Cast Your Vote Now!

A writer friend, Janet Lee Nye, is a top 10 finalist for Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write Contest, which is a significant honor in and of itself. 

Her manuscript, Man Maid, is fun and sexy and supremely well written. Read her complete work and vote for her here.

The winner will earn a two book publishing contract!

Good luck Janet.   

What A Nightmare!

I was in the fifth grade when I watched my first horror movie--Nightmare on Elm Street--at my friend Robin's birthday party. 

Ghosts! Goblins! Oh My!

My grandparents' house was haunted. This was my paternal grandparents, Bill and Marie's house, by the way. 

I know what you're thinking. Isn't everyone's grandparents' house haunted? Probably. You can read about the ghost haunting my grandmother Scott's farmhouse here. 


It wasn't a ghost, per se that haunted Nannie and PapPap's house. It was more like a green goblin. Or "little green men." And they lived in Uncle Ervin's closet. 


Or so he insisted. So I believed. 

Part of the attic was haunted as well. Let me explain. Part of the attic was finished off into a small room with a low pitched ceiling. The other half, the unfinished portion, was crammed with furniture, clothes, and various stuff. That's the side the ghost haunted.

During the day, I didn't mind hanging out with my very cool aunt Judy up there on her side of the attic, the finished side. At night, however? No thank you.

Happy Halloween!   

     

Kill the Princess!

Kill the princess!

Or maybe just make her sleep for a very long time.

Let's Buy A Farm! Who's With Me?

I adore Jenna Woginrich. I follow her blog and read her books and daydream that I'm going to be as cool as she is because she homesteads on a six acre farm in upstate New York, raising sheep for both wool and meat. She has, not one, but two horses, a brood of chickens, a piggy or two, a border collie and a turkey (or two, maybe more) among other animals that I'm probably forgetting to include on my list. 

I just finished reading her latest book Cold Antler Farm, her memoir about growing food and celebrating life on a scrappy six-acre homestead as the cover reads.

On the second to the last page of the memoir, Jenna talks about the motto of the Scottish Mackenzie clan: "I shine, not burn." 

The Fractured Leg Saga Continues

I'm like a two year old who needs help using the toilet. I can't balance myself and manage to pull up or down my underwear or jean shorts to use the toilet. 

It's undignified. I'm humbled. I'm humiliated. 

How I Fractured My Leg Part III

Coming home from the ER with a leg fractured in two places and using crutches for the first time was unsettling to say the least. I'm wobbly and just a little dizzy. 

How I Fractured My Leg in Two Places: Part Two

The other day's blog post, I left off with me on a gurney in the ER and the two EMTs exchanging information about my vitals with an in-take nurse. 

How I fractured my leg in two places, part one

A woman's hysterical scream cuts through the song of crickets and katydids filtering in the open bedroom windows on a cool late summer night. 

One of My Favorite Things

"One of the saddest lines in the world is, "Oh come now--be realistic...." 

I heard this a thousand times when I announced to friends and family that I wanted to be a writer.  

'...The best parts of this world were not fashioned by those who were realistic. They were fashioned by those who dared to look hard at their wishes and gave them horses to ride." Quoted from Richard Nelson Bolles.

This week I'm focusing my effort on entering manuscript #1, Chase and Alex's story, into a contest. I have a list of do's and don'ts and I'm checking it twice. 

Wish me luck.

Business Plan Part 2: What do you value?

Tomatoes: You're My Obsession

I'm obsessed with finding the perfect tomato. One that has time to ripen on the vine into luscious sunshine sweetness. 

What does my ideal day look like?

What does my ideal day look like?

Jennifer Lee asks this question in her book The Right Brain Business Plan. (You may recall that I mentioned it in my Left Brain vs. Right Brain and How I Keep Myself Sane blog post from July 22.)

So what does my ideal day look like? Writing, writing, writing and more writing. That's assuming I have a publishing contract and I need to write novels to satisfy the insatiable appetite of my readers like you. 

There's more to the story, however. Jennifer Lee asked me to visualize my perfect day, including smells and other sensory stimuli.

Cell phones: An Editorial

You don't have a cell phone?! Wait. What?

I get this response a lot.

Writing Studios

Pinned from CorbisImages.com

As many of you know, my writing desk is shoved over in the corner of our parlor. I often dream about a studio and often wonder if I would be more productive if I had a dedicated work space separate from the rest of the living space of our house. 

The Evolution of a Writing Style

How I write is an ever evolving process. The old school me put pen to paper for journal entries, starting in high school. Sometimes, it was a fancy, faux leather bound journal. Sometimes it was a spiral bound notebook. For a while there, I used those black and white marble composition notebooks. 

Does this happen to anyone else?

So, like, um, this always happens to me: I pour boiling water over a black tea bag hanging out in my favorite heavy duty mug (or dainty china cup and saucer, depending on my mood)

leaving it on the counter in the kitchen to steep. I sit down at my desk in our parlor and begin to write. I get so engrossed in the writing that I forget about my cup of tea, which stands on the counter, alone, lonely sentinel, forlorn and abandoned, not to mention cold. Undrinkable. In order to drink it, I must reheat the tea but get preoccupied with writing again because I'll be darned if I'm gonna stand there in the kitchen like a bump on a log and wait the one minute the tea is reheating in the microwave. 

Repeat three or four more times.

Is this a sign that I'm a good writer? Or just a knucklehead? Does anyone else do this?  

