Indulging in literary abandon…
By admin | November 6, 2008
Six days in, I’m at 10,000+ words and am very proud of keeping up with my 2,000 word a day goal.
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Day 2 and Off to an Undead Start
By admin | November 3, 2008
I had a great weekend in a little town called Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Cute, but with a patina of sadness. Back in 1889 a flood wiped out the town…a flood caused by a burst dam which was the responsibility of a rich “Hunting and Fishing Club” 14 miles up the mountain (For more info: http://www.jaha.org/FloodMuseum) . They have rebuilt, but it’s just sort of sad. A lot of the really cool things there are direct results of the flood…like the Inclined Plane (www.inclinedplane.com). Instead of this being bad though, it really gave me the bug to write my Zombie novel. I could just see the hardship in the eyes of all the pictures and even in the people that still live there today.
By the end of my stay, I wanted to capture it forever in my novel…Not just the people, but the whole feel of the town is perfect for my novel. The proud rebuilt city, coming into its own among the ruins…forever fearful, forever minful, but not very watchful at all. Thus I wrote over 2,000 words today. All good words that smell like Pennsylvania Pine and have a cover of icy morning frost.
This puts me on schedule…although you wouldn’t know that thanks to the NANO site.
UGH! Here’s some hate for the NANO site. (hate, hate, hate) I can’t get in, I can’t update anything, I can’t even get it to move. It’s like a snail…no, worse than a snail, and that is so frustrating because in less than an hour I will be 2000 words behind! NANO, why must you MOCK me!?
Find your peace and live it, even if you are thwarted!
Renee
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A Man, A Plan, A Canal – Panama!
By admin | October 29, 2008
So, in an effort to organize for NANOWRIMO (after my disaster last week with the missing file…STATUS: still missing!) I’ve made a plan!
The Zombie Plan!
Part 1:
Create 20 files, the names of the files will be Zombie Chapter #. One for each of the 20 chapters I’m planning.
Create a file for random floaty ideas. These are things that sound cool, but where to put them?
Create a name index. I’m terrible with names. My secretary in “In Harm’s Way” (as I think I have mentioned before) has at one time been “mango”, Suzie, Betsy, Sally, and strangely enough Ben on one of my oldest files where she makes an appearance.
Part 2:
Here is the hard part, I want to make an outline this year. A general outline of what is going to happen in the book. I’m still organic, free-range…put the chickens in the little wheel pens and get them to eat the horn worms that are killing my tomatoes…in my writing style. BUT now new and improved with a plan of action!
Out of this outline should spring…
Part 3:
Each chapter should get a one line description of the action held within it.
This is subject to change, but I should at the very least have an idea of what will be happening in each file when I open it and begin writing. THIS way I can indulge in my “I can’t write this scene!” angst without leaving out scenes and forgetting them until editing comes around.
Part 4:
This weekend, when we get back from our trip…we are going to go shopping for NANO food. Veggies and fruit and a small amount of junk (very small) to keep us going during the time I tend not to look at what I’m eating. I also have a plan for making a few pots of taco soup/chili/ski soup so we can have something warm that we just need to thaw and throw into the microwave.
I think it’s a good plan…I really do. Let’s hope I can pull it off.
Wish me luck!
Find your peace and live it…even if it is planned to within an inch of its life!
-Renee
P.S. The title of this blog post is a famous palindrome…just in case you didn’t know. 
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Writing Frustration!
By admin | October 27, 2008
I am frustrated by my writing. By the way I write, by the process in which my brain organizes these novels and processes them. By my own lack of work ethic when it comes to these damn novels.
I am trying to edit the novel I wrote last year, and it is proving very difficult. Why? Well, put simply it’s the way I write. I begin at the start, but when I hit a snag…when I can’t figure out what I want to say or how to say it…I skip to something else. Not just the next scene, but perhaps the next chapter or the one after that or even one that I haven’t decided on yet.
