I wanted in on those free Harlequin eBooks, so I downloaded Stanza onto my iPhone and converted myself into an eBook dovotee. I read three books in two days. My reading time is FAST on the iPhone, I tell you.
I missed turning in my chapter last week, but I am aspiring to turn in two this week, so I can stay caught up. It feels good to be making progress and giving myself permission to write a bad first draft. My inner perfectionist remains relatively subdued. It's amazing that despite being handcuffed, gagged and stuffed into the corner of my mental closet she still manages to show up at breakfast every once in a while. I ignore her and apply myself to my Greek yogurt with granola.
I'm excited about my new online writing class for using historical detail in novels--should be fun!
03 February, 2009
07 January, 2009
New Year Thoughts
2009 promises to be a good year for writing. For one, the global economic meltdown translates into a much lighter workload in my day job. I'm also, at long last and after much physical therapy/working out, in a really good place from a physical standpoint--my back, you see, it had a bit of a meltdown in the summer of 2007.
So here I sit with time and a solid sense of direction for The Keeper, a story I've been working on for two years.
Nevertheless, anxiety eats at me while I wonder if I have it in me to finish this book. I'm afraid I'm no good at this and that I should just stick to the day job, which I am good at and which makes money. I'm afraid that even if I do pour myself into this novel and polish it to my sense of perfection, no agent will want to represent it and no one will want to buy it.
Truthfully, I'm not usually this insecure about things in life. I've achieved a lot in my career, which is downright stressful and a profession which many people can't hack. I'm smart, and I know it. I can read craft books and integrate the learning into my writing. I can brainstorm plotlines like nobody's business. Ideas for romance novels flow through my brain like someone has turned on the firehose. But it's not enough to give me an innate sense that becoming a writer is something I can achieve. Perhaps the problem is that the stakes really matter on an emotional level for me. I care about being good at my day job, but writing is about being good at something that's part of my soul. Dangerous territory indeed. We'll see how it goes.
So here I sit with time and a solid sense of direction for The Keeper, a story I've been working on for two years.
Nevertheless, anxiety eats at me while I wonder if I have it in me to finish this book. I'm afraid I'm no good at this and that I should just stick to the day job, which I am good at and which makes money. I'm afraid that even if I do pour myself into this novel and polish it to my sense of perfection, no agent will want to represent it and no one will want to buy it.
Truthfully, I'm not usually this insecure about things in life. I've achieved a lot in my career, which is downright stressful and a profession which many people can't hack. I'm smart, and I know it. I can read craft books and integrate the learning into my writing. I can brainstorm plotlines like nobody's business. Ideas for romance novels flow through my brain like someone has turned on the firehose. But it's not enough to give me an innate sense that becoming a writer is something I can achieve. Perhaps the problem is that the stakes really matter on an emotional level for me. I care about being good at my day job, but writing is about being good at something that's part of my soul. Dangerous territory indeed. We'll see how it goes.
Recent Reading
The dust finally begins to settle on the chaos that is holiday shopping, holiday celebrating and holiday travelling. I'm happy to be getting back into a bit of a routine.
I didn't read a huge amount over the holidays, but I'm just about done with Christine Wells new book, The Dangerous Duke. My favorite line? When Jardine says to Louisa,
I have to admit that these two stole the show a little bit for me. I Googled around to see if I could find any hints of an upcoming book featuring Louisa and Jardine's story, but nothing so far. I'm sure Wells has a great story in mind for the two of them, though.
I also read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder last month. It's a screenwriting book, but has some great material for writers. I'm sorry to have missed his presentation at RWA last summer. After reading it, I spent quite a bit of time correlating his key story points to those over writers have described. I've been trying to hang the main plot points from my WIP, The Keeper, onto this framework and its been a helpful exercise so far. My favorite among Snyder's many insights is the "Whiff of Death" scene. It makes so much sense to me that in any kind of story--even comedy--the only way to make the storytelling truly meaningful and grounded in human experience is to have there be some contemplation of death at the climax. How can you have meaning in life without some acknowledgment that life is always bounded by death.
After Snyder, I dug into The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler, which I'd read about five years ago but wanted to revisit given that I feel like I've learned so much on the craft front. I petered out pretty quickly this go around. The time just isn't right for the lessons that book has to offer.
