I Would Have Written It…

Differently. We all have those books. We’re reading along, there might be some inconsistency in the writing but we’re still in it. Until that moment when we think “No, this that and the other thing needs to happen right here.”

And as writers, our brain sets off like a freight train.

I just had that happen recently in the middle of a book. And my brain is chugging along. I have several ideas that haven’t got the steam on their own, but maybe if I smash them together I can get somewhere.

Spoiler Alert: I’m working through this as I’m writing. I will tell you there will only be generalities about the stories because, whelp. It’s not that I believe someone will “steal” my ideas. You and I could be given the same setting, plot and characters and write completely different stories. It’s because if I write too much or discuss a story my brain is over it and I lose all interest in writing it.

So first off, the book stat I was reading (and DNF’d) was trying very hard to be a mafia romance. And for some odd reason it made me think of a story I had started and stopped quite a few times– it deals with witches & warlock vs mage ability. What’s the difference and what happens when you are one but everyone assumes you are incompetent at the other? This idea is hands down 100% fantasy so obviously no mafia. But warring factions? We can do that.

The part I put it down at was a “meet the head of the family” type of moment and it was not going well. Whelp. Last year I started watching those super short shows– you know the ones. Rich guy drops his wife who is a secret billionaire who is now gonna make his life hell. Ok, so take part of that– the part where they really have NO IDEA who the heck they are dealing withand smash it with witch/mage thing.

I really want a sentient house in there too. I love them. When the house is a character it can go either really really well or very badly for the people involved.

But then I’ve been leaning towards shifter romance, although none of the ones I’m seeing are catching my eye and/or imagination. That might A. Be one step too far or B. Just be a reading thing. I know I tend to not read what I’m writing or what I’m hearing up to write so I might just go back to some old favorites of that type and see if that scratches that.. oh that’s in poor taste.

So. There you have it. My creative brain run around and proof that even the books we don’t finish can be worth it for us.

Ta, my lovelies! I’m off to write a bit now!

Idk

I’m having a problem with follow through on my stories right now. Writing them, that is

And a little bit on reading new books. I’ve thrown a bunch onto my DNF shelf. One of which I dnf’d so hard I mentally started rewriting it in my imagination then flipping it over to a story I had started once upon a time.

So much so that I started looking for the file. But my cloud storage is a confusing batch of storms, none of which I found it in. Which means I should look for it on my laptop. But my desk is full with my work computer and stuff for work and I don’t want to cross that boundary.

Which I get it. I have a whole a$$ house to set up in. And I have too much crap and I get it under control and then it slips the leash and goes out of control and yada yada yada. Just put the work in, and I can have a working solution. I could have the home I want.

And yet something almost always stops me. And that something is me.

I know how I became my own worst enemy in this. Anyone have any suggestions? Because I don’t know how to fix this.

Doing the thing

The thing where writers get….. Published. I wrote stories, have been learning how to edit my work (which is an act of love even if it feels like you’ve gone to war) and have started actually… Gasp…. Submitting stories.

It’s hard sometimes as a writer. To send out your work, into the ether. Trusting it to people unknown. Sometimes it feels like every rejection is personal. That they are rejecting us, the writer, as a person.

A few things have really helped me with that. One is Rie, and how she just takes a story and sends it back out if it gets rejected. She has done challenges where she submitted every single day for a year. It reminds me of the story in Poets magazine, where the writers colleague had buckets of rejections and 10 acceptances. Everyone was jealous on the 10 acceptances, but they didn’t have the buckets. Rie is a great writer (go find her– Rie Sheridan Rose or Rie Rose) and puts in the work. I haven’t been.

But I’ve started. 4 stories went out. Three were rejected. One found a home. I can’t wait to share that with you, as well as more of the writing journey. It’s past time for me to take control of that part of my life and find a way to share my stories.

And yes, I’ll share the details as soon as I get them .

Bookish Thoughts: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

I spent Saturday with Marra, an unwilling Princess who assembled a merry band of assassin’s including a dust wife, a fairy godmother who is NOT as she first appears, an exiled warrior and a bone dog. It. Was. Wonderful.

I received the book at work on Thursday. As you, Gentle Reader, might understand I waited to start  this most anticipated story. The newbies are crying out “Why??!!” in dismay. It is because I knew, for a fact, that I would resent every interruption in my breaks. And the phones did ring– I was proven correct. But Saturday? The stars aligned— the Princeling even went out on an adventure with his friends leaving me the whole, glorious day to wallow in Marra’s story.

Nettle & Bone is signature T. Kingfisher. An unlikely heroine, a great support system (i.e. found family), and while some truly horrible things are going on in the story it doesn’t take away from the overall feel of the story.

It is a slim volume, clocking in at 240 pages with an Author’s Note added that tells us how story’s morph and change and gain traction in a writer’s mind. I love reading about the process, so I would probably count it as 243 pages. It is a beautiful volume, with an embossed (spoiler) on the hard cover, and beautiful artwork once you open the cover.

