Hiatus

Okay, I finally have to admit defeat, at least for a little while. My new college career is turning out to take up more of my time than I'd anticipated. I'd hoped to be able to go to school, write, and blog, but it turns out there just aren't enough hours in the day for all three. Unfortunately (because I'm going to miss you all terribly!), blogging is going to be the one to go.

I'll check in whenever I can, on breaks and such, but until then...

Keep writing, friends!

Spring Break

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net


I'll be taking a couple of weeks off while my kids are on spring break and I take my midterm exams (yes, both those things are happening at the same time - very bad timing!)

I hope you all have a great couple of weeks and happy almost-spring!

My Reading List

I've been in school for almost half a semester now (I can't believe I've got my microbiology lab midterm next week - just about the halfway point!) and I'm loving it, really I am. But there is soooo much reading. Which really isn't so bad because for the most part it's pretty interesting stuff (especially anatomy & physiology.) The problem is, all this textbook reading doesn't leave nearly enough time for what I really want to be reading...

I just finished The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (I loved it but not quite as much as The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.)

I'm reading The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey right now. I saw this book mentioned on another writer's blog last week and it sounded so interesting I had to give it a try. I didn't realize when I reserved it at the library that it was written in 1949. I very rarely read older books, but it's definitely caught my interest right from the start.

Next up: Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (just because I love his writing) and Starters by Lissa Price (which was recommended to me by a dear friend - hi, Sharon!)

How about you? What are you reading now? Do you find yourself getting frustrated by not having enough time to read, or do you make reading a top priority? And do you like to read older books?

Snow Day!

Setting Descriptions

Last week I talked about an author whose character descriptions I admire. Today I'm going to continue the theme by spotlighting an author whose setting descriptions just blow me away. As a reader, I'm not really big on reading setting descriptions, but Holly Black does such an amazing job putting me right in the scene that her descriptions are a joy to read. Both these excerpts are from Chapter 1 of Tithe:

The air was heavy and stank of drying mussels and the crust of salt on the jetties. Waves tossed themselves against the shore, dragging grit and sand between their nails as they were slowly pulled back out to sea.

A few lines later:

She loved the serene brutality of the ocean, loved the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air.

I can see the waves, feel the heavy air, smell the drying mussels, taste the briny air, and feel the grit and sand. All in three sentences that are poetic and effortless, not dragged down with the effort of trying to convey too much.

Do you have an author whose setting descriptions you particularly admire?

Character Descriptions

One of my favorite ways of improving my writing is to study authors who are particularly good at what they do. One thing that struck me when I read Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane was his character descriptions. They're unusual and remarkably vivid. They don't just describe what the character looks like, but usually give a glimpse of his or her personality as well.

Here's an excerpt from Lehane's Moonlight Mile to show you what I mean:

He was a small guy, wiry and bearded. His baseball cap, cotton hoodie, and battered jeans were streaked with grime. The ripe odor coming off him told me it had been a while since he'd bathed. He didn't have nut-bag eyes, though; there was no meanness in him, no crackhead edge.

Can't you just see this guy (and smell him)? I may not know his exact eye color or hair color, but what I do know about him tells me far more. I already feel like I'm getting to know him in just four sentences.

Do you have a favorite author for character descriptions? Have you read any of Lehane's books, maybe Mystic River or Gone Baby Gone?

Query Time

Happy Friday!

Well, I survived two weeks of school (barely, but I'm still here!) The homework is overwhelming, but it's fascinating stuff, so that helps a lot. My first bachelors degree was in electrical engineering. I'm really not sure how I managed that one because I have no interest in it at all. But my classes now (Anatomy & Physiology and Microbiology) are geared towards nursing students and are all about the human body, so it's like learning about myself. Pretty cool! And the labs I was so nervous about have actually been fun so far. So all in all, a very busy but good two weeks.

In writing news, I think my query is about ready to go. I spent a lot of time with Elana Johnson's From the Query to the Call, had several critique partners review my draft, and I'm still spit shining, but I think it's close. I've also been lurking on Query Shark and learning quite a bit from reading the archives. I'm considering the idea of submitting my query for critique, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough. Has anyone out there ever had a query critiqued on Query Shark? Do you have any other sites or resources for getting your query critiqued? And what references do you like to use when writing a query?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hello Again

Hi Everyone!

It's so good to be back!

