Monday, November 29, 2010

Age of the Main Character

How old is the MC in your YA book? Mine is currently 17 years old and I'm being directed to make her younger. I think I can rewrite to make her 15 years old. Your thoughts on this would be really helpful!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Scripture Sunday - Season's Greetings

'Tis the season. 

Hanukkah starts early this year, at sundown on December 1st.  This is also the start of the 25 days of Christmas countdown, and 26 days to Kwanzaa.

A blessed Holiday season to everyone.  Stay warm and safe.  Look to your family and friends.  Celebrate The Light.  Live life to the fullest!

Top Five - a Poem of Novels

I read about doing this on Jen Daiker's unedited blog.  So, in no particular order, here is my Poem of Novels.

I'm an Undomestic Goddess
who fights a War of the Worlds
while Dracula rises up
during a total Eclipse
and says Remember Me.

Four of the five are e-books, so I can't share a pretty picture of books stacked up, all dog-eared from reading.  I wonder if e-readers can track how many times we've read a particular book?  

The Waiting

I'm sure that I'm not alone in saying that there's a certain amount of unbounded excitement when anticipating the return of a copy of my novel with comments. It's such a great feeling to know that my words have reached out to touch someone and perhaps make their life a little bit better because of it.

And I just wrote an entire paragraph without a single comma! Yea me!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to my blog acquaintances, friends, and family. I'm sending out a prayer, too, for our servicemen and servicewomen to protect them and their families.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Scripture Sunday - Isaiah 40:27-31

This one just spoke to me, reachingly, longingly.

27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Back up and about

Thank you for the get-well wishes! There seems to be an extremely virulent cold going around locally. Starts with a sore throat, then progresses to a very stuffy nose, and then to a cough. Takes about a week or so to get over it.

My NaNoReMo work, for all my best-made plans, isn't following the timeline that I wanted. Guess it's time to revise the timeline a little bit. I took a year off of song-writing and guitar in order to write my novel, thinking crazily that I'd have an agent and a publisher by the end of the year. My fingers are itching to get back to my guitar strings!

There must be a way to split time between music and sci-fi. There just has to be.

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Briefest of Brief

I'm getting over a bad cold, so need to go get my rest.

Some good news--I have another Beta reader.  Looking forward to hearing her feedback in a few days.  :-)

Today marks the 1/2-way point for National Novel Writers (Readers/Revisions) Month.  Go NaNoWriMo!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Scripture Sunday - Psalms 6

This one seems appropriate today because I found out that I have arthritis about 20 years early. All the more reason to take up calm hobbies, like writing novels and doing yoga.


1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Brain Block -- How Do I Get Past It?

It's been 3 days since I've worked on editing my book.  I'm struggling with what additional obstacles I can add to the story but still keep it PG-rated.

Yes, I have storyboard-ish notecards where I can just "choose one" and then write about it.

Yes, I have a good plotline (at least that's what my Beta readers said), but just not enough of a build to the climax of the story.

Ideas, O' blog-buddies?  How do you handle editing where you must add sub-plots?

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Scripture Sunday - Proverbs 27:1

I wonder if this scripture helped lead to the saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Proverbs 27:1
aBoast not thyself of to bmorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Friday, November 5, 2010

The Strangest Rejection Letter I've Ever Received

I've truly only just begun querying, if I look at the "big picture."  Today's shocker was totally unexpected.  I received a long-awaited query response, but it definitely was not what I was expecting. 

The note read, in part: "Thank you for your note.  I am no longer an agent...and will now be working in...  If you'd like to submit to another agent..., please visit our website for a list of agents and our submission guidelines.."

The first thing on my mind was a blog-buddy who was repped by this agent.  Thankfully, I read a post where another agent at the same literary agency picked up representation.  Whew!

That's kinda like when a favorite teacher retires, or goes off to jail, as my 4th-grade teacher did, mid-year.  Seeing how hurt I was, my parents allowed me to write a letter to this teacher and read his remorseful response. 

An agent's quitting is similar to a breach of writer/reader trust, as was so dutifully discussed on another blog-buddy's blog this week. 

In the end, though, after combing through my emotions like curly hair on a humid day, I have to wish this agent the best for himself and his family.

I thought about the chosen and unexpected career changes that I've made, too.  Technician to trainer, to process writer, to project manager, to program manager.  And also, poet to actress, singer to musician, reader to writer.  And single to married to mother.

We change and grow throughout our lives.  We, for the most part, can only choose how we ourselves will act and react.  Circle of life, yeah.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

How many hours writing each day?

I've learned that everyone either won't admit their favorite writing snacks (see previous post), or that we're all too busy to blog this week.

So, let's try another.  How many hours do you spend writing each day?  Not staring out the window, not doing research; actually putting fingers to keys, or pen to paper.  Just writing.

I must admit, I'm still in sporadic mode, due to a more-than-full-time job, a husband, sons, and volunteer work at my church.   Also, some nights, like tonight, fibromyalgia pain just conquers me. 

When I really, really sit down to write, 1-2 hours is about all my fingers can handle.  After that, my brain feels kinda fuzzy, too.  Like a favorite sweater just out of the dryer.  A good feeling of accomplishment that I just have to wear while it's still warm.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

What's your favorite writing snack?

What's your favorite snack when you're writing?

Mine is peppermint tic tacs.