I turned instead to Writing for Emotional Impact, by Karl Iglesias, which is fantastic. I came across this with some random Google searches on writing emotion (can you tell I like Google?). This book is pure gold. It's so dense, that I feel like I need to go back and outline a couple of the chapters for future reference--sort of a smorgasbord of methods to generate different emotional reactions.
Seeing as my book club won't let me get away without reading some literary fiction, I also read Being Dead by Jim Crace this month. Beautiful prose, but not my idea of a love story. I guess I'm just not the type of girl who wants to better understand the depressingly realities of mediocre personal relationships. Or, for that matter, what happens to decomposing bodies on the beach.
The other thing I've glommed onto of late is Helen Fisher's research into the neurobiology of lust, attraction and long-term love. It's fascinating stuff. Jenny Crusie recommended her books during the Crusie Mayer Writing Workshop, and I finally got around to buying them. I've been focused on her scientific articles related to what happens when people break up with you (as this is relevant to The Keeper), but I'm looking forward to reading Why We Love and Anatomy of Love next.
Last up is the Anglo Files by Sarah Lyall. My mom, who is English, bought this for me for Christmas. She read it while she was recuperating from a cat bite that got terribly infected and almost landed her in the hospital. (Her words of wisdom after the fact, "If you ever see a cat and dog fighting, be sure to go after the dog.") I read most of this the day I got it. Lyall's journalistic style makes it a quick read, and she touches on so many great English cultural idiosyncracies. Drink as a social lubricant, lecherous members of the House Commons, bad teeth, hedgehog love and homoeroticism in public schools--it's all there.
I didn't read a huge amount over the holidays, but I'm just about done with Christine Wells new book, The Dangerous Duke. My favorite line? When Jardine says to Louisa,
"If I can't have you, I'll be damned if some limp cock of a smooth-talking bastard will have you, either. Good Lord, woman! Have you no discrimination?"
I have to admit that these two stole the show a little bit for me. I Googled around to see if I could find any hints of an upcoming book featuring Louisa and Jardine's story, but nothing so far. I'm sure Wells has a great story in mind for the two of them, though.
I also read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder last month. It's a screenwriting book, but has some great material for writers. I'm sorry to have missed his presentation at RWA last summer. After reading it, I spent quite a bit of time correlating his key story points to those over writers have described. I've been trying to hang the main plot points from my WIP, The Keeper, onto this framework and its been a helpful exercise so far. My favorite among Snyder's many insights is the "Whiff of Death" scene. It makes so much sense to me that in any kind of story--even comedy--the only way to make the storytelling truly meaningful and grounded in human experience is to have there be some contemplation of death at the climax. How can you have meaning in life without some acknowledgment that life is always bounded by death.
After Snyder, I dug into The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler, which I'd read about five years ago but wanted to revisit given that I feel like I've learned so much on the craft front. I petered out pretty quickly this go around. The time just isn't right for the lessons that book has to offer.
I turned instead to Writing for Emotional Impact, by Karl Iglesias, which is fantastic. I came across this with some random Google searches on writing emotion (can you tell I like Google?). This book is pure gold. It's so dense, that I feel like I need to go back and outline a couple of the chapters for future reference--sort of a smorgasbord of methods to generate different emotional reactions.
Seeing as my book club won't let me get away without reading some literary fiction, I also read Being Dead by Jim Crace this month. Beautiful prose, but not my idea of a love story. I guess I'm just not the type of girl who wants to better understand the depressingly realities of mediocre personal relationships. Or, for that matter, what happens to decomposing bodies on the beach.
The other thing I've glommed onto of late is Helen Fisher's research into the neurobiology of lust, attraction and long-term love. It's fascinating stuff. Jenny Crusie recommended her books during the Crusie Mayer Writing Workshop, and I finally got around to buying them. I've been focused on her scientific articles related to what happens when people break up with you (as this is relevant to The Keeper), but I'm looking forward to reading Why We Love and Anatomy of Love next.
Last up is the Anglo Files by Sarah Lyall. My mom, who is English, bought this for me for Christmas. She read it while she was recuperating from a cat bite that got terribly infected and almost landed her in the hospital. (Her words of wisdom after the fact, "If you ever see a cat and dog fighting, be sure to go after the dog.") I read most of this the day I got it. Lyall's journalistic style makes it a quick read, and she touches on so many great English cultural idiosyncracies. Drink as a social lubricant, lecherous members of the House Commons, bad teeth, hedgehog love and homoeroticism in public schools--it's all there.
