Coffee Quill

"Don't You Forget About Me"

2012-01-30T08:59:00.003-10:00

No, no, no, no.

Heh, sorry. Far be it for me to avoid the call of the wild 80s tune, sprinting into my thoughts and then gone again.

Originally, I was just going to say "Happy New Year", seeing as it was 2011 the last time I posted. This time I don't even really have the excuse of being too busy. Yes, there were a great many things to do before the new year, and before I knew it was back to work to finish one quarter, then starting the next, and an almost-week-long cold in between, but I had plenty of time to rest, unlike most breaks.

All I can say is that I felt I didn't have much to contribute to the internet-y world of writing and publishing.

My life the past month:
1. "Clockwork Seams" hit another snag, again, some more. It sits there in my mind, waiting, but I don't know for what.

2. I have begun editing "Hounds" again. I am learning that I am far too likely to focus on the details and miss the larger (rewrite that scene, and Character X can no longer exist!) sweeping edits. I am forcing myself to focus on the broader changes. Then I will try to talk to someone who's read the whole thing and run a few ideas by them.

3. I also realized, though this has been said to me once before, and is not a new observation of my own, that I love to complicate stories. I love to hint at and tease out past bits of history that have a bearing on the current situations, I love adding another character to throw a wrench in. My protagonist is being pelted with wrenches. Wrenches hurt.

4. As I edit "Hounds" (I keep three chapters on me when I go to work, so I can read large chunks and scribble over them when I have free minutes), I am realizing things to fix with other stories, like the short story which led to someone telling me the plot was too complicated for a short story.

5. Sleep. I have been trying to sleep more, because...

6. If I don't sleep, the last, fitful dregs of this cold will never go away. I can't not work, so the sniffly-ness lingers, as does the plugged ears, and a weak little cough.

7. And as of last night, I am watching "The Pirates of Dark Water," a cartoon I loved when I was younger, and the complete series of which I received for Christmas. And I realized, amid fairly rampant whitewashing in many shows for many years, "Dark Water" boasts a central cast of only COC. I also realized that it was science fiction, or at least science fantasy, because the premise of finding the 13 treasures would restore a city to a rather modern style. Maybe it'd by dystopic?

Here, have a blurry picture of the three main characters, Ioz, Ren, and Tula (apparently from a time when Cartoon Network ran episodes in syndication).

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T13:51:00.001-10:00

I don't know how many people will be online today, but I wanted to send out a warm "Happy Holidays" to everyone. Whether you are with family on Christmas, about five days into Hanukkah, gearing up for Kwanzaa, or just enjoying some time off, I hope the time is well spent and filled with laughter.

You are all wonderful people, who I am happy and proud to know. May the new year come with more happiness than ever, and great things around every corner.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone.

And especially to the writers out there...

Happy writing, may your stories be complete and your characters unique.

A Fluttering of Wings

2011-12-02T10:24:00.006-10:00

I was thinking about...I don't actually know. I got up, had my coffee, sent a few emails, then picked about online for a while, visiting a few blogs. The last blog I looked at was about writing/editing and a few words snagged my attention. Not in the way you usually think of that phrase--they were so striking I will remember them forever, or at least long enough to write them down.

Instead, they were words that immediately, almost before their meaning sank in, sparked something else.

But spark is the wrong word.

Have you ever watched something, or been having a conversation, and go, "That reminds me," then switch to a seemingly unrelated topic? The commercial, show, or conversation before that point actually -did- remind you of something, but not in a way that you could have clearly drawn the lines from one to the other?

The connection is hard to grasp, hard to perceive sometimes. Like an invisible bird, taking flight beside you. You can't see it, but you can hear the fluttering of its wings, feel the wind kicked up, react to the brush of a wing tip against your chek, but when you look, you don't know where from it came.

It's inspiration, or something akin to it. You can't predict it, you can't always trace it back to its origins, but it does something for you, something that leads you down a new path, throws a few breadcrumbs for you to find. That fluttering draws your eye, your attention, and you look at a place you didn't notice before.

(Photos are by Russ Hansen, Allison Trentelman, and wikipedia, respectively)

Magick for Terri--Giving Thanks

2011-11-29T09:21:00.004-10:00

Terri Windling is a name that pops up a lot when I think of fantasy. She has a blog I enjoy reading and am inspired by, I've read some of the anthologies she's been a part of, and through knowing of her work, I've found countless other writers. Terri an artist, a writer, and an editor of fantasy, bringing us (with others), the Year's Best Fantasy series, Bordertown, and a number of other anthologies. She is part of a huge community of writers.

And now, she needs some help.

Magick for Terri is an auction-based fundraiser for Terri, who is having some financial difficulties, and offers books, perfume (BPAL), site designs, cookies, and a whole host of other goodies from fans, friends, and fellow writers, including Ellen Kushner, Wendy and Brian Froud, Tamora Pierce, Pamela Dean, Nalo Hopkinson, Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, Charles Vess, Charles de Lint, and so many more your mind would be blown.

Tons of auction information at the LJ page, so if you want to show your thanks for everything she's done for the genre or for you, you can visit Magick for Terri and you can like it and get updates on facebook.

I also hear a certain writer with a charmed bracelet is offering up ginger jack cookies. And if these are the same I've had, you'll want to start bidding now.

The Month of Writing Novels

2011-11-05T16:55:00.002-10:00

Well, 50,000 words worth of one, at any rate. I've known about NaNoWriMo for a long time, but this is the first time I've actually signed up for it. I have started writing as of today, but my goal is really just to 1. type up all the hand-written scenes for this story, and 2. finish the zero draft before Christmas. 50,000 words will get me most of the way there, if not to the end (I have no idea how many words are written on the story at this point, though I think even 10,000 is still a low estimate).

I call it a zero draft because I know trying to finish it in a month, well, it's gonna be pretty rough, too rough to even fairly call it a first draft, and I'm okay with that. But I need the words on the page before I can do anything else.

So is anyone else doing NaNo this year? If you are and you want to connect for encouragement's sake, I am SabrinaV there.

Happy writing, everyone.

The Forest for the Trees

2011-10-14T15:34:00.004-10:00

Yes, I changed the look of the blog. Much like my personal spaces, I occasionally get the urge to rearrange things.

It's also thematic.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the different paths and roads I've taken to get to where I am in my writing--how far my skill has progressed, what process works best for the way I write, what actions I've taken thus far to get better.

1. Mapless--I started writing stories by the seat of my pants, no idea where to begin, definitely no clue how to end, and often sparked by a single image or character. I started a lot of stories this way, but eventually finished one or two.

2. Obsessively marking my path after I've walked there--Like Gretal and her brother leaving breadcrumbs in their wake, or someone buying a postcard in every town they come to, I shifted slightly, still no clear objective of where I was going, but starting to keep track of where I'd been. I have one story with a separate file with chapter-by-chapter descriptions, another with scene-by-scene descriptions (and scene titles! I was listening to a lot of My Chemical Romance at the time, too). Helpful, but not quite the best route for me.

3. Not leaving the house without a map--well, more like, taking a few steps outside, realizing I had no map but did have a long way to go, and rushing back inside to rummage through things until I found a map. That's where I'm at right now. My clockwork ghost story is one that I wanted to write after I knew where I was going with it. What's the climax and what are a few of the main events? I had a beginning, I had hints and plenty of characters, more than I knew what to do with, but no clear plot. I left home, walked a bit, and hit a forest with far too much undergrowth to see any path, right or wrong.

This Thursday, I had a meeting at work, so got to spend a hour an a half on the bus. I decided that was a great amount of time to stop piddlefarting around and finally figure out what this story was doing. I drew a timeline. I marked the beginning of the story X, then starting filling in the information and events that I knew, X-18 years when our protagonist was born, X-23 when her parents met the greasy Cunningham, X+2 days when she hints her first big break, and promptly collapses and nearly dies. And so on. By the time I reached my destination, I knew where I was going (in the story). It's a great feeling, and it seems like this story I'd been dancing around is finally ready to be written. I am now doing my ~happywiggle~ dance.

None of these is the "perfect" method for me (assuming perfection exists). Even #3 took far too long to be reasonable. So I have not found my ninja way, but I'm getting closer. Ultimately, this just emphasizes the reminder "There is no one right way to write."

Find the way that works for you, but even as you search, keep writing.

Happy writing, everyone.

[I don't know why I can't see my followers anymore, though. Sad. I still <3 you all, though.]

The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Persephone, and an Herbalist walk into the Underworld...

2011-09-10T20:33:00.004-10:00

Just wanted to send everyone to look at a recent "The Big Idea" post by John Scalzi. Various authors write about their recents releases, usually with some really interesting background about their inspiration.

This one: The Big Idea is about Merrie Haskell's The Princess Curse, which stems from some of her own fears, and loves.

Check it out. I am going to be on the lookout for it when I next go to a bookstore.

August disappeared, but hey, what about books?

2011-09-09T14:10:00.004-10:00

With all the Borders closing, I am beyond irked and upset by their lack (in so many ways). I'm pretty sure this weekend will be the last for the Borders left on the island (the Waikele location closed earlier due to a different reason).

Without Borders, there will be two B&N left on Oahu, neither anywhere close to where I live.

So I get to thinking. I reach under the metaphorical bed for a dusty box I remember but haven't thought of for years. I dust it off, smile at the corner of a picture poking out from under the lid like a tongue, then I open it and rifle through the old, younger dreams of a me gone cynical and tired.

Is it so out of the realm of possibility and success to even vaguely consider in any whimsical, hypothetical way, that I might have the skills and resources to open a small bookstore nearby and in some way fill a tiny part of the footprint left behind Borders' departure?

SAD makes me irked

2011-07-15T17:18:00.002-10:00

Seasonal Affective Disorder usually refers to a tendency for people to become depressed or sad during the winter holidays.

For me, it usually manifests with irritability during the summer. (Not that I am diagnosed with it. It is just a trend in my moods.)

I am not a summer kind of gal, said the person living in Hawaii for 20 years. But we're getting towards those hotter days and it's much harder to concentrate on anything.

On top of my weather-induced mood shift, there are a number of things that will make it hard to get any writing done. But I plan to try.

My aunt is coming for a long visit soon.

But, despite a nice-looking work schedule (sure I won't be able to eat for most of my Mondays and Wednesdays, but that's not really new), which affords me time to hang out with the family and rest, I'll have to be more diligent about writing.

I am finally getting into the swing of my clockwork ghost story, and I'm typing up notes for a collaborative UF with someone. [That will hopefully keep my creative juices flowing.] So I'm hoping that devoting some bus time to writing longhand, as well as setting aside time when I get home from work on Tuesdays and Thursday (when I finish work early) will help make a lot of headway on both stories.

I am also hoping that having taught here for a year, there will be less prep to do in the mornings,so I'll have time in the air conditioned office to do some writing as well.

It'll mean a lot of early mornings, which I am not prone to when the time is my own (I stayed up until 1 last night and could've stayed up later except I knew I had plans today), but the plan is those will be productive early mornings.

Anyway, so that's the update from me. Now please enjoy this random photo:

Writing is Not Solitary

2011-07-08T20:18:00.005-10:00

I've been writing today.
I am in the midst of my two-week break between quarters, and although my time is full of other things (including some intensive spring cleaning for the whole house, gearing up for a visit from my aunt at the end of the month), I took today to write.

Shortly before dinner, and partly because of the heat, I decided to put my computer to sleep and rethink whether I wanted to continue writing after dinner. I ate, returned to my room and pondered. I woke it up and was going to shut down for the night when I checked a friend's blog.

There is a lot about writing that forces the writer to sit by him- or herself in a room with pen and paper, or computer, and work alone for hours, days, even weeks or months without real connections to other people. But it is not a solitary act.

It is not a solitary act.

Although some people don't work well with writing groups, usually a writer has at least someone they can talk to. This may be talking out plot points, or just looking for some encouragement. It may be a beta reader or a cheerleader. All have their purposes and place in the process. (I promise the alliteration isn't deliberate.)

Tonight, I regained the urge, even stronger than earlier today, to keep writing, to keep going for as long as I could. So thank you, fellow writer. I'd been sitting in a room by myself for too long.

Happy writing, everyone.

A Change of Pace?

2011-06-10T13:06:00.003-10:00

I am coming up on the final weeks of my fourth quarter teaching. These weeks will be incredibly and exhaustingly busy. Which makes it a bit of a surprise that earlier this week I had a spurt of "I wanna write. I wanna write right now!" and then actually wrote.

Lately, whenever I've had the urge, I have't had the time or honestly, just been too tired to do anything. When I did have teh time and energy, I didn't have the motivation.

Now, I've already talked about how much I love getting back to reading. I just finished An Artifical Night by Seanan McGuire, third book in her October Daye series and absolutely loved it, and I'll be starting the next, Late Eclipses, later today. But, the writing has taken a hit because of work and who knows how many psychological issues, so that I had the urge and followed through on it was pleasantly surprising. I rewrote the first couple of pages of my fae urban fantasy.

This Wednesday, I went to my writer's group and the general concensus was that the original pages were stronger in that the genre ("adult" UF vs. YA) and the attitude of the protagonist were clearer. I thought I had to change to the beginning of the story and apparently went too safe. It's hard to get shot down when you feel like you need more encouragement, but I'm going to take this as a sign that I'm ready to write again.

I want to write. I want to see my work in a bookstore. I want to inspire at least one other person to feel like their ideas are important and that they can do and be whatever they want. To get there, I need to write. And I want to. So I will.

Re-Crushing on Sabriel

2011-05-27T12:33:00.006-10:00

Last post--the shiny, far-off thing from weeks ago--I talked about my childhood book crushes and it reminded me that (1) I really loved the book Sabriel by Garth Nix, which I bought and have kept near at hand since fourth grade. But also (2) I had not the foggiest idea what happens in that book. Years with too many books in between dimmed my memory to little more than the knowledge that I enjoyed it and it was a good book.

I wanted to visit it again. I wanted to reread that book.

Friends and fellow writers, I love that book. Despite how absurdly busy I've been with work and trying (in a very real, but positive, sense forcing myself) to maintain some semblance of a social life, I made time and read that book on the bus and enjoyed every minute of it.

For the full impact of this you need to know that I rarely reread books, so much so that I can't remember the last time I reread a book before this month. My thinking always seemed to be, "There are so many books I haven't read for the first time, I should read those first, then reread these others." (Incongruously, if I love a book, I want to own it, even if I never read it again, because I always think I will at some point.)

So on the first Saturday of May (Free Comic Book Day), I picked up the rest of the Nix series and a Mercedes Lackey book, Intrigues, which was the sequel to Foundation. I had read Foundation a while back, so here is where the first stirrings of a change in habit arose. I reread it, then moved onto Intrigues in quick succession.

Afterwards, I reread Sabriel. And as soon as that was done, I leapt into Lirael, and just as quickly into book 3, Abhorsen. I finished that this morning, and in between some little necessary computer stuff, have been reading pages of Across the Wall, an anthology whose first story is a novella that takes place in the same world.

I really want Garth Nix to write more books set in this world. I really, really do. Each time I finish a book, I love the characters and stories and world more and more, and really want to keep going.

Although my plans for today involve socialization and singing loudly into a mirophone (I'm going out to karaoke), I will be spending a healthy chunk of time on the bus, which means although I am tucking a new notebook, an old notebook, and a sketchbook in my bag, Across the Wall is coming with me. And I will be turning it back to the library with the last Old Kingdom story singing through me, making me sigh wistfully for one more story.

I love these books. And I love rereading them. And I am going to amend my thinking of the process because even if it pushes back equally good books that I haven't yet read, there is a warmth and excitement to reading a book I've read before that I won't deny anymore.

I Have a Confession...

2011-04-23T21:41:00.007-10:00

I've got a crush. Actually a number of them. Since my youthful years so long ago.

I'm picking up this topic from Jennifer Ambrose at The Charmed Bracelet. (Go there and read hers, it's a good post, along with many others!) She brought up the subject of literary crushes from childhood, which got me thinking about my own reading habits from yesteryears.

To be honest, I don't think I read as much fantasy when I was younger. The books that stick out for me now were mostly school books: "The Great Gilly Hopkins" (I loved how tough she was), "Julie of the Wolves" (possibly the start of my love for wolves), "Bridge to Terabithia" (I wished the world they created was real, and even now, I cry a little near the end), and "Tuck Everlasting" (I think my opinion of Winnie and the story changed every few pages, it brought up some complicated issues with immortality to my young mind).

My introduction to fantasy was probably through movies--I can still recite whole passages from "Labryinth" even though it's been a few years since I've watched it--but my first fantasy book that I recall was in fifth grade. [This is another story for another post about an awesome substitute I had. I'll tell it you later. ;) ]

After that, there were some books and characters that really stayed with me, mostly in the fantasy genre.

1. Vanyel Ashkevron in The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey

He went through a lot of tragedy, but he still worked hard to protect those he cared about, and he sacrificed a lot. I was struck by how he just kept going, even when he wanted to quit. This was also the first book I recall having gay and lesbian characters, who were main characters and side characters, and who were treated as individuals (both by the author and within the story's society). This is still something I feel is lacking in a great many books.

2. Alanna from The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce

I should add the main character of Pierce's second Tortall quartet as well, Daine (and, frankly, her third with Keladry). Alanna was a twin (which I am not, but twins are awesome!), and she defied her family in order to become a knight. She was strong-willed and created a new family of friends and people she cared for and who cared for her (Jonathan, George, and the royal spymaster, Miles, a great father figure). I've always liked stories that showed the important side of friendship and non-blood families.

Daine was a softer character, a little more introverted, and had that wolf connection I loved, and I felt a more personal connection to her. I think that's something a lot of [young] readers look for, a character they can step into.

3. Sabriel from the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix

I saw this at a Scholastic book fair at my school. I will admit part of the reason I picked it up was because the titular character had a name similar to mine. A young girl on a journey to find and rescue her father, taking up a huge responsibility in the process--now that I think about it, this might have appealed because of my own childhood a little bit, where I felt my responsibilities (to get As in school, be "perfect") an inescapable burden, but one I was driven to achieve. Honestly, I really need to reread this series, because I've enjoyed Nix's other work and it's been far too long since I traveled with Sabriel.

4. Dorothy and Elphaba from "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked" by L. Frank Baum and Gregory MacGuire, respectively

(Idina Menzel as Elphaba)

Okay, so I've read these both in only the past few years, but the play of good versus evil and how those lines can be blurred so much is a theme I'm finding in some of my own work. I saw the Judy Garland film when I was very young and of course, imagined myself in Dorothy's place, but nowadays I think of that scene when the pair first meet and of the confrontation that ends with a bucket of water, and I ponder all the possibilities for new and different stories. Like a lot of fairy tales, I'd like to find a new interpretation and write my own version, because I think there's a lot to be said for finding or making your own path, listening to authority, and the homes and families you make for yourself.

(I feel like there may be a analytical article in all that. Huh.)

***

There are others. I stuck to characters from series, but as I mentioned in Ambrose's comment section, Eddi from "War for the Oaks" and Jack from "Jack of Kinrowan" are also strong characters that have stayed with me through the years and deserve a reread. They've also helped shape me as a writer in ways I can hardly begin to quantity or qualify.

So dear readers, who are your literary crushes from your childhoods? I'd like to know. I'm curious that way. Comment and better yet, link to your own post. I'd love to read them!

Blogger Cookies, not the tasty kind

2011-04-14T18:09:00.004-10:00

Blogger apparently doesn't want me to comment on posts anymore, blaming my cookie settings, which I never change (though I did delete them recently, along with my temporary files). I've gone into my internet options to allow Blogger cookies and it still won't let me leave a comment. In my own blog. Ergh. >.<

I'll admit it. Computers confuse me. I will never understand them quite as thoroughly as I'd like to. (~~~flashback~~~ I was halfway through high school before we even had a computer in our house. Even then, I got it as a donation from my school, from the bunch they were getting rid of, because we couldn't afford one otherwise. ~~~end flashback~~~)

Anyway, there's are posts coming in the next few days, but I'm hopefully going to figure this blogger/cookie thing first.

In the meantime, head on over to The Charmed Bracelet and read about Jennifer's first literary crushes.

(SAWD) Seasons Affecting Writing Disorder

2011-04-12T17:59:00.005-10:00

Not quite like Seasonal Affective Disorder, but it hit pretty suddenly today all the same.

See, most days lately have been like this:

*

(Not actually Hawaii, but it has been rather overcast here, so our skies have looked quite a bit similar.)

But today, when I had work to do on the computer, so I knew I'd have it on all day (in a house with no AC, ugh), it was a hot day. It felt more like this:

**

What does this all have to do with writing?

I finished one novel in the wee hours between 10 pm and 2 am over winter break one year, completed another in fits and starts, also into the wee hours while living in the dorms, but between these two, I wrote another novel all on my own--these others I completed by having professors waiting for pages. This other novel, I wrote the summer after I graduated with my Bachelors'. I was at home, resting after going full-force for far too many years, but I very quickly got antsy.

I don't do well at home with no plans or expectations. I don't do well with prolonged lazy.

But that summer, it was hot. This heavy, oppressive heat that just settles on your head and shoulders, and basically, every exposed inch of flesh. But I spent hours on my computer, typing hundreds of thousands of words until I had a complete draft.

This heat today felt like that. Somehow I had forgotten how hot summers get here (I know, people who have been to other areas of the U.S. and world can argue, but I am not a fan of hot weather, so this is unpleasant). But just a few moments of realization and I was brought back to that summer, how accomplished I felt, and despite the heat, was ready and gearing up to work on my new novel.