Ok, that may work fine while writing…and it has so far, I’ve gotten two rough drafts for novels out of it. Yet, when it comes to editing it makes my life hell. I really don’t like to edit…and I think the reason I don’t is that I have to organize the story from this chaos into a linear thing. If my writing were more organized perhaps I would like editing more than writing…then again perhaps it is a case of the grass being greener, but I doubt it.
Right now I am looking for a scene I know I have written. I remember it, I know what happens, and I know it is somewhere…but where???? I am usually very organized even in my chaos writing style. I break my writing into: part one-beginning, part two-middle, and part 3-ending. Inside those parts I try to write a linear story, but often leave huge gaps where I need to have something happen but don’t know what it’s going to be yet. Then when I am “finished” writing that part if I come across an idea I would like to stick in it I save it as an individual file and give it a unique name. Like, “Part 1 - Is he going to be a monster?” for the scene were a couple comes in to visit Harmony about their infected newborn.
Sounds like a good idea, huh? Yeah, but I said usually. I’m guessing this time was one of those “not so much” times. (Those actually occur quite a bit as I am prone to moving events around in my story…a LOT.) It’s just killing me, because I feel like I can’t go forward, like I won’t know what goes into this chapter until I get to edit this one scene. It’s important because we meet the 2nd dog, who will play a large role later.
I just can’t find it. I’m wondering if it is on another computer. *sigh* I’m telling you, this year…organized! And this year, if it is a problem I’ll write a line telling me what the scene should be or telling me that something needs to happen there and then move on from there…but NO skipping around! No playing pick a wildflower bouquet with my novel!
Yeah, I know pipedreams and rubber tree plants…but a girl can hope.
Find your peace and live it, but get organized…
Renee
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Why must you be October!?
By admin | October 9, 2008
Every year it seems that my October isn’t the quiet time of reflection…saying goodbye to summer…preparing for winter…gearing up for NANO…and sipping a lot of apple cider with the windows open.
No, no, no…every stinking year it becomes jam packed with every weekend spoken for and a few weekdays as well. I find myself falling behind on laundry, dishes, even grocery shopping. Well, this year is no different.
On one hand I enjoy having my days and night scripted to within an inch of their lives. On the other, I’ve got some things that are suffering because of my inattention. Isn’t that always the way though?
Especially in writing. You can find yourself wrapped up in details you find interesting, plots you find fun, scenes you think are exciting…and neglecting things like character arc, subtext, and environment. Or at least I do. It’s hard to keep in mind all the things that go into a novel, you’ve got the car chases but you’ve got the tender silences too. AND not just the ones leading up to a kiss.
I struggle especially with subtext. I would love all my novels to have this amazing understory. A world of hints and suggestion that reveal a greater interaction beneath…like gods in our sandbox creating Zen gardens as we play with trucks and teapots. I want people to read my work and have those flashes that I do…OMG is she referencing blah? I think she IS! Or even more subtle, like a déjà vu in setting and tone making the reader recall a classic work of fiction or art. A rainbow of blues through watery glass, it’s there but you just think you are imagining things.
That is my lofty goal…to find a way to develop my subtext and yet let it be natural. I don’t want to force it; else it seems like parody or worse just plain bad writing. I want it to come organically. I want to discover it as my readers would. An inkling of an idea and upon further exploration the discovery of another world hiding in plain sight. Then I can push and prod it a bit to make it more real in my story.
Ugh, I feel like I’ve got no solution to this post today…no happy bow to tie things up with. Perhaps I’ll think about it and get back to you. Or perhaps I’ll just keep going until October is over and hope for calmer times during November. HA! Like that is going to happen!
Find your peace and live it, even if it has no tidy endings…
-Renee
My confession: I think subtext is too hard for my underdeveloped plotbrain. Must flex plotbrain muscles!!
My redemption: Went fencing last night for the first time in a long time. I hurt this morning, but I think I was smart in the way I approached it (at least I’m not crippled with pain).
My grind: My stupid eyes continue to give me trouble. Do you realize how much you use your eyes for? I can’t read or use the computer or watch TV…I sit in a room with my eyes closed and listen to the freakin’ radio or books on tape. UGH!
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