Elisabeth Barrett's Blog, page 12

Resolutions

I got together with some writer friends yesterday. It was our first meeting of the new year, and Marina Adair had the great idea to have everyone state their writing goals for 2012. Now, I'm not typically one for making New Year's resolutions. I'm the kind of person who doesn't need an event or a reason to make a change or to set a goal. (Have to lose 10 pounds? Why wait? Let's start now!) Needless to say, I'm pretty self-motivated, but there's actually something wonderful about setting goals within a group of like-minded people.  I've found that hearing what others believe they can achieve helps me to push myself a little more. Plus, I'd actually given my writing goals some thought, so I wasn't taken by surprise.

My primary goal is to finish up the Star Harbor series. This means finalizing edits of DEEP AUTUMN HEAT, turning in BLAZE OF WINTER to my editor (already done!) and completing books 3 and 4 in the series. I'm also gunning to begin my next series, and have made it a personal goal to complete at least one additional book unrelated to Star Harbor this year.

Three full books, plus loads of editing on two (maybe more) others? To some this may sound like cakewalk, but with my busy schedule, I think it'll be tight, but doable.  

What about you? What are your goals (writing or otherwise) for 2012?

Breath and Blessings

Whew! I made it!

For a while there, I wasn't sure I was going to. December just completely exploded on me and if I'd had the time to read my last post admist all the craziness, I could have seen it coming.

It all started when I got back from two weeks of travel on November 30th. With no time to catch up I was hurled kicking and screaming into this month. Now, usually, it takes about a week to recover from serious travel, especially with time zone switching, three kids, a gajillion loads of laundry and just general upheaval. But in my case, I had no such luxury. Immediately, I was launched into the holiday season admist mountains of work, writing and personal obligations. We're talking baking dozens of cookies for teachers and friends, hosting multiple holiday gatherings, attending multiple holiday gatherings, sending out holiday cards, and of course, working and writing up the wazoo. I turned in both book proposals and even created my own chocolate crinkle cookie recipe.

So I'm going to pause to catch my breath before my crazy January begins, and count my blessings for 2011. I'm most thankful for my happy, healthy family.  Everything else is gravy, right?

Happy New Year. May your 2012 be filled with joy, peace and love.

Black Holes, Prioritzing, and Why NaNoWriMo was an Utter Fail

Well, November didn't go exactly as planned.  It wasn't so much that I got off track so much as I was derailed. But it wasn't outside forces that derailed me.  No, it was pretty much my own hubris that did me in. I thought – in hindsight, rather stupidly – that I could do much more than I actually got accomplished.  Isn't that always the way?

To start, I was gone for two solid weeks.  Sure, I had my computer, and sure, I had internet access, but traveling cross-country takes so much out of me, especially because I was traveling with my three kids.  At night, all I wanted to do was to lie in bed, stare at the ceiling and decompress.  I'm calling it my two-week black writing hole.  Plus, my brother got married – a lovely occasion, to be sure – but there I was, traveling again (cross-country again).  While my solo time on the plane got used to advantage, I was in the wedding and had no downtime the rest of the weekend. 

I used to travel – quite a bit, actually. But somehow, when you haven't done it in a while and when you're trying to do it with three small kids and when everything's just a tiny smidge off, the writing gets pushed off, too.

Which brings me to my next topic – prioritization. Boy, did I bite off more than I could chew.  I thought I had everything lined up writing-wise – plotting my next manuscript, preparing my next two proposals for my editor, and setting aside time to pound out at least 40K words during National Novel Writing Month.  

Screeee - say what?  "Setting aside time?"  That was the problem, right there.  I was trying to set aside time I didn't have, and I hadn't really thought about that.  "Oh, I'll figure it out," I thought, quite blithely.  But there's the rub.  You can't just figure it out.  You have to plan it out.  And I didn't, so when I got to the middle of the month and a fresh round of line edits on DEEP AUTUMN HEAT came through the pipeline and I'd only written 7K words on my latest project and I realized that my proposals were due in December, and I was about to take off on a two-week trip to New York, my head nearly exploded. 