My kids were off school Monday, so I actually forgot to post on Tuesday. Duh. But that's okay, because I've decided to switch my blogging day to Fridays to work better with my school schedule. And yes, I finally started school this week! I feel like I've been waiting forever to get started on this. I only have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I've only been one day so far because of the holiday, but I think I'm really going to enjoy it! Except for all the homework - wow! I don't remember there being so much when I did this college thing twenty-some years ago. I've probably just blocked it out, though. :)

As far as my writing, The Legend of Payne Manor is out to critique partners for what I hope will be the final round of critiques before it's ready to query - yay! Now I'm fine tuning the query, which I thought was done, but of course when I went back to fine tune I changed most everything and now it's a big mess again. Oh well, hopefully each revision makes it stronger.

I can't wait to get out there and catch up with all your blogs today. So what have I missed? What's new with you? And how is your writing coming?

Holiday Traditions

My favorite holiday tradition is the advent chain I make for my kids. I cut twenty-four pieces of construction paper, write a holiday activity on each one, and then staple them together into a chain. Each morning the kids take turns tearing off a piece of the chain and that's our activity for the day.

Weekdays are pretty busy around here, so I keep the activities short: do a treasure hunt, read the nativity story together, or put candy canes on the Christmas tree. Weekends we can do more time-consuming activities like making Christmas cookies or having a family game day. We've been doing this since my kids were little. I figured they'd get tired of it eventually, but now they're teenagers and they're still excited to pull off the chain every morning.

What traditions do you share with your family during the holiday season - whichever holiday you celebrate?

I'm going to take the rest of the year off blogging to spend time with my kids over their break from school, so happy holidays to you all! See you in January!

An Outline is Born

Over the past few weeks, I've been outlining my new idea and shaping it into a story.

I started by identifying the different layers and subplots and then making an outline of each one on my computer. When I was happy with the outlines, I printed them out, cut them into pieces, and arranged each event in chronological order.

Then, when I had them arranged how I wanted them, I made a color-coded chart. I use a different color for each plotline so I can trace each plot and make sure I have a good mix of the different storylines. I just finished this last night and I'm glad to have it done - it was a lot of work getting to this point! This is just a starting point and it will evolve from here, but at least I've got a basic game plan.

Whew! So that's how I develop my outline. How about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser? If you're a plotter, does your outline or your method look anything like mine? And what have you been working on this past week?

Baby Faces Blogfest

Trisha at WORD + STUFF is hosting the Baby Faces blogfest today, where we're supposed to post a picture of ourself as a baby. This was taken right after I started being able to sit up on my own. My mom said I was really proud of myself, hence the big smile.

Someone gave me this picture a few years ago. My sister and I were trying to figure out who it was (our mother was able to identify it, though I was already pretty sure it was me), and my sister at first thought it was my aunt but then said this baby was too "funny looking" to be my aunt. I was highly offended! I think I'm pretty adorable, actually. :)

Do you keep any baby pictures of yourself? Being the youngest of five kids, I'm always pretty excited when I find one of me (especially one where my older siblings aren't making me scream or cry!)

Don't forget to stop by Trisha's for the list of other participants!

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook

I hope you all had a great week last week! We had a very nice (and delicious!) Thanksgiving with two of my sisters and their families. Now the last of the pumpkin pie is gone and it's time to get back to work. :)

As I mentioned before, I sent my latest manuscript out to critique partners recently. While I'm waiting to hear back, of course I'm starting the next book. A couple of weeks ago, when I started this project, I had just a glimmer of an idea. It's a mystery, so at that point I knew the murderer's identity and motive, and that was about it. Then I went to one of my all-time favorite books, the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass. I spent the past couple of weeks working through the exercises and ended today with writing the skeleton of my outline using the step-by-step guide in Appendix A.

I'm a compulsive planner, and I still have plenty of prep work left to do before I start the actual writing. But by working through this book, my glimmer of an idea has grown into a full-fledged story with layers and subplots and complications and steadily rising stakes. I've discovered new suspects and symbols and even my theme. I'm sure much of this will change as I continue to play with the storyline, but it's a great start with plenty of substance and details and original ideas I'm sure I wouldn't have thought of had the exercises in the book not forced me to dig deeper than my initial, easy surface ideas.

So, are you starting a new project soon? Or do you have an old project that needs new life? Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook has two thumbs up from me! Have you read it? If so, what did you think?

