Jennifer M. Zeiger's Blog, page 11

Epiphany Moments Hit at Odd Times

I lay down for a brief nap in the afternoon, hoping it’ll refresh me enough to keep powering through editing. But as I lay there, breathing deeply and telling my muscles to relax, an idea starts rolling through my thoughts. It’s persistent and intriguing.

“You’re a steel dragon with marble eyes, strong claws, and long-plated wings that promise to carry you to new and exciting places. All of which would be fantastic except for one persnickety defect. You zap people unexpectedly when they touch you. And now you’ve been thrown out and are hiding beneath the dumpster…”

You see, I’ve been trying to formulate the cover text for Zap Dragon for weeks but nothing felt quite right. Then, as I lay there, this starts taking shape. Just like I wrote last week, the brain’s a crazy thing that grows stronger with use. I’ve been demanding editing and writing from mine for the last three months. A steady routine of putting words on paper and then analyzing if those words say exactly what I want them to. I’m not sure if the above will be the final cover text but it’s a start!

With the daily exercise, just like working out, my brain has finally flipped from resisting the tedium of the work to popping up with random moments of epiphany like this one.

All that to say again, persistence does pay off. If you’re struggling with whatever you’re trying to accomplish right now, keep at it. There’s hope even in the muddle!

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The developmental edit of HMII is finished! I’m about to hand it off to some Alpha readers. Now it’s time to jump into the personal edit of Zap Dragon

Sometimes the Brain Helps

My arms rhythmically move, pulling me through the water in a steady, smooth glide. In the back of my head, I’m counting, “One, two, breathe. One, two, breathe.” But at the forefront of my mind, I’m a steel dragon covered in soot and rust and hiding beneath a dumpster while three street boys search for parts to sell. They’ll tear me apart if they find me. I’m trying to decide if I should run away or attack because hiding isn’t going to be an option much longer. And then I’m following the possibilities when I do each of those.

I’ve written before about how the brain acts like a muscle, the more you work certain aspects of it, the stronger it gets. But no matter how many times I experience it, I’m always surprised when my brain starts processing something without me really planning it.

This happened while swimming the other morning. I’m in the rhythm of my workout and suddenly realize I have half an outline for the next adventure book mapped out in my head. I needed a notebook fast! And water and paper don’t go hand-in-hand. *Sigh*. Guess it’s time to start working on the memory aspect of my brain.

All that to say, the editing and writing are going well. It’s always slower than I want but it’s an amazing feeling to see each story, HMII and Zap Dragon, start to come together. And it’s even more amazing when my brain flips from resisting the process to assisting it without my prior planning!

Hopefully, that’s an encouragement to whatever you’re working on right now. Persistence does pay off.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The HMII developmental edit is 76% done! Zap Dragon is with the illustrator and I’ll jump into editing it soon

The Sidekick Strikes Again!

It was December of 2012 and I wasn’t even into my first month of blogging when I posted about my cat eating my book outline. (Yarn, Sticky Notes, and a Cat). You see, I’d tried to outline my 100K word novel across the wall by using yarn and sticky notes. After putting hours into the outline, I awoke one morning to find the yarn and chunks of paper trailing down the stairs…and a missing outline on the wall.

Over ten years later, I’m still experimenting with how to outline novels but I’ve got a pretty solid way of visualizing the adventure books. They might have a lot of endings, but they’re still only a quarter of the length of a novel.

Anyway, since I’m working on both the Zap Dragon adventure book and the Quaking Soul sequel right now, my big whiteboard is overtaken by the sequel, leaving my smaller whiteboards for Zap Dragon. Since one of my boards isn’t attached to the wall, I sat down on the floor to flesh out the outline.

As usual, the Writing Sidekick wandered over to investigate. I’d decided to use a wet-erase marker instead of dry-erase to prevent a simple brush against the board from causing any panic, so I wasn’t too worried about the Sidekick sniffing the board until he suddenly took a big lick at it.

One option for the adventure turned into a long streak of blue marker.

Eeek. Thankfully, I could shoo him away and fix the issue.

Enter lunch and a brief nap to recharge my brain. I set the board against the desk intending to finish it in the afternoon.

What do I find when I return? Half my outline is now a swirl of tongue licks instead of words. There must be catnip in the wet-erase marker! Or maybe the Sidekick was trying to help me edit? Either way, I was half tempted to check his tongue to see if it’d turned blue.

*Sigh*. The Sidekick strikes again! I have now learned to either outline on a board he can’t get to or turn the whiteboard against the wall while I’m away.

These are the antics in this writer’s life

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The illustrator has started on Zap Dragon and I’m currently back to work on the developmental edit of Hidden Mythics II. It’s about 55% complete

The Little Details

Every time I read the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan, I find myself craving a good cup of coffee. There’s just something about his descriptions of the rich aroma that calls to my taste buds.

