I've managed to do a pretty good job of reading through my second novel -- at least a chapter a night -- but this weekend is going to be tough. It's packed full of Halloween and birthday parties, a school carnival, a visit with friends, etc., etc., etc. That means I won't get to do as much reading and writing as I would like for a weekend, but that's OK. I need a break every now and then, and I think I see a pedicure in my near future.
I saw the deadlines this week for the San Diego State Writer's Conference at the end of January. I was relieved to see that for the advanced reading sessions -- where you send in your book and an agent or editor reads it before the conference -- you only need to send in your first 10 pages and you have until early January to mail it out. Phew! What a relief! I can't wait to get some good professional feedback on my writing.
Now, on to my manuscript before the dryer's done and I have a load of laundry to fold!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
All a Matter of Perspective
Recently, I've been keeping things in better perspective than I used to.
For instance, I had a health issue recently that seemed pretty devastating at the time, but in the bed next to me was a woman who was there for a double mastectomy. My issue didn't seem quite so bad. At least I get to keep my boobs and I don't have to go through chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Life could be a lot worse.
At work, I don't get as frustrated as I used to by small things. I mean, at least I still have a job, for one thing. And even if a task doesn't get done today, it will tomorrow or the next day. Somehow, projects always get finished.
Last week, I didn't want to spend a bunch of time cleaning when the weekend rolled around, so I cleaned the bathroom bit by bit after work each day. I wiped down the counter and toilet one day, I scrubbed the tub and shower the next, then I swept and mopped the floor another day. I changed my perspective by biting off pieces of the task when I had a few free minutes. Eventually, the job got done and I didn't have to delay hanging out with my son on Saturday morning to do it.
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragic event to make you appreciate what you have in your life, but I'm embracing my new perspective on things. I hope that I can keep it up. Maybe the next personal tragedy won't be so difficult to handle.
For instance, I had a health issue recently that seemed pretty devastating at the time, but in the bed next to me was a woman who was there for a double mastectomy. My issue didn't seem quite so bad. At least I get to keep my boobs and I don't have to go through chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Life could be a lot worse.
At work, I don't get as frustrated as I used to by small things. I mean, at least I still have a job, for one thing. And even if a task doesn't get done today, it will tomorrow or the next day. Somehow, projects always get finished.
Last week, I didn't want to spend a bunch of time cleaning when the weekend rolled around, so I cleaned the bathroom bit by bit after work each day. I wiped down the counter and toilet one day, I scrubbed the tub and shower the next, then I swept and mopped the floor another day. I changed my perspective by biting off pieces of the task when I had a few free minutes. Eventually, the job got done and I didn't have to delay hanging out with my son on Saturday morning to do it.
Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragic event to make you appreciate what you have in your life, but I'm embracing my new perspective on things. I hope that I can keep it up. Maybe the next personal tragedy won't be so difficult to handle.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Slow Introductions
One thing that I've been paying a lot of attention to lately as I read other people's work is how long it takes to really get me into the story. I just finished reading "The Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld and I also recently read "The Last Summer (of You and Me)" by Ann Brashares.
Both books had very slow beginnings, where it took so long to get into the real conflict or real action that I considered giving up a third of the way into the stories. By the time I finished "The Last Summer," I really liked it. Eventually, Brashares hooked me in so that I cared about the characters and wanted to hang in there until they resolved their relationship issues in a satisfying way by the end of the book. I might read another one of her romance novels.
With "The Uglies," Westerfeld took far too long to get into the action, saving the final battle between the Uglies who rebelled against the Pretties and the Specials for just a chapter or two somewhere in the last 100 pages of the 400-page book. There was a long, slow build-up to the romance and the final conflict, and the romantic moments were short and contrived. The battle came and went too quickly. Then the Specials gave up looking for the rebel Uglies after just one night. It was disappointing. I mean, this guy got a book deal for a four-book series, but I'm one book into it and I'm not sure I want to buy the second one.
So, as I read my own teen novel, that's one of the things I'm thinking about. Does it take too long for me to get to the romance? Decidedly, no. Does it take too long to get to the major conflict? Maybe. Fortunately, it's not a terribly long novel -- about 282 pages, since I've cut eight pages during my editing, so far. We'll see how I feel about it when I finish my first and second edits. So far, so good, I think.