Family Lore

The mill houses for employees of Dickey's Woolen Mill
(photo courtesy of Maryland Historic Trust)

As a kid, spending most Saturdays with my grandmother (because both my parents worked 6 days a week at that time) I liked the stories that my grandmother would share about growing up in Oella, a mill town nestled in the Patapsco River Valley between Ellicott City, MD and Catonsville, MD. 

What Fictional Character Would You Date?

What fictional character would you date? (Thank you Epic Reads.)

Left Brain vs. Right Brain and How I Keep Myself Sane

The "right brainers" are generally considered:              

• creative
• imaginative
• holistic thinkers (I don't know what that means, but whatever)
• intuitive

Do you believe in ghosts?

The ghost in my grandmother's house did not like the color blue.

Cyndi vs. Madonna

During the early '80s, an epic battle raged on the pop scene. Were you a Madonna fan or a Cyndi Lauper fan?

One of my favorite quotes

I like this quote:

The House on Gaither Road

The very first house I lived in, as I vaguely recall, was an old farmhouse on Gaither Road in Sykesville, Maryland. (It may have been Gaither Manor Road, which are connected.)

Books that Spark the Imagination

As a child, visiting my grandparents, who lived within walking distance of my parents' house, I read a book. A magical book that captivated me.  

One Writer's Advice

I like this quote from William Faulkner. He wrote the The Sound and the Fury and The Light in August, among other titles, many of them considered Modern Classics. 

What Do You See?

Immediately, what words pop into your mind when you look at this picture? 

How Do I Look?

I was searching Pinterest a few weeks ago for images of what Chase and Alex look like. If you will recall, they are the main characters from my as yet unpublished manuscript The Kissing Contest.  

I didn't find just one picture that captured what Alex looked like. Instead, I had to take elements of two different pictures.

Back in Business

Last weekend, my laptop went down. I had just bought it in March of 2014 so I was flabbergasted. How could this be? It's practically brand new.  

I'm wrapping up my crafting a pitch blog series based on Rachelle Gardner's blog post on how to craft the perfect pitch.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and admit that I'm continuing to struggle with Rachelle's question  #8 about describing the main points that propel the plot forward for Alex and Chase's story. I continue to struggle to narrow down the entire plot to just the "main" ones and not have a blog post that is 20 pages long. 

I've got one other writing exercise up my sleeve to help me focus and prioritize plot points for Alex and Chase. Don't worry. I'll get this even if it takes me a 1,000 tries. In the meantime, check out my responses to the last of Rachelle's questions.  

The Perfect Pitch Part IV

As you know, I'm continuing to post my pitch in installments. For those of you who are new to my blog, a pitch is an opportunity for a writer to share the essence of her novel with a prospective literary agent, usually at writer's conferences. If the lit agent is intrigued, she will ask for a synopsis or the first 5 or 10 chapters. Or maybe the entire manuscript to read before making an offer of representation to sell your manuscript to traditional publishers.

Pitch Crafting Part III

Continuing with Rachelle Gardner's crafting a pitch writing exercise....

Question 5: What conflict, dilemma or choice does the protagonist face? This is the central question of the novel.

Answer: For Alex, it's learning to trust and to love Chase after her divorce, which really undermined her sense of self-worth and confidence. She needs to learn to trust her judgement and to stop comparing Chase to her ex-husband.

The Perfect Pitch Part II

I am continuing with Rachelle Gardner's Pitch Writing Exercise this morning. Check out my previous post to refresh your memory about questions 1 and 2. 

Question 3: Who is the protagonist and what is the most interesting thing about him / her?

Answer: Alexandra Merriweather is the protagonist and her Grand Plan is the most interesting thing about her. She is constantly revising it. By the end of the novel, she learns that Chase Montgomery, her love interest and co-protagonist, is her greatest plan, and he wasn't part of the original version of her GP. 

Pitch Session Part I

After reading Rachelle Gardner's latest blog post I decided to tackle her assignment head on, which are 11 questions to get a fiction writer to craft a pitch.

For the non-writer friends out there reading my blog, a pitch is a quick way to reveal your plot to a literary agent. Writer's conferences schedule pitch sessions between a writer and an agent in which the writer gets 3-5 minutes to sell her novel to a prospective agent. If the agent is intrigued, she will ask for the synopsis.

The Battle of Writing Prompts

I haven't been feeling inspired lately. Call it writers block; call it lack of discipline. Call it what you will. I haven't written that many words on the page lately and it bothers me. Searching for inspiration, I consider writing prompts. 

I've tried writing prompts before, but I never accept the first one I read. Instead, I read the catalog of writing prompts until I find one that inspires me and use that one, which completely undermines the point of a writing prompt in the first place. 

Although I'm reluctant to be sucked down the rabbit hole of distraction that is the internet, I'm a little desperate for a creativity spark this morning.

What are you reading?

Bastian Balthazar Bux.

Carl Conrad Coreander. 

Two names of characters from the novel The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.  I'm reading this book to the boys right now.

If I ever get a flock of sheep, I will name two of them Bastian Balthazar Bux and Carl Conrad Coreander. It is meant to be.

While supervising the boys doing their homework yesterday afternoon, I created two boards on Pinterest for the breeds of sheep and chickens that I would like to have on my little farm should that little dream ever come to fruition.  Check them out here and here .  The chickens are mostly heritage breeds. The sheep are just cute, especially the Olde English Babydoll Southdown Sheep, which is a heritage breed as well as the Jacob sheep with their wicked cool horns. TEACHER HUSBAND and the boys really like the Jacob sheep. 