These are the details I love in books. They help make the story real. I have a hard time writing about places I’ve never been because of this. Research may tell me that the flies in Venezuela can be huge, but without seeing them, I don’t know if they’re the size of grapes or peanuts, or if I can see the hairs on their bodies.

I might have been able to find in my research that flowers bloom year-round in South Carolina, but I love that I can say, from experience, that the camellias bloom in February with some of the most gorgeous pink and red blossoms that fill the air with their sweet, mild perfume. Or that the magnolias turn gorgeously white with flowers, and then litter the ground the rest of the year with their long, shiny leaves.

Partially washed by there are still a couple of spines on the side =)

I wouldn’t have even known to research what cucumbers look like on the vine. They have spines on them that rub off when you wash them later, but if you grab a cucumber directly off the vine, watch out, it might bite.

I think this is where the old adage, “Write what you know,” actually applies. Obviously, if I’m writing fantasy, I’ve never experienced what it’s like to fling ice magic from my fingertips, but I can say what it feels like to breathe in -20 degree air and feel the hairs in your nose freeze. Makes me think of rubber cement in my nostrils. (You’re welcome for that image )

And as I pay attention to such details with the idea of adding them to my writing, I find it just makes life itself richer when I pay closer attention to the world around me. We live in such a beautiful, detailed world.

What little details stick with you about a place or experience? The smell of coffee? Maybe chai? A sound or feeling?

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. I paused briefly on the HM II developmental edit to give my brain a breather. It’s still sitting at 38% complete. Instead, I’ve been cranking out the Zap Dragon rough draft, which I’m excited to announce is complete! Whoop! Whoop! Now back to developmental editing for a week to let my brain cool on Zap Dragon. I’ll be flipping back and forth between these two for most of this year

Be a Viking!

My sister introduced me to a book titled “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. It’s written for teens but the ideas in it work for anyone. One of the chapters talks about the little tasks that set you up to accomplish bigger things.

For instance, making your bed each morning seems mundane and unimportant. However, such small chores slowly build the discipline to accomplish more.

One of the examples they use is the Vikings. They talk about how successful and feared the Vikings were in their raiding. How they could strike and be gone before people retaliated. What we don’t often think about, however, is that, unlike other ships of their time that used slaves, the Vikings rowed their own ships. One of the most physically demanding but monotonous tasks a sailor could do, yet it set them up to be stronger and more efficient.

This has played in my mind for over a week. It not only reminds me to keep going at monotonous tasks but also captures my imagination and encourages me to be bold. To be a Viking.

All of this to say, I decided to be a Viking this last weekend at Con Nooga. Last year I wrote about doing an author reading and eventually, sometime in the future, I’d do an author panel. (Stretching My Comfort Zone)

I did my first panel this last weekend! It was terrifying, and yet, not nearly as bad as I thought it’d be. I’ve slowly built from talking to homeschooling groups and doing small book readings to now doing a panel at a comic convention.

It’s incredibly hard to step out of my comfort zone, but it’s worth it. What goal do you need to be a Viking for today?

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The new adventure for this year is now 18% written and the HMII Developmental Edit is 38% complete. We’re making progress

Peace in the Process

For as long as I can remember, my dad’s always had some sort of woodshop. When my sisters and I were young, he’d make us wooden puzzles like the one with the horseshoes connected by chain links and you have to figure out how to get the metal ring off the shoes. (Perhaps this explains my love of puzzles but that’s for a different post.)

Anyway, from a young age, the smell of sanded wood and poly stain has equaled spending time with my dad and learning new skills.

So, of course, it created in me a love of woodworking. There’s something cathartic about sanding wood with the grit covering your hands and the smell of pine in the air. And unlike writing a book where the progress can be muddy and hard to see, each step of woodworking shows progress.

Don’t get me wrong, there are oopses that happen, but just like the progress, they’re easy to see and you know fairly quickly if the piece can be salvaged.

Each step brings its own sense of accomplishment.

For me, it’s almost the exact opposite of novel writing. In writing, there’s a constant challenge to see the progress as actual forward motion toward a beautiful end. This might be a writer’s curse to constantly question if the project is ever finished. In woodworking, the steps are clear and the sense of accomplishment is easily defined. I find I gravitate toward both of these things for different reasons. The challenge in the writing and the clearly defined steps in the woodworking. They complement each other.