It took Mr. Barrett, that wonderful man, to bring me back from the brink.  "You're not going to get done what you want," he said, "so step back and figure out how to get done what you need."

Well, of course!  So obvious, right?  So I scrapped my grand plans for a new completed manuscript by the end of the year and focused on what absolutely needed to get done.  And things are going better.  I finished my latest round of line edits and sent them back to my editor, those proposals are coming along swimmingly, and once they're in I will take up the mantle of my new project.  It won't get done by the end of the year, but it'll be done by February (Lord willing).  And next time I have grand plans, I'll make sure to plan everything out in advance.

My First Author Interview at USA Today

In what hopefully will be the first of many author interviews, today I'm appearing on USA Today's Happy Ever After Blog.  USA Today!  I'm kind of a bit in shock about it, but it's Loveswept week, and since I'm now a part of Loveswept (squeee!), I got interviewed by the talented and very, very busy Joyce Lamb.

And yesterday, I got to meet one of my awesome editors at the Random House offices in NYC.  I can't express how excited I was to meet her in person.  Can this week get any more author-intense?  Yes!  Because I have line edits on my manuscript to plow through!

At any rate, I'd be thrilled if you stopped by, checked out my interview, and left a comment.  Thanks, and I can't wait to see you on USA Today's HEA!

Campaign Wrap-Up, Winning and Musing

Rachael Harrie's Write Campaign wrapped up on October 31st, and I have to say, I did get a lot out of it.  Not only did I meet some really interesting people – all writers and all serious about attempting to build their platforms, but I have more of an idea of what kind of tone I want to use on my own blog!  I was going to consider the whole thing a huge success – I met people, I learned a lot, I participated in two out of the three challenges (would have done all three, but the second challenge came just as I had my deadline for the second book in my Star Harbor series, so I was unable to participate) – and count the Write Campaign over.   

But then, something happened.  I was informed by Ms. Harrie herself that I had placed third in the final Write Campaign challenge and had actually won some prizes.  Well, color me shocked!   I'm very proud of this, especially since there were well over 100 entries.

You can read my winning entry, entitled, "The Job," here.

My little brother, who got married this past weekend, pronounced the entry "professional."  I laughed and told him I'd written it in five minutes.  That's flash fiction for you.

At any rate, I enjoyed the Write Campaign tremendously, and hope to be able to do it again in the future.

The Four Days of Halloween

So in the Barrett house, we've been Halloween-crazy since last Friday, and only today are we getting to the main event!  It's just amazing how much the holiday has expanded.  Trick or treating at the kids' school on Friday, a pot-luck Halloween party on Saturday, "Boo at the Zoo" trick or treating on Sunday, and just today – actual Halloween with another party and trick or treating for real.   My two little SWAT team members will be headed out early with their dad while I stay home with the baby (she's in the "graham crackers are cookies" phase, and I don't want to mess with that).   Is it too much?  Some might say so.  This is our first year of really doing the holiday (our oldest is only four), so I'm inclined to go with it.  For now.

I envy those friends who are able to work (i.e. write) over the weekend.  I'm knee-deep in bicycle rides and park trips and peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and errands and keeping three little creatures entertained for 14 hours a day.  I channeled Martha Stewart and carved an enormous jack-o-lantern, and the boys were absolutely thrilled.  Daddy took them through the spooky "haunted" woods at the SF Zoo, held ERB's hand and carried Big Red when he was scared. 

But, no writing. 

Not even a little brainstorming.  By the time 8:30pm rolled around each evening, I was brain-dead (not the zombie kind, the tired Mommy kind), so I just kind of puttered around the house and cleaned up and organized things for the next day – you know, the stuff that requires no brainpower at all.  Just some simple locomotion.

With NaNoWriMo coming up, and a new book to write and finish (before the end of the year – I swear!), I was going a little crazy.  But it's worth it.  Of course it is, to see my kids so happy and awestruck and amazed. 

The plotting can wait.