Happy Thanksgiving

Image courtesy of Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

 

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

And thanks to everyone for your good wishes on my new adventure in studying nursing! I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful holiday week, and for those who don't - I hope you have a just plain wonderful week. :)

 

I'm going to be celebrating with family and eating lots of turkey and pumpkin pie - see you next week!





 





Change is in the Air

First of all, I apologize for my unexplained absence. I was trying to get my latest manuscript out to beta readers, and I finally did late last week - hooray! While I'm waiting to hear back, I decided to give my blog a new look that better represents the kind of writing I do - mysteries with a touch of creepy.

You may have noticed another change if you read my "About Me" section - I'm starting nursing school! I've been accepted to an Accelerated BSN program which means I can get my BSN in one year since I already have a BS in engineering. I'll need a year of prerequisites (mostly biology) before I can start the program, though, so it will actually be two years. I start my prerequisites in January 2013 and, if all goes according to plan, I'll start the BSN in January 2014. I'm still debating whether I'll do that BSN option or get an Associates nursing degree at a school much closer to home, but either way I'll need the year of prerequisites.

So, that may mean more unexplained absences in the future. Since I started my blog I've been a stay-at-home mom and writer, which allowed me a lot of free time. I'm sure going to school will put a serious cramp in that, but I'll do my best to keep a regular blogging schedule, though there will undoubtedly be times when I fall behind. I hope you'll all understand!

So, big changes happening here. Any changes in your life lately?

Sensory Details

I'm still working on the revision suggestions I learned in Darcy Pattison's Revision Retreat Weekend last month. I've spent the past several days making sure my manuscript has plenty of sensory details to bring the story to life. My goal is to engage at least three senses in every chapter. I've been going through my manuscript chapter by chapter and recording which senses I've included on the spreadsheet that I talked about in my previous post (another great use for spreadsheet plotting!)

I've learned a lot by doing this. I was pleasantly surprised by how many sensory details I've already included. However, these details were mostly visual and auditory. I really need to pay more attention to taste, smell, and feel. By including three senses in each chapter, I've had to stretch out of my norm and look for these extra details I don't normally think about. It's been a great exercise that I think will benefit all my future writing, hopefully making me pay more attention to these details up front, rather than waiting for the revision stage.

How about you? Does using sensory details come naturally to you, or is it something you have to pay special attention to? Which senses are you most likely to include?

Spreadsheet Plotting

As I've said before, I am a diehard outliner. It's not that I like outlining, because usually by the time I'm that close to starting a story, I wish I could just forget the outline and start writing already. But I outline anyway, because I'm a compulsive organizer, and I I know that if I tried to wing it I'd get myself so lost on some tangent I'd never find my way back.

But even for all my outlining, there is one organizational tool I've never tried until now: spreadsheet plotting. We learned about this in Darcy Pattison's Novel Metamorphosis workbook that we used during the revision retreat weekend, and yesterday I applied it to my novel and made a spreadsheet to keep track of who, where, when, and what happens in each chapter. What an great way to see at a glance how often I use different settings, which chapters certain characters appear in, how many pages each chapter has, and so much more - whatever you want to keep track of.

I've been working on revising a subplot involving my main character's best friend. With the spreadsheet, I can quickly see which chapters the best friend appears in, so I know which chapters will need major changes. And, as Darcy pointed out, the spreadsheet program allows you to sort columns, making it even easier to see how often a setting appears, a certain POV character is used, etc.

Have you tried spreadsheet plotting? Are there any areas in particular you like to keep track of with a spreadsheet, or that you think a spreadsheet would be helpful for?

Too Many Characters

Now that a little time has gone by since the revision retreat, I've started working on the revisions suggested by my group. One of the comments was that it was initially difficult to keep all the characters straight because so many are introduced at once, so I counted. In my first chapter (which is very short, about one page) I introduced two characters. In the second chapter, I mention nine new names and one character who at this point is known only as the main character's sister's boyfriend. Whoa - ten new characters in one chapter. No wonder they had a hard time keeping everyone straight!

After I took a serious look at the chapter, I saw that five of the names are mentioned in conversation but those characters never come into the story at all. It was pretty easy to eliminate most of those and cut down on some of the confusion. A few others, like the main character's best friend, is called by name in the second chapter but doesn't actually show up until the third chapter. By holding off mentioning her until she actually appears, I was able to cut out one more new name.

Hopefully those first two chapters are a lot less confusing now. Even though I know I have a tendency to throw too many characters at the reader all at once, I still have to really work to cut down on the number. How about you? Are there any mistakes that you fall into repeatedly? Do you have a hard time limiting the number of characters you introduce at one time?