For me, that balance is essential. If I focus only on writing, especially as I’m editing like I am right now, I bog down in the mud of the middle. But if I pair it with a different project such as woodworking, I find both an outlet for my overworked brain and a reminder of the sense of accomplishment I’ll find at the end of editing. One activity lends perspective to the other, which gives me a sense of peace in the process that otherwise wouldn’t be there.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. Pictures are from a recent project my dad and I put together from leftover wood. It’s a live edge shelf! As for the developmental editing of HMII, I’m about 35% done

Shooting for the Moon

I’ve never been one to coast and hope things happen. That’s why I set goals at the beginning of each year as a way to keep myself moving and motivated.

This year is no different, but there’s a part of me that wants to set simple, easily achievable goals this go around. Perhaps I’m a little gun-shy, flinching away because I’ve experienced the unpleasant kick of setting a goal and not achieving it in the way I’d hoped. Such an easy year would perhaps be an ego boost. “Yay, I did all I set out to do!”

Yet I know that at the end of December I’d look back and chastise myself for not aiming high enough. For not challenging myself. This battle has been raging in my head for all of January.

As the end of the month looms near, it’s time to call a halt to the battle and draw some lines. Although I’m skittish now, I’m unwilling to aim low. Maybe that’s a bad thing, but I’m leaning on the Norman Vincent Peale quote that says, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Even if I don’t accomplish everything I set out to do in January, I’ll accomplish something. And I’m happy with that.

As usual, I’m using the SMART method for goals. All that stands for is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. It might not work for everyone, but so far it’s worked for me in that I can see my target and I know whether or not I hit it.

So, for this year here are the two big goals in the writing arena:

Write and publish a new adventure book by August or September.Publish Hidden Mythics book II, the Quaking Soul sequel, by December. This might be achievable because I have the draft written. Now I just need to tame the beast you see in the picture above. As you can see from all those little sticky notes, I’m already working on the developmental edit.

In keeping with the realist portion of the SMART acronym, I’m not going to put adventure blogs into the mix. I really want to write and post them but I’m already stretching at the above two goals. I will, however, probably post my ALT posts (All the Little Things that inspire me) to keep in touch with all of you amazing people.

Thanks for sticking with me in this writing journey! The journey is way more fun with company.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. What things do you hope to accomplish this year? Have you set any goals?

Done Right or Done Now, But Not Both

A while back my sister introduced me to an artist by the name of Jake Weidmann. I believe I’ve mentioned him before due to his TedTalks. Anyway, he’s both a master penman—one of only eleven in the US—and a painter and carver who uses old-world techniques for much of his art.

The work he does is beautiful. He carved roses so thin you can almost see through the petals. He drew a ship on a sea of waves using calligraphy words from the hymn “It is Well with My Soul.” He painted the above image of two hummingbirds as a tribute to marriage using vintage calligraphic off-hand flourishing. The thing is, these works take time. In our day and age of instant gratification, they take an ungodly amount of time.

And the pressures of society expecting him to produce more work could push him to compromise on the technique and quality of his art. Yet he doesn’t. He would much rather create something of quality than simply crank out quantity.

I am taking this to heart this year and finding it remarkably hard. There is a pressure, a drive, to always have a new book on my table at every convention, especially ones I’m returning to from the previous year.

And I also believe there is a kind of unwritten social contract between a writer and her readership in regard to a series. It’s not only unkind to produce the first book in a series and never come out with another, it breaks faith with those who have been kind enough to believe in you.

But storytelling is also an art form and I’m fully coming to realize that, if a piece of art requires more time to be done right, it’s a disservice to both the writer and readership to rush it.

This entire year has been a lesson for me in figuring out that balance between keeping the social contract and not compromising on the quality of the product produced. I would love to say I can write a novel in three months and have it published in a year. Perhaps it’s my pride that chafes behind the truth that, so far, I cannot.

What I have found is I can write it in a year…and perhaps have it published in two.

Another part of my pride would love to say I can outline the entire book and so have a cleaner manuscript at the end of the rough draft.

Again, I’ve not found this to be true. The only reason outlines work for the adventure books is because they’re short and, when I do deviate from the outlines, it’s easy to adjust. With a novel, those deviations become so large that the outline becomes useless about a quarter of the way into the story.

I’m a Gardener novel writer. There, I’ve said it. (Also known as a pantster…a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer.)

What that means is there’s a significant amount of editing required to clean up the manuscript. It’s disheartening to think about, and yet, there’s something incredibly special about seeing the gem in the story emerge with each pass of the editing pen.

This is, of sorts, a review of my year. I posted early on that I wanted to write and produce an adventure book and also write the sequel to Quaking Soul. At the time, I hoped I could accomplish both rough drafts by March. I succeeded on the Adventure book—Mystery of the Golden Shells—and it came out in August. On the Quaking Soul sequel, I grossly miscalculated both the word count and time required. (I gave myself 100K words and three months.)

I finished the sequel yesterday and it’s 165K words. It’s a mountain with loose bits running everywhere. I get to look forward to uncovering the gem in all that chaos next year.