Both books had very slow beginnings, where it took so long to get into the real conflict or real action that I considered giving up a third of the way into the stories. By the time I finished "The Last Summer," I really liked it. Eventually, Brashares hooked me in so that I cared about the characters and wanted to hang in there until they resolved their relationship issues in a satisfying way by the end of the book. I might read another one of her romance novels.
With "The Uglies," Westerfeld took far too long to get into the action, saving the final battle between the Uglies who rebelled against the Pretties and the Specials for just a chapter or two somewhere in the last 100 pages of the 400-page book. There was a long, slow build-up to the romance and the final conflict, and the romantic moments were short and contrived. The battle came and went too quickly. Then the Specials gave up looking for the rebel Uglies after just one night. It was disappointing. I mean, this guy got a book deal for a four-book series, but I'm one book into it and I'm not sure I want to buy the second one.
So, as I read my own teen novel, that's one of the things I'm thinking about. Does it take too long for me to get to the romance? Decidedly, no. Does it take too long to get to the major conflict? Maybe. Fortunately, it's not a terribly long novel -- about 282 pages, since I've cut eight pages during my editing, so far. We'll see how I feel about it when I finish my first and second edits. So far, so good, I think.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Big Stack of Books
I have a big stack of books to read between the five books I ordered with a Barnes & Noble gift certificate I got for my birthday and others that I've borrowed from friends and family recently. The problem is, I've been so busy with work and other things that I haven't been able to do much reading. However, I have been editing my second novel.
I'm trying to resist temptation to make a big dent in that big stack of books, because I need to finish editing my own novel and give it a second read before I see if one of my friends will read it. I want it to be in reasonably good shape so that I can submit it for review by one of the agents or editors attending the San Diego State Writers Conference in January.
I'm looking forward to the conference, because last year's conference was so good, and because I could use a big dose of inspiration. I left the conference last year with all kinds of good feedback, but I still haven't made much progress on a few of the stories I shared in workshops there.
I guess that should be my motivation to get through a second and a first read on my teen novel. When that job is done, I can move on to something new. Or read one of those books in the stack next to my dining room table ...
I'm trying to resist temptation to make a big dent in that big stack of books, because I need to finish editing my own novel and give it a second read before I see if one of my friends will read it. I want it to be in reasonably good shape so that I can submit it for review by one of the agents or editors attending the San Diego State Writers Conference in January.
I'm looking forward to the conference, because last year's conference was so good, and because I could use a big dose of inspiration. I left the conference last year with all kinds of good feedback, but I still haven't made much progress on a few of the stories I shared in workshops there.
I guess that should be my motivation to get through a second and a first read on my teen novel. When that job is done, I can move on to something new. Or read one of those books in the stack next to my dining room table ...
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Modern Technology
I have a friend who's vacationing in Italy this week and he's keeping his friends and family constantly informed (and jealous) about his whereabouts on Facebook. He talks to his two young daughters via Skype nightly. He even found a wireless Internet connection at the top of Mt. Vesuvius and sent a photo to Facebook instantaneously.
It got me to thinking how my life and my relationships with the people I've met would've been different if I'd been born in the 90s instead of the 70s. What if every time I moved from Alabama to San Diego to Italy to Minnesota then back to San Diego I never lost touch with any of my friends, because I could talk to them face-to-face for free every night on Skype and send them instant messages at any time of day or night on Facebook and Twitter?
When I was in junior high and high school, if I wanted to talk to any of my friends back in Alabama or California, I had to send them a letter, which took at least a week to get to them, then wait for them to write me back. That could take weeks or even months by the time they got around to responding to my letter. We didn't call each other, because long distance calls were too expensive (especially overseas calls) and we didn't have cell phones with free nights and weekends or unlimited text messaging.
Now, I'm back in touch with friends and family I haven't seen or spoken to in years, even decades, because we're "friends" on Facebook. I know all about their vacations, their kids' first days at school and their work frustrations. We offer each other encouragement, congratulations, condolences and advice, as needed. Maybe one day we'll even make plans -- via Facebook -- to meet in person. Who knows? But we probably wouldn't have even considered it if we hadn't reconnected online.
