So...let's be honest here....I still haven't started my NaNoWriMo project. I have ideas rolling around in my head, I have a semblance of a plot in there, but I haven't opened a word document in a long, long time. Why?
In the last month, my entire world has fallen apart. Then, I've had two surgeries (one was actually today). I'm recovering from both (no worries, they were quick, expecting a full recovery from both). I've traveled from North Carolina to Maine...about 1,000 miles. I had a job interview, put my car in a ditch...etc. I'm trying to find a place to live up there. I'm stressed out...which means...
A lot of vegitating on the couch and rediscovering the show 24 on my friend's Netflix. Also--I'm homeless in North Carolina...which is terrifying. None of this is conducive to wanting to take on a project of another novel. Will I write another? YES. Do I have time for it now? Maybe.
The goal is to start tomorrow. But I'm going to give myself some leeway. Why? Because this is real life and it's not as neat as I'd prefer it to be.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
14 Hours Later
I drove from North Carolina to Maine yesterday. The 12ish hour trip turned into a 14ish hour trip due to a two hour long traffic jam in the middle of Connecticut...
At midnight.
Needless to say, when I arrived in Biddeford, I was exhausted...and passed right out. Since I woke up, it's been constant motion, which is also exhausting.
However, some good came from this long drive. The first thing was the cementing of my NaNoWriMo project, which in my head is being called My Sister's Memory. I haven't started it yet, but I had 14 hours to come up with the plan and I've told a couple of people about it and they said go, so I think I will. I have the drive home (tomorrow) to give it further thought. Maybe then I'll start writing...and speed writing at that.
A few hundred years ago my sister bought me a voice recorder that somehow disappeared within the last year (which sucks because I had a lot of ideas on it...). Because I no longer have it on hand, and it's not safe to write and drive, I will call my voicemail box and leave myself messages something like:
"Lynne, this is Lynne. Here's what you're thinking of for a story."
It sounds weird, but it helps when I wouldn't have another way of remembering.
The second good thing about the duration of the trip was how much music I got to just sing my little heart out to. Some of my favorites were: Adele, A Day To Remember, Taylor Swift, and Our Lady Peace.
The third good thing about the trip was that I just had a lot of alone time with myself. It's nice sometimes to be trapped in a car, with you and only you, and give a lot of thought to what you're doing with your life/what you want to be doing. I feel like it's a re-centering of myself.
Needless to say, I enjoy long car rides :)
At midnight.
Needless to say, when I arrived in Biddeford, I was exhausted...and passed right out. Since I woke up, it's been constant motion, which is also exhausting.
However, some good came from this long drive. The first thing was the cementing of my NaNoWriMo project, which in my head is being called My Sister's Memory. I haven't started it yet, but I had 14 hours to come up with the plan and I've told a couple of people about it and they said go, so I think I will. I have the drive home (tomorrow) to give it further thought. Maybe then I'll start writing...and speed writing at that.
A few hundred years ago my sister bought me a voice recorder that somehow disappeared within the last year (which sucks because I had a lot of ideas on it...). Because I no longer have it on hand, and it's not safe to write and drive, I will call my voicemail box and leave myself messages something like:
"Lynne, this is Lynne. Here's what you're thinking of for a story."
It sounds weird, but it helps when I wouldn't have another way of remembering.
The second good thing about the duration of the trip was how much music I got to just sing my little heart out to. Some of my favorites were: Adele, A Day To Remember, Taylor Swift, and Our Lady Peace.
The third good thing about the trip was that I just had a lot of alone time with myself. It's nice sometimes to be trapped in a car, with you and only you, and give a lot of thought to what you're doing with your life/what you want to be doing. I feel like it's a re-centering of myself.
Needless to say, I enjoy long car rides :)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Welcome, NaNoWriMo
A few weeks back, there was a YaLitChat about this, and I had no idea what they were talking about...so I bailed out. Everyone was talking about it, but no one was explaining it.