Why am I mentioning the length, the beauty, etc? Because the cost is 25.99 for the hardback. I know when Martha Wells’ Murderbot series first came out I struggled hard with paying the same price for a novella as a novel. I finally made peace with the situation by realizing if I had gone to the movies I would have paid much more for far less entertainment (the joke with the Princeling is that I used to take him to the movies so I could take a nap. True story). Authors deserve to be paid, as do the cover artists, editors, etc etc.

That being said, Tor Books— do better. I was pissed, mad as hell, that when I made it to page 153 there was a giant ink blot across two words at the top of the page. Further in, at pages 172 & 173 I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Nope. The printing is lighter on the left page (172) that it is on the right (173). This happened on several sets of pages. A great book was marred by poor printing. Tor Books— you need better Quality Control or to go to a printer that actually does QC.

Still love the hell out of the story and may spend today rereading it (I love the world T. Kingfisher takes us to).

Stories can save your soul…

When the princeling was about 4, he started having horrible nightmares. I mentioned that we could go somewhere in our dreams and meet.

And thus, the candy garden bloomed again.

Fountains spilling Skittles, a Sprite stream filled with Swedish Red Fish and gummy sharks. You get the idea. I wrote a flash fiction story about it. The Princeling adds to it, or subtracts, depending on his current likes. He is now 8.

When I was in the hospital in June, he was with my sister in law. In talking on the phone with him, he asked me, sobbing, where to meet him that night. “Do you want to go to the candy garden?”

Sniffling, he replied: How about a candy ocean? The sand is sugar, and….

And we were off. Something amazing happened that night, something amazing that touched my soul in a way no other story that I ever have come up with has.

The Candy Garden is imprinted on my son’s soul. And when we’re separated, he knows, deep down inside, that he can go there and find his mom. It’s an avenue for our creativity to go wild, together, but more than that… It brings my child comfort.

So yes, one story can make a huge difference. Even if it’s a one off, a way to sooth a child at bed time. It can grow, it can morph and take on a life of it’s own… And can feel like a warm hug on a dark and scary night when you’re miles from your mommy.

Deer in the Headlights

I have a fast approaching deadline… and I haven’t finished my story yet. Close… But nowhere near it.

 

I haven’t been writing for several reasons. Everyone got sick and I had to step it up. Check. I got sick.

Ick.

Then I fell.

But mostly, I didn’t write because I’m afraid of my ending. I’m afraid of pushing the buttons until she comes thisclose to breaking. And I’m afraid of the whole story, really. It’s so different from my normal zone. However, Rie says I can do it and I believe her.

She said I could publish Dragon’s Champion and darned if I didn’t do that.

So now it’s time for me to take that advice and get down to the business of writing. I’ll be back soon, with reviews of some really great series, and a word of caution on the temptations of Smashwords.

Till then, my lovelies, I shall be pushing on with this dang story.

New Years Goals: 2013

So it’s a new year again, this time with my luck number~ 13. I haven’t done any “resolutions” for a very long time, I’ve mostly skipped on that portion of celebrating the new year.

This year is different.

What’s different about it? Well, I’m getting my voice back (writing wise) and feeling more capabale in general. More able to take on risks. Sooo… without further ado, I give you:

RESOLUTIONS 2013

1. Write a novel. This one’s a no brainer, and it’s one that has been chasing around in the back of my mind for a while. I think it needs to perk a little bit more, but that’s ok. I’m a quick writer.

2. Write my Bon Jovi Rock Opera. Actually, it’s either more of a one woman play or something with a narrator that does all the talking, except for the songs. This one has already started to tingle my fingers, which writers will understand. I drove to work on Friday screaming ‘ MY FINGERS ARE ITCHING, MY FINGERS ARE ITCHING!!!” I hate to think what the person next to me thought, but you know… Itchy fingers for a writer are a good thing.

3. Get passports for my sonand I. I don’t know how easy or hard this will be. I don’t talk about it much, but I have full physical and legal custody of my son, so you would think it would be easy. However, the ex is still alive, if not in the picture right now. So we shall see. But this leads into wanting to be able to travel to Europe with Ray in 2014.

A girl’s gotta have some goals, right?

4. Accept how I look. Not to say that i don’t want to loose weight, or what ever. But I hate getting my picture taken. HATE IT. If you’ve friended me on facebook, you know I RARELY post pictures of me. But what does that do to my son? When he’s older, is he going to care whether or not i was overweight? Or will he care more that he has no pics of his mom, and none of us together? Yah. I got over myself real quick with that one. I posted 2 or 3 pics with me in them to Facebook last night, as a matter of fact. So progress!

5. Be Joyous!! Let the boogie out!!!

6. Pray every day for the women of the world. It’s easy to forget here in the US, where we have an expectation of safety to a certain degree (and yes, mostly, but there are always exceptions)… But in other parts of the world young girls are being beaten, shot, killed for daring to want an education. In other parts of the world, young women can be out with an escort and get beaten and raped,… and ultimately killed. This last case polarized the country, and hopefully will bring about change in India. I’m still gonna pray for them. just my thing.