Facebook would've saved me a lot of anxiety as a teenager. When I was feeling alone after my first day at a new school in a new town (or a new country), I could've reached out to my best friend from the last place I lived for encouragement and a reminder that I wasn't alone.
Oh, well. At least I have Facebook now. I can see what everybody's up to whenever I want ... even if it's just to find out what they had for lunch today.
It got me to thinking how my life and my relationships with the people I've met would've been different if I'd been born in the 90s instead of the 70s. What if every time I moved from Alabama to San Diego to Italy to Minnesota then back to San Diego I never lost touch with any of my friends, because I could talk to them face-to-face for free every night on Skype and send them instant messages at any time of day or night on Facebook and Twitter?
When I was in junior high and high school, if I wanted to talk to any of my friends back in Alabama or California, I had to send them a letter, which took at least a week to get to them, then wait for them to write me back. That could take weeks or even months by the time they got around to responding to my letter. We didn't call each other, because long distance calls were too expensive (especially overseas calls) and we didn't have cell phones with free nights and weekends or unlimited text messaging.
Now, I'm back in touch with friends and family I haven't seen or spoken to in years, even decades, because we're "friends" on Facebook. I know all about their vacations, their kids' first days at school and their work frustrations. We offer each other encouragement, congratulations, condolences and advice, as needed. Maybe one day we'll even make plans -- via Facebook -- to meet in person. Who knows? But we probably wouldn't have even considered it if we hadn't reconnected online.
Facebook would've saved me a lot of anxiety as a teenager. When I was feeling alone after my first day at a new school in a new town (or a new country), I could've reached out to my best friend from the last place I lived for encouragement and a reminder that I wasn't alone.
Oh, well. At least I have Facebook now. I can see what everybody's up to whenever I want ... even if it's just to find out what they had for lunch today.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Where Has the Time Gone?
Man, that week blew by fast. It was busy at work and I ended up working at home a few nights last week, so I didn't read much (of other people's books, anyway).
I have been reading my completed book no. 2 -- my teen novel. So far, so good. Not much re-writing. A few odd grammar, punctuation and typing corrections. A few areas where I needed to add a bit, so I'm at 290 pages instead of the 289 I started with, but that's not bad, considering that I'm up to page 52.
I'm nervous, because my first book -- the chick-lit/romance/women's fiction novel -- is in the hands of a friend. She's the type of person who won't hold back with her feedback, so I hope she likes it, but I'm looking forward to her critiques too.
I'm reading "Sister" by Rosamund Lupton. I was on the waiting list for it at the library, but I saw it there on Saturday, so I picked it up early. So far, I like it. It's a murder-mystery written as if the older sister is writing a letter to her younger sister explaining how she found out who the younger sister's killer was. It sounds gimmicky -- and it is -- but it works.
My first book is written as every other chapter in the woman's and the man's voice, which I hope doesn't come across as gimmicky. I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to tell the story through both characters' eyes in their own voices and the story seemed to flow pretty well in that format. Even when I cut whole chapters, it pieced back together with their voices alternating. We'll see what my reader thinks. I'm anxious to know if she likes it.
I have been reading my completed book no. 2 -- my teen novel. So far, so good. Not much re-writing. A few odd grammar, punctuation and typing corrections. A few areas where I needed to add a bit, so I'm at 290 pages instead of the 289 I started with, but that's not bad, considering that I'm up to page 52.
I'm nervous, because my first book -- the chick-lit/romance/women's fiction novel -- is in the hands of a friend. She's the type of person who won't hold back with her feedback, so I hope she likes it, but I'm looking forward to her critiques too.
I'm reading "Sister" by Rosamund Lupton. I was on the waiting list for it at the library, but I saw it there on Saturday, so I picked it up early. So far, I like it. It's a murder-mystery written as if the older sister is writing a letter to her younger sister explaining how she found out who the younger sister's killer was. It sounds gimmicky -- and it is -- but it works.