It wasn't until I read Becky Wallace's blog post that I started understanding what the hell NaNoWriMo was. Basically it's National Novel Writing Month. Which means, as of yesterday tons of writers across the country (globe?) are participating. Which means, you have through the month of Novemeber to write a stellar story. I haven't been able to start quite yet due to things like:
Moving
Work
A trip to Maine tomorrow
But I've been mulling over some thoughts and hopefully will be able to bust out another novel. (Even though some of the others still need work....shh..don't tell anyone).
Anyways, good luck writing this month!
It wasn't until I read Becky Wallace's blog post that I started understanding what the hell NaNoWriMo was. Basically it's National Novel Writing Month. Which means, as of yesterday tons of writers across the country (globe?) are participating. Which means, you have through the month of Novemeber to write a stellar story. I haven't been able to start quite yet due to things like:
Moving
Work
A trip to Maine tomorrow
But I've been mulling over some thoughts and hopefully will be able to bust out another novel. (Even though some of the others still need work....shh..don't tell anyone).
Anyways, good luck writing this month!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Nudging Agents
You know how when you apply for a new job, you wait about a week for the employers to look over your resume, your application, and then you call and ask for the manager, and call, and call, and harass and then get hired?
Landing an agent is NOT like that.
A writer friend of mine and I were chatting today and she has several partials out in the world that she's waiting to hear back from. It's been about three months, and we discussed what to do. Some people say "Never nudge the agent!" some say "A little nudging is okay". I agree with the ladder. But there are things to consider:
**On the agency website, they usually have a section where it says "Query response time: 2-4 weeks, Partial: 4-8" etc. Make sure they've had it for x-length of time before contacting them
**After you've deemed that they've had it for x-length of time and one day, contact them via e-mail. Phone attacking is usually a poor life decision and freaks out agents (or so I've read on their blogs... :) ).
**In said e-mail, be sure to include name of novel, the fact that you're nudging after the allotted response time, and what your novel was about (essentially re-sending the query letter so they know what you're talking about)
**Thank them
I've only ever nudged an agent once, it was a brief, "Hi. A few months ago you requested --Novel Name-- from me. Your agency guidelines say response time is X-LENGTH OF TIME and it's a little after that. My novel is about QUERY LETTER, and I was just checking in to see if you've had the chance to review it. Thank you again for your time."
I've read some agency blogs that say nudging is okay. I also understand that agents get busy and sometimes bogged down in the slush pile. Don't be overbearing. This isn't like trying to get a job at a Target, there is a lot of waiting involved, and professionalism. If you get antzy, start writing something new, get your mind off things.
But if you're asking how to handle editors who have partials....I have no idea. I'm still learning about how to handle those situations.
Landing an agent is NOT like that.
A writer friend of mine and I were chatting today and she has several partials out in the world that she's waiting to hear back from. It's been about three months, and we discussed what to do. Some people say "Never nudge the agent!" some say "A little nudging is okay". I agree with the ladder. But there are things to consider:
**On the agency website, they usually have a section where it says "Query response time: 2-4 weeks, Partial: 4-8" etc. Make sure they've had it for x-length of time before contacting them
**After you've deemed that they've had it for x-length of time and one day, contact them via e-mail. Phone attacking is usually a poor life decision and freaks out agents (or so I've read on their blogs... :) ).
**In said e-mail, be sure to include name of novel, the fact that you're nudging after the allotted response time, and what your novel was about (essentially re-sending the query letter so they know what you're talking about)
**Thank them
I've only ever nudged an agent once, it was a brief, "Hi. A few months ago you requested --Novel Name-- from me. Your agency guidelines say response time is X-LENGTH OF TIME and it's a little after that. My novel is about QUERY LETTER, and I was just checking in to see if you've had the chance to review it. Thank you again for your time."
I've read some agency blogs that say nudging is okay. I also understand that agents get busy and sometimes bogged down in the slush pile. Don't be overbearing. This isn't like trying to get a job at a Target, there is a lot of waiting involved, and professionalism. If you get antzy, start writing something new, get your mind off things.