I'm off to stalk (ahem, I mean follow) literary agents on Twitter in my seemingly never ending search for an agent. I swear finding an agent is like dating.

P.S. Did you notice my Daring Greatly badge from Dr. Brene Brown? Hard not to miss, but I added it there because, aside from being inspired by Brene, I am daring greatly in my search for a literary agent and publication. 

Daring Greatly.  More of us should do that everyday. 

The Truth About Writers

I know one thing about us writers. We are the world's best procrastinators.

We either have the tidiest, cleanest houses--you know, because that toilet needs to be scrubbed or the kitchen floor mopped before we get our butts into a chair to devote time to writing. Or we get sucked down the rabbit hole of the internet, stumbling from one blog to the next, calling it "doing research," which is one reason I don't write historical fiction. I'd spend way too much time researching the history and culture of 15th century Scotland. Or whatever.

Case in point: Today, I used a vacation day so I could devote my entire day to writing my second manuscript while the boys are at school and TEACHER HUSBAND presides over the AP World History exam. The house would be blessedly quiet. Perfect for writing, writing, writing.

What did I do? I spent the morning scrubbing the kitchen counters. And not just a cursory wipe down either. No ma'am. I cleared everything off the counter tops and scrubbed them down with lemon verbena scented all purpose cleaner. I cleaned the toaster and my water kettle for making tea. I reorganized. Got the gunk off the back splash.

I read a little. Paused for lunch. Read some more. Got "my hair did." (It looks fabulous, by the way.)  Only now with one hour and twenty minutes to go before the bus pulls up to the curb and my boys come spilling out along with the other neighborhood kids, I sit down to write.

Yeah. Us writers? We are the queens and kings of procrastination!    

To tweet or not to tweet?

I don't know what I'm doing. There. I've said it.

I'm not doing a good job using social media to attract readers. I'm struggling with Twitter. It's like a foreign language to me with all the hashtags and "@" comments. What does that even mean?  I've even reviewed Twitter 101 advice on YouTube and it still doesn't make any sense. I'm like your 89 year old grandmother who is technologically challenged.

I thought I had hit my stride. I was feeling capable with 29 people following me on Twitter. I marveled at how I attracted so many followers without saying or doing much. Then doubt crept in. I started to wonder how on earth could I have attracted 29 followers when I tweeted only four comments?

Then I reviewed my profile. I realized that I don't really have 29 people following me. It's that I'm following 29 other people on Twitter and that I actually have 4 people following me. That's it. Three of them marketing agencies, stalking me for business.

While I'm on this roll of complaining, I don't know what to tweet about either. I'm not capable of creating pithy, succinct sayings in 140 characters or less. I’m a novelist for heaven's sake, which I tweeted yesterday, feeling proud of myself.

That's the thing. Not being published yet, I feel like an impostor. Dear gentle readers, I need your help! What do you tweet about? How do you come up with short and sweet comments under 140 characters? And most importantly, what do you tweet about?  

Distractions, distractions, distractions

Back in high school, I wanted to be an entrepreneur. (In addition to being a writer, of course.) I just didn't know what kind of business to operate.

I had terribly oily skin as a teenager, prone to breakouts, but I struggled to find a skincare system that worked. I read an article somewhere about using a mixture of cornmeal and oatmeal as a mask to help reduce the breakouts. I cut out the recipe and tried it. And boy howdy did it help.

One day, my dad mentioned that a young woman with whom he worked had acne breakouts just like me. Would you sell her the oatmeal mask? Um? Okay. I mixed up the dry ingredients of the recipe in a plastic container and included instructions of how much water to add to make a paste. Smear it on your face, wait till it dries then rinse off with warm water.

I don't remember how much I charged for this concoction. I'd like to say that I performed a cost analysis on the cornmeal, oatmeal and the little bit of cornstarch in the recipe, but I don't think I was that sophisticated. I think I just made up a dollar figure and here's the thing: she paid it! According to my dad, her skin improved. (So did mine. I don't know what it is about oatmeal, but it works on oily skin.)

This sparked an idea. I started researching containers and what kind of advertising and marketing I'd need to do to sell this corn & oatmeal concoction to the world. I had visions that this little business venture would fund my college studies.

Keep in mind, I'm a child of the '80s--hair bands and Trans-Am cars--there was no internet. Researching packaging ideas was looking at the ads in the back of magazines for suppliers. You had to write a business letter asking the company for their catalog, often paying a nominal fee of $2.50-$3.50 to get it. Advertising consisted of researching the fees for the ads in the back of the magazines.

The idea continued to percolate. I researched how to write a business plan.  Although I continued to sell the corn & oatmeal concoction to my lone customer, ultimately, I didn't move beyond that. The idea fizzled out once I started looking at the logistics. I really didn't know what to do and I was overwhelmed. I quickly lost my way.

I've often wondered how different things may have turned out if the internet existed when I was in high school. How easy it would have been to find packaging suppliers. Get how to articles on branding and marketing. Sell stuff on etsy, among other websites. Then along comes a magazine called Willow and Sage.  It's exclusively devoted to homemade bath & body products, including packaging ideas. What the fudge!? Where were you 20 years ago?!