Novel Revision Retreat

Wow - what a weekend! I attended a local Novel Revision Retreat with author Darcy Pattison, and my head is bursting with everything I learned and all the ideas I have to strengthen my current wip.

The work for the retreat started a while ago. We read two books, The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman and Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King - both of which are fabulous and I highly recommend. We also read and analyzed the manuscripts of the other people in our groups. This was a real selling point for me: four other novelists who had read my entire 85,000 word manuscript and were prepared to discuss it - what a gift! And it really was. My groupmates gave me some incredible feedback that will be invaluable as I revise my novel.

But the group discussions were just one small part of the retreat. We all bought Darcy's workbook, Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise, beforehand. Darcy gave talks (I would say lectures, but that sounds boring and Darcy's talks were anything but boring!) over the subjects in the workbook. Then we had time to work individually - evaluating our own manuscripts based on what we'd just learned, and then we met with our groups and discussed each other's manuscripts. At the end of each lesson, we listed our priorities for revision. On the last day, we created an overall plan of revision incorporating the areas we'd previously identified as needing work.

There is so much more I could say, but I'll have to save some of it for later. For now, I'll just say that if you ever get the opportunity to go to a retreat with Darcy - grab it! If not, I recommend at least buying her Novel Metamorphosis workbook (available from Amazon or other online booksellers), possibly even putting together a group of fellow writers to read each other's manuscripts and go through the exercises together.  And definitely check out Darcy's website.

How about you? Have you attended any workshops or retreats lately? Have you read Novel Metamorphosis, The First Five Pages, or Self Editing for Fiction Writers?

Bigger-Than-A-Shopping Mall Giveaway

Today is that special post I told you about to help a friend celebrate some wonderful news. So I'll get right to it and turn you over to the talented (and newly agented!) Sheri Larsen:


Today, I invite you to celebrate with me!! I've signed with Literary Agent Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary! And because our literary community is so freaking fabulous and generous, I'm having a Bigger-Than-A-Shopping-Mall GIVEAWAY!!

The giveaway consists of: two separate Rafflecopters with multiple giveaways and one grand prize Rafflecopter giveaway - to enter for the grand prize, you must enter either giveaway #1, #2, or both. There's only one mandatory entry. Everything else is up to you!! I know Rafflecopters can be a pain, but it was the only way to organize such a huge giveaway. The giveaway is open until September 27th. WINNERS will be announced on September 28th. (Entrants may win more than one prize!) Thank you so much for entering, spreading the word, and celebrating with me!!

List of Rocking Participants: Lenny Lee, Colene Murphy, LM Preston, Darby Karchut, Joanne Brothwell, Patti Larsen, Christine Fonseca, Catherine Stine, Jessica Bell, Kelly Hashway, Leigh Moore, Christine Danek, Alex Cavanaugh, Katie Mills, Matthew MacNish, Beverly McClure, Marcy Hatch, Jennifer Million, Nicole Zoltack, Christina Lee, Kris Yankee, JL Spelbring, Sharon Mayhew, Candice Granger, Dianne Salerni, Lisa & Laura Roecker, Elana Johnson, Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, Susan Kaye Quinn, Lydia Kang, Julie Musil, Natalie Agurrie, Talli Roland, Medeia Sharif, Kelly Polark, Angela Brown, Sarah Fine, Stina Lindenblatt, Lynda Young, Susan Fields, PK Hrezo, Shannon O'Donnell, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Theresa Brown Milstein.



Giveaway #1
Giveaway #2
Grand Prize Giveaway

I'm Back! For Real This Time...

Wow, now that was a long break! I've missed everyone and I'm so happy to be back!

In my previous post, I told you I was hoping to get the rough draft of my new manuscript done over the summer. Well, I was actually a lot more productive than I ever dreamed I could be. My goal was to have a draft done by Sept. 1 so I could sign up for a local Revision Retreat Weekend led by author Darcy Pattison the weekend of Sept. 14-16. Not only did I get the rough draft done, but I got through two revisions (just enough so I could let the others in the workshop read my manuscript and not feel like I had to go hide in a hole after). :)

So, in a couple of weeks I'll be taking part in the Revision Retreat Weekend, and I can't wait! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. But next week, I'll have a special post to help a friend celebrate some awesome news!

How was your summer? Was it productive? Or did you enjoy some time off?

Have a great week, everyone!