08 December, 2008
Richard Armitage and the new Robin Hood
I was reading Michelle Styles' blog today and saw that she posted a picture of Richard Armitage in a historical role that I didn't recognize. A little bit of research on IMDB, and I quickly figured out he has a recurring role on the BBC series Robin Hood.
He plays Marian's alternate love interest to Robin Hood, and he's great. (I love YouTube! And I espectially love the person who clipped all the Marian/Guy scenes, so I could just watch their subplot.) He's totally conflicted. He's allied himself with the Sheriff of Nottingham (one bad dude), in an effort retore his family's title, land and honor but he chafes at having to work for sucha slime. Marian, of course, gets to see him struggle with the outer goal of trying to achieve his goals and the inner goal of doing what's right.
He plays Marian's alternate love interest to Robin Hood, and he's great. (I love YouTube! And I espectially love the person who clipped all the Marian/Guy scenes, so I could just watch their subplot.) He's totally conflicted. He's allied himself with the Sheriff of Nottingham (one bad dude), in an effort retore his family's title, land and honor but he chafes at having to work for sucha slime. Marian, of course, gets to see him struggle with the outer goal of trying to achieve his goals and the inner goal of doing what's right.
Black Swans
Jenny Crusie had a great post this week about black swans--moments when the hero's understanding of the operation of the universe is turned on its head. Kind of like Buffy when found out about vampires, or Neo swallowed the little red pill Morpheus offered him.
I have two quasi-black swan moments in my book: (i) when Gray discovers Ophelia's secret life; and (ii) when Ophelia realizes the Order is not what it seemed.
There was a lot of discussion on Jenny's post about how you layer the turning points so that they continue to build after the original black swan. So I think the WIP is OK on this front, but this seemed like such a great observation.
I have two quasi-black swan moments in my book: (i) when Gray discovers Ophelia's secret life; and (ii) when Ophelia realizes the Order is not what it seemed.
There was a lot of discussion on Jenny's post about how you layer the turning points so that they continue to build after the original black swan. So I think the WIP is OK on this front, but this seemed like such a great observation.
The Chemistry of Love
Another branch of my craft reading has been glomming onto all things Helen Fields has written. Jenny Crusie turned me onto her back during the 2007 novel writing workshop. Dr. Fields studies the brain chemistry of love, and she has so many good things to say I can't begin to summarize them here. But one of her discoveries is just pins down the essence of love for me, so I'll describe it here. She identifies romantic love, that euphoric, obsessive, soul-drenching experience when you first fall in love, as a primal human drive for mate selection. It's like thirst or hunger. Once you fall in love, that's it. That's all you can think about or do until you realize that relationship. And when that relationship isn't consummated or worse, the object of your affection rejects you, your brain pretty much freaks out because it's been so used to the "high" that being in love has given you.
My WIP features a relationship where the heroine rejected the hero ten years earlier, and Fields' observations about what actually happens to a person in this circumstance ring are incredible. To find out, you'll have to read what I do to my poor hero.
My WIP features a relationship where the heroine rejected the hero ten years earlier, and Fields' observations about what actually happens to a person in this circumstance ring are incredible. To find out, you'll have to read what I do to my poor hero.
Australia
So a couple days after Twilight I abandoned hubby with the kiddos and took off the necessary three hours to go see this puppy. I loves me some Baz Luhrmann, so I had faith despite the bad reviews.
There was a lot in the film I liked, but I just have to get Nicole Kidman's immobile face off my chest before I go there. The critics are right. It doesn't move properly. I feel bad for her having to decide between facial wrinkles and the ability to engage fully in her craft. (How can you act if you can't move your face?) It's too bad the knife and botox won out in the end.
Jackman was great, and I have to admit to being sucked into the grandiosity of it all. The Wizard of Oz, Cattle drives and WW II? You had me at hello, Baz. I even had a good cry, too.
There was a lot in the film I liked, but I just have to get Nicole Kidman's immobile face off my chest before I go there. The critics are right. It doesn't move properly. I feel bad for her having to decide between facial wrinkles and the ability to engage fully in her craft. (How can you act if you can't move your face?) It's too bad the knife and botox won out in the end.
Jackman was great, and I have to admit to being sucked into the grandiosity of it all. The Wizard of Oz, Cattle drives and WW II? You had me at hello, Baz. I even had a good cry, too.
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