As I peruse the premiere issue, I'm excited about all the recipes for making body scrubs and body butters out of natural products. I'm thinking of gift baskets for my friends and relatives. Logo creation. How cool would it be to make my own natural body products and sell them! This was the very idea I had in high school, although I wasn't able to translate the visions in my head to practical execution.

As the idea of world domination via natural body products swirl in my mind (as if!) I remember: I'm a writer. I have a book to publish. This is just another distraction from my writing.

What distracts you from your writing?  

     

Publish my manuscript online. Yes or no?

There is a small debate in the writing world and it's this: do you publish your manuscript directly to your blog in installments or not?

One online writing class that I took through RWA (read about them here) about how to blog--the person teaching the class insisted that as writers the last thing you want to do is publish your novel directly to your blog chapter by chapter. Not only do you risk being plagiarized, but why would a publisher have an incentive to publish your work if it is already available for free on the internet? This person admitted that some authors have found success that way so it is a viable option.

Then there are the others in the opposite camp who believe that it is perfectly acceptable and insist that you should share your manuscript on your blog. For example, I'm intrigued by this book: How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time by Nina Amir. (It's on my wish list.)

I've glanced at this book, and I don't think she advocates publishing your novel chapter by chapter per se, but she does share practical advice on how to create blog posts around your manuscript and how to attract readers to your blog, thus building a platform with the intention that a publisher will sign you on for a book deal. The stark reality of today's publishing world is that a publisher is less likely to pick up an unknown author these days unless she has a built in following on her blog (and other social media).

I'm not sure in which camp I fall. I see wisdom in both sides of this debate.

 

Vintage Prom Dresses & My Grandmother's Armoire

My grandmother had an armoire in the corner of her lilac purple bedroom at her farmhouse. She and my grandfather inherited it as part of a five piece bedroom set from Great Aunt Goldie. I'm not sure if my great aunt bought the bedroom set as a wedding present for my grandparents or if Aunt Goldie bought it for herself and her husband and then later passed it on to my grandparents.

Either way, my grandmother stashed vintage prom dresses--a blue one and a pink one-- among other dress up clothes in there for me and my cousins to play with. Much like the magical armoire in the Chronicles of Narnia series, my grandparents' armoire transformed us into ballerinas or princesses in flowing tulle in whatever magical world we concocted, using our imagination. (Do you remember that old fashioned thing: imagination?)

I've no idea where my grandmother got those two dresses; I think they were circa 1950s like these pictures I've found on Pinterest.  Check out my Vintage Prom Dress Pinterest Board here.  Nor do I know whatever happened to them either.

I have inherited most of my grandparents' five piece bedroom set, including the armoire, which is stashed in the corner of my bedroom. No prom dresses are closeted away inside, but more practical things like socks and bras and t-shirts. I wish I had those old prom dresses; I would use them for decoration. Perhaps one day, I will buy one from ebay.

I encourage my kids to play, creating imaginary worlds, and I hope you encourage your kids to do likewise. I often wonder if playing dress up with my cousins, pretending to be princesses or witches (another story for another day) helped shape me as a writer. By cultivating imagination in my kids where will it lead them?

Oh me, oh my, literary agents--Yikes!

I've got a list and I've been checking it twice. No, I'm not working for Santa or the Easter Bunny. (Wait, does the Easter Bunny keep a list of naughty and nice kids? Hmm...)

Anyway. My point. Over a year ago, I read somewhere that when you begin the search for a literary agent, start with the agents of your favorite authors as opposed to choosing lit agents willy-nilly from the latest reference edition of a Guide to Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino. The premise behind the idea is that you might be more likely to find a better fit with an agent of an author whom you adore since your writing style might be similar to that author. Or something like that.

My list has 14 agents. Now that I'm seriously working on getting my completed manuscript published, I'm reviewing this list and checking it twice as the old saying goes, trying to narrow down which agent will be lucky enough (or not) to be The One. Sometimes, I feel like this process is similar to online dating. Your checking out pictures and bios of dudes you don't know from Adam, trying to figure out if the man is decent or an ax-murderer hiding behind a cocky grin.  (Not that I'm familiar with online dating. In fact, my husband and I met the old fashioned way: college. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.)

So. The agent that I preferred the most is not currently accepting new manuscripts. (Boo.) Aside from being mightily scared of the query process, here's my dilemma: do I try for the next best agency, hoping beyond all statistical probability that my query will get a response or do I query a smaller, lesser known agency to test the waters, so to speak. Maybe it won't hurt as bad if a smaller agency rejects me first. Maybe I'll net some feedback that will help me to polish my manuscript so that it will be ready for The Big Lit Agency.

No matter how many how-to articles or advice I read from published authors, why do I feel like this whole getting published process feels like I'm standing on a cliff, peering over the edge into a tumultuous ocean crashing against sharp boulders at the bottom. If I don't jump, then I will be pursued by regret for not trying. If I jump, I might drown.  Then again, maybe not.

Keepin' Real

Do you remember a Breck Girl?  Check out this pinterest board I created to capture the iconic images of a Breck Girl.

Farrah Fawcet, Jaclyn Smith and Christie Brinkley modeled for Breck Shampoo.

As a child, I wanted to be a Breck Girl. We all did, right? But my hair was too frizzy, and I hated it when my mom pulled a brush through my hair because brushing out knotted hair hurts like crazy! (Apparently, my mother hadn't heard of detangler.)