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The Job – Third Write Campaign Challenge

Where do I find the time?  Honestly, I don't know, but I really wanted to do the third Write Campaign challenge because I missed the second one (see my entry for the first campaign challenge here).  The instructions this time were as follows:

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

that it's morning, 
that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
that the MC (main character) is bored
that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

 I chose to do a piece of flash fiction (had so much fun with the first one, thought I'd try again!), and to use the made-up words.  My piece is exactly 300 words, and I'm pretty sure I invoked (if not stated outright) all five senses.  Enjoy!

The Job

"Wastopaneer," a mechanical monotone sounded.

Ignoring the gibberish, Rick continued to peer through his binoculars.  In the distance, a large yacht bobbed up and down.  If he squinted, he could just make out the sheen of oil covering the bikini-clad woman as she lounged on the ship's prow.  His mouth grew dry as he contemplated her glowing, sun-kissed skin.  What he wouldn't give to act instead of watch.  But that wasn't what he was being paid to do.  Too bad.  She looked like she'd be a hell of a lot more fun up close. 

Pulling a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket, he popped them into his mouth and began to chew mindlessly.  He'd been here for hours.  If he had to watch some socialite tan herself all morning, it was a good thing he was getting handsomely paid.  He spat some salty shells on the sand.

 "Synbatec," the electric voice intoned.  "Tacise."

"Quiet, you," Rick said softly, keeping his gaze on the water.  When he'd find the time to repair the voicebox on the damn droid, he had no idea.  Still, the droid had its uses.  Like last night outside that dive bar.  RX74 had gotten him out of enough scrapes to have been worth the cash he'd paid. 

Just then, a fetid stench hit his nostrils –eau du skunk combined with New York City in summertime.  There was only one thing in the universe that smelled like that – a zerkon demon – and he knew exactly which slimeball would be tailing him.

"Zerpes," Rick said, not even bothering to turn his head, "take a hike.  The job's mine."

"Negative, Richard," the demon said, softly slithering up beside him on his five legs.  The smell of rotting eggs was overpowering.  "I, too, have been paid to watch the woman."

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Writers Write and Other Inspiration

The world lost a great visionary last week.  I'm talking about Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple.  One thing I've taken away from his life was that he was up, he was down, but he never lost sight of what was truly important to him – following his dreams.  It sounds trite, but they're words to live by. 

I had the chance to read his 2005 Stanford commencement speech.  Two passages really resonated with me.  The first one was this one:

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

And the second passage is this:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Even before Mr. Jobs died, I was thinking about this and how it pertained to my own life.  This was the very thing I had struggled with and am still struggling with.  Following dreams versus sticking to the straight and narrow.  It's cold comfort that others are struggling with this, too.

Earlier in the week, I had met up with an old friend – a friend I hadn't seen in five years.  She's a professional editor – a very well-educated, well-spoken professional editor who is now teaching journalism at the university level and trying to figure out what she's going to do for the rest of her life.  She mentioned that she wanted to get back to her novel, which she'd shelved for a long time.

I then proceeded to launch into an (unasked for) pep talk about why she should finish it.

"Writers write," I said, "and you are a writer."

I think I was saying this to myself as much as I was to her.  Writers write.  Follow your dreams.  Don't listen to what other people say.  Listen to that inner voice telling you what you need to do.  What you want to do.  It's right.  It's always right.  You love it.  You can't not do it.  Take a day job if you need to make ends meet, but focus on the ultimate goal:  the writing.  Writers write, and you are a writer.

I hope she listens, if not to me, then to herself.  Because I know her heart is telling her the same thing mine did:  write and don't look back.

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Outsourcing or In-house?

I'm sure a lot of parents struggle with the question of whether to teach their kids at home or outsource their training.  I'm not talking about home-schooling (which is a whole different ball of wax).  I'm talking about music lessons, sports skills, baking classes, etc.   With three kids under five, I've been coming up against this issue a lot lately.  I know a ton of parents, for whatever reason (and I can think of a million – personality conflicts, time issues, learning differences, to name just a few) outsource most of the extracurricular stuff to experts.  But so far, we haven't.   At some point, we're going to have to.  Like when my kid asks for fencing lessons (ahem).  But up until now, everything they've requested have been things we'd consider ourselves relative experts in. 