7. Figure out how to write a montage scene in fiction with 2 characters who are geographically far apart. I think i’ve figured it out, but will see.

8. And this one hurts. Even more than number four. Write more, read less. I can’t write if my head is always in someone elses world. I just can’t. I know some of you are here because I started reviewing books.,.. and i’ll still do that to a certain degree. But writing book reviews brought me back to *my* writing…. And I need to do this. For me, for my son.  (BTW– i do have a very interesting book review for next week. HA!)

Anyways, that’s the list as of right now. 8 tiny little goals. Right? Not too ambitious, right?

 

Yah, that’s what I thought!

Beautiful Blogging

So I was nominated by Kate over at frame tale http://frametale.wordpress.com for the Beautiful Blogger award. THANK YOU! It’s hard for me to believe that people are actually reading me (except for, like, my BFF’s and my sister who are required to read what ever I write).

Here are the rules as I understand them:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award 2. Paste the award on your blog 3. Link the person who nominated you for the award 4. Nominate 7 bloggers 5. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominated 6. Post 7 random things about you.

Okay, so 1, 2 & 3 are taken care of.
Let’s do the 7 random things:

1. I don’t believe in total honesty. Especially not where my child is concerned. There’s no reason to give him information that might damage him, his future relationship with his father, or make him feel bad about himself. So I give him a version of the truth, and then put a present under the tree with Dad on the tag and let him go right on believing that Santa helped his dad get his present to him. The grin on his face was worth it, totally.

See? That, my friends is the smile of a boy who finally has confirmation that his dad is, in fact, thinking of him and missing him and can’t quite believe it.

2. Dragon’s Champion was written on a whim. I thought to myself… What would happen if a girl were tied to a tree, being held hostage by a band of brigands and it was actually a step UP from where she had been? From there, it was all about what I could throw at her next.

3. Pink is my favorite color.

4. 2 of my best friends fled California. For a while, I thought maybe it was me, but it wasn’t. We keep in fairly close contact thanks to cell phones and Face Book! One of them actually found me again through this blog, back in its early days!

5. I secretly wish I could dance. But I can’t.

6. I sound like a frog in a blender when I sing…

7. But I do it anyways… Loudly and with joy!

Now my nominations humble me in their honest looks at their lives, their writing or what have you. There’s something amazing about reading that sort of blog, and here they are, in no certain order.

http://authormccloskeyspeaks.wordpress.com

http://meredithmansfield.wordpress.com

http://selahjanel.wordpress.com

http://fortheloveofautismandwriting.wordpress.com

http://lifeand100books.com

http://drearileysrandw.blogspot.com

http://herestheclean.com

Big Day

The funny thing is, as someone who writes and dreams and strives… You’d think that I would be having a grand old champagne cork popping kind of day tomorrow. It’s the first time that people will have to pay to read something I wrote. And that is very very awesome.

It also happens to be myin-law’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. Which is completely and totally awesome. So we’ll be toasting them tomorrow and with good reason.

My champagne days are kind of over, anyways. Sometimes, well, most of the time? It just takes like sour grapes to me. Since I want to savor the day, well…. Maybe it will be a sweet tea salute kind of day. No matter where you are, raise your glass of sweet tea in salute to all those writers out there: struggling, successful, famous, famous in their own mind… Let’s celebrate ALL of us. Cuz look at that! Look what we can do!

Dragon’s Champion at Mocha Memoirs Press

Dragon’s Champion at Barnes & Noble

Dragon’s Champion at Amazon

Hopefully I did all the linkage right.

Because I got to tell you, I squealed a little bit when I saw MY NAME ON BARNES AND NOBLE DOT COM! WOOHOO!

 

The story itself is funny, fast paced and priced JUST RIGHT for you!

Cover Art

So… my short story comes out on Sunday, December 9th. I thought I’d share the cover with you ~

 

Cover Art for Dragon’s Champion

 

If you peer closely, you can see how well the artist did with depicting this as one ticked off… FEMALE dragon. At least, I got it right away. And I have to tell you, I kind of got tears in my eyes, seeing it for the first time. It’s been a long time coming.

Aint life grand?

As for the blurb:

Bright, funny Constance sets off to rescue herself when she first sets foot on the Dragon’s Path. Along the way, she’ll encounter a merry band of brigands, a shop full of dresses (and temptation) and a Golden Dragon. Constance will find out that by taking that first step… she just might find her destiny.

 

Constance has a very special place in my heart. She isn’t the first story I wrote to completion, but I believe I have mentioned that she was the one that brought me back from the drought. Once I started her story, I had to keep finding out what happened because that girl is a handfull. (Remember it’s Chick Lit Fantasy LOL.) I threw all sorts of stuff at her and she handled it all. Not always well… but she did handle it in her own way.

So. Busy, busy weekend this weekend both with the family and with this. I’m finally feeling like myself again– a month and a half of an upper resp infection can get a girl down. But now? Well…

I got the fire, baby!