once I've done the thorough job a couple of times and the weekly quick jobs in between, even the more thorough job becomes pretty easy. I can also skip a week on a task or barely do it if I really can't get it done without things getting too bad, as long as it was in good shape before and as long as I pick it up again the next week.
One of the keys to consistency is to find your own "broken window." This refers to the broken windows theory of communities. There's a correlation between broken windows that stay that way and high crime rates. They used to believe that it was probably because if they have high crime rates, the community doesn't have the resources to waste on little things like fixing broken windows. But then they found that if they fixed the broken windows, crime rates went down, even if they didn't do anything else. Little things can make a big difference, and that one change in environment made people more sensitive to other things, and that eventually added up to a drop in crime. So, find the one little change you can maintain that triggers your need to keep everything else in order. There's one housekeeping system that uses the sink -- if you make sure your sink is empty and clean every night, your house will likely stay clean. What works for me is making my bed every day. If I don't make my bed, the extra decorative pillows and pillow shams stay on the floor, which makes it easier to drop clothes on the floor, which makes the room look sloppy, so I accept the sloppiness everywhere. Worse, since I have a featherbed, I have to undo the bed, shake out the featherbed, and remake the bed every day if I want the bed to be comfortable, and if I don't make my bed, I just have to do all that at night before I go to bed, and then I'm tired and more likely to get sloppy about stuff like putting clothes in the hamper. If the bed is totally made every day, the bedroom stays neat, and then any clutter in the rest of the house is so jarring I want to do something about it when I leave my bedroom.
The test will come when I get busy with work and lose myself in a book. Then we'll see if I can keep this going. I tend to find that I can either write or keep a clean house, but not both, but I have high hopes that this method will still work. I do like having things neat.
May 2, 2012
Getting Feedback
So, there seems to have been some minor enthusiasm about yesterday's announcement. I guess I'll sell a few copies of that book. Stay tuned for more details as I have them.
Now, for a writing post. I'm spinning out from a reader-submitted question about finding beta readers and will talk about getting feedback. Writing is a pretty solitary endeavor (unless you're collaborating) and sometimes it's difficult to be objective about your own work. That's when it's helpful to get another set of eyes. When you start writing professionally and deal with agents and editors, you're going to get that outside input throughout the process, and it really does help improve the book. Whether or not you get outside input before you submit is up to you. Some authors have been successful going it totally alone, so that no other human being sees their work until they turn it in to an editor, but if you're not getting the results you want, getting feedback may help. That extra set of eyes helps because you know your story and your world inside and out. You know what you want to be on the page and you understand the background and motivations of everyone in the story. That makes it difficult to judge whether someone who doesn't have all that information will get what you're trying to convey. Another person can give you the kind of perspective a reader might have.
You can get feedback in a variety of ways.
There are critique groups, where a group of writers meets either in person or virtually to read and critique each others' work. Some groups may submit material in advance and then discuss it when they meet. Others read work aloud at the meeting and then discuss it.
There are critique partners. This is like a critique group, but with just one other person. The partners exchange work and provide feedback. It may not be on as set a schedule as a critique group, just sending each other material when they need feedback.
There are beta readers. I generally think of these as like critique partners, but without the reciprocal element. They're people who read and give feedback without necessarily having anything of their own that they want critiqued.
There are also public forum critique opportunities, like writing workshop sessions at conventions or writing conferences, online classes, message boards or even blogs. For instance, the Dear Author blog does First Page Saturdays, in which authors can anonymously submit the first page of a manuscript for critique by the blog readers.
And you can get feedback through some writing contests. Romance Writers of America chapters often sponsor contests where the main benefit isn't so much the prize as it is the fact that your manuscript is critiqued by knowledgable judges, including editors and agents if you make it to the final round.
Some writers submit work for critique as they go -- if the critique group meets monthly, then that month's output gets critiqued. Others may wait until the book is finished, then run it past a beta reader or critique partner before doing another round of revisions. What you look for in a feedback provider, whether critique group, critique partner or beta reader, is someone whose opinion you trust and who knows something about the genre you're writing. You don't want someone who will read your fantasy novel and then comment, "A person gets turned into a frog on page twelve. I don't think that's possible." When working with beta readers, you may have multiple readers who provide different kinds of feedback. You may have one person who's read absolutely everything in the genre and who can tell you where you stack up, one person who's the nit-picking grammar guru and one person who can spot a plot hole a mile away. While writers can make good critique partners or beta readers, a knowledgable reader may be just as good. You don't have to be at the same point on your path to publication as your feedback provider.
The thing that's important to remember about feedback is that you don't have to listen to it. You should consider it thoughtfully, but ultimately, it's your book and you get the final say (unless you're dealing with a publishing house editor). The feedback may or may not be right. It's just an opinion. If multiple people give you the same feedback, they may be on to something. I've often found that while I don't like the suggested change, the fact that a suggestion is made clues me in to the fact that something is wrong that I need to fix, and I come up with my own change. If what you're looking for is someone to tell you how awesome you are and you're going to get mad if they say anything mean about your writing, then you probably don't want serious feedback. Show it to your mom, best friend or dog, but don't waste a critique partner or beta reader's time.