I know, I know, what I need to do is focus on editing one thing, not write a new one. :P

(This rambly kind of post has been brought to by a day filled with non-fun-writing work and the letters s and t, for sore throat. Yeah. I really hope I'm not getting sick.)

Happy writing everyone, regardless of the weather outside your door or in your room.

*First photo is borrowed from: http://climate101withjason.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html
**Second photo from this blog and credited thusly: "Picture taken by Peter near Longreach, western Queensland, in July 2004."

LGBT "Issues" in Genre Fiction

2011-04-05T11:16:00.003-10:00

Disclaimer: I've been thinking about this topic for days, so below are my thoughts and opinions as they are right now. I won't claim they're 100% correct or complete (I always forget something, it feels), and I certainly don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I don't want to start any fights. I just felt the need to organize my thoughts and present them here.

***
I say "issues" in quotation marks because a friend said something a few weeks back that struck me. "LGBT aren't issues, we're people." They're also individuals, but it seems lately, various people are too fond of treating them as a lump group.

So some of you may have heard about the Wicked Pretty Things anthology, and how one author's story, which had been accepted, was then rejected. The editor told the author she needed to change the gender of one character, so that the primary relationship was male/female, rather than male/male. This is despite the fact that it was m/m when first submitted and accepted. Other authors in the anthology have also subsequently pulled out of the project.

I won't try to guess at what the editor was thinking or how she truly feels about the situation or the story element in question. It'd be all speculation and unfair.

What I do want to discuss/think aloud about, is the fact that the presence of LGBT characters is becoming a bigger topic in the publishing industry, and one that despite a broad awareness, doesn't seem to have made much progress.

In an urban fantasy I'm working on, I have two characters who are openly gay and in a relationship. It's a challenge for me to write them being affectionate, more because I still have a lot to learn about romance in a writing sense and consider myself a novice in that area, and because I want to find a balance between not hiding their relationship and fan service (gratuitous affection), neither of which is fair. My goal is the portrayal of a solid relationship between two adults who, because of the story plot, have to deal with a lot of new stressors on their relationship.

I feel like it shouldn't matter whether these characters are gay or straight in order for me to show that, and I think it should have no bearing (I hoe it doesn't) on how likely I am to get this story published. I try to mimic real life in my casts, and in real life, a 3/4 Japanese woman in her 20s, living near the West Coast, is going to know a diverse group of people.

These two aren't my main characters, though they are present throughout the story, but there seem to be very few (if any) fantasy stories in the mainstream with LGBT characters, let alone as protagonists. That needs to change. One can make the argument (and as I heard some time last year, when a lot of blogs were debating about the inclusion of characters of color in fantasy) that a straight white girl shouldn't be writing characters who are gay men. ~shrug~ I can't say I'll get it right the first time, or the second, but I think there needs to be more diversity in fantasy, and if I can write a character who is foremost a person, and identifying as gay is one aspect of their personality, then I'm not going to shirk from that based on another individual's opinion.

I can only do my best to help make this change, but it's a change for the best IMHO, and I think the only way it will become more acceptable in mainstream publishing is for more people to include LGBT characters, and for more people to make it known that they'd read stories with LGBT characters. There's too much disconnect, so it seems, between what readers want, and what publishers/editors/etc. think readers want. That needs to change, too.

The Charmed Lives from Diana's Castle

2011-03-26T17:36:00.005-10:00

Diana Wynne Jones is dead. Apparently she died last night (early in the morning of the 26th). She'd been dealing with cancer, which temporarily went into remission. More details are on her website.

I was just going online for a short break, and found this. It breaks my heart.

A few years ago (while working on my master's thesis, I believe), a friend recommended her book, "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland." It was hilarious and on point and so much fun (I kinda wanted to "forget" to return my friend's copy, but I was nice and gave it back). Since then, I've bought most of the Dalemark books from a library book sale, borrowed from the library (and then bought in omnibi) the Chrestomani books, and just as eagerly swiped up every book set in the world of Howl's Moving Castle that I could find. I ordered online "Mixed Magics," a Chrestomani anthology, and bought from Borders the anthology, "Unexpected Magic," which I read in bits and bobs when I need something short but damn good to make me happy.

In my heart, I continued to hope for more Chrestomanci books with Cat and Christopher, as well as stories featuring Sophie and Howl. I've yet to read a DWJ book with which I was disappointed.

Every death of a fantasy/sci fi writer leaves me feeling a little despondent, but this one hits particularly close to home. There are apparently two more books coming out by DWJ, "Earwig and the Witch," a short novel, and a collection of her lectures, articles and interviews. I look forward to both. According to her website, her papers are being preserved in Seven Stories, a gallery and archive for children's books. I would like to go there.

Although she may be considered a writer of children's books, Diana Wynne Jones was an author for everyone, regardless of age.

Cranes: A Symbol of Wanting Hope

2011-03-19T09:25:00.000-10:00

I live in Hawaii, so even if you know nothing else about origami, chances are you've made at least one origami crane in your life.

There's a tradition that if you make a 1,000 cranes, you get a wish. I went to a graduation party once, where 1,000 cranes were scattered around the tables to be unfolded later to make a wish for the graduate's mother (whose health wasn't good).

It was interesting to think of creating a wish by effort, by doing work, which built up the hope. It was a nice thought.

Therefore, below are the details for Students Rebuild, which is working with DoSomething.org to send aid/donations to Japan.

Make as many cranes as you can, take a picture and email it to Students Rebuild, then send the cranes themselves. They're looking for a total of 100,000, which will result in a $200,000 donation from Bezos Family Foundation.

In their words:

"Help Japan by making paper cranes. These simple yet powerful gestures will trigger a $200,000 donation from the Bezos Family Foundation - $2 for each crane received - to Architecture for Humanity's reconstruction efforts in Japan. Once we reach our goal of 100,000 submissions, the cranes will be woven into an art installation - a symbolic gift from students around the globe to Japanese youth.

Questions? Email us at info@studentsrebuild.org"

And a breakdown of the steps:

"1. Make a paper crane (watch a how-to video)

2. Snap a photo and upload it, along with a message of support to the Facebook page "Paper Cranes for Japan."

3. Turn your crane into dollars for reconstruction - and eventually an art installation - by mailing it to us. Or, team up with friends and fold as many as you can! Email us to receive a pre-paid shipping label for large boxes (over 50 cranes please).

Students Rebuild
1700 7th Avenue
STE 116 # 145
Seattle, WA 98101"

So get together with friends, have fun, and build a little hope with some time and effort.

Quick Update about Tsunami Post

2011-03-15T12:36:00.003-10:00

Just wanted to let anyone who'd read it know that the friend of a friend was finally able to contact her family and friends (yesterday or earlier today I believe), and she's fine. She had been without power at home, but is now in a hotel. So she's good--not super keen on all the public attention, but we're all just happy she's okay.

Thanks to everyone who shared their concern and suggestions.

~Sabrina

Please Respond if you have any information

2011-03-13T08:15:00.003-10:00

Hawaii seems to have bounced back fairly quickly from our tsunami. Japan, not so much. I've heard that the Japanese government has even set up a website where people can post the names of missing family members and search for information about them.

Amanda is someone I know on Livejournal through a mutual friend who has been living in Japan the last few years, near Sendai in Higashi-Matsushima.

No one has heard from her since the earthquake and tsunami hit.

Our mutual friend and Amanda's family and other friends have searched for information on People Finder, but there're still no updates, and no one has been able to get in contact with her yet (which doesn't mean the worst, since a lot of places around there have little to no power or cell service, but...no one likes a cat in a box with no windows).

This article and video: Parents Desperate for word from daughter in Japan is about her. It's a long shot, but if anyone might know anything--knows someone in Japan from the area, or has a suggestion of where to look or post information next--please let me know and I'll pass it on.

Thank you.

Tsunami in Japan and Hawaii

2011-03-11T07:27:00.003-10:00

First of all, my sincerest sympathies and good wishes to everyone and anyone in Japan affected by both the earthquake and the tsunami which hit last night, and to anyone worrying and waiting to hear from friends and relatives in Japan.

Last night, around 9 pm, my mother, sister and I heard about the earthquake in Japan, 8.9, and the tsunami created in its wake. Then we immediately heard that Hawaii was at risk for a rather large tsunami as an effect. Due to hit about 2:55 a.m.

Some months back, there was another tsunami warning, but it ended up only being a couple of inches, rather anti-climactic, thankfully. This time, as I apparently do with most major disasters, I watched the news for a few minutes then found something to distract myself (I think to avoid dealing with something so large that I feel useless to stop it). I live in Central Oahu--generally, if there's something coming and it's going to hit that far inland, there's not much I can do about it anyway. (Instead, I watched the Adam Lambert performance from the American Idol results show that I had recorded earlier and a few minutes of "27 Dresses".)

Eventually I was able to go to sleep, despite the emergency broadcast sirens going off every hour or so. According to the news, the tsunami hit Oahu around 3:30 a.m., sweeping around Kaua'i, then O'ahu, then Maui and the Big Island. Luckily, there hasn't been much damage, but buses still aren't running, evac zones are still evacuated, and we are still waiting for the all-clear.

Tsunami waves aren't always the big waves most people imagine, but more like a rising in sea level. Video from the near Japan showed an actual--large--wave, but right now I think we're just waiting to see if subsequent waves are as bad or if they'll lessen as they approach. By the time they got here, they'd already lessened somewhat, so no major damage so far.

Anyway, I woke up super early, so I figured I'd jump on and give you all an update so you wouldn't worry too much. (And then my internet became troublesome.)

My condolences to everyone in Japan hurt or suffering the damages of the earthquake and tsunami, and to anyone who is worrying and waiting to hear from someone in those regions. I saw the video last night and this morning and it hasn't been good.

Update: I'm watching the news, and Gov. Abercrombie has officially changed the status from Tsunami Warning to Tsunami Advisory, a lesser degree, which means some people who had evacuated can go home (not all if there was flooding).

For anyone who is in Hawaii, please don't go in the water. There are still "significant" waves. According to Lara Yamada at KITV, the tsunami will still be going on for another few hours.

An Un-Birthday Request

2011-02-19T20:24:00.002-10:00

Hi all. I have returned again, some more, finally.

Rather than make excuses, I'll just forge ahead to my purpose today: My birthday is coming up at the end of the month, but it's been a stressful 2011 so far (and Valentine's was not one of my favorites this time around).

So, I love birthdays. It's not just the whole 'presents' deal, but there's something about a birthday that makes it better than a normal holiday. I think it's because it's the one day people celebrate you. That you're here. Not to go the "special snowflake" route, but I think it's nice to be the focus of people's attention, at least once a year. I have this child-like excitement for the day that I honestly hope won't go away as I get older. I hate the thought of dreading my birthday.

This year, however, because of my work schedule, I won't really get to do anything on the day itself. My family is celebrating the day before, and I'm hoping to get a few friends together to celebrate the day after (my shorter work day). But this year, teh day itself will be pretty low-key, so I was thinking.

What I was wondering, since I am trying to write more, is if there are any aspects of a story you'd like to see in a short piece of writing? An archetype or character, a magical power, a twist on an old story or fairy tale, or a particular setting. I'll take all the suggestions and try to write a short story that includes all of them. If it doesn't completely make me want to set my laptop on fire, I'll post the final product for people to read and hopefully be entertained by.

So, anything come to mind?

X-Men

2011-01-23T08:33:00.004-10:00

New Year's is going well so far. I think Tuesdays and Thursdday will be good days for writing, because my schedule was changed so I just have the one class, then can go home. It gives me time to rest a bit, maybe eat something and still write and do work.

Moving on the real subject, however brief, I've been reading a lot of X-Men comics. I've always been a fan, but never bought the comics myself (my sister had when I was younger, or I'd read the library copies), because it just added up to too much money. I bought Elfquest instead. :)

I don't know if others have this problem, but when I do something for a long time, or put a lot of focus on one thing--rubic's cube, a particular computer game, heavy workload--I close my eyes and still see it. My mind will create its own gameboard and run through the game or I'll see myself teachign a class or trying to explain something to a student. I think it's a bit of the way my brain processes information, but it means that reading over a dozen X-men graphic novels leaves images of mutants running, falling, flying, fighting. Sometimes they're actual characters, sometimes they're amalgamations or original creations of my brain.

Maybe I'm just weird.

I wish I had the skill to draw some of what I see. But I was wondering what it might say for my writing process. Maybe this is unrelated, but once some critiquers said my writing wrote like I played a lot of RPGs or RPG videogames, which left me very confused because I don't. I wonder if that comment was tied to writing visually, though. Thinking too much about how everything looks, as if it's a movie playing in your head, but my head is so full of stuff, any movie I "wrote" in it would be jumpy and haphazard.

I'm still noodling over those thoughts. Just figured I'd share for now. I'm off to do the usual Sunday morning routine then meet up with a friend for a movie and bookshopping (the same friend lending me his vast collection).

Happy writing.

Happy New Year--2011 edition

2011-01-01T13:33:00.004-10:00

Happy New Year, Everyone!

After midnight, after finshing a comic (X-Men graphic novel featuring Mystique, Rogue and Nightcrawler), after a shower and bed, after waking up multiple times because of phone calls and finally staying up, and after getting some coffee, it is New Year's Day. I am reading blogs.

One was written by Owl, and it got me thinking about who I am and how I define myself, how I define "happy," whether I am happy and if not, how to get there. I've only just begun to think about it, so I don't want to offer you readers a muddled, rambly mess. I know that's my mood right now.

Instead, I'll share what I originally planned to, not my resolutions (I haven't decided on those yet), but my plans for today.

I decided to start a new tradition for myself, that on the first day of the new year, I will take some time to do a little bit of everything I love or want to improve on in this year. For instance:

1. Blog (clearly need to improve that)
2. Write some new pages on Clockwork Seams (I want to finish the first draft)
3. Rewrite/revise Hounds (I have some ideas for rewriting the beginning so it doesn't jump around and to fix some other ideas, now I need to do it)
4. Clean (I have a finite space, but ever-increasing amounts of clothes, books, and paper, not good)
5. Day job stuff (I need better time-management, so a little work today is a good start)
6. Some crafting (make a necklace or sew something, I have the materials and my sewing machine is still out, why not use it?)
7. Take a walk around the neighborhood (structured exercise is exceptionally hard to me to maintain, but healthy habits are good)
8. Read a book (I haven't been in the mood for a while, but the urge is building and once I start, I probably won't be able to stop)
9. Draw (the ideas are on the top of my brain)
10. Eat some french toast (I got a hankering for it this morning, found an easy recipe and tried it out--it was okay, too much cinnamon, and I was worried about the eggs being underdone, but I cooked something I'd never made before, yay new experiences!)

So as of right now, 1 and 10 are complete, 2, 3, and 5 will probably occur later in the day, and 4 is looking like my next step. I don't plan to spend a huge amount of time on all of them, but enough to feel accomplished, I think.

Feeling productive at the end of the day is always good, in my opinion, and as I said to a friend, I think this is a good way to start the new year on a high point.

Whish leads to me ask, what are your plans for today, readers and friends?
~Sabrina

Filling the Void with TV

2010-12-29T16:23:00.004-10:00

Since I was young, I needed noise to get work done. It's a funny balance, though. I can and did finish many hours of homework with the tv on. Around 4th grade I'd sit on the floor and use my bed as a desk, so I had the sound of afternoon cartoons behind me. (I also went to bed with the TV on, not purposely at first, and my dad would come in after I'd fallen asleep and turn it off, then one day he figured out how to set the timer.)

The trick to being productive hinged on having the right program. In the early to mid-90s, that meant X-Men cartoon reruns. A few years ago, it was The Wedding Singer and Music and Lyrics. The past few days I've discovered a new filler, something to keep me focused (something about absolute silence usually makes it hard for me to focus) without being so consuming that I ignore my work: Community.

My sister had season 1 and I'd missed some episodes, but even though I really enjoy this show and find Abed to be a great metafictional figure (in the picture below, he is doing a matrix-like run and leap in a Mad Max-esque game of paintball), I was able to watch it and still get my work done.

I even stayed up until 1 last night finishing some work and watching the Valentine's Day episode (extended version). Not everyone is a fan of Chevy Chase (I like him in Three Amigos), but the ensemble works really well together.

It's interesting how different people have different movies and shows that fulfill this role. Usually tv on dvd doesn't work for me. And some people can only work with music playing and not television--the visual aspect is distracting (and I've seen that happen far too often with myself). Others do need the silence.

So how about the rest of you? How do you work and write? What movies, shows, or music help keep you focused, if any?

[My playlists when I write are a whole 'nother post. ;) Maybe later.]

Winter Edition: Giving thanks

2010-12-24T22:34:00.001-10:00

Just taking a moment to say Happy Holidays to everyone out there. I know it's Christmas tomorrow, but I hope everyone, regardless of religion or preferred holiday merriment, is taking some time during these winter months to relax, reflect and enjoy the company of friends and family.

Happy Holidays.
Happy New Year.
Happy Writing.

~Sabrina

If Only I Had the Time...

2010-12-23T09:47:00.003-10:00

I try not to utter these words. I tend to think, at least for me, they're a bit of a cop out, so I catch myself whenever I start thinking them.

Instead, I will mention all the ideas I have had lately for editing one of my stories. I better beginning, a way to make the beginning first chapters more succinct and less rambling.

Hanukkuah is over, Christmas and Kwanzaa are coming, and then there's the new year. To wrap up 2010 I am trying to finishing my grading today, then I am organizing my recipes (for next week when I'll be baking), reorganizing my room, as much as I can in this limited space, and trying to get a head start on next quarter. I'll have a week after January 5, but the more I can get done now, the better I think.

With all of that, I hope to rewrite those early chapters, maybe reach a point where I'm happy enough with the story to send it out again.

That is my hope and wish for 2011, to send out queries for a story I am absolutely proud of. May your ideas be fruitful and your writing come with the ease of inspiration.

Thanksgiving Eve already?

2010-11-24T21:16:00.002-10:00

I have written. A few days after that previous post (okay, around the 13th), I got out another couple thousand words written, from 2,000 and something to 4,423. And I'm proud of that even though I haven't nearly reached the goal I would have liked to reach, and haven't fully gotten back in the writing habit. Even now I am only taking a few quick minutes to update here, but then I have grades to update.

And tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the history of which I have great issues with--I know I've been raised in a privileged home, even if we were never more than middle-middle class (lower-middle class even, though I didn't think of life in those terms and never felt deprived), and I try my hardest to learn all I can about history and other cultures and traditions, while trying to get rid of any prejudices I may have (I won't claim to have none, but I don't like it, so I try to recognize it and reverse it). Thanksgiving is steeped like a dark, bitter tea in twisted symbolism and skewed events.

But I can't help but like the (more modern?) idea behind it, of taking time in a busy world to show gratitude for what you have and to say thank you for the wonderful people who stand beside you--both literally for those near at hand, and figuratively, for friends and family who live in the colder places, but whose warmth still reaches across the distance.

On a stressful day when my timecard was giving me trouble, a small thanks to the IT guy for walking me through the fix. And thanks to a fellow writer for encouraging the writer in me who just wants to curl up and sleep all too often these days (for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which has been a cold and chillier nights), and a thank you to the people who thank me, because something as small as that makes my day, knowing my words however few and faint, reached someone and meant something to them.

So thank you to my readers here, to my friends, to my fellow writers.

Day 1 of my Word Counting

2010-11-07T07:29:00.002-10:00

524 words. Which were actually written this morning, but I am counting as yesterday's word count.

I like these words, too, even though I am rushing because I have to water the plants and get dressed (not in that order) before heading out for the day. It's a good start, and even though I still have a lot of other work to do, I am going to try and get in another short writing session tonight.

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

My Own Personal NaNo

2010-11-06T17:30:00.004-10:00

So I -have- to get more writing time in. Today has not been a good example of that, but considering the number of novel drafts I've completed, I know I cna do it, which means I have no excuse.

[Note how much I have to bully myself, though?]

So I have the sorta-steampunk ghost story, "Clockwork Seams," about a girl who knows how to sew, but wants to follow in her inventor-mother's footsteps, and the ghost who follows her around, making quips and acting as guinea pig for her ghost-geared inventions.

Together they stumble upon plans to turn the ghosts of Charleton into the fuel for...something. The guy has plans centered on power and greed (don't they all? It's that or revenge). They also learn the girl's father, long thought dead, might be alive and fighting behind the scenes to stop Mr. Villain. Miriam and Ambrose are determined to stop him and find her father, the task which led to her mother's death. [You can see where my idea for the plot flounders a tad.]

As of right now, I have 2,267 words typed. I also have some pages hand-written but not transcribed. So my goal, even though I am starting six days late, is to end up with 50,000 words by December 1. When I transcribed a portion I'll mention they aren't "new" words, but I'll count them towards the total anyway. The underlying goal is to get back in the habit of writing every day. [And if I write on another story, like the YA pirate fantasy or something short for my writer's group, I'll post those numbers, too, but they won't count towards the total.]

It'll also get me back on my laptop more regularly (no more "I'm tired" as an excuse there, either!), and blogging more often; so every night, or the next morning, I'll post my word count. Beginning tonight. Expect a new post, either before I go to bed or before I leave the house tomorrow morning, with an updated word count on "Clockwork Seams." And if that number is the same, well, feel free to call me on it.

Wish me luck, and to everyone out there working on their WIPs or doing NaNo, good luck and happy writing!

Three weeks, really Sabrina!?

2010-11-04T08:58:00.004-10:00

I scold myself, I really do. I feel like I've hardly been on my computer in this time, let alone thought about blogging. Even now this must be short because there is other work glaring at me and tapping its foot impatiently.

Long story short, work is eating my brain.

