Guilie Castillo-Oriard's Blog, page 23

Who was Ad van Berchum?

Many things: father, husband, friend, DIY master, harbinger of good humor and incisive wit. The saddest, by far, is that he now Was. That he Is no more.

I don't believe in the afterlife, in a transcendental soul, in the possibility of re-encounter, of reunion. And if I'm right, then the only permanence is in the memory of the living.

I met Ad at a beach barbecue somewhere in the beginning of 2008, when he and Marjan, his wife, were here in Curaçao to test it out, to find their way around before moving here later that year. They'd be moving into a house on the same street as ours; we'd be neighbors.

Panchita, guarding the planks
for the fenceWhen they did move, I wasn't here to welcome them; I was in India, and in spite of the fact we'd only met once before, they took care of Panchita, my dog (at that point it was just the one), for a whole month and they did such a great job of it that any time they visited, even years later, just the sound of Marjan's or Ad's voice would drive Panchita into a tail-wagging frenzy.

The friendship with the person that introduced us faded, but ours stayed. Grew. Multiple dinners, drinks at our place or theirs. Thanksgiving 2010, when Maru and Gabriel and Anthony cooked up a storm. 15ths of September, and Ad's love of Mexican food.

And the fence, the unforgettable fence. Ad and Marjan spent two weekends helping me put up that fence--which I had to take down in October because we had a wall built in its stead. But I'll put it back up at the back of the property, facing the house so that the view from inside the house--the living room, the bedroom--is of Ad's fence.

It will always be Ad's fence.


Is it possible to lose someone without having regrets? The time we didn't spend together, the phone calls we didn't make, the conversations we didn't have?

"He makes me want to be a better man."

(Another) Day @ the Beach

I'm in print. Again.

January, Vol. 1
Or will be, Dec. 1st. For this week it's just the e-book. But I'm over the moon.

The Pure Slush project I've been working on since April this year is out, ladies and gentlemen. The e-book version of 2014 January and 2014 February is available (.mobi and .epub), and the POD will be available starting December 1st from Lulu (I'll add the link to the sales page when it's up).


Tip: Lulu orders placed by Dec. 3rd get free shipping (code FREESHIP) and are delivered by Christmas. I'd love to be your Christmas gift ;)



February, Vol. 2This is an awesome project, by the way. No, not because I'm a part of it. Seriously. Listen. Thirty-one authors. One story per month, always on the same day of the month. Same characters. Their lives through a whole year. 2014. Thirty twelve-chapter novellas, if you will.

(Teasers at the Pure Slush site: January, February, March.)

Then again, because each volume--one per month--is published a month apart, each story must have its own arc, its own merit. We hope everyone will buy & read all twelve volumes, of course, but what if they don't? Each story has to stand alone, even in a small way.


That, for me, has been the greatest challenge. And the steepest learning curve. It's made me (okay, it's making me) a much better novelist. Imagine if the chapters of my novels each stand alone like this. Wow, huh?

March, Vol. 3
I needed this today. NaNo this year left me more exhausted, emotionally, than either of the last two--maybe than both of them combined. I needed this. Thank you, Pure Slush, for making me a part of this. It's a pleasure to work with such competent editors, and I'm honored to be among these fantastic writers.

This. THIS. Indescribable.

The Win

Third year in a row. I did it.


And I still have a few days to sprint towards that 100K.


See those last three lines? The tall, identical ones? That's the Victory Taper :D I mean to change that today, though.

The myth of productive weekends

Lots of my NaNo buddies said last week they'd be catching up on their word counts over the weekend. Makes sense, right? More free time. Stay in pajamas, write all day--and all night! No alarm clocks to interrupt that creativity-restoring slumber from 3:00 to 9:00 am.

(You didn't know? Yep. Beauty sleep before midnight, creative refresh after 3:00. But it only counts if you go to bed at 3:00.)

But, see, I'm a stay-at-home writer. Mon-Fri, when my partner's at work, I write. Sure, I do other stuff--housework, dog entertainment and clean-up, dog rescue. At the moment, though, because we're having some construction work done, I'm a prisoner in my own house. Which sounds depressing... Unless you're doing NaNo. I have no choice but to sit and write. All day. Woot!

Weekends are a different story. Construction workers are away. The dogs are outside. My partner's home. He, unlike me, values his social life. Even without the construction thing, there'd be errands to run. With the construction thing, everything I'd normally do during the week outside the house must get done on Saturday or Sunday.