For example, one of my sons recently told me he wanted to learn how to play the banjo.  To my credit, I didn't laugh (not trying to offend any banjo players out there, but what 4-year old asks to learn how to play the banjo?), but kept a straight face and said, "okay, but you have to learn how to read music first.  On a piano."  He agreed.  Before I foisted him off on some hapless piano teacher, I told him he had to learn with me first.  This was partly to gauge his interest, and partly to see if I could actually do it.  I need to disclose that I play three instruments and had enough credits to minor in music theory in college, so I figured I had the knowledge part covered.  But did I have the teaching skills?   Yeah, I did.  But he wasn't ready.  After a few lessons at home, he lost interest.  I figure I'll try again in a few months.

Other times, the request for classes or training isn't really that.  I'm sure if some of you have been reading this blog, you'd know that not only do I love to bake, but I'm quite proficient.  Well, last week, my oldest son asked me if he could take a baking class.  Here's how the conversation went.

Him:  "I want to take a cooking class."

Me:  "Okay.  What do you want to learn how to cook?"

Him:  "I want to make a cake."

Me:  "That's a baking class."

Him:  "Yes, a baking class.  I want to learn how to bake."

Me:  "Well, you already know how to bake.  We've made [insert any number of things we've baked together].  We can make pumpkin muffins this weekend, if  you want." 

Him (insistently):  "No.  I want to go to a class."

Me (puzzled):  "But we can do it at home."

Him:  "I don't want to do it at home."

Me:  "But why?  We're good at baking together."

Him (bluntly):  "I want to be away from [younger brother].  I don't like it when he interrupts us." 

Me:  "Aha.  Okay, we can bake while [younger brother] is napping.  Would that be good?"

Him:  "Yes."

So here, the request for lessons wasn't really that at all.  It was a request for one-on-one attention, which I happily gave to him. 

We did enroll our oldest in swim classes.  He half-heartedly kicked around the pool.  After a month of no progress, my husband took him out himself to our clubhouse's pool where he got more accomplished in an afternoon than in a month of lessons.  Not that my husband is a swimming pro, but he's patient and he gently pushed our kid when the official swim teacher wouldn't.

I'd be curious to know at what age/skill level/time-frame you have started to outsource your kids' activities.  For what activities do you outsource?  And for what activities do you keep it in-house?

Writer versus Author

Writer (noun) – A person who writes books, articles, etc., especially as an occupation.

Author (noun) – One who practices writing as a profession. 

When people ask me what I do, I tell them about my day job.  And then, usually after a pause, I say, "but I'm also a writer."  I don't tell them I'm an author.  Not yet, though I have written it down a few times (like on my Twitter and Facebook profiles).

Which got me to thinking:  What makes a writer a writer?  And what makes an author an author?  And most importantly, when can a writer consider herself an author?

Is it the money?  Well, I did jut get my first check for signing the contract for the first two books in my Star Harbor series.  My first check!  For writing!  But I don't think it has anything to do with money.  I'd written articles for scholarly journals (for free!) which had been published, and I considered myself the author of those pieces, but not an author and definitely not a writer.  Never a writer, despite the fact that in essence, I wrote professionally for a decade.  

Yet, when I penned my first novel, even though I didn't have an agent or a book deal and the tantalizing thought of being paid for the work hadn't even crossed my mind, I immediately began thinking of myself as a writer.  It was my secret thing.  I'd steal hours out of the day and night and I simply wrote.  I still think of it like that, and the one thing I tell myself every day is, "writers write."

Do you have to be published to be an author?  I'm not convinced that you do.  I'm sure there are many folks who work at their writing professionally and who consider themselves to be authors because they are pursuing writing as an occupation, but who for some reason or another haven't had their works published.  Conversely, there are lots of people out there who author published works (like me in my former life) who don't consider themselves to be authors at all.   

Or is it as simple as a declaration?  "I am an author!"

Needless to say, I'm still working through all of this.  I know I'm a writer, but I'm still not convinced I'll consider myself an author until my first book comes out next July.

What do you think?   What makes a writer an author?