But I was thinking about NaNo (National Novel Writing Month--and why does my hand stay on shift key with I type the abbreviation, so it comes out NaNO?), and although I haven't signed up on the official website, and don't intend to, I was thinking of using it as a chance to write again.

I've been distracted and busy and have plenty of excuses that can get more obscure, entertaining and convoluted if I had the time, but I figured I'd drop in really quick and ask my readers:

What do you do when you're so busy, it feels like there's no time to write, and in the free time you do have, you're so tired even watching t.v. is too much effort?

This is what I've been asking myself lately without an answer to grab onto floating by (along with "Why don't recovering perfectionists have support groups or well known methods of changing both the behavior and the thinking?"). Any ideas?

Separated by Half an Ocean

2010-10-07T22:50:00.005-10:00

Maybe it's appropriate that I mistyped the first word as "seaparated."

Nights like tonight--when it's edging towards 11 p.m. and I am tired from working all day, but have vowed not to go to sleep until my work is done--that I am occasionally struck by my distance to other writers whom I know online. Most of the friends that I connect with via the internet are four or five or six hours ahead of me (I'm never a hundred percent sure because I horrible with time zones, you crazy mainlanders and your daylight savings). In those wee hours of the morning, most of them are asleep, some might even be starting their days in a couple of hours.

It makes me feel terribly behind.

I live in a place still described as "paradise," where images like the above are probably pretty pervasive on the mainland (they certainly are here, tourism is still where we hang out economy) as the norm. How many movies, wherein a character travels to Hawai'i, is greeted by a grass-clad hula dancer with a lei?

Not here. I don't think there was anything like that when my family first arrived in 1990, though at the time, if you were meeting someone at the airport, chances are they'd have a lei with them. Nowadays you can't even meet people at the gate.

But I'm getting off-track. I do like Hawaii, kinda hard to think of leaving forever (all my books are here), but nights like tonight, when it would be nice to chat about writing, or work, or my proscrastination in regards to either of those topics, no one is around. The internet is empty, I can hear my text echoing -ing -ing.

And when everyone else is reading blogs in the morning, jumping into their day, I'll still be sleeping for a couple more hours. And I wait up thinking everyone else is gone again, lost in their own work, and I've come in late again.

Upside? I get verbose, and usually, if no blog post distracts me, I can get a lot done. That's how I completed my master's thesis--2,000 to 3,000 a night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. when I was most awake and eager to interact with someone. Barring that, I interacted with my characters.

Oh well. I still have syllabi to complete. :)

Happy Thursday writing, everyone, even though my Thursday is in 50 minutes.
~Sabrina

Interlude: A Vacation that's Not

2010-10-05T09:33:00.002-10:00

On Friday, I submitted my final grades. By Friday afternoon, I was home and my first quarter as a teacher was over. I gave myself the weekend to not worry--I worried, but not enough to waste the weekend with work--and yesterday began a week of work before my second quarter begins on the 11th.

Also on the 11th, my family has a friend coming to visit. So this week is preparing two new syllabi for a different English class and an intro to psych (yes, I am squeeing even as I type that), and tweaking my syllabus for Eng. 105. (There's some stuff I want to keep but change a bit, other stuff I might cut down.) On top of that is cleaning the house. Those of you who have known me for a while might know just how little room there is in my house, so cleaning involves a lot of dusting of tiny tchotchkes, hiding excess stuff that takes up space, and rearranging things. We just have too many belongings for a house this small. Also we are cooking a lot. My mother insists on having homemade sauce and pasta ready for whenever her friend wants it. [And I gardened on Saturday and did -not- rip my hand open dealing with the roses. Go me!]

What it boils down to is a lot of work during a single week when I would rather write. I'm also preparing for Christmas and the winter holidays. I love Halloween, but I never seem to have anything to do that night. We never throw parties and I don't seem to have friends that throw Halloween parties, and I'm not one who's super big on wandering the bars. And then, judging form the one craft project I was going to do two months ago, it's clear that during the quarter I won't get a lot of time to craft, so I'm taking some time now to figure out what I'm going to make versus buy, and be ready for it, So if I have an easy weekend work-wise, I can get crafty.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. How about all of you?

Back from the Grave

2010-09-18T22:44:00.002-10:00

I know, it's almost the end of September. Where have I been?

The short answer is work.

The long answer is...well, no work about sums it up. It is good and fulfiling, especially when I connect with a student, but it is time-consuming as all get out.

The quarter is over in two weeks, but this week is just a smidge hellish, because I'm grading three classes' worth of essays, and every other activity they turned in this week, and a few from last week, for four classes. It adds up. I also want to make my exams, I need two, and along with that the exam review game (modified jeopardy). I should probably also fix my watch, which over the last three years has slowed down to the point of being about ten minutes behind, and it'd be good to give students an accurate account of their time during presentations, which start the second half of this week.

So tomorrow will be busy, and though I considered updating here earlier today, I'd put it aside because I was working. But then I jumped back on the computer to email a student, and figured I could spare a few minutes. I have five more essays I want to grade tonight, and then churchy time tomorrow will actually be 'grading in a dark corner of the santuary, hope the different space will help me focus.'

Today I had a very hard time focusing, you see. I am ashamed of myself. I want to accomplish so much, and that seems to be the impetus for my brain, "Oh no no no, you want to finish the last four volumes of the 18-volume manga series you're rereading (D. Gray-man for the curious, very good). That too is an accomplishment." And I say, "Oh brain," and shake my head at its silly suggestion, look at the giant stack of essays, then read two volumes of manga.

I probably shouldn't mention thta on a public blog, huh? But, I am getting work done. I took a break with the manga, and that refreshed me enough to get back to work, despite the heat of the day, which is also quite the deterrent. (And the library isn't open for long on Saturday, and not at all Sunday. How sad.)

So my weekdays are chock-full of work, as are the weekends, and I occasionally remember to eat and sleep, mostly because people yell at me and say, "Sabrina, don't make come over there and beat you with a breadloaf until you have to eat your way free." Or something to that effect. Not that I want to skip meals, but I am not a breakast person, so half the time I forget, and I never have time for lunch. I am trying, though. I usually have a granola bar handy.

Lastly, I am a doofus, and I fell off the bus yesterday. I was laden down with new textbooks for next quarter, and was a bit lopsided, do as I was stepping down the last step of the bus onto the ground (hand gripped on the door handle), my left ankle turned and my leg buckled (or the other way around, I'm not sure), and I kinda went straight down. I did have a moment to think, "I am falling, how I avoid falling flat on my face?" so sacrificed my right knee and landed hard on it. A bit scrapped up, but I didn't drop my books, or take a header into the concrete and gravel.

So all in all, that was a good day. I also got to pass along the 'Tim Gunn takes on superhero costumes' YouTube interview, which Jennifer Ambrose first posted about.

Well, I've given you all plenty to read, and it's 11 p.m., and I still have a few essays to get through. I hope everyone else is doing well. Goodnight.

Happy writing,
Sabrina

Blog Recommendation

2010-08-29T07:14:00.003-10:00

A friend of mine recently created a blogger for some of his flash fiction. The Goblin Monologues. (I really want to know where the name from, I'll have to ask him later today.) The stories are intriguing and curious, and I recommend them for anyone who loves a short piece of fiction with a magical twist.

[Disclaimer: I amd oing this of my own accord. XD I hope he doesn't mind.]

Sharing a Contest

2010-08-16T15:56:00.002-10:00

Writtenwyrdd is having another contest on her blog, which is generally an informative and fun place to be, so a contest is just pomegranate molasses in your chocoloate chip cookie (trust me, it's delicious).

Anyway...(tangent, where? Me? nah.) Here is the link to the contest. Last time, her prizes included aplush Cthulhu. This time she's offering a Bobble Head Buddy Jesus (yep, from Dogma), a Nunzilla, "Steampunk" an anthology (which I am enthused about), and possibly some art from writtenwyrdd herself.

Note: The deadline is the 22nd of August. [Sso I am not terribly behind in missing this, you have until Sunday.]

Go forth and write my minions!...Uh, I mean, readers. Happy writing.

Great book find!

2010-08-09T17:20:00.003-10:00

Is it bad my reference when I hear "Dulac" is to jump to the scene in Shrek when the puppets sing that "It's a Small World" spoof?

Yeah, that's bad.

But besides my mind singing that every time I think of this name, I went to Borders a few weeks back while in the mood to spend money, and I had picked up a couple of manga. They'd been out for a while, but I hadn't felt compelled to get them. I was mostly picking them up that day because of the urge to go home with something.

Well, I was in a bit of a bad mood for some other reason, so I was walking through the store and talking with my sister. As we turn to head back towards the table where our writer's group meets, I saw the fairy tale section. Jack Zipes and a dozen editions of Grimm's Fairy Tales. And on the top shelf, with a slightly bent corner, all by its lonesome: Dulac's Fairy Tale Illustrations.

Now, I told you that story to tell you this one. [Not really, that's a line from a Ron White special.] At the week-long McKinley booksale, I came across a collection of the Golden Age children's books illustrations, which included Dulac. Information and most of the authors had at least one reprint of their work. So when I saw the Dulac collection, I recognized the work and very quickly made the decision to put back one of the manga and grab it instead.

One of the neat things is, shortly after buying that, wherein an illustration from The Snow Queen includes a carrot-like creature with three goblins (one with a distinctly owlish face), the friend that supplies me in loaned Fables graphic novels, handed me the newest Jack of Fables. Who should be on the cover but Jack Frost, with three goblins and a carroty-looking creature.

I really need to reread The Snow Queen. I want to see what those guys are all about. Honestly, I don't think I've ever read the original/earliest written version.

Is it wrong to be so squeeful about this? 'Cause I am. XD

Tired, but feeling good

2010-07-19T18:01:00.002-10:00

Not a writing post, but I just finished my first official day of work. From my side of things, despite my being a bit nervous and worrying about time, the class seemed to go well.

It looked like, once we were done with the syllabus, they got into the ice breaker activity--I wanted them to have a conversation with someone they didn't know. Find out a few things, but converse instead of just asking X, Y, and Z and doing the bare minimum. I shared, too, and we laughed (with me, not at me, lol). That is a key determinant, in my view. If they're comfortable enough to joke around without being disruptive of the lesson, then I think they're more likely to pay attention.

I'm hoping that I can keep that sort of momentum going, even with "duller" topics like grammar and sentence structure.

But I made it through the day. Tomorrow I have two classes, and Wednesday is this one again. I am tired, but overall, happy. There were no rebellions, and I didn't even need to bringout The Gradebook of Doooooom! so yeah, that was cool.

:P

In other news, as I've been cleaning to make room for the work stuff and give it its own space, I have been organizing my craft supplies. I have been feeling the craft bug lo these many many past nights. I just don't know what I want to make yet. And I am tired and getting silly (getting? I am already there), so I'm done now. How are all of you?
~Sabrina

The Job Hunt is Over!

2010-07-08T12:09:00.003-10:00

Just a quick update. I was hesitant to say anything until I was absolutely sure, but I got the call that my background cleared and my new instructor orientation is on Monday. I am employed.

~does the happywiggle dance of happiness~

I'll be Heald's newest English instructor, with a pretty full course load for an adjunct (part-time newbie, basically) instructor. I've been reviewing the course plan and have until the 19th, when the new quarter starts, to build my syllabus from there.

I did the interview, then a mini-lesson teaching Program Directors and higher-ups about the usage of the semi-colon. It was a topic I didn't understand so well and I figured it would be good to learn something myself while teching others. And then, hee, I heard through the grapevine that after the mini-lesson, someone called me brilliant. Which blows my mind. All I can do is smile like a goofball and go, "Really?" But that's awesome, and gives me more confidence for this.

Wish me luck!

[And hope my posting doesn't drop off even more. >_<]

Maybe there's a Reason I haven't been Productive

2010-06-28T10:01:00.003-10:00

I don't like excuses. [I amend that, I think people do like excuses, generally, when they need to use one, but no one is much of a fan when given them by others.] I try not to use excuses to explain away my behavior or lack thereof.

That said, I wrote a post last night for my personal blog and it got me thinking this morning. see, I had another idea for a new story. Specifically a new story that could be combined with the idea from an old story to create something that I find really interesting. It plays with the idea of who is the villain when it comes to vampires versus vampire hunters. Many of the UFs that contain vamps have at least one who good and sexy if not always nice (or nice and sexy, if not always good...Aaaand now I'm having an "Into the Woods" moment--"You're not good, you're not bad, you're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right." Much love for Bernadette Peters.)

Many vamp-UFs have vampires that align themselves with the protagonist, with a lot of sexiness thrown in. At the same time, there are a good number of UFs out there with hunters as their protagonists (LKH's Anita Blake; Buffy to take it into other mediums), so there is a lot of space to play with who is the villain, who thinks who's the villain, and switch between my fairly young, but mature vampire and a seasoned hunter stuck with a new apprentice. But end up having to examine their own behaviors, and existence, and may end up working together (haven't decided the last bit yet).

Anyway, it's one more novel that has tightened its hold on my brain, which makes it about the fourth right now. But none of the other three has kept my attention long enough for me to reach the end of a complete first draft.

Excuses time: Is it just that I've been lazy in my self-control and scheduling, or was there some unconscious part that was waiting for the right story--not that the others are bad, but there's one just ready to be written and I just need to find it?

Honestly, put that way, it's probably just me not making better use of my time. Because in every story I reach a point where I get stuck (halfway to three-quarters in), and I don't use this sort of excuse for those times. Here, it's probably a matter of not knowing where some/most of these are going, so instead of plowing through and forcing a plot to take form, my mind skips on to the next shiny object

Of course, I am going to give this new story some of my attention. But I think making this realization--that I was trying to make excuses for myself and really just need to figure out the full arcs of the stories--has helped me, refocusing my attention. I need to make a trip into town today, which is an hour's bus ride each way. I think I'll take my notebook and use that time to jot down notes are all the major events of at least two of these novels.

Maybe in a few days I can return to tell you all that I've settled on one story to write to its end.

Two Pieces of Good Advice: Do Research and Wear Sunscreen

2010-06-22T11:04:00.003-10:00

"Wear Sunscreen" is a song/rap/spoken word poem set to music, which I heartedly enjoyed when it came out. In college, a friend made me a cd of awesome songs, mostly from the 90s, and included this one.

Today, there is a new version out, courtesy of author Seanan McGuire: Do Research.

For the writers out there, it is an adaptation filled with advice, both concrete ("Get plenty of sleep. Be kind to your wrists, you'll miss them when they're gone," and "Stretch") and more abstract or hard-to-quantify ("Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to correct your spelling through interpretive dance," and "Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to spend your life writing").

It's a great way to start the day (my opinion, but I'm not the only one who thinks so, according to the comment stream). It's just great fun, and I suggest anyone who needs a smile clikcing over there and giving it a read. It has the same feel to the original, plucking at my emotions when she writes "Do not read Amazon reviews, they will only make you feel ugly," even though I haven't published anything yet for this to be an issue.

Still. It's good advice. Go. Read. Enjoy.
~Sabrina

Seanan McGuire is the author of "Rosemary and Rue," and "A Local Habitation" (urban fantasy, starring a changeling who has lost everything). Under her pseudonym, Mira Grant, she has a political zombie apocalyse, "Feed," in stores now.

The Beginning of a Plot

2010-06-14T13:35:00.007-10:00

Still doing the job hunt thing. Because of that, I've been turning on my phone during the day when I used to keep it on only when I was out of the house. My cell is the number on my resume, and even though I have a landline, this is the direct link to me. I don't want to miss a potential interview.

Well, today I didn't get around to turning my phone on right away. In fact, it's 1:30 and I only just did it a few minutes ago. ~sheepish grin~ But there was already a voicemail (apparently missed the actual phone call by just a few minutes). She sounded like someone's little Asian grandma--we have a lot of those here in Hawaii :)--looking for a guy [R]. She even left a phone number. I don't know if she is a relative or just older, but seriously, am I the only person tempted to call and say, "I got your message, unfortunately I have no idea who this person is and you have the wrong number?"

It makes sense to do that if you get the call directly, phone rings you pick it up and the conversation happens in real-time, but it seems weird to do so in response to a voicemail.

I posed the question to my facebook people, and as I hit post, I wondered what a story would be like if someone did that. You call this number left by someone's obasan--does the lady answer? Is she friendly, annoyed, does she go into a furious old lady rant ("why don't you ever call me? I have to call you all the time and you never pick up your phone. Your mother had to give me this number...") before you have a chance to say you aren't this guy? What if someone else answers, and doesn't know this woman (she also left her name, or a contact name) or R? What if it's a different person and they do know everyone involved, including you? How far down the rabbit hole could you fall just for trying to be polite and do a small good deed?

Since I seem wired for the fantasical, my mind spun off on a Matrix-like thread. Some Morpheus character answers and directs you to go somewhere, gives you a piece of information that compels you to comply. And from that meeting/errand, the world you knew is no more or you're somehow separated from it, and the rest of the story is you trying to find your way home, or pushing deeper and deeper through the forest to see what's on the other side.

Just wanted to share that.

Happy writing everyone,

Sabrina

Making the Spontaneous Inevitable

2010-05-21T15:30:00.005-10:00

It's a cool day today, if I open the back door and let the breeze in, otherwise my room gets stuffy and stays that way. It's a hassle to open the door, though. Years of not being used, and the screen and parts of the sliding glass door had rusted, plus there isn't much floor space to get any good leverage. But the breeze is nice when I put in the effort, and outside, a tree that had looked dead for weeks, is in bloom, seemingly dried out twigs suddenly sprouting delicate lavender blooms.

[You can see the branches as a background, like a tangle of graying yarn.

I took this photo just before typing this post.]

I like to stare out the glass door and seeing the flowers open and close over the day, waxbills and doves and bulbuls flitting in and out of frame. Before I got a digital camera, some of those moments might warrant a quick line or two of description scribbled on the nearest Post-it or note pad, now it's a click away.

I memorialize these moments, thinking one day this line or that might make it into a story. It's such a striking image to me, I want to share it with others.

I couldn't tell you how many such scribbled lines fill notepads and journals, still catching my eye as I flip through to a clean page, but never finding their way into a story. For one thing, I never remember to look for these written down moments of setting and mood.

For another, I don't know whether the moments would be the same. Partly because I'm still growing as a writer, one of my "always trying to improve" issues is the balance between description and action, and when it comes to setting, right now I tend to err on the side of "keep it in my head." I get caught up trying to keep the flow of action, I don't naturally slip in these sorts of lines. I worry that doing so might sound forced, or come across as purple prose. I'm working on it.

I guess, then, this post is just a reminder to myself not to forget these moments in a story and to share a little of my world with you readers.

Enjoy. Happy writing.

Fairy Tales and how much fun they are to twist

2010-05-12T15:14:00.004-10:00

Playing around with ideas for a new story (old premise, fairy tales in the modern world), I was pondering protagonists. Jack (of Beanstalk fame) seems to be pretty popular, and is usually lumped together with those Jacks of hill-falling and candlestick-jumping renown. Likewise every story with a nameless Prince Charming turns into one single womanizing Prince.

These are not bad things. I like their portrayal in The Sisters Grimm and Fables series, but, as fairy tales often do, they make me wander about the gender roles and amalgamation of characters. What if all the Jacks were separate people, what if there was just one Prince per princess/maiden/heroine? What if "Jack" was a girl, either a female version of the smushed together version, or one girl out of a slew of fellas?

One of the nice things about where my brain is going with this is that it lends itself well to short stories. If you've followed this blog for any length of time, I doubt it's a surprise that short stories are not my forte. I like novels. But the idea of a female Jackie amongst half a dozen other male Jacks is intriguing. I don't know if this thread will make it into the novel that's forming, but I want to write a short story and see how I can play with the gender stereotypes. Not just Jacqueline and Jill went up the hill, or Jackie nimbly jumping over things, but perhaps the most popular Jack finding that beanstalk the next morning, climbing, finding treasures to bring back to her mother, and the subsequent task of killing giants that are trying to kill her.

But for now, like with most of my recent stories, I'm just waiting for a plot to catch up with the characters and premise.

Middle of National Library Week

2010-04-14T11:20:00.006-10:00

Does this picture not fill you with bubbling delight?

I wish every library was like this. This week is National Library Week, so I thought it only right to take a bit of time and gush about my local library.

I've lived in this town for many years now, and our library isn't the biggest around, but I can usually find something to read that I haven't before. In more recent years, I haven't gone as often as I want--not the least of which is because I own plenty of books that I haven't read yet, and I really shouldn't add to that TBR pile with more books--but the past few months I started up again, every three weeks or so (the length of time we can borrow books here).

Library-related tangent: Before moving to this town, we were in military housing for four years, and there was a small library there as well. I think in some ways, I was too young to know what I wanted and the shelves, which seemed so tall and full, were overwhelming. I didn't know what to pick in the children's section and thought the best thing to do would be to wander over to the adult books. I ended up in non-fiction, pulling out a book on spiders. It became the book I grabbed whenever I didn't know what else to get. I might have read a few pages here and there, but mostly I looked at the pictures. That library was also a part of a community center, but my siblings and I were apparently too young to play pool. :(

/tangent

It happens with enough frequency to be a pleasant surprise that isn't entirely surprising, that my local library gets new releases shortly after their release.

That right there is what I think libraries have the most to offer--I am a bookwhore, a bookhoarder, and a packrat in general. Sure, I find new series in the library, and am compelled to buy the rest because they don't have the other books, but more times than not, books I want to read, but dread spending the hardcover price (may YA fantasy titles fall into this category), suddenly appear in the new fiction shelf. Then I do my little happy dance in my head, throw in a ~happy wiggle~ and a cheesy grin when I head to the circulation desk.