My first book is written as every other chapter in the woman's and the man's voice, which I hope doesn't come across as gimmicky. I didn't mean it that way. I just wanted to tell the story through both characters' eyes in their own voices and the story seemed to flow pretty well in that format. Even when I cut whole chapters, it pieced back together with their voices alternating. We'll see what my reader thinks. I'm anxious to know if she likes it.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Two Good Books
I just finished reading "The Last Summer (of You & Me)" by Ann Brashares, which I picked up at Target a week ago when I was looking for something light. I'd read her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series for teens a while back, so I thought I'd give her first novel for adults a try.
It had a slow start and a feeling, probably around page 250 of the 353-page book, that now was the time when her characters needed to move on from their gloomy situations and get to the part where they were supposed to learn and grow from their mistakes. Still, I couldn't put it down. She made me love the characters, despite their faults, so I was invested in their stories.
The last book I read before that was "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. It's a brand new novel and a debut for the writer. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. Think Harry Potter for grown-ups, but in one book, not seven, and with an interesting romantic element that didn't make it feel like a book for women and not men. It has something for everyone -- romance, mystery, magic -- especially magic. Go out now and buy it or put your name on the waiting list for it at your local library.
I heard that a movie studio bought the film rights and I cannot wait to see someone translate Morgenstern's words into a visual experience, since the circus is so wonderfully described in the book. You can literally smell the popcorn and caramel apples and sense the smoke from the bonfire and picture the black-and-white tents and animated clock that keeps watch over everything.
Next, I'm going to read one of three Anita Shreve novels that I borrowed from a friend, "A Wedding in December." I love Anita Shreve, but I can't digest three of her books in a row. They're too dark and depressing to read all at once, so I'll spread them out a bit.
Fortunately, my brother gave me a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday, which I used online tonight. So in a week or so, I'll have five new books sitting on my doorstep. I ordered "The Death Cure," the final book in James Dashner's "Maze Runner" series; "Looking for Alaska" by John Green, whose "Paper Towns" I loved; "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer, because I saw the trailer for the movie coming out on Christmas Day and it looked good; "The Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld, the first in a teen series that includes "The Pretties," "The Specials" and "The Extras"; and "A Northern Light" by Jennifer Donnelly, whose "Revolution" I really enjoyed.
For anyone keeping track, all but "Extremely Loud" are teen fiction. We'll just call it research, since I'm now doing my first read-through on my second book, a teen novel.
It had a slow start and a feeling, probably around page 250 of the 353-page book, that now was the time when her characters needed to move on from their gloomy situations and get to the part where they were supposed to learn and grow from their mistakes. Still, I couldn't put it down. She made me love the characters, despite their faults, so I was invested in their stories.
The last book I read before that was "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. It's a brand new novel and a debut for the writer. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. Think Harry Potter for grown-ups, but in one book, not seven, and with an interesting romantic element that didn't make it feel like a book for women and not men. It has something for everyone -- romance, mystery, magic -- especially magic. Go out now and buy it or put your name on the waiting list for it at your local library.
I heard that a movie studio bought the film rights and I cannot wait to see someone translate Morgenstern's words into a visual experience, since the circus is so wonderfully described in the book. You can literally smell the popcorn and caramel apples and sense the smoke from the bonfire and picture the black-and-white tents and animated clock that keeps watch over everything.
Next, I'm going to read one of three Anita Shreve novels that I borrowed from a friend, "A Wedding in December." I love Anita Shreve, but I can't digest three of her books in a row. They're too dark and depressing to read all at once, so I'll spread them out a bit.
Fortunately, my brother gave me a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday, which I used online tonight. So in a week or so, I'll have five new books sitting on my doorstep. I ordered "The Death Cure," the final book in James Dashner's "Maze Runner" series; "Looking for Alaska" by John Green, whose "Paper Towns" I loved; "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer, because I saw the trailer for the movie coming out on Christmas Day and it looked good; "The Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld, the first in a teen series that includes "The Pretties," "The Specials" and "The Extras"; and "A Northern Light" by Jennifer Donnelly, whose "Revolution" I really enjoyed.
For anyone keeping track, all but "Extremely Loud" are teen fiction. We'll just call it research, since I'm now doing my first read-through on my second book, a teen novel.
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