So. Catch-up weekend didn't work for me. Sure, I'm ahead of the official NaNo par, but I'm 10K below my par of 33,340 (to reach 100K by Nov. 30).


Off to write. Yep.

NaNo isn't just about winning. Is it?

We Wrimos get pep talks every day during November (and beyond). Catherynne M. Valente (who?), James Patterson (oh, I know him), Rainbow Rowell (who?). Today's is from Patrick Rothfuss, another who? for me and an author whose genre I normally read only if I'm stranded in an airport and I've already read everything else in the bookstore. 
I'm not kidding. I haven't read Games of Thrones. No plans to remedy that. The TV series is enough for me.

But Pat is wise . So much, indeed, that I might give
Why am I impressed? 'Cause he's a rule-breaker. And 'cause he proposes that NaNo isn't about winning. At least, not just about winning.

I give you one line:

"Writing good stories is why we're all here, right?"

Most of the people that bash NaNo do so because spewing out 50K words in 30 days (and nights) has disturbing similarities with projectile vomit. They're probably right. I mean, follow agents on Twitter and see them cringe thinking about the queries they'll receive come December.

For most Wrimos, the focus tends to be on achieving that 50K trophy. I've heard advice about not deleting anything--like, not even your typos? And although that vomit spewing does result in some awesome stream-of-consciousness creativity, it's refreshing to hear someone bring the attention of the 200K+ writers doing NaNo this year back into the core, the reason we do this scribbling thing: telling good stories. Whatever it takes.

Read Pat's whole pep talk here.

One chance at redemption, 2013

I've been horribly delinquent on this blog. Every single blog-related commitment I've made this year--the A-Z challenge, Write1Sub1, the Perú series, the Curaçao series, the Accountability Reports--has sputtered and died before ever roaring into life.

Actually, every writing-related commitment I've made this year (so far) has been a fiasco. I promised I'd finish editing that novel in the first quarter--no check. Then it was before summer--no check. Then it was before September--no check. Before NaNo--no check.


There was that beautiful plan I had for NaNo, that shared project I was so excited about. I took that tutorial on outlining and decided to use the method for that project. I'd spend October outlining, be ready to smash through NaNo with 100K words (at least). Double the NaNo goal. Doable because of the outline.

But the project didn't pan out, largely in part due to the fact I didn't finish the outline in time.

So the novel I'm writing is un-outlined. An idea--a scene, really--that's been haunting my imagination for a while. On Oct. 31st I opened up Scrivener, created a new novel file, came up with an awesome title (Stormy Nights Full of Grace--and if you think it's awful, please don't burst my bubble), created a character sketch template, and then scribbled patiently, waiting for the characters to introduce themselves. The barest silhouettes emerged by midnight, and so I had no choice but to embrace my pantster self and plunge in.

Thus, my only chance at redemption this year is NaNo. 30 days (and nights); 100K words. (That other project might have fallen through, but I'm not about to give up the crazy goal so quickly.)


So far so good. If you were around in previous Novembers, though, you might remember my Procrastination Danger Zone begins around the 10th. I'm hoping the weight of this year's goal (100K! 50K x 2!) will keep my ninja expertise in delaying tactics at bay.

Yes, please. Any cheering--anything in the range between a kick in the butt and a sweet Brava!--will help.

Who's up for NaNo this year?

I'm addicted. 3rd year, novel #4. Join me!

Imagiste Manifesto

To use the language of common speech, but to employ the exact word, not the nearly-exact, not the merely decorative word.We believe that the individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in conventional forms. In poetry, a new cadence means a new idea.Absolute freedom in the choice of subject.To present an image. We are not a school of painters, but we believe that poetry should render particulars exactly and not deal in vague generalities, however magnificent and sonorous. It is for this reason that we oppose the cosmic poet, who seems to us to shirk the real difficulties of his art.To produce a poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred or indefinite.Finally, most of us believe that concentration is of the very essence of poetry.
~ Ezra Pound, H.D., Richard Aldington, & F.S. Flint, circa 1912.

A manifesto protesting purple prose. From nineteen twelve. Over a century ago. Sure, this refers to poetry, but doesn't this read like modern fiction writing advice paraphrased?

To use the language of common speech
employ the exact wordavoid decorative wordsavoid vague generalities
produce [writing] that is hard and clear

Why has it taken fiction so long to catch up? And why is purple prose still around?