These are the days when I love love LOVE the invention of libraries.

Hug a book, people,

Sabrina

Doing Something for Myself as a Writer

2010-03-26T11:14:00.004-10:00

It's probably no surprise that I like surfing the internet. Actually, it's more like a game of "The Floor is Lava," because I start in the usual spots (my homepage) and jump around from link to the next on my favorites list, occasionally trying a new route (when I Google something or follow a link).

But almost invariably, I start my day with a cup of coffee and the intention of checking email, LJ, facebook, and a few blogs, then glance up occasionally to see the hours whittling away. Ultimately, the day is gone and I have no writing or editing to show for it.

I was rasied Catholic, and still follow some of the traditions. Right now, it's Lent, and usually you give something up for those forty days before Easter. Religion-wise, you do so to bring you closer to that experience of sacrifice. Practicality-wise, it's a good chance to start a new, healthy habit. Usually I give up a certain food, or soda, or do extra exercise (which could be argued is a sacrifice of time and napping). Since it centers on sacrifice of self, sometimes you can squidge it a little towards 'doing more for others.'

This year, I really squidged it, and running with the intention of setting up a better habit, I had planned to write 1,000 words a day, because I'd been having a hard time getting words on a page. That quickly devolved to "well, as long as I have 40,000 words written by Easter." And honestly, that isn't looking very likely right now. I'd also wanted to get a big ol' chunk of editing done on one or two stories, and I haven't made much progress there, either.

Now, I know these aren't impossible goals--I wrote about 50,000 words over the three weeks of winter break when I was writing my Master's thesis--and I know I can have that kind of self-discipline, but I've been lazy and easy on myself. Part of that has been saying I'll get off the computer to write or edit (both by pen and paper right now), then wandering the streets and side alleys of the internet and its World O' Blogs.

So here's my decision/plan: It's a little over a week until Easter, and except for a couple of days, I don't have much to do. Therefore, I will be off the computer from now until, probably, Monday April 5. And if I do go on, it'll be to check my email, little things, but only after I accomplish a significant amount of writing and editing for the day. Maybe say, no computer until after 10 pm, too, so I might just decide it's too late in the day and stay off, get a few more sentences in.

If there's anything people desperately want me to know, I'll check blogs and such after the next week+ for sure.

See you homies on the other side.

Happy Writing,
Sabrina

Short Admin-y Post, and then some

2010-03-19T12:19:00.006-10:00

Just to let readers, particularly those who grace me with comments now and again, that I've added word verification to the comment page.

I didn't want to throw in a bunch of additional requirements for people who wanted to leave their opinions, but I don't like seeing "1 comment" and getting my hopes up, only to have them dashed by a completely nonsensical piece of spam.

Although there was one a few posts down that had some funny lines.

***

To give you something fun to read, there is an interview with new-ish author, Seanan McGuire, over at Bitten by Books. I received her first book, Rosemary and Rue, for my birthday last month, and will soon be buying its recently released sequel, A Local Habitation.

[Actually, having not read the books yet, the few mentions of its plot make Writer-Me paranoid, because I've been working on my own UF 'Hounds' for years, but I keep seeing little details in descriptions of her protagonist that seem similar.

I keep thinking two things: 1. What if the books -are- too similar, and I can't get mine published because there's already one like it on the shelves, and 2. I can't read it until I've edited mine as far as I think it can go, so as to avoid inadvertently drawing from her book. The novel is written, but needs more editing, so I keep vacillating between -reeeaally- wanting to read McGuire's books, and wanting to hold off, so I can say this is my story without a too-close influence from hers.

...Of course, since I -have- the first book now, it is in the cue to be read, and the blue and orange cover entices me, saying "I'm sure once you read it, you'll see they're vastly different books, nothing to worry about. Read it. Reeeaaddd it. You know you want to." And I do, so I will, Writer Paranoia be damned.

Help a Book-Lover Help Others

2010-03-15T13:02:00.003-10:00

I've just heard about this today, but I was eager to share: someone I do not know, is looking to spread the love of reading and create a space for readers, writers' groups, local authors as well as new and small publisher authors. Michelle Witte is opening a bookstore for children and young adult lit, and is looking for help in raising funds to accomplish that goal.

Details can be found on the blog for Fire Petal Books, about who she is and why she's doing this, especially with the economy still hurting. Also, the big fundraising method right now seems to be an auction of books by various children and YA authors, including Neil Gaiman, Maureen Johnson and a host of authors I personally haven't heard of until now, but whose work I am intrigued by, like Steve Ouch ("SteamPotVille," hmm).

I'd encouraged everyone to at least check out her blog, and if they feel so inclined, maybe even participate in the auction. The auction runs until this Saturday, March 20, at 11:59 p.m. EST.

I'm actually going to head back there and read the blog archives for a bit, but I wanted to put it out there for others who may not have heard about it. (Because sometimes, if I wait too long, I end up not posting, and I felt this was important to share. Yay for more independent bookstores!)

Today, I wish you all happy reading.
~Sabrina

Crosspost-it from my LJ: Epiphany! Albeit a little one

2010-03-12T11:38:00.004-10:00

Thank you to those who read that very long post below, reviewing The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer, and The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley--I enjoyed both and I don't always realize how much I'm writing until I'm scrolling through it after it's posted. But if you like mid-grade, fantasy, time travel, or fairy tales (especially fairy tales in the modern world), then please read the review, because I think these two series could appeal to you.

Moving on, I posted the following to my lj the other day, and realized it would connect very well to the purpose of CoffeeQuill, i.e. sharing my process on the road to and through publication. So here it is, with a few additional thoughts afterwards.

***

Okay, so, as in geometry, there is a given. Every writer works differently. Given that, I do think it behooves writers to read a lot. Not necessarily the same genre they write, hopefully not just research, but in soem form or another, ingesting the words, the stories of others.

Last night, I was getting ready for bed, and reading a few pages in a fantasy novel by James Owen (lj coppervale), "Here, There Be Dragons." I only read about 2-4 pages, closed it at page 24 to finish getting ready for bed, and I took a moment to think about how much had happened in those first two dozen pages. In my head, I started to list the big pieces of action and after just the first, had an idea on how to improve Hounds, my faerie UF.

I've known it needed work, much like its query I could see something wasn't right,, but didn't have a firm idea on how to fix it. Now I have at least one part. Get to the park faster, and see Din's death. It won't fix everything, but the risk will be more evident right off the bat, the reader will see the danger rather than just being told it's dangerous.

Like I said, not a magic bullet, but it's a start, and it'll make the first chapter or so stronger. Already I can feel the story whittling down into a sharper, clearer form in my head. Too much is going on in it that's unnecessary, I just need to go through a hard copy and start slicing.

[This is something I knew I had to do, and was going to do it after I did the same for Harry's Skin, but now I feel like I'm in the right place mentally to view the story more objectively. I was too close to it before.] <-- The one positive point about being unpublished is that I can allow myself the time to do this, and to wait for when I'm ready to work on something.

Also, I am toying with two new story/world ideas. Well, new to me. I'm going to try and let them percolate for a while, though.

***

After I wrote and posted this, I was listening to volume 1 of the Glee albums. A line in one of the songs hit me, and though it didn't seem at all related, made me reexamine another issue I was having. I tend to populate my novels with large casts, and in this particular story, I think it's too much and at least one character, a private detective, can go. Even after mulling it over, I still haven't decided whether to keep 'Det. L' or not, but more and more I think his actions that need to be there can be attributed to someone else, and the rest can be dropped. But it's just sort of funny how part of a song can trigger an idea for a story about a completely different subject matter.

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

Book Reviews, yay! And a bit about "my process"

2010-03-09T12:04:00.004-10:00

I am back, utterly unscathed by the "tsunami" of inches. I've been continuing the job hunt, writing some (not as much as I want to be, but making progress), and reading a lot.

So at a minimum, I usually go to a bookstore a week, on occasion I go less often, more likely I go to multiple bookstores. On one weekend trip, I was with a friend and we wandered around manga, through YA fantasy, and ended up staring at the mid-grade novels. My eyes caught the cover of "The Time Travelers" by Linda Buckley-Archer, about two kids who have just met, who end up hurtled to the year 1763 by an experiment gone awry. There they meet Gideon, gentleman and [former] cutpurse (the original print was titled Gideon the Cutpurse, making the new title an interesting change, to me, to analyze for fun), who basically looks after them, and helps them find the device that will get them home. Unfortunately, the Tar Man (unpleasant fellow to say the least) has stolen the device and isn't going to give it back without a fight.

I really enjoyed this book. It's about the size of an early Harry Potter (maybe Prisoner of Azkaban), but the story really pulled me in. Peter and Katie, the kids, are about 11/12, and generally enjoyable. I felt like their reactions were genuine, though not always agreeable. They react more emotionally to little, or jump into action without thinking when I'm like, "But you just promised not to do that!" But they're kids, and children do that sometimes. I teach first graders, that's how they act sometimes, so rather than be a point of frustration--where I think "If that were me, I'd do it this way--it just adds another layer of detail to fall into.

It also doesn't hurt that the cover, which first drew my attention, was illustrated by James Jean, who creates the covers for the Fables graphic novels (fairy tale people come from their own worlds to modern-day New York), and has done pieces for Entertainment Weekly (and Rolling Stone if I recall correctly).

Now, after reading "The Time Travelers," I was ready for the second book in the series, and the third, if it was out (alas, it's hardcover, so that one must wait), but this was a period of time when I couldn't seem to get to the bookstore very much, and when I did, they didn't have book two, "The Time Thief."

Here's the thing, and the reason why (proceeesss!) I can't read a lot while I'm in the writing groove: because I get into a reading groove, which eats my brain, so I don't want to write or edit or draw, or do anything other than find an entire series and read it to the end. When I get in the groove and one series runs out, I jump to another. Which is what I did this time.

Speaking of James Jean, and thus Fables, back in May I received a graduation present of a gift card for the university bookstore. It's expensive and other than textbooks I didn't shop there much, but I looked through, found a couple of giant cookies (cappuccino and a pumpkin spice, I believe), then veered, as I am wont to do in any store with books, towards the book section. They had books 4 and 5 of The Sisters Grimm series, by Michael Buckley.

The main reason I picked up number 4 is because I love books the retell or play around with fairy tales, myths, and nursery rhymes. Sisters Grimm is like Fables for middle grade readers.

But I also love to (read: have to, almost obsessively) read books in order, so a few months ago I found book 1, then when I couldn't find a copy of "The Time Thief," read "The Fairy-Tale Detectives," then hunted down the rest of the books in the series. (Now that I've read all six of those, and have hunted down TTT, I'm switching back to Buckley-Archer.)

The second smaller reason I grabbed TSG 4, is because one of the sisters is named Sabrina. I know, it's a silly reason to pick up a book, and if it had been a genre I didn't read or if the description didn't appeal to me, seeing my name in print wouldn't make a difference. But I've only met/known of a few other Sabrinas in my life, and fictionally, only my namesake, Audrey Hepburn's Sabrina.

So anyway, I am a big, honking dork.

To the review: I've read all six books now, only number 3 out of order, because I really had a hard time finding it, so this is about the series in general.

Perhaps the worst part about it was the data-dump backstory in the first few pages of books 2 through 6. But it din't hinder my enjoyment, because I figure it's a little more acceptable for a younger audience, and I know it's difficult to explain everything that's happened in the past two or four or five books. Once again, there are young protagonists: Sabrina, 11, turning 12, her sister Daphne, 7, and Puck, who's thousands of years old, but acts like a 12-year-old. Again, it was interesting to look at the way they interacted with each other, and tugged on my emotions, especially when the older sister acts with the intention of protecting her sister and family, but ends up just making everybody mad. It's hard to try to do what you think is right, and end the day with your sister not speaking to you, turning her back on you, and having to face your grandmother's quiet disappointment.

The books are definitely set up for readers to empathize with Sabrina, and I found myself tearing up quite a bit when those sort of scenes ocurred, because even if I'd act differently, it was still hard to imagine being in that position with that kind of harsh fall-out. ('Cause remember, I am a big, honking dork. =P )

The series premise centers on the girls and their grandma trying to find their parents, and then releasing the sleeping spell upon them. In the process, they meet various fairy tales characters, some of whom act much like their story counterparts, others of whom are rather different from the ways they're portrayed in stories. They're handled well, a balance between these two degrees, and none feeling like two-dimensionl caricatures. Mayor (formerly Prince) Charming is a great example of this, and I liked how Buckley played with the Big Bad Wolf, usually seen as a thin, old man with watery grey eyes called Mr. Canis. Canis goes through a lot of transformations--the sort of character you just want to hug.

Perhaps one of the best things I can say for the series, besides I'm a big ol' softy, is that I'm never quite sure where things are going, whether from the beginning of a book to its end, or from one book to the next.

Warning to readers, though, there are a few books (2 to 3 to 4) that should be read in order at the same time. They have those "To Be Continued" sort of endings. Although the main events of the book are wrapped up, the last chapter or so will lead into a new thread that is picked up whole-heartedly in the next book.

[Weird feeling of deja vu, but I know I've never blogged about these books, or the TBC-ness of this series. ~Twilight Zone theme~]

If you don't mind a younger protagonist, these were two fun series, and I definitely recommend them to fans of fairy tales or time travel stories.

Happy reading,
Sabrina

Tsunami Warning

2010-02-27T06:35:00.006-10:00

Short and sweet...well, actually it's a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth, and I haven't even had coffee yet. I was woken up at 6 a.m. this mornign by Hawai'i's state emergency system, a whomping big siren. The earthquake in Chile yesterday has generated a tsunami, which they seem pretty concerned with hit the state, starting with the Big Island (i.e. the island of Hawai'i, and the biggest and southernmost island of this state).

(* Map taken from the NOAA website: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/ )

It's expected to hit around 11 a.m. I'm hoping to update as often as information changes, so that I don't disappear from the internet, leaving readers and friends in the dark.

I think I may be too worried right now to make a mafia 'sleeping with the fishies' joke. I am not, on the other hand, too worried to wonder if this is some sort of not-funny joke by a greater power, kicking me in the kidneys and saying, "How's that for a birthday weekend?" Then laughing and running away.

Right then. I'm off to get coffee and see if there any more preparation we can do (we do stay pretty well-stocked in food), and will update this post if they sound the all-clear, or if I'm looking at the big-honking wave from my back door.

In the meantime, if there's nothing else I can do, why not still submit my query letter to this contest? It starts in 15 minutes, and ends in an hour and 15 minutes. Type quickly.

ETA, 10 am: There was a 6.3 earthquake in Argentina. Things are pretty chill in my town, but people are heading for higher ground or waiting in long lines for gas and supplies. I am jumping off the computer for a while. I'll be on again at some point later today. No worries.

ETA 2, 5 pm: The all-clear was sounded a couple of hours, when I was off the computer and out of the house. It was pretty anti-climactic, but better that than serious damage to the islands. Thank you for the well wishes.

What Happens When You Put Two Authors Together on IM

2010-01-29T14:41:00.002-10:00

Justine Larbalestier posted an IM conversation the other day, with "The Demon's Lexicon" author, Sarah Rees Brennan.

I'd advise writers to go read the conversation. One, it's funny and entertaining. Two, it's interesting to see how two YA authors' processes differ. I am one of those people always quick to point out that what works for one writer may not for another, because we are different people with different ways of thinking, and thus different ways of writing and planning out a book. [Different, different, different. :P] Larbalestier's post is a nice way of depicting these variations, because the pair seem to be on almost opposite sides of the issue when it comes to talking about one's book in its earliest stages. Whether to talk about your story in its zero draft, opening yourself to brainstorming and to critique, or to keep it to yourself until that first draft is complete.

I think some of my own problems lately may be because I fall on Larbalestier's end of the spectrum, but don't necessarily act in the best way for that process. I especially like this metaphor of Larbalestier's:

"JL: But someone criticising a zero draft is kind of like someone criticising a souffle on the basis of a few of the ingredients laid out on a table, but not yet made into a, you know, souffle.
I can’t stand people weighing in before I know what it is I’m doing. Before I can see the souffle. Because then they’ll try and make it into a cheesecake or, I don’t know, an aardvark or something."

The whole thing is fun to read, but it really jived with me after that point (as well as taking a strange-humorous turn).

I don't want to post all the great quotes and ideas in there, because there are a lot of nice lines, so anyone intrigued should read it in its entirety.

Steampunk and Linkage

2010-01-22T13:56:00.006-10:00

I've been calling my newest idea a steampunk (well, clockwork) ghost story. I have never written steampunk before, have (hanging my head in shame) not read much, but I see the images and watch the shows and films, and fall in love every time. So I wanted to try my hand at it.

First off, I wanted to try a different approach compared to my write-by-the-seats-of-my-pants leanings. I wanted to be more organized before I started writing the story itself (as I've mentioned in recent blogs). Some writers, like me, start with a single image or idea and just fly as far as they can. Eventually we (read: I) have to take a bit of time to figure where the story should actually end up, but the detailing pre-thought of specific scenes, not so much. Other writers outline a lot before writing a word, some to the point of detailing every scene.

Every new story I begin, I try to move forward, learn something new, try a new technique or method. And every writer works differently, but I'm a believer in playing around with what you think works for you. Sometimes you find a habit that works even better.

For this clockwork story, I wanted to know where I was going in a more structured way. I knew I'd have to do a lot of resarch into the Victorian Era and the steampunk genre. But then the story just grabbed me and refused to let go. So I started writing, rambling a bit as I'm wont to do. Long story short(ish), the past few days I've been a bit discouraged after receiving some very early critiques. They were right, but it was too much, too early--I'm still finding the story.

It was a really nice then to stubble onto this post of Writtenwyrdd's, reposted today (originally from 2006): "The Inner Critic as Muse." It starts off talking about writers falling prey to their own self-doubts, not only the unpubbed noobs like myself, but even the pre-publication jitters of authors like Lillith Saint Crow--"Ah, the Scylla of insecurity and the Charybdis of self-hatred. Iwish I could lash myself to the mast and sail throughthese rocks." Writtenwyrrd goes to offer the advice that whenever the fear looms, turn it around. Stretch as far out into the realm of the fantasic as it will go, and you may find yourself wondering about this person who is no longer, being dragged through a mysterious doorway, a hand clamped over your mouth.

The whole post is really interesting, and I found it helpful. I was already clawing my way out of the gaping hole of discouragement, but this gave me that last boost to propel me out and back into the story. With a few more steampunk images to inspire me, and some Abney Park playing near at hand, I'm ready to get back to work.

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

*The photo is from Jim Mullan, genked from Google Images. I just love the details and color. Looks like he's made a whole series of them, and the crows were originally hunting decoys. Lovely.

First post of the 2010, and it only took 13 days

2010-01-13T12:59:00.002-10:00

Sorry for the silence. Mostly, I've been job-hunting and writing, or rather, job-hunting and figuring out this story, interspersed with writing.

With each story I begin, I try to do a little more work before I put pen to paper, try to research more, try to plot out more. When I was younger, I just opened a new word doc, or slipped paper into my typewriter, and just whoosh. An image or a character comes to mind and I just ramble on, seeing where they take me. About fifty or eighty pages in, I hit a snag because I can't seem to go further without knowing where the story should end up. Two of those are still waiting for me to give them another look, another, the latest of the three, was completed as my undergraduate Honors project.

As I went along, I tried to wait. Just that spark, but don't write anything just yet, force it to percolate.

Now, I tend to jot down some notes, or speak them into a tape recorder by my bed, but for this newest story, well, I tried to hold off because it's steampunk and I knew it needed more research into clockwork, steam engines and the Victorian era, all things I know something about, but not enough. So I held off on writing the story itself, but finally the characters were clamouring so much I had to begin writing. I'm now trying to catch up in research to the story as it's progressing.

In fact, I'm off to write some more now. Tonight is my writer's group (sometime this fall/winter, my sister and I started going back, ut we skipped last week because it was La Befana), and I want to bring some good pages, strong, descriptive, active. No rambling first draft. Which means I have a lot to do.

Happy writing, everyone,
Sabrina

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T13:34:00.002-10:00

Something about the turning of the year propels people to resolve themselves. To lose weight, to finish a story, to find a (better) job. I find it hard to go back, scramble through papers and find the ending year's resolutions to see what was accomplished, but I still like the idea of starting off with a goal.

I have some of the usual goals, to exercise more, try to be more fit, and since I graduated in May (spent the summer and part of the fall editing and querying), I haven't found a job yet, so that's a big goal as well. I let my crafty Christmas pull me away from the job-hunting. For this blog, however, I focus on the writing goals.

Between tomorrow and this day next year, I will:

Revise 'Hounds' at least once more.

Query agents on that urban fantasy.

Edit Harry's Skin (my M.A. thesis, and frankly, the reason I applied for the graduate program in the first place).

Start querying for that around May/June.

Finish first draft of my steampunk ghost story. (Probably get some editing in as well, but we'll see how the other editing goes first.)

It was three, almost four years ago that I realized I could finish a novel-length story. After accomplishing a full first draft, though, comes the heavy editing. I've reached a point where I can see what doesn't work, and I can fix some of it, but some solutions still elude me. I resolve to examine my editing practices more this year, so that I don't look at the editing process as endless, hellish, or treat it so hesitantly that I neglect to textually weedwhack it as necessary (I know there are times that I let myself get bogged down in the small edits rather than deleting or rewriting scenes, because I didn't want to admit something so big was wrong.)

One revelation about my writing, which I've made this year, is that my first drafts are rather rambly. So you can see, most (all) of my blog posts are essentially first drafts, but for that, I hope you forgive me and accept the extemporaneousity of it. I'll try to recognize more in these writing habits so as to improve the first drafts and make the editing easier.