How do you find critique groups or partners or beta readers? A good place to start is with a writing group. You may find a community group meeting in the library or bookstore. There are also national writing organizations that have local chapters. Many of these groups will have critique sessions or maintain a list of people looking for critique partners. If you attend writing conferences or writing-related sessions at science fiction conventions, you may meet other aspiring authors who are interested in finding a critique partner or starting a critique group. You may also find knowledgable people who might be willing to beta read for you. Another way to find critiques is through online writing forums, like Absolute Write, whose forum has a section for critiques. You can do an Internet search for writing groups, conferences or forums. You should probably get a sense of any group by attending, participating and listening before you jump in and ask people to critique your manuscript.
Now, for a writing post. I'm spinning out from a reader-submitted question about finding beta readers and will talk about getting feedback. Writing is a pretty solitary endeavor (unless you're collaborating) and sometimes it's difficult to be objective about your own work. That's when it's helpful to get another set of eyes. When you start writing professionally and deal with agents and editors, you're going to get that outside input throughout the process, and it really does help improve the book. Whether or not you get outside input before you submit is up to you. Some authors have been successful going it totally alone, so that no other human being sees their work until they turn it in to an editor, but if you're not getting the results you want, getting feedback may help. That extra set of eyes helps because you know your story and your world inside and out. You know what you want to be on the page and you understand the background and motivations of everyone in the story. That makes it difficult to judge whether someone who doesn't have all that information will get what you're trying to convey. Another person can give you the kind of perspective a reader might have.
You can get feedback in a variety of ways.
There are critique groups, where a group of writers meets either in person or virtually to read and critique each others' work. Some groups may submit material in advance and then discuss it when they meet. Others read work aloud at the meeting and then discuss it.
There are critique partners. This is like a critique group, but with just one other person. The partners exchange work and provide feedback. It may not be on as set a schedule as a critique group, just sending each other material when they need feedback.
There are beta readers. I generally think of these as like critique partners, but without the reciprocal element. They're people who read and give feedback without necessarily having anything of their own that they want critiqued.
There are also public forum critique opportunities, like writing workshop sessions at conventions or writing conferences, online classes, message boards or even blogs. For instance, the Dear Author blog does First Page Saturdays, in which authors can anonymously submit the first page of a manuscript for critique by the blog readers.
And you can get feedback through some writing contests. Romance Writers of America chapters often sponsor contests where the main benefit isn't so much the prize as it is the fact that your manuscript is critiqued by knowledgable judges, including editors and agents if you make it to the final round.
Some writers submit work for critique as they go -- if the critique group meets monthly, then that month's output gets critiqued. Others may wait until the book is finished, then run it past a beta reader or critique partner before doing another round of revisions. What you look for in a feedback provider, whether critique group, critique partner or beta reader, is someone whose opinion you trust and who knows something about the genre you're writing. You don't want someone who will read your fantasy novel and then comment, "A person gets turned into a frog on page twelve. I don't think that's possible." When working with beta readers, you may have multiple readers who provide different kinds of feedback. You may have one person who's read absolutely everything in the genre and who can tell you where you stack up, one person who's the nit-picking grammar guru and one person who can spot a plot hole a mile away. While writers can make good critique partners or beta readers, a knowledgable reader may be just as good. You don't have to be at the same point on your path to publication as your feedback provider.
The thing that's important to remember about feedback is that you don't have to listen to it. You should consider it thoughtfully, but ultimately, it's your book and you get the final say (unless you're dealing with a publishing house editor). The feedback may or may not be right. It's just an opinion. If multiple people give you the same feedback, they may be on to something. I've often found that while I don't like the suggested change, the fact that a suggestion is made clues me in to the fact that something is wrong that I need to fix, and I come up with my own change. If what you're looking for is someone to tell you how awesome you are and you're going to get mad if they say anything mean about your writing, then you probably don't want serious feedback. Show it to your mom, best friend or dog, but don't waste a critique partner or beta reader's time.
How do you find critique groups or partners or beta readers? A good place to start is with a writing group. You may find a community group meeting in the library or bookstore. There are also national writing organizations that have local chapters. Many of these groups will have critique sessions or maintain a list of people looking for critique partners. If you attend writing conferences or writing-related sessions at science fiction conventions, you may meet other aspiring authors who are interested in finding a critique partner or starting a critique group. You may also find knowledgable people who might be willing to beta read for you. Another way to find critiques is through online writing forums, like Absolute Write, whose forum has a section for critiques. You can do an Internet search for writing groups, conferences or forums. You should probably get a sense of any group by attending, participating and listening before you jump in and ask people to critique your manuscript.