Since I so disliked getting my hair brushed, and my mother so disliked me walking around with gnarled, tangled hair, she insisted that I keep it short. It wasn't until I was a freshman in high school that I began the slow process of growing out my hair. By then, the style was dramatically teased and lacquered in place with Aqua Net hairspray. Check this pinterest board for your 80's style guide flashback. 

I never went for the teased out bangs that stood nearly straight up. Even in high school, I thought it was ridiculous. If my high school year books weren't smoldering away in the attic, I would scan a few pictures to show you what I mean.

Anyway, the images of a Breck Girl, and my mother saying "Don't you want to be a Breck Girl?" which was her way of to trying to get me to brush my hair, stands out in my mind as iconic as say, the Eiffel Tower is to Parisiennes. So much so that I searched the grocery store aisle sometime during the early 90s for Breck Girl Shampoo and Conditioner, hoping to find something that would help alleviate the frizz.  Alas, it's no longer available.  

What does this have to do with writing a query letter or a synopsis or novel #2? Not a thing. But I had some fun searching pinterest for images.

What was your style back in the day?

Writing Query Letters...Oh My!

Last week, I took an online how to write a query letter and a synopsis. The course was taught by Joanne Rock (check her out here) and Catherine Mann (check her out here) and hosted by RWA (check them out here).

Both Joanne and Catherine were gracious and kind to share their experiences and knowledge to coach us newbies along on our publishing journey.

Here's the truth: I'm scared of query letters.  And writing a synopsis for that matter. Why? Because it means putting myself "out there."  Sending out a query letter means approaching an agent, whom I don't know from Eve, and hoping that she will be curious enough about my novel that she will ask to see the first five chapters. The flip side to that is she might not like my idea at all and reject it flat out.

Here's the second truth: if I want to share my stories with you, dear gentle reader, I must risk the rejection of one agent to find the agent that's right for me who will believe in my work and promote it with publishers.

Simply put, I can't put it off any longer.  I can't continue to hide behind the generic "I'm still polishing my manuscript" anymore.  I need to get over my analysis paralysis and submit query letters.  But first I got to write one.

That's where you come in, dear gentle readers (all two of you who read my blog. Shout out to Aunt Jane and Aunt Judy! Thank you!)  This is what I wrote for my first assignment, although I've tweaked it a bit based on feedback from Joanne and Catherine:

The Kissing Contest is a completed 70,000 word contemporary romance set in Portland, Oregon.  Alexandra Merriweather--Alex, as she prefers to be called--hikes through a local state park on a secret mission to expel the near constant sense of betrayal she carries in her heart after her first marriage implodes. She’s convinced that her plan to toss her wedding rings into the Bridal Veil Waterfall where she and her now ex-husband got married will help revitalize her journalism career, not to mention ignite a passionless dating life. Maybe she will find Mr. Right the second time around.  Chase Montgomery, a widower of several years is on a mission of his own at the Bridal Veil Waterfall, trying to honor the memory of his wife. He challenges Alex to a kissing contest and the winner will “keep” the Bridal Veil Waterfall as his or her sacred spot.  Who will win?  More importantly, can both of them overcome their natural distrust of each other to find everlasting love?

What do you think? Are you ready to read my novel? 

This is my overview and blurb rolled into one paragraph, although I think my blurb is supposed to be limited to three or four sentences.  I'm a little challenged right now to reduce a 70K novel down to just three or four sentences. I'm working on it!  

Obviously, I need to flesh out the rest of the query letter, including my writing credentials. I wonder if those two poems and one essay I published years ago count? I guess they have to because I've got nothing else to recommend me other than an over active imagination and a very intense desire to get the characters out of my head and onto paper.   

Maybe I should ask my Aunt Judy and Aunt Jane to endorse me in the query letter. (I'm kidding. Sort of.)  

Wish me luck as I continue to fine tweak my query letter over the next week. Let me know what you think of this idea.  

 

How do you cope with stress?

It's Friday afternoon and the house is quiet. The boys are still in school. Teacher Husband is off at work.  I'm taking a moment to decompress after a very stressful week.  We had some challenging behavioral issues with Big E. At the same time, we had some academic issues with Little E, including a meeting with two of his teachers and the principal to discuss options.  None of them are easy choices.

I hardly devoted any time to writing this week, not even my morning journal sessions, let alone posting regularly to my blog.  I'm three days behind on an online writing query and synopsis class I signed up for through Romance Writers of America (RWA).

Earlier in the week, I was enduring a serious bout of PMS, which added another level of complication. PMS transforms my body and my attitude into a different person entirely.  Like the difference between Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde.

Fortunately, thankfully, work was little area of calm in my world.

As wives and mothers, indeed women in general, we all cope with balancing our obligations to our family, our jobs, our church or other volunteer organizations, and ourselves differently.  Like other women, I find that I must claw out time for writing because that endeavor takes a backseat to everything else.  Sometimes, I feel backed into a corner and must defend my writing pursuits like a vicious mama bear.

Why is that? How do you balance your work and life?

Here's to a less stressful weekend.

Do you remember these?

Typewriters. 

Do you remember using them? 

At the risk of sounding ridiculously pretentious, I wrote my first novel manuscript on a typewriter when I was fifteen.  The main character was Vivian and she was adopted by a wealthy family in the Antebellum South.  In the opening scene, Vivian is escaping her abusive father, driving a carriage with two horses galloping out of control. She is rescued by a handsome man who boldly gallops alongside the carriage on his horse and jumps into the carriage to reign in the horses. Or maybe the carriage crashes. I don't remember exactly. It's been a long time. 