Any new writing goals for you readers out there?

I'll leave off this last post of 2009 with a simple wish, for all of you, your friends and family, to be healthy, be happy, and to write much and well.

Happy New Year! Happy writing, everyone!

Winter Holiday Greetings

2009-12-24T12:52:00.003-10:00

Just swinging by in the still-very-busy time before Christmas to say Happy Holidays to all the readers, writers, and passersby.

In a perfect world, I'd post a little 'Happy (insert holiday here),' for each one that arrives, but I tend to fall behind and don't keep track of them all. So to those who celebrate Solstice or Chanukah, a belated happy holidays. And to the Christmas followers and Kwanzaa celebrants, an early Season's Greetings.

I hope everyone is with people they love, eating food they enjoy, in a place they want to be.

For those in colder climates, stay warm; for those like me in less-snowy regions, don't forget sunscreen.

Happy Holidays everyone, and I wish you all a wonderful New Year!

~Sabrina

A Writer's Angel and Devil, aka A Giving Thanks Post

2009-12-07T10:03:00.005-10:00

I've been away, writing, then trying to write, then getting ready for the holidays. I'm still getting ready for the holidays. But I'm dropping by because I got an email last night. It wasn't a fun email to read, but it brought to mind something I believe about what writers need:

Everyone who wants to write a book and get published needs their own version of the angel and devil on your shoulder.

I feel lucky to have so many people [my writerly sister, a writer's group, fellow (former) grad students in the English Department] who are willing to read my work. Most of the time, I get a sort of middling response, some encouragement or praise, and some critique and suggestions for improvement. But I feel like every writer (and of course, this is all IMHO) should have at least one friend who reads your work and points out all the good stuff, to stand by you and say you can make it, regardless of the countless revisions and rejections.

To counter that, we also seem to need one friend/critique partner who doesn't sugarcoat things. Of course, it's nice if they can put it in an encouraging way, but they should be the one person to say, "They haven't told that X, Y, and Z also need work. And these three chapters are weak/plotless/meandering/etc."

It's so hard to finish a novel, to face the hundred possible rejections from agents and publishers, that it helps to have at least one person out there who believes in you whole-heartedly. (Make sure they believe it, lip-service fiends need not apply.) Someone you can go to when you've had a bad day, the writing is stalling, your confidence is low, and they say one line to keep you going, to try that scene again, to brave the task of throwing out whole chapters (when you're so tied to your words, but you know they don't work and need to go).

At the same time, you want to be ready when you face those agents and publishers. Advice abounds, opinions vary, but one thing seems general enough and a strong enough statement to be almost universal: submit your mansucript when it's the best you can make it.

The best, the absolute best. I know that I get to a point in writing and editing when I'm too close to a story to see where the faults lie. I can tell if something doesn't quite work, but not always know how to fix it. Your "devil" is there to help you through that. To say, "Yes, that character is two-dimensional. No, your subplot about so-and-so doesn't work." It won't always be easy to hear, no matter how good they are at softening the blow, but if they're the right person on your shoulder, they'll tell you what you need to know to be a better writer. I find those are the critiques where I listen or read the comments and can agree almost immediately with most of what's being said, but it can be harsh, so I still need to step back and look at those edits a day or two later.

I said this was a giving thanks post, and it is. I find it hard to believe in or accept the historical stories we're told about Thanksgiving when we're young, but there a good idea behind it. One day when you stop and think about the things you have and the people around you that you should be grateful for. Tell them thank you when perhaps you take them for granted the rest of the year. I know it's already December, so very late for this, but giving thanks is something we should do throughout the year anyway. As hard to hear as some critiques can be, I am thankful I have someone willing to tell me what I need to know. It's nice to have one person always standing in my corner,telling me I'll get there, and they get me through some bad days, but...for both people...I try not to take for granted the ones who'll be there when I need them.

Thank you.

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

Maybe I Need Some New Music to Listen to

2009-11-16T11:39:00.003-10:00

I haven't been writing nearly as much as I should be, or want to be. Although I didn't sign up for NaNo, I had thought it'd be a good time to jump-start one of the half-dozen story ideas that have been floating around in my head.

Halfway through the month and I've reread, and edited just slightly, the first page and a half of the sequel to the book for which I'm at the querying stage. [Some agents say mention if your book is part of a series, some don't want to know, but the generaly consensus, if there ever is one, seems to be that if you have a sequel planned, it doesn't hurt to work on it while querying the first one.] I've also bought new mini cassettes for my tape recorder, left a few notes on a different steampunky story there, and written a bit more in my Not Another Teen Vamp Story (where the male protag's first encounter with a vampire is nothing romantic and mysterious--I have no idea where it will go, because I want it to be a bit on the violent side, not gratuitously, though, and possibly by the time I'm done with it and have a publisher, YA vamps will be completely off the trend, but they say don't write to trends, and this is what I want to write, so if nothing else, it's practice).

Oy, that got really rather rambly there, didn't it? [Yay alliteration?]

The point is, while I've glanced over some stories and waved hello to them at a distance, I honestly can't say I have any word count to show for the past two weeks. I worked out the numbers and if I want to reach 50,000 by November 30, I should write about 3,333 words every day, which is just over 555 words per hour if I focus on writing for six hours. (Certainly not the entire time I'm at the computer, but a good chunk of time and more realistic than 8-10 hours per day.) 550 looks a lot more manageable than 3,300 words.

The title of this post was a passing thought--maybe some new music might jolt me into a creative spur. But why blame the music? I've completed three novel-length stories since 2006, so I know I can do it. I can have the self-discipline to write for 5+ hours straight. I just need to convince myself to get off my butt and do it. So I make that resolution now. I want to write 50,000 words before December 1.

To do that, I'll probably have to significantly cut down on my blog reading, which has already decreased (I swear, I probably have over a hundred writer, agent and editor blogs bookmarked under my favorites, I could never read them all in a day), but I'll probably disappear from updating CoffeeQuill, LJ, and my facebook as well (the FB games, oh, those time-eaters!). I'd say I'll be back December 1, and you might find me occasionally, but I'll be getting crafty this holiday season, which will also be time-consuming. Let's just call it January, and anything before then is bonus!

All right then, I'm off to try and get some word counts in for today. Any good music recommendations?

Breathing through both nostrils

2009-11-13T13:36:00.000-10:00

A short, kind of silly post today. Maggie Stiefvater (author of 'Shiver') posted about numbers.

Number of emails received, comments replied to, harp strings she strung by hand, and randomly, the number of nostrils one breathes through at any one time. The answer is one, which I knew (trivia heard from someone sometime in the past, those pieces of info which you're never quite sure where they came from). But she noted that it's connected to which side of the brain is dominant. Left brain, right nostril, right brain, left nostril. Of course, as she knew readers would, I checked to see which nostril I was breathing.

Apparently my left brain is hard at work right now. [Or at least, it was when I first checked.] So I was thinking, despite my desire to post on this blog, or edit my synopsis, or work on book 2, I had no motivation to do any of it. Perhaps because my creative brain was chillin' at the time. Then I read that and thought I'd post about that.

...Which I didn't do for a while. I still wasn't in the right frame of mind to write anything. I check again, as I finally start writing, and I'm breathing through my left nostril now (right brain woke up).

heh. Just some fun facts/coincidences. Apparently it also goes through two- to four-hour schedules, shifting from one to the other. Maybe I should check throughout the day, whenever I'm breathing through my left nostril, rush to open a Word doc. ;)

Honest, I didn't mean to disappear so soon for so long

2009-11-05T17:20:00.005-10:00

I thought, "My self-imposed 'blog once a day for a month' is over, I'll take a few days off. Why, the first is even a Sunday, when I'm rarely on the computer anyway.' Five days later...

I ended up hitting one of those ugly walls of uncertainty, questioning a lot of things and generally feeling kind of junk. I opened up in more detail on my personal journal, and was reminded how great some of my friends are. I received some wonderful lines from a fellow writer, and an artist friend pointed me to this YouTube video:

Ira Glass on Storytelling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

(Sorry, I'm trying to copy and paste the embedding link, but it doesn't want to cooperate.)

This was a great motivator.

And then I revisited Jeffrey Thomas' Portfolio, with the twisted Disney Princesses, such as a creepy Sleeping Beauty. Just the look of it just makes me want to write about a serial killer who kills in their sleep. (Not like a sleepwalker, but cursed or somehow self-induced, so people think there's no way it's Person X, they're always asleep during the murder.')

Isn't that a great painting? Super creepy. And some of the details on these are interesting (the books next to Alice, for one, but I won't say more because I like the thrill of discovery and hope you do, too). Seeing these, coupled with the encourgagement of friends, just makes me excited to write. It doesn't matter how discouraged I can get, I'll never stop writing.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T19:24:00.002-10:00

Happy Halloween, writers of the internets.

This is the second post for October 31, 2009, making up for a skipped post this past Sunday, and the last in my daily blog posting for a full month. Don't worry, I don't plan to disappear for a month or more, but I'll probably go back to taking the weekends end off, for sure.

Funnily enough, I never wrote that post on writer's block that I was intending to do, so expect that at some point in November.

Tomorrow is All Saints' Day, and November 2 is All Souls' Day, but today, the veil is thin, ghosts are coming through, and goblins prowl the streets wearing the faces of children.

Tonight might seem like a normal night in front of the television and the computer, clacking away on the keyboard in between channel surfing, but silent things drift past closed windows, rustle curtains through tightly locked panes of glass, and they can see you much better than you can see them.

All you hear are a few bars of old, tinny, music, a deep whisper behind your ear. There's a chill in the late summer air, too close to the equator to be autumn. And tonight is a full moon, so many more than the dead hunt in the shadows, in packs, looking for the lone costumed one, warmly safe in the thought that bad things don't happen to them.

Bad things happen to everyone.

Happy Halloween.

Happy writing.

~Sabrina

His Name is Normand

2009-10-31T14:28:00.006-10:00

(I was thinking Norman and Normandy at the same time, I guess. I like it.)

This is my plot bunny.

Last night I joined my sister on an outing. She's also a writer, but is more successful finishing short stories, whereas I am much more comfortable with long pieces. As a challenge for herself, she joined NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. Last night was the first meeting/get-together of the Hawaii writers who signed up. People were able to adopt their very own plot bunnies.

It was mostly an informational, get to know others, here's what NaNo is about, kind of meeting. At the end, they had plenty of plot bunnies left, so I grabbed my own. My sister suggested naming him Gerald, but I refused, just to contrary. ;)

I have not signed up for NaNo yet. I don't know if I will. But they seemed open to people coming to the write-ins and other events, even if you aren't official, so I joined my sister.

NaNo is interesting for me, because they emphasized that, not only did it not matter how good the draft was of your 50,000 story, but you shouldn't delete anything. If you write a scene and there are two options, start writing one, and if it peters out, skip a line and write option 2. I guess that makes sense--you can certainly learn something through trying out both and rereading them to see which works better. Plus you don't lose thousands of words. But they also said don't bother with grammar or spelling mistakes (which I'd be incapable of ignoring). And some people throw in whole paragraphs of poetry or song lyrics. 'It's all counts as words.' I don't know how I feel about that.

I think it's because I can't imagine writing a story with complete disregard for the story, only thinking about the numbers. I see NaNo as a device to help writers finish what they start, or get farther than a few pages, at the very least. And that is a great thing. 'But shouldn't you still try to write a coherent story?' I ask myself. ~shrugs~ I still think this is a great oportunity for people like my sister, who can't seem to finish longer pieces of writing, but I don't know that it would work for me. Much as writers have different processes and writing styles, so do writers improve through different challenges (I hope that makes sense). I do like Normand, though. And I think, for Normand's sake, I will try to write 50,000 words over the course of a month. Not for the sake of a word-count, but to jump-start a new story, while querying with my urban fantasy.

For all of you who are registered and ready with the kernel of a story: Let NaNoWriMo begin!

Happy writing!

(And if this posts without the handy paragraph breaks, I did include them. Adding pictures sometimes makes the space between paragraphs all wonky. Go figure.)

The Classics

2009-10-30T13:34:00.003-10:00

It's really hot today. Yesterday was vog (volcanic ash from the Big Island which blows down and creates a fog-like haze in the air), but today is just flat-out hot. I had errands. As I walked down the street, I can feel the sweat trickling down my back, and the AC of the Ross' is not enough to get rid of that feeling. But I wander through the aisles and find my favorite area: notebooks, cards and random decorative boxes.

To my delight, I see a bunch of faux books--open the cover to reveal an empty box. One is titled War and Peace, another says Lady with an Ermine on the spine, with a reproduction of Da Vinci's painting on the "cover." There was also Treasure Island and a few others.

It started me thinking about my favorite classics. I've read a good number of them, but there are only a few from those long-dead authors that I either kept or bought my own copy, and would reread (given the time, the never-read books take precedence).

What immediately comes to mind: Frankenstein, both the more common 1831 version, and the earlier 1818 edition. The differences don't jump to mind (something about Elizabeth is different, I recall), but I loved seeing how the story changed in those years. I even did a project on it for a class on the Wordsworths and Shelleys.

I'm also a fan of Dante's Inferno and Paradise Lost, although the latter was sort of dense to get through when I read it (for high school, which I don't think many people can say--we had to read both books over the summer). Edgar Allen Pow's The Tell-Tale Heart, Coleridge's The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. I love John Keats' poetry (I have another blogspot from a project a year back). Beowulf I love, especially after translating it. Native Son, although it was sort of dark (I wrote down the page number every time I saw a reference to African-Americans as 'dark' or animal-like, far too many), as was Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I also like The Odyssey, but I always have a hard time reading it through to the end (I skip around or just don't finish, don't tell my professors from six years ago).

Any absolute favorite classics of yours?

Birds and Short Stories

2009-10-28T15:57:00.003-10:00

I was chatting with a new friend about the birds I can see outside my room. Just half an hour ago, the more common visiting black cat chased away the newly visiting gray one. Then the waxbills came out (I'm sure that's what they are now, I really didn't know before). There's about half a dozen birds that flutter around from twig to twig and on the ground between me and the straggly bush.

The waxbills and Japanese white-eyes quickly jump from one branch to another to the ground to a flower pot. The bulbuls come in quick then fly off. The doves mosey, strut around on the concrete and show off to the ladies. They all have their different personalities.

Different personalities and when you want to photograph them, it requires different approaches. Cats and swift birds need to be snuck up on, you have to be ready at any moment, but if you move too fast, they get away an all you have is a tiny, blurry sasquatch. The slower birds need patience because they'll sit with their butt to you for a while, then just get up and leave.

I think sometimes dealing with stories is like this. Not every story is the same (shouldn't be, IMO, despite finding unintentional similar themes or motifs on occasion). Every writer finds the process that works for them, but I think that process doesn't always work with every story.

I think, for me, there's a big difference in how I write short stories compared to novels. I'm trying, on the whole, to have a better idea where a story is going, rather than just starting with an idea and running with it. But when it comes to short stories, this is even more important. I need to know how it begins and ends, and I need some idea of the middle (compared to knowing the beginning, some of the middle and a vague sense of where events need to end up for my novels), unless it's a short story with no set word limit. If I don't know the ending scene of a short story, it's just a blurry cat photo. >_<

Each short story is also slightly different. Some need every detail planned out, others need two or three strong images and I get through it. The halloween story I'm working my way through is actually trippingme up, because it's a small, flightly bird story--I caught an idea and it stuck around, but if I sneak up too fast, it's slips out of my grasp and hops out of reach, taunting me. I have to turn it around, view it from all angles, and slowly come up to it, until we're face to face.

Happy writing, everyone,

Sabrina

Muse musings

2009-10-27T14:42:00.005-10:00

When I was younger, about 13 or so, I believed in a muse. It wasn't a serious belief, but the day-dreaming belief of a burgeoning writer. He had a name, and when I was keeping a hand-written journal (years before I joined LJ, and at a time when I couldn't maintain a journal for more than a few weeks) consistently for months, I trailed off from writing about my day-to-day life, to writing a story. I'd decided to write it as if my muse were telling the story.

Nowadays, a muse seems almost synonymous (in my own mind) with some of the other topics I've been writing about lately: inspiration and ideas. It's a motivating force; it helps when you get stuck in one scene, so you can move forward or jump ahead; it's there to offer ideas; it has some unquantifiable quality that helps you write.

It's a nice thought. Maybe I'm just in a cynical mood, but I don't quite see how the concept of a muse helps a writer, other than to say 'I couldn't write because my muse abandoned me.' I visit Sherwood Smith's LJ fairly regularly, and she linked to a great post about one's muse, and its fickle nature. I really enjoyed the post, but instead of equaling "Godfrey" with muse, I filled in the name with Writing. Writing was sometimes hard to come by, when I'd open a new Word doc but the words wouldn't come. It was an idea, or inspiration that slipped by me, or it was just that I failed myself and wasn't trying hard enough, perhaps.

I'm not saying the idea of a muse is wrong or useless, far be it, it's not my place to comment on others' beliefs, but I don't know that it works for me anymore. I think even at 13, my muse was more a character, a wizard, mature but young, sitting in a well-made, but old robe and telling this story about a princess and a unicorn with attitude. I like the thought that my writing comes from me, it's my accomplishment. My failures, yes, but also my successes.

~shrugs~ I suppose this is just one of those meandering, thinking out loud posts. I still need to make up a post, and I do have some topics simmering. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

In random writing news: I finally found a Halloween story idea that's staying with me. I've started writing and I mostly know where it's going. (I just need to decide how I want it to end, I'm thinking more mysterious than gruesome. We'll see.)

Happy writing everyone,

Sabrina

*Painting of the Greek Muses with Apollo on Mt. Helio, by Claude Lorrain

Pretend the Date says Sunday

2009-10-26T19:49:00.005-10:00

I'm a day behind. I ended up not going to the ghost tour. Although I had an offer from someone to drive me there, I didn;t have a ride home, and the buses don't run from town to here at 10 pm. Plus, two of the four friends who were going seemed to hav stayed home as well, and that strikes me as a great event for a group to go to. It'd be more fun than going alone.

Instead, I stayed home, watched recorded copies of last Monday's How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory ("Wheaton!" heh), and watched the new episode of Amazing Race, during which I nearly threw up. The nausea lasted through the rest of the night and a good chunk of today, so that was not fun, and I don't really know what caused it.

Anyway, I've been off the computer today. But I have been reading--Skin Deep by Mark del Franco. It's the first book in a new series, but set in the same world as his three previous books (which I've mentioned here: Unshapely Things, Unquiet Dreams, and Unfallen Dead). Until today, I was only reading a few pages here and there, because my attention was occupied by other things. Today, focusing on resting and not moving suddenly and thus throwing up, I lay very still and really got into it. Good book.

All right, I'm off to rest for the rest of the evening.[That was sadly redundant.] I will leave you all with the best emoticon I've ever seen, shown to me, and I believe created by, my friend.

Klingon emoticon: (}}:->

hee

Halloween a Week Early

2009-10-24T17:13:00.002-10:00

Quick weekend post to mention that tomorrow I am really going to try and get into town. There's a ghost story tour in the evening that starts at the main state library (which is right near a bunch of historical buildings).

If I can get a ride there and back, I am so going to go. And at the very least, my friends who live in/near town, are also attending, and were my classmates in the English program, will understand when an intriguing story is mentioned and I hastily scribble down details in the dark, unable to read whatever I'm writing.

I think it will be fun, and it's times like these when I wish I'd made more of an effort to take a Driver's Ed course (but in high school, and even undergrad, I didn't have enough of a social life to warrant it. Frankly, bookworm was too true a description, and plenty of my friends drove and were generous enough to offer).

Anyway, yay Halloween ghost research!

Happy writing, everyone,
Sabrina

Furlough Fridays--if it has a fun name, it must be good, right?

2009-10-23T12:26:00.003-10:00

I try to stay clear of the politival and rant-y urges that occasionally come upon, at least for this blog. But sometimes I need to share.

I attended school almost wholly on Oahu, except for kindergarten (in N.C.). I also had some wonderful teachers growing up here. [I hope they won't mind me naming names.] In 5th grade, there was Mr. Uyeda. When a position opened up for next year in 4th and 6th grade, he siad he'd take the 6th grade position if he coul have his same students from 5th grade. He got mad once, I forgot what people were doing in line to annoy him, then he said we all had uncommon sense. I smile now. He also ordered shirts with our names on the back, calling us the World's Best Class. I still have mine.

In 8th grade, I had Mrs. Carmody for English. Her class was the first for which I ever finished a story. One was a single-page story where the assignment was to use ten color words (mahogany, cream, azure, etc.). Mine was about an elf hunting a deer. My second story for that class was seven pages (I think it was supposed to be 3-4) about that same elf being hunted by humans. But I did finish it. She was so enthusiastic about my work, and about reading and writing in general.

High school, I had great English teachers, Mrs. Itagaki, Mrs. Tanaka, Mrs. Fujimoto for 11th and 12th grade AP English. I didn't read the same classics as others classes, so no To Kill a Mockingbird or Of Mice and Men, but we read Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, King Lear and Walden. I learned the Queen Mab monologue from Romeo and Juliet in Itagaki's class, and Tanaka kepttrying to convince me to join the newspaper or yearbook (I did join the newspaper in college).

My history teachers, like Mrs. Schultz, and AP Psych, Mrs. Tappara, were so involved in their subjects, making sure students had fun and understood the material. Schultz had weekend sessions of studying for the AP US history exam, giving up her Saturdays for us. Dr. Mitchell loved chemistry so much, she made me love it, too, after losing my interest with other teachers. [I had too many to name in college of passionate professors who made you want to learn and love it.]