However, I can say IT’S FINISHED! I have a rough draft. And that’s not a bad way to end the year. Humbling, but definitely not bad.

And I’ll take the humbling in hopes of creating a piece of artwork that’s worth the wait. I’m still learning, always will be, but I hope to improve with each story. And I appreciate the encouragement and patience of my readers. I promise I will produce a story if I say I will and it’ll be as good as I can make it. I also promise it’ll take as long as it takes, within reason, to do it right.

Thank you for sticking with me on this writing journey. I am continually blessed by those who encourage and support me.

Happy New Years and see you in 2023!

Blessings,

Jennifer

Heartache and Compassion

I’m sorry for the crickets this last month. In my last post, Moving Forward, I was quite ambitious about keeping the ball rolling on the writing process, but sometimes life has other plans and if you don’t roll with the punches, you get snowballed under and can’t breathe.

Sometimes a friend calls and asks for help driving home across the country from visiting her parents with her three kids. I’m not sure how she kept her sanity driving to see her parents in the first place, but this is a lifelong friend of mine and she’s near and dear to my heart. I couldn’t pass up a week with her when it’s been several years since seeing each other because, well, you can probably guess.

Sometimes traveling turns into illness and when you get home, you spend a week on the couch just trying to breathe through a nose that’s threatening to run off your face and trying not to cough while you search for the box of tissues.

Sometimes you notice a pet’s sides are heaving in and out and she’s no longer purring, so you take her in to see the vet. But this is a feisty, ten-pound beast and to actually get a physical of her, or x-rays, they have to put her under anesthesia. And sometimes, when a small feline’s already fighting to breathe because of tumors pressing against her trachea and fluid building in her lungs, she simply stops breathing and there’s a howling hole left in your heart by the unexpected passing of a beloved pet.

And sometimes you have the opportunity to go on one of your husband’s business trips and see old friends, which gives you the distance you desperately need to process the new, aching sense of fragility in your world. So you go, and you let the normal world rest for awhile so that when you come back and pick up the ashes of your loss, you can sprinkle them around the roses in your garden and not feel like you’re going to lose it every time you hear the fantom click of your cat’s claws on the hardwood floor.

By then you can appreciate the vet who covered your expenses and the cremation services who gave you a paw print pressed into a ceramic heart. You can enjoy in a bittersweet way the blooming roses and the birds your pet loved to chatter at from the back porch. You’ve been reminded to cherish every small blessing while it lasts and acknowledge that life rolls on.

This has been my last month in a nut shell. You wouldn’t think the loss of a pet would hit so hard, but it does. I’ve worked some, but needless to say, it’s not been what I planned.

For now, I’m going to focus on finishing Hidden Mythics II, because that’s growing long in the tooth and has been giving me trouble, and I’m going to snuggle with the Writing Sidekick and be more intentional about enjoying each moment with friends and family.

I will try to post updates occasionally but am not committing to the ambitious schedule I hoped for last month. Thank you for understanding the ups and downs as I continue this writing journey. I am continually blessed by every one of you.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. Just to be clear, the cat who passed is not the Writing Sidekick but his housemate. I’ve referred to her in the past as the Supervisor because that was her personality.

 

Moving Forward

Mystery of the Golden Shells was published yesterday! It’s been a whirlwind of a process and I’ve learned over the last few years that planning a book launch is one of my weaker points in the book production process. Despite that, I’ve been blown away and blessed by the response to Golden Shells.

So thank you to everyone who preordered and shared with friends and family about the book! You’re all amazing.

In case you missed any of the background posts, you can check them out below:

The Rug and the Scribe – (Background story #1)The Dresser and the Color – (Background story #2)The Shellfish and the Cook – (Background story #3)The Performer and the Faux Pas – (Background story #4)The Storyteller and the Help – (Background story #5)The Queen and the Poison – (Background story #6)

And here are a few posts that are also fun from the Golden Shells process:

Editors are awesome: Never Enough ThanksInspiration: Sometimes It Gets Edited OutBook Excerpt: Sneak Peek into Mystery of the Golden Shells

Now, moving forward, I’m hoping to return to my ALT posts (All the Little Things). These include anything I find inspiring or interesting that may inform my writing process. Here are a few of my favorites that have posted from the past:

The Grandfather Clock Tidal Rivers, Who Knew!?

Also, I’m hoping to finish the rough draft for Hidden Mythics II. This is the sequel to Quaking Soul. It’s about 25K words away from the finish line and will hopefully cross it this month.

And lastly, I really hope to post an adventure here on the blog soon. It’s penciled in alongside finishing Quaking Soul. It’s been faaaaar too long since we’ve seen an adventure here, so we’ll see what happens.

Thanks for joining me in this writing journey!

Blessings,

Jennifer