Somewhere in the melee, Vivian is knocked unconscious and the handsome man takes her back to his parents' mansion. She is allowed to live there once she recuperates from her injury given that her dad is an abusive drunk.  

I can't remember the name of the handsome man. His sister was jealous of Vivian, who always got the attention at balls and barbecues because Vivian was prettier than the sister. The sister referred to Vivian as "Vivi," knowing that Vivian didn't like the nickname. That much I remember about this story. 

I named the heroine Vivian after Vivian Lee, who played Scarlett O'Hara in the 1939 Gone With the Wind movie.

Eventually Vivian and the handsome, wealthy man fall in love despite their different backgrounds and live happily ever after like Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett.

During a moment of disgust, I chucked the neatly typed manuscript in the trash. It deserved it.

Later in high school, I progressed from a typewriter to a word processor, which was a half typewriter and half computer combined into one.  (View a picture of one here. This being the late '80s when personal computers as we know them today not being readily accessible. The concept of Windows was a rumor when I learned DOS language on a Mac. They weren't called Apple back in my day, people.)

Anyway, I wrote sappy short stories on that Brother word processor. The stories usually involved a misunderstood heroine, searching for true love and finding it in a leather jacket wearing, motorcycle driving bad boy who was really a good boy.   

It was bad. As it should be. I was a teenager, not yet knowing who I was as a person, let alone a writer. It took me years to find my own voice and even then I still struggled. 

All along, I had the elements of the romance genre in my short stories.  I always knew that I wanted to be a writer.  I didn't always take myself seriously, though, dismissing what I wrote as frivolous the way some people dismiss the romance genre in general, saying it's not "real writing" or it's hack writing. The genre doesn't have the same respect as literary fiction, which is ridiculous. Good writing is good writing in any genre.     

Point of View

Point of View or POV for short.

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I wrote my first manuscript in a hap-dash style with very little rhyme or reason, meaning that I wrote it with very little structure.  As a result, my POV was--well, you guessed it--all willy nilly. Part of the manuscript was limited omniscient, which means the narrator and you, dear gentle reader, had access to a limited number of the characters' internal thoughts and feelings. (Instead of omniscient, which you may recall from your 8th grade English class, is when the narrator and you, the reader, have access to every single character's POV.)

Given that the manuscript is a contemporary romance set in Portland, Oregon, my two main characters are Chase and Alexandra (although she prefers to be called Alex.)  If you were to read the manuscript in its early phase, you would have had access to both Chase and Alex's POV, but to two sub-characters as well: Chase's cousin Garrett and Alex's best friend Lindsey. 

At least, that's how the manuscript started out.  During the revision process, however, I noticed that my POV was actually all over the place. I jumped from Chase's POV to Alex's POV paragraph by paragraph.  Some people call that "head hopping," because as the reader, you are hopping from one character's internal thoughts to another's paragraph by paragraph.  A lot of romance fiction is written like this. 

Here's the thing: I don't like it, because as the reader, I feel like you don't get to spend enough time with the character to really learn and know about the character the way you do a friend of 15 years. And that's what I want from you, reader.

I've done my job as a writer if, by mid-way through the novel, you can anticipate how Alex or Chase will respond to a given situation because you know them so well.  When Alex is fraught with anxiety about her relationship with Chase, struggling mightily with trusting him and her own judgement, you understand her motivation because you know her background. She had a reason for second guessing herself and Chase because of something that happened to her in her past. That way, nothing seems "out of character" for Alex (or Chase, as the case may be.)  And yes, she needs to learn to overcome that if she and Chase want to live happily ever after.

During one of my revisions, I adjusted the POV to be either from Chase or Alex's POV, minus the "head-hopping." But then, I had the POV of the sub characters, Garrett and Lindsey, to contend with. Include them or not? Ultimately,  I felt their POVs were an intrusion.  A diversion.  As a way to set up a spin off or novel #2. 

A lot of romance writers do that and that's okay.  As an author, you get to fashion a world as you like with as many or as little characters as you like and if you want to include the POV of all or some of them--that's your choice as the author.  However, I don't like that either.  If my manuscript is about how Chase and Alex learn to trust one another and fall in love, then I want them to be the sole focus of the story without Garrett and Lindsey butting in to get attention too. 

During yet another round of revisions, I deleted the POV of both Garrett and Lindsey.  They still function as sub-characters, mind you. It's just as the reader, I don't allow you to have access to their internal workings.  You only learn about their thoughts and feelings during dialogue.

Don't worry, they will have their turn in novel #2, which I'm working on right now. For now, you will have to be content with Alex and Chase's love story.

Just how popular are crossword puzzles?

I suck at crossword puzzles. There. I've said it.

Fellow literature degree holders boast that they faithfully complete the Sunday NY Times Crossword puzzle. In pen. 

I can't even complete the crossword puzzles in the local paper let alone something of the stature of the NY Times crossword puzzle. 

This is clearly a failing on my part. (A point in my favor, though, I have read Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Twice. This might be a failing too, depending on your point of view.)

My grandmother, however, is an excellent crossword puzzler. She actually completes the ones in her local paper. That's diligence.  That's faithfulness. That's moxie. 

I like crossword puzzles. Or rather, I like the idea of crossword puzzles. I want to be able to brag that I can complete any crossword puzzle in pen, let alone pencil, but I lose patience. I'm not very good at following through and actually completing one.  