All of that, and teachers like Lisa-Anne Tsuruda, who received the Milken award just yesterday...yet all of these teachers, and others like them, are forced to stay home today.

This day, Friday October 23, 2009, is the first Furlough Friday. 17 Fridays each year, for a pay cut of about 8%, schools with be closed to teachers and students. It's a drastic measure to help counter-balance the state's budget deficit. A lot of people think it's too drastic. Hawaii, not often in the national news, was on World News Tonight with Charles Gibson yesterday, who reported on the furlough. We now have the shortest school year in the nation.

It doesn't seem fair. And I know the world isn't a fair place. But where does short-changing people on their education help the economy improve? Especially when the governor still implies that lay-offs may be necessary? It's just...~deep breath~Everyone should be so lucky to have teachers like these, and get the most out of the experience. It's harder to do that when they're losing three weeks worth of instruction every year.

*Both links are to articles in the Honolulu Advertiser, as an FYI.

Mood when Writing

2009-10-22T13:47:00.002-10:00

I'm in a good mood today. Cheerful. I have been told (by my siblings, you'd think they'd know better) that I seem to be grumpy most of the time. It's not true, but I have the sort of face which, when neutral, frowns a little. And I'm quiet, which they also equate with unhappy. In fact, most days I feel okay.

Today I woke up and was a little extra happy. Smile on my face, the urge to be silly for no reason. These are the days I like. It's overcast outside, not too hot, but not too dark and rainy. Cool inside, and my fingers are flying across the keyboard.

I don't feel like there's much for me to say today, but this mood strikes me as a clue. I'm another step closer to writing. Either of these new stories, or maybe even giving my novel one more go-around. [An extra round of editing to see if my nerves about it are just that, or if they're telling me it does still need a bit of work.]

I hope everyone else is having a good day, cheerful, and ready to write. I'll try to have a slightly more substantial post tomorrow, though.

Synopses: A Writer's Bane [Also, my Internet is Evil]

2009-10-21T18:14:00.001-10:00

[Would have posted this hours ago, but my internet was down, and nothing I did could dissuade it from its evilness. But it's back now, half an hour before I leave the house.]

Here’s the thing about writing a synopsis, in my experience: there are just some lengths of summary that are nigh impossible for me. [This might also apply to short stories, too, come to think of it.] A query letter requires about one paragraph, short, to the point, catchy—it grabs the agents’ attention and gives them a sense of who the protagonist is, the author’s voice, and what makes the writer’s story different from others.

A two-page synopsis gives the writer (re: me) a chance to describe the story in more detail. Two full pages are about enough from something just slightly less detailed than a chapter-by-chapter rundown. [I keep a chapter-by-chapter chronology just for my own knowledge, to help cut down inconsistencies, but that ends up around 3-4 pages.] Truthfully, it’s about 2 and a half to 3 pages, but about 2 after editing.

Here’s the thing, or me personally, I don’t think I could write a one-page synopsis (well, maybe I could, but it would take some extra doing). Like short stories, I can write one paragraph, and I can give you a couple of pages, but one page ends up in that weird limbo space. I find it a challenge to teeter on the balance between general statements because there isn’t much space, and small details to give you a sense of distinction in character and world-building.

I’ve finished my synopsis for Hounds, the urban fantasy I’m querying agents with. It started off, first draft, at about three pages (2 and ¾). Now I’m editing, cutting out what doesn’t seem as necessary while still giving readers a full sense of the story. I think one point that should be made with synopses, is that the reader shouldn’t be left thinking, “How did we get from A to 3?” Leave out the smaller scenes, but make sure even the synopsis tells a coherent story.

At least, that’s what I’m hoping to achieve with my own.

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

Inspiration

2009-10-20T14:54:00.003-10:00

I was trying to think of what to write about today. I've been fighting that sensation of thoughts like rubber balls bouncing around inside my skull. When they rebound, it's even harder to grasp.

I end up drifting through the day in my own head, trying to settle on any specific thought I can grab.

I've already spoken about 'where I get my ideas,' and where I put them (notebooks!), so I figured I'd try to share a few thoughts about inspiration. For me, some of it can come from those overheard conversations, but word-nerd that I am, a lot of inspiration comes to me through visuals.

I love art. Before I really started writing, I was drawing. I still have sheafs of papers with drawings of aliens, elves, centaurs, some dragons and unicorns. Around sixth grade I started my first novel, unfinished. It was epic fantasy, I got about 40 single-spaced hand-written pages in, and the pictures of the main characters were inseparable from the story. If memory serves, the drawings came first, and the story developed from there.

Of course, I was utterly a write-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of writer then, so I still don't really know where the story should end. There were two sisters, princesses, running the kingdom while their parents were at war. Father was human, mother elf, and a tentative alliance between the species cemented in that marriage. There was a long lost prince, living as a thief in the capital city. I still love the characters, and I think there might be a strong kernel there (well, the long lost prince bit has been done to death, especially when he grows up to be a thief)...Uh, I'm going off on a tangent, aren't I? Point being, the pictures came first, the visuals inspired the story.

I still draw, but not as much, and I don't feel as compelled to draw character sketches of every person in every story. Other inspiration comes from others' art. When I'm trying to get in a darker mood for a story, I visit Lisa Snellings blog and look at her Poppets and other creepy sculptures. I have a long list of art blogs, some dark and creepy, some cartoonish, some realistic.

I also find a lot of inspiration in music. There are some artists or albums that just get me in the mood to write, and they tend to make their way onto every playlist I create for different stories. Most of the time, though, certain song swill invoke specific moods and I'll get a jolt that propells me toward one story over another. A recent addition, "Who Killed Amanda Palmer," inspired me to want to write a steampunk story, but with the story growing and solidifying beyond that 'feel,' I think I'll need more than that album when I'm ready to write.

Right now, I'm trying to think of a Halloween short story to write. Short stories are already not my forte, and sometimes I have a hard time thinking of a story plot when I start with something so general as 'I want to write a Halloween story.' [Strangely enough, the latest three stories are just so, Halloween, steampunk, and YA teen vampire (with a vicious rather than sexy, sultry vampire), which would partly explain why they're all taking longer to get from conception to 'sitting down and writing'.] What is happening with the Halloween story is that an image, or mention of some old urban legend or nursery story, will spark an idea, which I jot down. But so far the interest hasn't lasted long enough to reach the writing stage. I think I need to find a catalyst and then quickly feel around for additional little propelling images or songs. The inspiration is the first burst of forward movement, but the extra bits keep me going.

---
Huh, apparently skin sensitivity is at its highest between 10 pm and 1 am, according to this guy on Rachel Ray's talk show (he wrote a book on when it's the best time to do various things, like make love). That clicks as a bit of inspiration. You might be able to play with that idea in a sci fi story. Genetic manipulation/engineering?

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

2009-10-19T12:02:00.003-10:00

I haven't heard this mentioned much so far. It's halfway through the month. Part of me hopes it's just because I visit more writing blogs, many of which avoid "political" talk, or maybe I fall behind and scroll over/miss the posts on this topic.

But today I was on LJ, reading my friends list, and Jim Hines (author of Goblin Quest and the recently released Mermaid's Madness), had a post addressing abusive relationships. Specifically, he looked at the question, "Why Doesn't She Leave?"

No relationship is perfect, but I've never known any of my friends to fall into a physically abusive relationship. When they' have problems, I try to be there as a comfort, and a willing ear, strong shoulder.

But this is one of those things where, even if I don't have a personal experience to point to, I'm still drawn to articles about it, I want to understand it, and hope fervently that the justice system can be improved for the men and women who are abused.

I don't feel I'm in a place to give an opinion on it, though, because I know it on an intellectual level and empathically through others' stories. I did want to point those who are curious and concerned to Hines' post, though. He occasionally posts about the subject, having experience in counseling people in abusove relationships from a past career (apologies if my details are off about that, but he did work with them). This post examines the question, "Why doesn't she (the abused) leave the abuser?" He points to why people ask that question, and offers some explanation (economics, emotionally controlling, cut off from friends and family, etc.) while putting it out there that the question itself should change, because it still places the blame on the victim.

It's an interesting read, as are the comments, and it breaks my heart, judging from people's comments, the justice system isn't doing nearly enough, in many cases, to help the men and women being abused.

Brief Weekend Post the Second

2009-10-18T15:50:00.005-10:00

Ironic Sans is a blog that I've known about for a number of years now, but visit only on occasion. I don't know why. Every time I stop by I run into interesting articles that teach me things I didn't know, and sometimes really wanted to.

As a senior undergraduate in the psychology program, I was required to do at least three credits worth of directed research with one of the psych professors. I asked Edward Chronicle, because I loved his Cognitive Psychology course. After a face-to-face meeting, he agree, and I was one of three undergraduates working with him and his graduate student. One, a PhD candidate, was studying migraines, and one of our tasks was to post flyers around campus. He was conducting research and needed people who had migraines with auras.

Professor Chronicle died about a year after that, but I still think about that semester of research, how much I enjoyed working with those people, and wondering how their research progressed.

Just a little while ago, I took a jaunt through some favorite websites that I hadn't visited much recently, and there was this post on Ironic Sans about aura migraines, and the blogger, David's, strange experience. He usually has the auras, but this time, it included typing gibberish, which hadn't happened to him before.

It was interesting to read his description of the auras, and commenters' additions on various migraine symptons.

Part of me wonders whether there isn't a story there, about someone who sees migraine auras, but rather than being a precursor to a migraine, it indicates something else. (Something magical, mysterious, or preternatural, because that's where my fanytasy head goes.)

It's a very warm Sunday, and I feel like I've been running around all day, even if I haven't. But read and enjoy, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

Happy writing.

(Note: the picture is a piece of art depicting visual phenomena experienced by migraine sufferers, from the slideshow David links to. Here also is the link to the sideshow. These paintings are pretty intriguing.)

Brief Weekend Post the First

2009-10-18T13:11:00.002-10:00

Just wanted to point readers to this post by Patricia C. Wrede. After a post last week-ish about where I keep my ideas, I got a smile out of her post, offering an answer to that all-too-common question: Where do you get your ideas?

A taste: "If you just look slantwise at normal, everyday things, it becomes a habit after a while, and pretty soon you have more ideas than you know what to do with."

Much like her helpful soup analogy, Wrede offers an easy-to-comprehend grocery list example.

Give it a look, and I'll be back later today with another brief post.

Some Linkage to Start Your Weekend Right

2009-10-16T14:11:00.004-10:00

There's a pretty interesting conversation going on in the comments to Bookends, LLC most recent post, "Agency Policies." The topic is pretty basic: why do agents require personalized query letters and no mass emails? But it's nice to see the thought-out and detailed explanations by agents Jessica Faust of Bookends, and Colleen Lindsay in the comments.

---

In those comments above are a couple from JJDebenedictis, whom I first encountered through a quote in Writtenwyrrd's blog. From these comments, I decided to visit JJ's blog, and one of the current posts is also addressing some basics, in this case, of writing stories. She breaks down plot points (the risk of ambiguity), subtext, backstory and the over-arching idea we all hear about at one time or another, "Show, don't tell."

It all comes down to the reader's imagination.

"Show, don't tell," according to JJ, is really just giving the reader a few key details and letting them fill in the blanks, when it comes to description. In the example of the second Star Wars movie (the new second one, Attack of the Clones), the IMAX version made the movie better in terms of action and plot. Redundant scenes were cut for length, and the love story between Anakin and Padme was reduced to a few hinting glances and touches. Viewers filled in the blanks and the relationship worked.

The post is the last of five, but works all by itself, and the examples are clear and pretty useful, I find. Even if you already know the "rules," this is a handy post to read.

---

Lastly, if you haven't watched "Die, Vampire, Die," I heartily suggest it. It's funny, but it speaks to that worry in many of us (writers, artists, performers)--the awful voices in our heads that say 'it isn't good enough.' The video is embedded on the blog a few posts down.

Happy weekend,happy writing,
Sabrina

Went to Writer's Group Yesterday, but This isn't About That

2009-10-15T14:27:00.003-10:00

In fact, it's about women. The ladies (and here I imagine Maira Bamford saying, "I'm a lady-ist") of fantasy, books, movies and television.

A couple of months back, Sarah Rees Brennan (author of YA UF 'The Demon's Lexicon') posted about the inequality between male characters and female, opening with the idea "What if Harry Potter were Harriet Potter" and ending around the TV show, 'Supernatural,' about demon-hunting brothers (similar premise to her book), which lacks awesome chicksthat stick around.

Today, Justine Larbalestier (author of YA fantasy, most recently 'Liar' and 'How to Ditch Your Fairy') wrote about some reactions to the female protagonist of 'Liar,' Micah, in her post "On Hating Female Characters." There's this idication that some readers hate female characters more than male characters, or if Char. X is male, his behavior is more acceptable than if Char. X did the same as a female.

Larbalestier mentions some characters--a male would be considered "hot" and desirable to readers, while a female in the same situation is a "slut." In both posts, one of the biggest distinctions seems to be made in how male/female characters deal with romantic/sexual relationships and attraction. One commenter proposes that male protagonists aren't as "depth-y" as female characters, and Harriet Potter would be seen as Mary Sue-ish. Others examine the possibility of female characters being judged more harshly, because they judged in relation to the male characters.

Brennan offers a multitude of examples, how characters might elicit different reactions from readers if genders were reversed (Laurie-->Lori in 'Little Women,' for example), and discusses her own work, with two characters who use their attractiveness to their benefit and the different responses because they're opposite genders.

It's good stuff, and Brennan breaks down the Bechdel test. [Tangent: The Bechdel test is for movies, books, TV, etc., and has three parts--does it have two women; do they talk to each other; about something other than men?--What I find interesting every time I hear about it or see the test mentioned, is that no one ever says exactly what it means when a movie or book fails the Bechdel test. Sure it's bad, and there are bad gender things going on, but people also seem quick to point out, rightly so, that there are good books and movies that fail this test./Tangent]

These posts bring to mind the novel I was editing this summer. It's urban fantasy, with a female protagonist and a number of male and female characters. When I first wrote it, bringing pages to my writer's group in five page chunks (as per our rules), they didn't like her. The group was mostly women and the protagonist was curt, stubborn, and resisting the call to action (IMO), but they saw her as bitchy for no reason. Some of that was learning to be clear about character motivation, but I still feel they were too harsh on her. At the time, my mind kept jumping to the tv show, House. He's grumpy and sarcastic and pushes everyone away, with seemingly even less reason than my protagonist (who had been running away from the fae for years, and pushed people away so as not to bring them to the fae's attention, 'don't get close to them and they can't get hurt'). At least/Especially in the first few seasons.

I ended up softening her character a little bit, but more than changing her behavior, I focused on making her motivations clearer, so her "bitchy" actions wouldn't be dismissed as her being unlikeable. But it jarred me a little, how vehemently they disliked her in the beginning, and it confused me that a male character with similar behavioral ticks was thriving on television (I know I love 'House').

This isn't a romance-related example, but I see this problem that Brennan and Larbalestier point out as cropping up in a variety of situations, not solely romantic. I'm not certain exactly why this is. Larbalestier says she has no resolution, because she actively writes to present females as atheltic and males as fashion-conscious, and break down gender steroetypes, but this perception still seems to show up in people's responses to her books and others'.

I don't have a resolution either, except to make my female characters as three-dimensional as I can, give them believeable motivations and let them exist outside of gender stereotypes -and- outside of their relation to the male characters. (My protagonist for the novel I mentioned has, until this point, avoided dating altogether, and romance is about as far from her radar as anything. I wanted to write an urban fantasy that didn't rely on a romantic subplot.)

I'll leave you all with Brennan's words in the post, because they make me smile and feel good:

"The femme fatales, the ninja ladies, the shy girls, the chatterboxes, the ones several guys wanted, the ones none of the guys wanted, the heroines, the sassy sidekicks, the girl the hero fell in love with in one episode we never saw again, the girl who wanted a guy she didn't get, the girl who was with a ton of different guys, the girl who was devoted to her job, the girl who was into other ladies, the murder victim, the tomboy, the feisty redhead, the dumb blonde. There was never anything wrong with any of them.

"It's worth it to recognise that we're all okay. We were always okay."

Hard and fast Rules, or just good advice?

2009-10-14T12:17:00.002-10:00

It seems there are a number of writers, agents and editors mentioning writing rules lately. Some offering up a few, others commenting on "Writing rules" long established. I read them and think about the rules I've heard growing up: don't use anything but "said;" don't use "said;" don't use adverbs and adjectives; know every character's motivation; all main characters should have a growing arc over the course of a story; and so many more I can't even remember.

My basic response, as can also be found in other writing rules posts, is that nothing is carved in stone, some of these rules are a good idea, generally, but you can probably hurt your writing if you stick to every rule you hear, especially the absolutes.

Among the myriad posts I seem to have come across lately, is a new one by Patricia C. Wrede, "So What About All These Rules, Then?" who shares some "rules" a burgeoning writer brought to her attention. I read it thinking that I'd heard many of the same rules, and she addresses that thought of readers.

"And I just bet that there are people out there right now looking at this and thinking 'Wait…aren’t those things that every novel needs?'" The answer is no.

Wrede goes on to compare writing a book to making a soup--there are a lot of possible ingredients and spices you can add, but you don't need to add all of them. But, some soups lend themselves well to certain things, i.e. vegetables in a minestrone, but if you put all vegetables and all spices, it can turn a soup bad. Wrede says, "You have to tell a story. That's all...A novel requires a story, written down in some sort of comprehensible language. Everything else is your choice.

"Mind you, it’s a good idea to look at things like character growth and worldbuilding and so on, to see if the story you’re telling will be better if you add some. It’s like checking the soup to see whether it might be a good idea to add some of those extra green beans and carrots. Nothing is right for every novel or every soup."

Related to this is a quote that Writtenwyrdd posted the other day by JJ Debenedictus. "Every rule works like that; by learning to obey it, you gain enough knowledge to break it with skill."

She herself adds that when you do break a rule, such as 'only use said,' one should do so with a reason. Don't throw around phrases like "'blah blah blah,' he/she ejaculated" unless you really mean it. Or you're going for the humor.

Visit Writtenwyrdd's blog for the full quote and post.

Free Reading for Fans of Fairy Tale Parodies

2009-10-13T16:24:00.004-10:00

That was getting just a little silly in the alliteration department, wasn't it? I love alliteration, although that post title is just the basic facts, the details of which are these:

The Story

Nadia Lee is the author of "A Happily Ever After of Her Own," a story about Melinda, a teacher with the ability to visit fairy tales. She does so until the Fairy Tale police catch up and offer her a chance to avoid the charge of fairy tale killing--find Beauty, who disappeared from Beauty and the Beast when Melinda stepped into the story.

The Deal

Lee is offering the first two chapters free of charge to anyone who wants to read it. For further chapters, she'd like readers to sign up for her newsletter, which looks like a simple process of typing in your name and email at the end of the two open chapters. Here's the link for the first chapter, although earlier blog posts detail her decision to go through with this offer.

The Disclaimer!

I found out about Lee and her book through Diana Fox's LJ, and the story sounded right up my alley. It's fairy tale parody, and the sort of meta-fictional aspect that reminds me of Jasper Fforde's Tuesday Next series

Plus, I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast. Although Disney wasn't the first version I read/saw, I loved that Belle in the Disney version was a bookworm. Give me a bookish heroine and I'm almost guaranteed to be there.

*Caught up with those missed weekend posts. Should be one-a-day from now on, barring other missed days.

Fun Stuff for Writers

2009-10-13T12:05:00.003-10:00

I love the idea of Steampunk. In fact, I'm pinching little details that I come across to gather research and inspiration for a steampunk story I'm going to write (I'm working on having more of a solid base to start writing from, rather than opening a new blank Word doc and just going with no idea of who teh story is about or what happens, thus not "writing" yet). I'm enamored of the visuals, and the details.

Allow me to first point viewers/readers to Cakewrecks, a wonderful site which situates the horrendous next to the divine. One of their latest posts is steampunk cakes.

The trend for steampunk stories has been floating around the blogs for a while, or so it seems to me. Scott Westerfield has an illustrated YA steampunk book just out, entitled Leviathan. And Cherie Priest is John Scalzi's most recent Big Idea, with her book, Boneshaker. It's got inventions, a prolonged Civil War, a walled Seattle, and zombies! Who doesn't love that?

She does a ton of research to make her alterations to history believable (and you can see some of that here), and just from this Big Idea post, it seems she spent a long time world-building. But ultimately, the story is about a woman and her son, inside that walled city fo Seattle, filled with zombies.

Another fun thing for writers, which my writerly-inclined older sister pointed me to, this YouTube video. It's a song from a Broadway show called [title of show], and is enjoyable, and aplicable to screenwriters, painters, novelists, and all sorts of artists. The song is "Die, Vampire, Die," and the lyrics are available on the actual YouTube page, but below is the video itself. Go forth and enjoy.

Update on the new FTC guidelines, and a book plug

2009-10-12T14:31:00.002-10:00

From the post interviewing Richard Cleland about the new guidelines with the FTC about bloggers, free swag, and the possible consesequences of that being considered "compensation" for "endorsement" of a product, like bloggers who review a book they received as a -free- ARC.

Well, that poster updated with this link to another interview with Cleland. Further details on who might be fined, and how much, along with some responses from other bloggers, relating to their concerns and confusion.

Good information for all.

In only slightly related news, a former classmate of mine, currently a PhD student at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, has a book soon to be released. "Big in Japan: A Ghost Story" will be released around November 1 of this year, but Tom Gammarino, Author, will be turing at the end of October. First stop, the UH bookstore, on October 29, at 3 pm.