But if you're asking how to handle editors who have partials....I have no idea. I'm still learning about how to handle those situations.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Fear Journal
My sister last year got me Journalation, a book that has tips and things like that to keeping a journal. I still haven't gotten very far into it, but one of the things I picked up was when journaling to write a few things at the top of the page:
Date (I always write the date. If I don't, there's usually some significance why. I'm probably hiding something)
Location (Where are you? What are you doing? Are you with anyone? Why are you here? Music on?)
Time
End writing time
And so, I kept my regular journal for a couple of months, daily lists of random crap I did through the day. Usually things of non-importance but I did like keeping track of who I interacted with through the day. (I have a really bad memory and these things would be lost otherwise.)
Then something happened and I started falling a little off kilter. I found a composition notebook that Laura had given me before I'd started college. I'd been saving it and bringing it along everywhere because I knew someday I'd need it. So, I started a Fear Journal. When I would start worrying about something, I'd write about it and specifically track what I was afraid of, possible outcomes, then probable outcomes. Entries are far between, usually once a month, maybe less. (I lost the journal in my trunk for a long while.)
Just recently, I've been writing just about every day. Today, I asked Laura if I could read her my entry from yesterday though it was a million pages long. She sat on the phone with me while I read. There's something nice about reading out loud, it allows you to detach if you just focus on the words and not the fact that something horrific has just happened to you. There was one point during the reading I almost cried, but I kept it together. Her response?
"That....was intense. I know someday you're going to write about this...."
Which I found funny, because hadn't I just written about it?
This is kind of my point. As a writer, we channel a lot of energy through our writing. I keep journals and write when things become too much because it's like releasing it. It can't eat me from the inside out if it's on paper. I try to write when wounds are fresh because it's much more honest and someday when I come back to it, I can face it again and turn it into a story of some sort. I don't have a lot of coping mechanisms, but writing is by far one of the strongest ones I have.
And so....when you're scared or overwhelmed, what do you do?
Date (I always write the date. If I don't, there's usually some significance why. I'm probably hiding something)
Location (Where are you? What are you doing? Are you with anyone? Why are you here? Music on?)
Time
End writing time
And so, I kept my regular journal for a couple of months, daily lists of random crap I did through the day. Usually things of non-importance but I did like keeping track of who I interacted with through the day. (I have a really bad memory and these things would be lost otherwise.)
Then something happened and I started falling a little off kilter. I found a composition notebook that Laura had given me before I'd started college. I'd been saving it and bringing it along everywhere because I knew someday I'd need it. So, I started a Fear Journal. When I would start worrying about something, I'd write about it and specifically track what I was afraid of, possible outcomes, then probable outcomes. Entries are far between, usually once a month, maybe less. (I lost the journal in my trunk for a long while.)
Just recently, I've been writing just about every day. Today, I asked Laura if I could read her my entry from yesterday though it was a million pages long. She sat on the phone with me while I read. There's something nice about reading out loud, it allows you to detach if you just focus on the words and not the fact that something horrific has just happened to you. There was one point during the reading I almost cried, but I kept it together. Her response?
"That....was intense. I know someday you're going to write about this...."
Which I found funny, because hadn't I just written about it?
This is kind of my point. As a writer, we channel a lot of energy through our writing. I keep journals and write when things become too much because it's like releasing it. It can't eat me from the inside out if it's on paper. I try to write when wounds are fresh because it's much more honest and someday when I come back to it, I can face it again and turn it into a story of some sort. I don't have a lot of coping mechanisms, but writing is by far one of the strongest ones I have.
And so....when you're scared or overwhelmed, what do you do?
 |
| Bottom Line? Fear. Nothing. |
Monday, October 17, 2011
You And Your Characters
Do you ever learn from the plight of your characters? Do they ever shape you into a better person, like "Man, if he/she went through this, I can totally go do this!"?