Instead, when I visit my grandmother, I glance through the ones that she's started and fill in any clues that immediately jump to mind.  You know, the easy ones. Sometimes, I'll flex my brain muscle and try to puzzle out the harder clues, jotting down words in the margin of the newspaper column that might be the correct answer, but won't know until I solve the next clue that word is connected to. It's a quagmire. I quickly lose patience and toss the puzzle aside, leaving it for the patience and diligence of my grandmother to complete. 

My grandmother is a far better person that I am. 

I'm embarrassed to admit to my inability to complete a crossword puzzle. Why? Because I was a literature major in college and completing a crossword puzzle seems like something I should be able to do. In pen. On a lazy Sunday afternoon after church. But no. 

What does this have to do with writing a manuscript and getting published? Not a thing. I've been awake since three o'clock this morning. I'm feeling a little loopy.  And this blog post idea crashed into my mind as I lay there, trying to force myself to sleep but unable to quiet my thoughts as one idea after another ping ponged around in my head. 

So. Dear gentle readers, do you do crossword puzzles? 

What's My Writing Routine

Because I have kids, my writing routine is hap-dash. I wrote my first manuscript with a spiral notebook and a pen. With no rhyme or reason, I jotted down bullet points of ideas--what the characters looked liked, dialogue, scenes--during stolen moments. Twenty minutes here while the boys watched a good night cartoon. (We allow them to watch 30 minutes of tv before bedtime on school nights. That's it.) Sometimes, I would jot down notes while I cooked risotto for dinner. Stir. Write. Stir. Write. Toss the veggies baking in the oven. Stir. Write. Surprisingly, I would have a scene fleshed out and I would be one scene closer to the end of my manuscript. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. 

After the boys went to bed, I would sag into the quiet of the house and type up my notes.  I tried to dedicate two hours a week to typing up my notes.   

But because I wrote my first manuscript with very little structure, it required a lot of revision. A lot. So much so that the final manuscript doesn't really match the first.  I actually got more writing done during the revision process that the actual writing process, if that makes sense.  It was like I wasn't a writer, but a reviser.   

Writing without much structure--no outlines, no plot map--just writing to see where the writing will take you--that's called writing by the seat of your pants.  Panster for short. And there are two writing style camps in this world: panster or a plotter.  

No matter. The panster writing style matched my busy mom lifestyle and it's how I completed my first manuscript. I'm rather proud of myself for completing a manuscript instead of just dreaming about it.  

Now, I'm trying something new.  I've been getting up at 5:30 to write before the boys get up because I've been too tired to write in the evenings once the boys go to bed.  During these bleary eyed morning sessions, sometimes I write a blog post (like now). Sometimes, I ramble in what Julia Cameron calls The Morning Pages, which are supposed to be three pages of stream of consciousness style writing.  Although I've practiced these morning pages, I haven't written unbidden for three pages.  So far, it has helped me create a list of blog post ideas (like this one.) 

I'm not a morning person by any means. I'm very grouchy and groggy first thing in the morning. I'm slow to wake up. Like I've been sitting at my desk for over an hour now, alternately writing my morning pages and this blog post, and I'm just now feeling awake. And it has nothing to do with the cup of tea at my elbow.  Seriously, I'm a slow waker upper.  

As the sky lightens up and the birds begin to sing, I hear the bus for the high schoolers rumble by.  I'm committed to finding a new writing routine.  One that isn't as inefficient as the panster style but one that isn't as structured as a plotter.  Somewhere in between.  

Come along with me on this adventure. 

Quilting has come a long way, baby.

Last Saturday, I spent the afternoon with my mother and grandmother learning to quilt. This started a year ago when my mom, grandmother and I took a little trip to Patches Quilt Shop in Mt. Airy, MD to purchase the fabric. (visit them here: Patches Quilt Shop)

I had a design in my head; my mom and grandmother had the know how to tease that design into a functional quilt. My mother is a self taught quilter, although she has been sewing clothes since she was a teenager. We settled on a Log Cabin design with my family's monograms embroidered in the center panel.  

Here's what I've pieced together so far.

This is Little E's monogram. As is traditional with embroidering monograms, the first letter of the last name(in this case the letter W) is in the center with the first letter of his first name (the letter E) on the left and the first letter of his middle name (the letter J) on the right. 

This is Big E's monogram.

I embroidered 12 monograms of different family members.  Some of the center panels have embroidered flowers instead of the monograms. (I tried taking a picture of some of those panels, but they kept coming out blurry. I'm not a photographer. You can tell, can't you?) Some will have lace stitched to the center panel, although I've have yet to do those.  

As I go along, I will show you how I add a strip of fabric to each side of the center block, creating a design called the Log Cabin. That way, you can come along with me on my quilting journey. 

I'm pretty pleased with myself right now. I especially like the fact that quilting has allowed me to spend time with my mom and grandmother, building memories.  

What projects are you working on?

My First Act of Teenage Rebellion (No, it's not what you're thinking.)

My first makeup purchase was a CoverGirl foundation.

My parents didn't want me to wear makeup, especially my father, but I had acne breakouts as a young teenager, and I was really self conscious about it as a result.  I wanted to conceal the blotchy skin by wearing foundation.  So I saved my money, and one afternoon when I accompanied by grandmother and Aunt Judy to the grocery store in Finksburg, I snuck off by myself to the makeup aisle. 