He'll also visit Philadelphia in December, and Pennsylvania, Washington and Vancouver, BC in January. Go here for more details about the tour and the book.

It follows the "Dantesque" travels of an American (USian, specifically) musician in Japan, and skips along the border of reality and fantasy. It's "riotously serious and deadly funny," according to the blurb at the website.

I haven't read it yet, but I plan to when it comes out, and it sounds interesting enough that I wanted to make mention of it to others. [Disclaimer: He didn't ask me to say anything, and I am being no way compensated for this mention. Just in case y'all wanted to know. ;P]

"Where do you get your ideas?" The Importance of Being Curious

2009-10-12T10:29:00.008-10:00

*Finally, a title that doesn't refer to missing, or almost missing, a post per day. Of course, I've missed two--for being sick, some more, and 'cause it's the weekend. I'll make them up.

A couple of days ago, I went to a Borders store and was enamored of a notebook they were selling. A darkish teal, with ravens and dead trees in silhouette, the inside cream with more raven sketches, and quotes from Edgar Allen Poe. I love Poe. I wanted that notebook. I am notebook kind of gal. But it was $13.00. I passed.

Plus, I already have tons of notebooks/notepads--spiral and composition, plain and decorated. Some empty, but most of them filled to some degree with notes, snippets, phone numbers, and occasionally sketches and doodles.

Thing is, I almost never leave home without at least one form of paper, usually two or three. [I try to use different notebooks for different stories or purposes (one has become the exclusive notebook for my booky research notes, others are specific to a novel or story I'm working on).] I keep so many near at hand, partly because of that question, "Where do you get your ideas?"

No writer seems to enjoy being asked that question, because the answer isn't an easy one (unless you get asked a lot, and eventually work out a rote response). For me, part of the answer lies in these notebooks. They're next to my bed, tossed throughout my room, in every shoulder- and messenger bag, in my army jacket with the deep pockets. Even when I leave without all those things, chances are there is a pen and a battered notepad shoved into a jeans pocket. Because you never know where an idea will come from, or when it will arrive.

Ideas ride in on a breath carrying with it a snippet of conversation, the funny line you hear and wonder what the rest of that conversation is surrounding it. Or listening to the radio and a particular line jumps out at you, a few minutes of a dream, a weird-looking (however you define weird) person walking down the street.

Any of these things and innumerous more. You see them, jot them down, and wonder why. And then life goes on. Go about your day, forget that snippet or dream. Later that day, the next, a week or a month later, some other snippet arrives to your ears and you pull out that notepad, see the other one, and things start percolating. Two snippets together and maybe they begin to form a conversation, and you find out who are those people talking. It builds from there.

At least I think so. Sometimes I flip through older pads or early pages of current ones, and see notes for one story that triggers a revelation for a new story.

Read widely, too. ( :P That's me, master of segues.) I have an idea for a story, YA, teen male protagonist, vampires. But in a big way, it's a reaction to many of the vampires books already out there, because I want to see how a YA book would work with violent, bestial vampires, where their bite isn't dainty or romantic, but a violent attack. It's still in the early stages, and maybe the trend will be long gone by the time I finish, but the characters are forming, and I have an opening, and bits and pieces of interesting facts are coming to me, and it's a story I want to write, because I love a fancy French vampire with a flair for the dramatic.

And I'll stop there, because I am still sick and my thoughts are getting a little scattered. Plus, I've been trying to type this throught the some house drama.

Happy writing, everyone,
Sabrina

--
On a completely unrelated note: I love my television captions sometimes. Through various circumstances, I now use them with the volume on on a regular basis, and it's just kind of funny to watch a season 3 episode of Heroes and see the caption "Breathing heavily, lips smacking" to take all the romance out. heh. Lips smacking is not a romantic sound.

(Sorry if the paragraph breaks are weird, sometimes, I add an image and it goes all wonky, despite my efforts to fix them.)

Kat Richardson tells it like it is, booyah!

2009-10-09T16:57:00.002-10:00

DISCLAIMER! My dad and little sister have read, I think, every Kat Richardson book currently out in paperback. They love the books. I, sadly (~weeps~), haven't read them yet because my to-read pile is a tottering hazard.

Plus, with this post, I've totally caught up with myself.

[I have decided, using my stuffy head-cold as an excuse, to be silly here. Please accept all of the above as truthful and deliberately exaggerated and silly.]

Urban fantasy writer, Kat Richardson, posts about Acquiring an Agent on her blog. It's long, but detailed and comprehensive, and basically, some overall good advice for writers currently editing, or just about to begin querying agents. And of course, the usual disclaimer--this is her opinion, based on her experience, and everyone who reads it has to look at it through that understanding. Besides that, it's a good read, IMHO.

Didn't post yesterday

2009-10-09T10:16:00.004-10:00

Boo on me, I know. But I was still fighting the Fever-y Head Cold of Doom. doomie doom.

I'll try to make up for the lapse with an extra post soon. If not today, then sometime in the next week or so.

I did spend yesterday thinking about my writing, though--even when my bedsheets were laying lightly on top or smoothed beneath me, and I felt tangled in then--I still feel like I wasn't completely lazy yesterday.

Mostly, my thoughts were drawn to the myriad agent, editor and writer blogs (both published and unpublished) that I visit. So many of them mention at some point the need for a writer who wants to get published to be confident, but not overly-confident (horror stories from agents receiving the 'of course you can't understand my magnificent work, you have to read it to see its stunning depth'). Bloggers in the know say writers shouldn't send out query letters until they believe their novel is the best they can make it. Not 'good enough,' not 'good,' but great, as close to perfect as the writer can accomplish.

The past few days, with this cold (or whatever it is), I can't help but wonder where I fall in the spectrum, except to know I am not firmly on the crazy over-confident end--I can be rather practical-minded, I like to believe. I do my research, and double-check it before sending out queries, so I have the most up-to-date information. But I can also be a pretty anxious and neurotic individual, and I'm finding it difficult, after a summer with my head in this one novel, to see whether it is as good as I can make it, or if I'm just too close to see its flaws, and a bit too tired. I don't know if my worries about the quality are justified, or just my over-active anxieties.

Anyway, that's what was going through my head while I was sick, so you know, grain of salt.

I want to present myself, especially with this, my "official" writing blog, as a competent and reasonable person. At the same time, it's chronicling my journey towards publication, and the worry is a part of that. I debated whether to mention how neurotic I can be, but this anxiety is a part of me, and it's part of my process as a writer. If I continue to receive form rejections, then I'll reevaluate my novel. Until then, and from now on, I'll keep the jibbering anixety to myself. For your sakes, dear readers. Because I care. ;P

Happy writing,
Sabrina

Almost didn't post today

2009-10-07T12:04:00.003-10:00

I had a slightly sore throat last night, but it was worse this morning, with a partially clogged nostral and a really annoying cough. Mnnn...

So I figured I'd forego the computer today, but I do like to check my email and check my friends list, see what people are up to. And since I was doing that, I'd check my other email (designated for querying agents and other publication-related emails) and post here.

Query email had a new unread letter of rejection, my first for the a novel.

I'm not a person who likes rejection (who does?), and who will generally do things to avoid situations where rejection is a possibility (at the same time, joining programs that I don't need, but which add to my work plate, like the Honors program--go figure). Writing is the one thing where I knew I would be rejected a certain number of times before finding an agent who I wanted to work with, who would want to work with me. But I did it anyway. I worked through writing a novel, then editing an novel; writing a query letter, and a synopsis (finished that yesterday, yay me), and researching agents. All to send a letter out, and more than likely get a form letter saying, 'sorry, not for us.'

I knew it would happen all through the previous stages, but writing is such an integral part of my life, and I want to make it a part of the rest of my life, hopefully in the sense of a paying career (eventually), that I was willing to risk rejection. I don't like it, and I hope there won't be many, but I think knowing the process ahead of time helped me not to take this first rejection so seriously.

Anyway, it's there, and it's like breaking the skin of water on top of a glass. The water is flowing, and I can keep moving forward. Because for all my neurotic insecurities, I believe I'll find an agent.

...

Don't worry, I won't devote an entire post to every rejection. Just this time, because I knew I didn't want to freak out when it happened, but I still wasn't entirely certain how I'd react. And I hope doing so even this first time isn't a mistake, so we can chalk it up to blogging while sick, yes? ;P

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

I Pay for the Books I Review

2009-10-06T13:46:00.003-10:00

Tracing back some links to the origin and then disseminating it further.

Apparently the Federal Trade Commission has revised its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials. Basically bloggers (not print reviewers) would be required to disclose any "compensation" or "endorsement" of product. So for all the bloggers out there who receive free books from publishers, in the hopes of a review, or bloggers who have advertisements for books (I suppose they mean ads for the book in questioned that reviewed) on their blog.

In response to these new guidelines, Edward Champion spoke with Richard Cleland, who works with the Bureau of Consumer Protection, via telephone. They had a "civil, but heated" conversation wherein Champion asked Cleland about the new guides.

Some issues received less than clearly defined answers, while Champion updates his interview to add a few points that weren't asked.

It's an interesting article, and informative for even the casual review blogger. The new Guides are effective December 1, 2009.

For myself, I only blog books I already own, or borrow from the library. I am a very casual reviewer. But I wouldn't mind receiving books for free to review, and I know there are plenty of bloggers who are lucky enough to receive books from publishers. For them, come December 1, they'll be required to, at the very least, state they are receiving books for free, or linking to Amazon. And one might be able to mention it once, or every single time they post a review. And if one doesn't do this, the consequences will be...

We're not sure yet. In the post, Cleland says they wil be focusing more on advertisers than individual bloggers, in terms of enforcing the new guidelines. Which doesn't make so much sense to me, if one of their main concerns is reviewers receiving free books as "compensation."

Champion is updating the article with new information (he emailed Cleland with a question and will also update with a reply), so I'll try to check back there and see if there's any new information to pass along.

Thanks to writtenwyrrd for the first mention.

Happy writing,
Sabrina

Good, Solid Advice from Janet Reid and a Sort-of Addendum from Me

2009-10-05T16:50:00.004-10:00

First, I swung by Janet Reid's blog today. She has a pop quiz for writers looking for agents. Three questions, pretty darn firmly tongue-in-cheek. Personally, the first two are easy, but the third threw me a little. I read it and thought, "None of those seem particularly good options." The question inquired as to whether it's appropriate to call a publisher for an agent's name if one couldn't find it in the dedication or acknowledgements page of a book. As Reid informs us, though, the answer is absolutely none of the above.

Never call a publisher to learn the name of an author's agent.

MY TAKE
When it comes to using an agent's name found in the acknowledgements: (all IMHO)

I have heard the advice that writers looking for agents to query can use this as a method--find books in your genre/style (for example, humorous urban fantasy) and look at the dedication and/or acknowledgements page for an agent's name. I don't think this is bad advice, but at the same time, I think it behooves the querying writer to be careful in comparing themselves to the book from which they found the agent's name. I've heard that since agents can't take on too many writers (yay economy/sarcasm), they might not want someone who points out their work is exactly like Already Acquired New Writer X.

Also, one might rethink if the published author is really well-known--if JK Rowling's agent is looking for new writers, and your work fits what they're looking for, go ahead, but then comparing yoursef to Rowling... ~shrugs~ My feeling is, go ahead and look for an agent by checking out books by writers whose work is similar to yours, but there's no need to compare yourself (general you, of course), or mention you got their name from so-and-so's book.

Anyway, my two cents, once again. (Where and when did two cents become equated with one's opinion like this? I wonder.)

Happy Monday everyone,
Sabrina

The Sunday Slump

2009-10-04T21:28:00.004-10:00

I definitely think weekends will be hardest posts to stick with. Those are my running around days, especially Sunday, and I don't usually turn the computer on, let alone do all that pesky thinking about stuff.

Scanning through my enormous list of writers' blogs, looking for inspiration or an interesting article to link to, Anna Genoese (editor, and co-author of Salt and Silver) had some neat points to make about editing--three main questions, 1. can you tighten it up, 2. what story are you telling, and 3. who's your audience, really--but maybe I'm too tired at this point to say much more than that.

It's been a really long day. And I'm already tired thinking about having to get up tomorrow.

I also visited Carrie Vaughn's blog. She has a recent post about going on a ride-along with a police officer. This was almost startling in its helpfulness, because I have, on a handful of occasions in the past, wondered how some writers keep the police procedures in their books authentic if they don't personally know a cop or have a friend who knows a cop. Ride-alongs seemed like something only a well-known writer (or previously mentioned 'person with connections') could achieve. And although the police officer with whom Vaughn went on the ride-along is a friend, according to the post, I was caught by the last paragraph--that police departments usually have a ride-along program and/or "civilian academies," where one can learn about actual procedure.

That seems, in one way, pretty common sensical (is that word? it is now either way ;) ), and I like to think I have a healthy dose of common sense, but at the same time, it had never occurred to me that police departments would have something like that already in place.

Well, there are my two [sleepy] cents for Sunday. I hope to bring you something more coherent tomorrow.

Happy writing,
Sabrina

The Last Day of Banned Books Week, if only

2009-10-03T20:56:00.005-10:00

A List of the top ten banned books for 2008:

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richarson and Peter Parnell

His Dark Materials trilogy, by Phillip Pullman

TTYL, TTFN, L8R G8R, series, by Lauren Myracle

Scary Stories, series, by Alvin Schwartz

Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

Gossip Girl, series, by Cecily von Ziegesar

Uncle Bob's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

Flashcards of my Life, by Charise Mericle Harper *

The reasons for their being banned across the US range from sexually explicit material to unsuitable to age group, drugs, suicide, and religious views or because it contained material related to the occult/satanism (because those always go hand-in-hand; amd then what would happen to the urban fantasy section?/sarcasm).

I haven't read all of these. I've heard of most of them, come across reviews for them in Entertainment Weekly or other magazines my sister picks up (I'm not much fro buying them myself). I have the Scary Stories and Dark Materials books. I never read them, back in elementary, intermediate and possibly high school, with any thought to cwensorship or the deeper, "subversive" commentary in them. I was simply obsessed with detailing every item/picture on the alethiometer, and was more disconcerted by the illustrations in the Scary Stories and More Scary Stories than I was by the tales of spiders laying eggs in a woman's ear.

But even though there are books on this list I haven't read, I like...love knowing I -can- read them. I can go to the library or bookstore and pick it up and flip through it, reread it until I can quite whole pages. It pains me to think there are people out there who want to take that right away from others, based on their own subjective opinions.

Censorship seems to be the personal opinion of a vocal few. That small opinion shouldn't become the standard for libraries and bookstores and schools.

I think I'm lucky to live in a town where there's never been an uproar over a book that's supposedly inappropriate (at least, I've never been aware of such a thing in the media, and I hope it would be a big enough deal to warrant mention on the news), and I hope never to live in a place where that happens. But at the same time, it can make a person complacent. "It won't happen to me." It's one of those times when I think there's nothing I can do tomake a difference, but I hope just speaking out about here is at least a start. If I can be so bold, I also encourage others, especially if they hear about a book being banned in their community, to speak out against it.

[One of the reasons I like Neil Gaiman--he's very good about informing readers of his blog when something like this happens. He's got connections. He's like a one-man mafia. ;) ]

I have to say, this one post a day thing is not easy for me, at least over the weekend, when I don't usually go online. But it's the third, last official day of Banned Books Week. Coming up, I want to do a post on writer's block, and I have a few other topics written down for posts.

Happy writing everyone,
Sabrina

*List from the Banned Books Week website. More details about events you can do to participate (good reference for next year, too) can be found here.

Banned Books Week, Post #1

2009-10-02T19:34:00.003-10:00

Not the most original post title, but it's been a long day (still the 2nd though! for me at least) and I only just booted up my computer.

Since I love a good personal anecdote, this post will be a short-ish one. Tomorrow, I'll try to take some time, do some research and one of those thoughtful, well-informed posts I hear so much about.

BANNED BOOKS

My second semester at university, one of the first english classes I took was a fiction/poetry workshop, taught for half the semester (the poetry half) by a visiting professor, Professor Joy Harjo.

One class, we were talking about rhythm and beat when reading poetry aloud. She had a t-shirt with a list of that year's, or the previous year's, banned books. I don't remember what she origially proposed as the task to "win" it, but I'd been introduced to Slam Poetry that semester. I had interviewed some of the well-known names in Honolulu, been to a campus slam poetry event, and been given a cd with some performances of this local artists.

One poem in particular stuck with me--"Recess" by Steven Kealoha Wong, known solely as Kealoha to many. It was fast and smooth and paused in all the right places and made me think back to that joyful existence when one word meant the highlight of my day: recess.

With the discussion of rhythm, beats and pauses in poems, I brought the cd to class and played it for everyone. She gave me the t-shirt.

I'm not one much for t-shirts that promote specific stores, brands or causes, but I like this one. Because really, how could I dislike a shirt with book titles on it? :)

Stay tuned for Saturday's edition of the ever-thrilling "Banned Books Week,Post #2." I know. I have chills, too.

October First: Catch-All and Linkage

2009-10-01T10:48:00.005-10:00

The countdown begins to my-favorite-holiday-on-which-I-have-nothing-to-do, Halloween. I love Halloween, the idea of dressing up as something magical and maybe a little scary, a night to pretend I'm someone/something else--it's like taking the stories I write a step further.

When I write, I am, in some ways, every character. I need to get in their heads, know how they think, how they react, how they feel. On Halloween, instead of quietly looking over the shoulders' of these fictional characters, I can walk the street as someone else.

@_@

Not to take that idea too far, I just love Halloween.

It's incredibly sad that I never have any plans for the night. Candy for the handful of kiddies that show up, yes, but my family never has parties, none of my friends have parties as far as I'm aware, and I'm not a dance club kind of gal.

But moving on. October 1 also marks the not-quite-midpoint of Banned Books Week, as well as the first day of NaBloWriMo--National Blog Writing Month. Seeing as how I love to read, but have been lax in my CoffeeQuill blogging, I want to attend to these both.

Briefly, a WHAT TO EXPECT:

Tomorrow, I'll post about Banned Books, talk about this year's list, banned books I have or have not read, and share an anecdote from 2003.

Then, it will be my fervent attempt to blog each day of October. I don't imagine I'll keep up the once-a-day post after this month, but if memory serves, it takes about 21 days to form a habit. If I can manage NaBloWriMo, maybe I can manage a more regular posting schedule. I'm already making a list of topics to post on.

LINKAGE

On Publisher's Weekly, there's a vote going on--PW is planning to do an interview with an urban fantasy author, and they want to know which UF author people want to read about. Voting is happening on now, and you can go here to cast your choice. You don't need to log in to leave a comment.

Today also heralds the guest post on "The Charming Bracelet," by "Only Milo" author Barry Smith. Jennifer Ambrose, the author of the blog, is running a Big Idea--a chain letter of sorts, but with a book. Receive it, read it, sign it, blog or tweet it if you like, mail it to someone else. Eventually, the book returns to Jennifer and more writers and readers are aware of a debut author. The book sounds interesting, and you can go to Jennifer's blog for more details about the book, Smith, and her chain book idea.

ETA: While writing about NaBloWriMo, I knew there was one more blog I wanted to mention. By the time I got to Linkage, I forgot. 'Cause I'm a dork like that. Seeing as I love Halloween, and by extension, October, here is a link to Writtenwyrdd's short fiction contest. 500-1,000-word horror story. Halloween as the deadline. Prize is a cuddly Chthulu plushie. I haven't written much horror, but for that, I'm going to give it a try.

(Thanks to Writtenwyrdd for reminding me I wanted to post about this.) :)

So that's October 1, day one of NaBloWriMo. 30 more days to go.

Happy writing,
Sabrina

When I Knew I Wanted to be a Writer

2009-09-23T10:36:00.007-10:00

[*According to my blogger dashboard, my last post was #100. It's taken me a couple of years to get there, but it's a nice marker to reach. :) ]

Since the statehood post, I've been thinking about my childhood a bit more. Then I saw a post or two about writers who knew they wanted to do this since they could write, or even before, because they were storytellers. I realized, that was not the case for me.

My kindergarten class was set up as different stations--little square spaces where you could draw/color, play house, read, there was a small sandbox to play in, and other puzzle games. I think just from this you can see what I preferred, I can't even remember most of the stations on the other side of the classroom. we were supposed to move around, not stay in one area all day, but I loved playing house, though I seem to recall not necessarily needing the typical mom, dad, baby set-up (I wish I could remember what I -did- want to play, wizards?).

I still have a single page story with picture about a girl catching a butterfly, but I remember I actually didn't like the color station--we were given pages of animals that were supposed to be certain colors, blue bear, red cat, etc., that would be compiled into a booklet. I thought it was boring. But I did like that single page story I came up with. And I loved to read. I still have the book (similar to a "See Jane. See Dick. See Jane's dress." ones) and it was the first thing I read all by myself. I went and read it to my teacher and she gave me a post-it with a stamp of (or it was printed with) a 'good job so and so,' with the teacher's signature. It's still in that book.

Drawing and writing have always been tied for me. From those early years to fifth and sixth grade, whn I drew countless characters, just waiting for stories, and then the stories develop concurrently with the pictures. Outside of class, I didn't do much writing, but I had the pictures and notes, and the stories in my head. In school, the drawings were never as good (rephrase--I actually did most of my drawing at school, but when it was assigned, it didn't look at good). And I remember a story I was supposed to write in 6th grade--I never finished it. I have no idea what I got for a grade, but I think it was passing, because at least my teacher saw me working on it in class. I just couldn't get to the end.