My life is wigging me out a bit right now (sorry about the week long absence, I've been swallowed by something much bigger than me....it's taking a lot to keep me sane right now). Either way, I've written things about my characters that I'd never experienced first hand...but I'd watched friends go through it. And suddenly, now it's happening to me, and I can't help but to feel:
*Bad for putting my characters through it
*Bad because I don't want to deal with it myself
*Weirded out that I had written about it, and now it's happening
*Like...this almost can't be real life, you know?
So...I'm kind of clinging to the strength I wrote for my character, I mean....-I- wrote the way she is, obviously I have some understanding of her strength or what this takes.
So what about you guys? Do you ever draw from your characters? Do they ever help make you more sane?
My life is wigging me out a bit right now (sorry about the week long absence, I've been swallowed by something much bigger than me....it's taking a lot to keep me sane right now). Either way, I've written things about my characters that I'd never experienced first hand...but I'd watched friends go through it. And suddenly, now it's happening to me, and I can't help but to feel:
*Bad for putting my characters through it
*Bad because I don't want to deal with it myself
*Weirded out that I had written about it, and now it's happening
*Like...this almost can't be real life, you know?
So...I'm kind of clinging to the strength I wrote for my character, I mean....-I- wrote the way she is, obviously I have some understanding of her strength or what this takes.
So what about you guys? Do you ever draw from your characters? Do they ever help make you more sane?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Setting
Writers put a lot of stock into their character's settings...but what about their own?
I used to watch the show October Road (which is terribly depressing, be warned if you get into it. Oh--and they cancelled it, like mid-second season. Jerks). Anyways....so the main character is a writer, and in the first episode, he goes back to a place he used to live and asks if he can take a look around. The woman at the door (pleased that he's an author) is all "Please, please come in. It's the place you were once happy, of course you have to visit it again." And he stands there for a second...considering, "Was this really where I was happy" and thus the show began...him actually going home, seeing the girl he abandoned after graduating high school, etc, etc, etc.
So...do you write when you're happy? Do you get writer's block when you're upset?
Personally, I think I write better/more eloquently when I'm upset...more-so vengeful and pissed off. I once wrote a really intense murder scene after a fight with my sisters, because they were being buttheads. I don't think you need to be happy to write, but maybe...just maybe setting does have something to do with it.
Do you consider where your computer goes? Which light fixtures you use? Are you comfortable....
and once you are...
do you ever change it?
There's something strangely healing about stepping out of your comfort zone. Some day, when I live by myself again, I fully intend on locking Baxter in a room (sorry buddy, you don't need to see this) and trying to write naked. I mean, why not? I've heard of writers doing crazier things. This would be huge for me --I hate being naked....even stepping out of the shower--. But--could I write like this? I mean, isn't writing already exposing yourself quite a bit?
I used to watch the show October Road (which is terribly depressing, be warned if you get into it. Oh--and they cancelled it, like mid-second season. Jerks). Anyways....so the main character is a writer, and in the first episode, he goes back to a place he used to live and asks if he can take a look around. The woman at the door (pleased that he's an author) is all "Please, please come in. It's the place you were once happy, of course you have to visit it again." And he stands there for a second...considering, "Was this really where I was happy" and thus the show began...him actually going home, seeing the girl he abandoned after graduating high school, etc, etc, etc.
So...do you write when you're happy? Do you get writer's block when you're upset?
Personally, I think I write better/more eloquently when I'm upset...more-so vengeful and pissed off. I once wrote a really intense murder scene after a fight with my sisters, because they were being buttheads. I don't think you need to be happy to write, but maybe...just maybe setting does have something to do with it.
Do you consider where your computer goes? Which light fixtures you use? Are you comfortable....
and once you are...
do you ever change it?
There's something strangely healing about stepping out of your comfort zone. Some day, when I live by myself again, I fully intend on locking Baxter in a room (sorry buddy, you don't need to see this) and trying to write naked. I mean, why not? I've heard of writers doing crazier things. This would be huge for me --I hate being naked....even stepping out of the shower--. But--could I write like this? I mean, isn't writing already exposing yourself quite a bit?
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