 This CoverGirl commercial was popular then, and it was the look I wanted to achieve.

 

Once alone in the makeup aisle, I quickly scoped out the foundation selections, snatching the first bottle of CoverGirl Clean Makeup foundation I saw. I rushed to the check out line by myself, my heart pounding with adrenaline and worry. What if I get caught by my grandmother? What is she going to say? ( I assumed she knew about my parents' no makeup rule.) 

I felt like I was doing something very bad-- like I was going to be busted at any moment as the cashier rang up  my single item, me glancing around, scanning for my grandmother every few moments. I dreaded the woman making a comment that I was too young to buy makeup or inform me that I had to be sixteen (or not thirteen, anyway) before I was allowed to purchase makeup.  Worse, I feared the cashier lady would say something to the effect of "Does your mom know you're buying this?"

I gave the cashier my money; she made change. After handing me my receipt and the small plastic bag with my contraband makeup purchase, a wave of relief flooded my body. I did it! I would be looking good in no time. It would be a magical, overnight transformation! Angels would rejoice in heaven; I was sure of it.  

 

As I tucked the foundation purchase into my purse, feeling smug in that young, flippant teenage way that I just got away with a crime of epic proportions, my Aunt Judy suddenly appears as if out of nowhere. I was so concerned about my grandmother finding out about my rogue ways that I had forgotten about my Aunt Judy.  She asked to see what I bought and I handed over the incriminating evidence that I defied my parents, purchasing makeup that I had no business whatsoever buying.  I feared that she was going to take the bottle of foundation and either 1) return it right then and there or 2) confiscate it to use as evidence of my teenage rebellion.  Visions of being grounded for the next 100 years flashed in my mind.

 

Instead, she remarked that I probably bought the wrong shade, slipping the bottle of foundation back inside the bag. She carried on with the grocery shopping as if this was no big deal. (I should have known because Aunt Judy was always the cool aunt.)

 

Aunt Judy was right. (Of course she was!) I bought the wrong shade.  A rose beige tone (as I remember it) that was too dark for my porcelain skin.

 

Stubbornly, ridiculously, I wore it anyway, taking the extra time to try to blend it in. (Not that it helped, but in my mind it did.) I felt obligated to continue my rebellion by wearing it despite the foundation not being the correct match.  Do you know how long I had to save my money?  How long it took me to conspire to get alone long enough to make such a contraband purchase in the first place!? 

 

I despised my oily, blotchy, pimply, teenage skin and slathering it with CoverGirl Clean Makeup was the only way to cope. (It worked in the commercial so it would work for me, right?) I just wanted to look pretty. 

 

Finally, after months of this, my mother took me to a makeup artist in Eldersburg. The session was a birthday present. She was tired of me looking like I had mud smeared over my face.  Ouch.

 

All along, I thought I was in the clear since my parents never questioned me about it. I loved the makeup session. (Just so you know, the makeup artist tested several foundation shades on me and I was the lightest shade she had available, which my mom purchased along with an eyeshadow duo. Can you imagine how silly I looked wearing a beige foundation when I'm the absolute lightest shade of foundation available? Double Ouch. No, that's cringe worthy.) 

Still, all these years later, having that makeup session was one of the best birthday presents ever. I'm still looking for the ultimate foundation by the way. Now my skin isn't as oily as it was when I was a teenager, but it is as sensitive as ever. 

 

How old were you when you first started wearing makeup? What was your first act of teenage rebellion?

Ten Things You Don't Know About Me (Or Maybe You Do)

1) Sell everything, I want a horsey. I joke about this with my husband of 16 years ever since I started horseback riding lessons, which is something I've always been curious about but never had the means to do until recently. It's empowering and fun. Since I'm confessing about owning a horse, I'd also like to raise a small flock of sheep for their wool.  Oh, and include some chickens in for good measure too. And if I'm gonna raise sheep, then we need a livestock guardian dog and a llama since they make good livestock guardians too. (And so do donkeys just in case you were wondering.)
 

2) I've always wrote stories, even as a child. It's like I have a projector playing a movie inside my head. 

3) I crochet blankets for the Linus Project.

4) I embroider, though not lately.

5) I'm learning to quilt. Another one of those things I've been curious about and thought I'd save for later--like when I'm a grandmother.  Both my mother and grandmother quilt, so I thought I should take advantage of their knowledge and learn now while I can still enjoy their company.

6) I drink tea. Never coffee. Ever.

7) I love to play with makeup. Once upon a time, I considered becoming a makeup artist. Instead I graduated from Frostburg State University, earning a Bachelors of Science in English with a minor in writing.

8) Aside from tea, my favorite drink is milk. I know I'm supposed to say something sophisticated like wine, which I enjoy from time to time. But milk is my fave. (Come on, it does a body good.)

9) I hate most green vegetables, especially peas, Brussel sprouts, and asparagus. Lima beans, spinach, and kale. Yuck. I can tolerate broccoli if it's smothered in cheese. Green beans are okay with lots and lots of butter.

10) I adore the song Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Sirus.  (The cheesey original version, not the latest incarnation between Billy Ray and Catch 22.)   

Under Construction

That's what I am: under construction. Or my blog is anyway.  I'm redesigning it so it truly reflects how I am as a person and a writer, trying to build a platform. Trying to be heard above the fray.  Trying to get published.

My new tagline is: Even the most distrustful heart can be redeemed by love.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for your patience.