Ending stories...From the time I started writing stories, I couldn't finish them. A one-page, or even 7-page story for 8th grade English, I was able (barely) to wrap up, but I started so many stories that I didn't finish until my undergraduate years of college. I joined the Honors program in order to finish a novel. I've finished two since then (the second novel is the one I'm querying agents on).

When I was thinking about this, I would have said I didn't know I wanted to be a writer until intermediate schol/high school. The latter is when I started what would be that first novel. And I had another story that I worked on during PE, while still adhering to teh activity of the day. During the former, I started finishing what I began, at least if they were short.

Now, though, I think maybe I've wanted to do it for a long time. I didn't know it at first, but I -did- love drawing and writing and coming up with stories. I just wanted to write on my own terms.

And now I am. hee.

Happy writing, everyone.

[PS. The redhead is Kelin, and the silver-haired lady is Phoenix, my two mage protagonists for that first complete novel. Not my best work, but I was rushing to finish them for a poster at the time. I still tend to draw a lot of my characters as I write their stories.]

Editing Updates <3

2009-09-09T13:46:00.008-10:00

Here's my good mood: I finished my edits. I do believe, my dearies, that 'Hounds' is ready to go out amongst agents.

Here's my less-than-good mood: That means jumping out amonst the agents, handing over my novel, and waiting for rejection.

I like to think I am knowledgable about the publishing industry (although less so about the spelling here--knowledgeable?), but at the same time, I hate rejection. I have, one can argue, led an occasionally boring life, partly to avoid rejection. But I know rejection is part of the game, as much as I want to be confident and say, "I'll get an agent with my first query sent." People like confidence, they like certainty, they like to see that you (read: me) can handle stress and not fall apart at the drop of a hat.

Well, stress is fine, good, I can deal with that. (You guys haven't met my family. Stress is daily entertainment in this house.) I love writing. I want to write for the rest of my life, to get better with every story, to make a living out of this skill and passion. I just hate rejection.

I commented on a post on Sherwood Smith's journal once, a few weeks back--the topic revolved around conversations, conventions and introverts, but it reminded me of this feeling I struggle with from time to time. I shared my example. For introverted me, stepping into a conversation is like a game of double-dutch jump rope, rocking back and forth, waiting for the right moment. Unfortunately, my "right moment" never seemed to come. I would stand there rocking, waiting, and someone else would jump in on the other side.

I don't want writing to be another missed opportunity. [And my writerly instincts scream at all the 'I' statements.] But I need to screw up the courage (a weird cliche out of context), and just do it. Query is ready, book is done and edited, and there's an excel sheet with a good number of agents and their requirements listed, just waiting for me.

Everything waiting for me. ~cue scared kitty again~ I think I'll be okay once I start. So here I am, watching the rope as it slaps the hot pavement. Someone nearby sings a silly rhyme. I'm gonna jump...now.

Growing as a Writer: Small Revelations

2009-08-27T13:50:00.004-10:00

I have to admit, as I'm writing, I don't necessarily notice when I've improved. I'm a firm believer in the 'the more you write, the better you write' adage, and I'm certain my writing is better with each short story and novel I complete, but up until now, I'd be hard-pressed to tell you where I had improved other than finishing.

Stuck in the midst of my "quick" round of editing, originally just cutting lines and making changes based on in-manuscript notes I left to myself (now essentialy rereading the whole thing), I am beginning to notice improvements, at least in terms of my awareness of what does and does not work. I think it may be in the editing stage that a writer can see where their strengths and weakessnesses lie, and where they improved. Your story may be better written than an earlier one, but you'll be able to see that when you begin to edit.

For example, lately, I have been starting a lot of sentences and questions with "So..." in my real life/talking to friends online. In text, that habit is more clearer apparent, so when I see it in the novel, I know there's a problem and it needs to go. I'm not adverse to starting a sentence with "And" or "But," but it needs to make sense, address the previous sentence and sound "right" enough to be its own sentence. (If that makes sense.) Basically, it needs to add to the story, and starting a sentence with "So," IMO, doesn't.

I've also noticed a tendency I have in my story-writing to repeat words or phrases as a point of emphasis. I love it. It sounds great in my head. Or Character B will sarcastically repeat what Character A said. As I edit, I try to read the story as Random Reader #1 (in hopes to have many more than 1 in the future). I've been asking myself, "Would this throw me out of the story?" "Would I skip over this?" and I find that those repetitions (especially the quoting someone else in dialogue, which looks a bit awkward with the "'double' quotation marks") tend to do that to RR#1. Thus, I cut and reprase if necessary.

Likewise: just, that, really, actually, very... etc.

Words that I like to use, and feel are needed for emphasis when I write them down, but in editing, I cut most of these. I think I might keep a few "just"s, and I'm working on toning down the "a bit"s, "at least"s and "seemingly"s.

I realize these are a small part of editing, but when I stopped to think about it, I rarely took out the numerous counts of "just" in my early stories. In the past, I didn't use "So" very much (at the start of a sentence), but I'm sure there were other "real life" verbal ticks that made their way into my writing to its detriment.

I like to think this is a tangible/visual point for me to see -that- I have improved, and where I improved, at least in one respect.

So that's my small revelation for the day.

Happy writing, everyone,
Sabrina

Steal-hood rather than Statehood? Fifty years ago yesterday HI became a state

2009-08-22T13:47:00.002-10:00

(Let me preface all of this by saying 1. I typed this yesterday, while my internet was melting, so couldn't post it until now, and 2. I’m talking about words and concepts as I remember them from childhood. I won’t claim any of these meanings are 100% accurate now.)

I moved to Hawaii when I was six, because my dad was in the military and after he retired, my mother wanted to stay here. In elementary school, we had a kupuna (the simplest definition is teacher, although my understanding was that it tended to be an older person, like a grandparent teaching a younger person, in a vaguely master/apprentice relationship) come every other week, or every month. She taught us about the colors, numbers, and various other vocabulary words in Hawaiian, as well as traditions in Hawaii. I remember the tune and some of the words to a song for the colors (ula ula, melemele, poni, polu, ele ele, -something- eo eo [?],…). Granted, I missing some colors in there. In order, those are red, yellow, blue and purple (don’t recall which of these two is which) and black. It’s been years since I remembered what orange, green and brown are in Hawaiian, although I’m fairly certain I have some notes from around that time somewhere.

I also remember a visit from the kupuna when we made poi, a paste made from the taro plant. I have never cared for taro.

Jumping to freshman year of high school, I learned more about how Hawaii, or rather the southernmost 8 of the 108 Hawaiian islands, became a state. I can still picture the text box on the bottom half of a page with the title, “Bayonet Resolution.” Looking back now, I wish we’d been required more than just one semester of Hawaiian history out of four years of required social studies. Even after studying it over the years, I still can’t recall all of the facts. I remember names, I studied similar issues of assimilation, hegemony, and agency, but the one thing I know is that many Native Hawaiians didn’t want to be a state. For a time, the Hawaiian language was illegal—it wasn’t taught in schools, and I believe a child could get in trouble if a teacher heard them speaking it. The bayonet resolution refers to Prince Kuhio, if memory serves me correctly [and I don’t have time right now to double-check, ech] and the story goes that he was held at bayonet point to sign over the annexation decree. Despite the royalty of Hawaii making diplomatic trips, the islands were annexed as a strategic point in the Pacific (for a number of countries, but the U.S. moved first), Queen Lili’uokalani was overthrown, the monarchy ended and fifty years ago today, August 21, 2009, Hawaii became the 50th state of the U.S.A.

Around 3 [yesterday] this afternoon, there was a news brief on KGMB where the reporter mentioned some people called today Steal-hood Day, rather than Statehood. There are many Hawaiians today who are angry at the US government, feeling they should be granted sovereignty, and lands should be returned to Native Hawaiians.

As someone who has lived here most of her life, but has not a drop of Hawaiian blood, I have been annoyed by the number of commercials touting Hawaii’s statehood. They’ve been on television for months. In many ways, I feel that the government’s action in 1893 and 1959 were wrong. But at the same time, I don’t want to be forced out of the place I call home (even if summers have always been a killer for me), and I’d like to think myself as a local.

I suppose that I’m just trying to express how today, especially prompted by that news brief, I am jolted back into awareness of issues that some people around me deal with every day.

As a writer, I think it’s important in world-building, especially when a world/kingdom/country is populated by more than one people, to examine who invaded whom, or how one tribe/culture might have overpowered another. Was there a culture even earlier than the ones present in your story, and if so, what happened to them? (There are plenty of creation myths in Hawaiian culture, but the general consensus is that Polynesians came from other Pacific islands a millennium or more ago. I don’t recall much about possible cultures before that point.) Do the multiple cultures get along, seem to get along, or actively and pervasively loathe one another? It might be details that never make their way into the story, but they should be details the writer knows.

In the meantime, I’m going to brush up on my Hawaiian history and culture.

Happy writing,
Sabrina

A New Cover for Larbalestier's "Liar"

2009-08-06T14:34:00.005-10:00

As an update to Justine Larbalestier's cover of Liar--two posts down there's an explaantion and discussion of the issue--Bloomsbury has redesigned the book jacket for the US hardcover release. The details are on Larbalestier's blog.

Personally, I love that they maintained the form/style of the black and white cover, but this is in color, with a young woman much truer to Larbalestier's character. It looks great. Her eyes are especially striking, IMO.

Behold:

(If it looks a little blurry, definitely follow the link above and see a larger version and hear the tale in Larbalestier's own words.)

What's wonderful is that, although this is a single, highly vocal occurrence in the blogosphere, hopefully sales of this book will prove to publishers that the excuse "books with black people on the cover don't sell" is outdated and false. I don't usually buy hardcover books, but I may just have to pick this one up when it's released. (I really do love the eyes, they're very compelling.)

Poetry in Motion--My Thoughts Won't Sit Still

2009-08-03T16:28:00.008-10:00

As a student at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, I saw Professor Susan Schultz in passing fairly often. Thinking of it now, I'm surprised I've only taken one class with her: Reading poetry as a poet. It was a graduate level course, my second semester in the master's progam. We had required reading--

A Thought went up my mind today-

That I have had before-

But did not finish- some way back-

I could not fix the Year-

Nor where it went- nor why it came

The second time to me-

Nor definitely, what it was-

Have I the Art to say-

But somewhere- in my Soul- I know-

I've met the Thing before-

It just reminded me- 'twas all-

And came my way no more-

c.1863 Emily Dickinson

--But the purpose of the course (IMO and in my memory these few years later) was to 1. Look at poetry and analyze it in different ways, not just the purely academic standard, and 2. read the works of poets with an eye to how their work influenced your own poetry.

I mention this, because she is also the editor of a small publication called TinFish, and has a blog as such. A few days ago, she wrote about the "Seductions of Can't." The gist of it, as I see it, centers around the commonly-found thought that poetry is hard. "I can't understand it." "I can't write it."

I've never had a problem writing poetry, per se. Actually, I only had to struggle through it, as a challenge more than a frustrating impossibility, when an assignment required a poem in a certain form.

Ah, the villanelle. I love a free-form poem.

But it was an interesting reminder how many people are averse to poetry, as portrayed through poetry profesors' syllabi: the presentation of poetry as something that you shouldn't be afraid. I know you are, but with this class, you'll learn not to be.

[I am currently wearing my headphones, listening to "Dark Blue" by No Doubt, with the cord of my headphones marking two poems in a pocket-sized copy of Dickinson poems (indeed the volume we used in this course).]

Schultz's post resonated with me somehow, thus this post to try and get some of those thoughts out, instead of bouncing around in my mind, pinball-like. [Thinking about poetry makes me poetic. Not that I claim I am such successfully.] She says of the poetry class, "We are not immediately readers, but a support group for poetry phobics." Her idea is to take all the energy of the 'cannot's and push it towards creation, to can, to try.

Don't give in to the fear, poetry is our friend.

At my local library, there was a slim volume of poetry that I borrowed repeatedly. Some long poems, some short, all of them about time. I have my life-motifs: masks, butterflies, quill pens, and time. They are the visuals, the concepts, that I turn to, that I get wrapped up in, that I seek out.

Poetry is not something for a reader to struggle through fearfully or with trepidation, nor does it require a "reader." [Who else has friends that claim not to be 'readers'?] Anyone can skim a sonnet, write a short poem. No rhyming required unless you want to. What's outside the window?

Tiny sparrows and palm-sized green birds, that flitter and jump from slim branch to slim branch, bouncing the whole plant as they play and search and fly.

Don't be afraid of poetry. It likes you.

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you- Nobody- Too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise- you know!

How dreary- to be- Somebody!

How public- like a Frog-

To tell one's name- the livelong June-

To an admiring Bog!

c.1861 E. Dickinson

*As an aside, when I took her class, our final/big assignment was an anarcho-scholastic project (a-s being a combination of creative and academic approaches, structures, and presentations to a subject) on a poet who person or work resonated with us. I chose John Keats. I still feel incapable of putting into words how or why he resonates with me. In fact, one of classmates and friends said she was surprised I picked him--she expected me to choose a more modern poet. Her explanation for that was as amorphous as my own. I set out to search for Keats in the modern world and listened to my professor's suggestion. Although I turned in a hard copy, I ultimately re-created my project on a blogspot blog: Encountering Keats. Currently, it's set up as the most recent post is the first page and each subsequent post is a subsequent page, corresponding as closely to the hard copy version as possible.

If Keats ever jumps out at me (when it happpens I'm usually not looking for it), there will be more updates to that blog. Keats does not stop at the introduction. I wonder if Junkets has a facebook? ...indeed there are! Quite a few, too, including "John Keats: An Emo?!", "John Keats was a sexy mofo" and "I'd put out for John Keats."

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,

Before high piled books, in charact’ry,

Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;

When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace

Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love! - then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

(one of my favorite Keats sonnets)

A Post of Linkage: Book Covers and Race in Fiction

2009-07-23T14:06:00.005-10:00

~raises an eyebrow~ Oh sure, that doesn't sound daunting at all.

But this is a serious issue, and it seems that the reasoning by the production side of things revolves around excuses like "it won't sell" or "people don't want that."

Justine Larbalestier, author of the Magic or Madness trilogy and most recently, Liar, has written a couple of posts lately about the issue of race. One is about the liveaction movie of Avatar, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The newest post is about the cover for "Liar."

LIAR

In regards to Liar, the U.S. cover consists of a face, clearly female, clearly white, with straight hair covering her mouth. Theoretically, this is the main character, who is actually dark-skinned with short curly hair. Out of context, it's a nice cover, interesting, makes me curious about the story within. Taking in the context of the protagonist's ethnicity and appearance, the cover speaks to an old trend of "white washing." Larbalestier speaks eloquently about the issue, mentioning her own disgruntlement after various reviewers asked about the discontinuity.

Judging from the comments, it seems many "white" readers aren't hindered in their enjoyment of a book if the protagonist is a PoC. But there are some cases (I pause here to emphasize this is based on the comments I read and a general impression I've garnered over various blogs about race in literature--in no way do I believe my statements are gospel or founded in concrete numbers), where a PoC may not pick up a book with a character of color in it because there's a white person on the cover.

One of the points, as agent Kate Shafer Testerman expounds on, is that authors have little to no say about the covers of their books, i.e. whether there's a person on it or not, and if that person matches the description in the book. I, personally, enjoy seeing characters on the cover,but I'd like to assume those are accurate, that the artist is given at least a brief description. Jim Hines is lucky in that respect with the DAW covers for his fairy tale princess books, The Stepsister Scheme and Mermaid's Madness. But I think this is an especially important issue when the characters are PoC. It isn't something that should be frowned upon by publishers or prospective agents. If white readers aren't deterred by ethnic characters on the cover, but readers of color are deterred when the covers only project white characters, it seems all the more important to have characters of color portrayed.

AVATAR: The Last Airbender

Shifting to the Avatar film: I loved the television show. It was on Nickelodeon, and sometimes I had to hunt for it because they changed the days and/or times, but it was worth it. Lovely animation and an interesting story, centering around four kingdoms, each bearing strong Asian influences. The creators had consultants so those influences (especially in the fighting styles, but also, I imagine, on the clothing and archtecture) so it would be true to the various Asian cultures they're based on.

So why, oh why, is the liveaction film dunked in white characters? Where the only non-white actors are those playing villains? Here, Larbalestier quotes someone about why this may be, but the gist of the statement is that, for people who haven't been exposed to Asian culture, even the setting is a fantasy, not just the characters' magical control over the elements.

I find it incredibly unlikely that viewers will have had no experience whatsoever to Asian. Not a single Jackie Chan movie? Not a glimpse of anime on the Scifi channel (suffy channel now--yes, that's how I pronouce Syfy, but that's another rant), or a walk through the manga section of a bookstore?

I wonder if that is an assumption on my part, living in Hawaii, where these things are commonplace, but I'd like to think even the smallest small town in the most isolated area without a single Asian person living there, would have some sort of interaction with the culture. And I hope that the Asian influence on architecture, fighting styles, food and clothing are all still there, so why would the shape of a face or a tint of one's skin somehow throw a viewer out of the story or turn them off from watching the film?

~deep breath~

Ultimately, it seems like the issue is not with the people consuming the product, but with the people in control of how the product is viewed. Those people seem to be getting it wrong, adhering to older assumptions about consumers' reactions to people of color. I was wonderfully excited to hear about an Avatar movie. Now, even if the trailer looks intriguing, I don't know if I'm going to go. I don't want to encourage filmmakers to continue this. And I don't want to encourage booksellers, either.

A month later...

2009-07-22T13:47:00.007-10:00

Well, I finished the hard copy edits, and have reached the point where those changes are being made on the Word doc file.

Still slow-going and occasionally frustrating--because of the hard copy I used, which does not exactly match the computer copy, and because sometimes I still didn't -what- change to make--but I am make headway. I hope to finish before August, or by the start of August.

That means, of course, that I can't do what I did yesterday very often. Which was, of course, to avoid my computer completely and read all day. ~grins~ But I did enjoy the book. I read volume I of the Chrestomanci omnibi on Monday, editing in between the two books therein. Yesterday, I decided to read both books (a longer volume II compared to the first) and not work on the novel. I enjoyed it (especially since I doubt I'd have gotten much done in this heat).

I'm eager to keep reading. I have this long list, somewhat of a wishlist, of books I want to get through this summer. I don't think I can manage all of them, but I've already made some headway (compared to those months when I can't seem to read anything, even for fun). Besides the other two Chrestomanci I need to look for now, I was given a C.S. Friedman trilogy for graduation, starting with Black Sun Rising. I'm working my way through the Oz books (currently on #9 of 14), plus would like to finish the Crown of Stars series, which I got stuck on in the very middle of it.

Which brings to mind this post by Kate Elliott, "The Unreadability Logjam." I am not the only one who gets stuck with this unreadability feeling. Elliott solved it with with reading a nonfiction book about a "fascinating" character in history. I may try that next time, with the researchy books. Luckily, I'm not going through that right now. ~grins again~ But unluckily, it means calling upon that greater reserve of self-discipline. I know it's here somewhere. Maybe it fell under the bed.

Coffee Quill

"Don't You Forget About Me"

Happy Holidays!

A Fluttering of Wings

Magick for Terri--Giving Thanks

The Month of Writing Novels

The Forest for the Trees

The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Persephone, and an Herbalist walk into the Underworld...

August disappeared, but hey, what about books?

SAD makes me irked

Writing is Not Solitary

A Change of Pace?

Re-Crushing on Sabriel

I Have a Confession...

Blogger Cookies, not the tasty kind

(SAWD) Seasons Affecting Writing Disorder

LGBT "Issues" in Genre Fiction

The Charmed Lives from Diana's Castle

Cranes: A Symbol of Wanting Hope

Quick Update about Tsunami Post

Please Respond if you have any information

Tsunami in Japan and Hawaii

An Un-Birthday Request

X-Men

Happy New Year--2011 edition

Filling the Void with TV

Winter Edition: Giving thanks

If Only I Had the Time...

Thanksgiving Eve already?

Day 1 of my Word Counting

My Own Personal NaNo

Three weeks, really Sabrina!?

Separated by Half an Ocean

Interlude: A Vacation that's Not

Back from the Grave

Blog Recommendation

Sharing a Contest

Great book find!

Tired, but feeling good

The Job Hunt is Over!

Maybe there's a Reason I haven't been Productive

Two Pieces of Good Advice: Do Research and Wear Sunscreen

The Beginning of a Plot

Making the Spontaneous Inevitable

Fairy Tales and how much fun they are to twist

Middle of National Library Week

More about being a Reader versus a Writer

Doing Something for Myself as a Writer

Short Admin-y Post, and then some

Help a Book-Lover Help Others

Crosspost-it from my LJ: Epiphany! Albeit a little one

Book Reviews, yay! And a bit about "my process"

Tsunami Warning

What Happens When You Put Two Authors Together on IM

Steampunk and Linkage

First post of the 2010, and it only took 13 days

Happy New Year

Winter Holiday Greetings

A Writer's Angel and Devil, aka A Giving Thanks Post

Maybe I Need Some New Music to Listen to

Breathing through both nostrils

Honest, I didn't mean to disappear so soon for so long

Happy Halloween!

His Name is Normand

The Classics

More on my Battle with Short Stories

Birds and Short Stories

Muse musings

Pretend the Date says Sunday

Halloween a Week Early

Furlough Fridays--if it has a fun name, it must be good, right?

Mood when Writing

Synopses: A Writer's Bane [Also, my Internet is Evil]

Inspiration

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Brief Weekend Post the Second

Brief Weekend Post the First

Some Linkage to Start Your Weekend Right

Went to Writer's Group Yesterday, but This isn't About That

Hard and fast Rules, or just good advice?