Writing Every Day

I really try to write every day. These days, most of that writing is not in my novel, however. I keep up with my blogs, and the forums that I'm a member of, and writing on email lists I'm a member of. Then I'm all worn out and have no energy left for working on my novel!

Doesn't seem quite fair sometimes.

But writing is writing, and I do believe it all counts.

I have almost finished Bird By Bird, the book by Anne Lamott. Excellent read and I highly recommend it to anyone trying to write. She is very upfront about what you can expect from your writing, that you will likely not get rich, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls of your own internal editor and feelings of persecution so that you can really write well. I will probably finish it today, and hopefully use some of the techniques to get my novel back on track. One thing I have read with interest in the book is about how to develop characters. This is something I'm having a very hard time with right now; my main male character is about as flat as a piece of paper. I haven't yet figured out how to make him reveal himself to me, and some of Anne's techniques might do the trick.

Now, to carve out some writing time...

Twenty-Dollar Words

When I was in college and learnng all kinds of things on my way to getting my English degree with a Certificate to teach (which I never finished and instead ended up with something totally different - but that's another story), I loved using big new words on my family. When I'd use a particularly big word, my dad would say it was a twenty dollar word.

Well, I've brought it down a notch, and I don't use all the big words I can. But I still love words. I have a book called the Grand Pajundrum, which I adore because it gives you all kinds of little-known words with their meanings. And my latest purchase, from the Barnes and Noble $2 "last chance" clearance table no less, is a book called I Always Look Up the Word Egregious. The subtitle is "a vocabulary book for people who don't need one."

Yup, that's me. I don't really NEED a vocabulary book, but I like them. I like to find new words, even if I won't use them any time soon. It's fun to just randomly open a page and find a word that you've never heard before. Today's word is:

Sophistry

"Supporters of the tax credit brush aside the distinction, noting that only a modest amount of it would go to the truly affluent. but that is sophistry; the only reason few rich people would be helped by the tax credit is that there aren't very many rich people."

Sophistry has an unfavorable connotation and means arguing deceitfully, attempting to turn a poor case into a good one by means of clever but specious reasoning.

Hmm. I think I can use the technique, even if I can't use the word.

RIP Moxie

This is also cross-posted in my Momilies Blog.

Moxie while we were feeding all three elephants special treats.

We received word yesterday that one of Doug Terranova's elephants died this past Tuesday. The suspected cause was Encephalomyocarditis, a disease that strikes suddenly and causes death within hours. Moxie was 23 years old, quite young.

We know that Doug, and his assistant Adam, who worked with Moxie on a daily basis, are heartbroken. We are too. It is hard to know what to say; Moxie was a member of Doug's family. By association, he was a part of ours, too.


Moxie (right) and Congo playing kissyface.

The Baraboo News Republic had a comprehensive and heartbreaking article about the loss of Moxie. We're going to miss him.


Moxie (left) and the girls coming back from a bath in the Baraboo River (picture courtesy of Adam Johns, Animal Encounters, Texas)

Peace and Quiet, I need Peace and Quiet!!

Getting my Circus acts set up in the right order and understanding their characters has been more complex than I wish it was. But without it I'm having trouble moving my story forward. I have too many conflicting characters/occupations to go on without getting this part of the novel set in cement.

I worked most of Monday on the second half of the show. Despite having sat at my computer and worked pretty much five or six hours, I only managed to finish that second half. Part of it was that I needed to actually do some more research and understand the acts better, but part of it was that I could not get enough peace and quiet to actually work. Despite the fact that I had my headphones on, I was interrupted over and over again by the kids, by hubby, by the phone, by the TV being too loud, to really get a good amount of work done.

I am getting frustrated at how slowly this is moving. I really thought I'd have this finished by now. I am nowhere close to finished. I still don't know my characters well enough to get this story moving; some key characters are developing nicely, but the main clown character is still ethereal and ghost-like. No substance, just smoke and clouds. Something somewhere is not clicking for me.

Hopefully before this weekend, I'll have the first half of the show completely written so at least I have a complete show. Then maybe I need to sit and just brainstorm about my main male character. He needs substance. I need to know who he is, what he's about, what drives him, what will make him overwhelmingly attracted to my female main character, and what will make him irresistible to her. I think I'm having much more fun writing about the relationship between Emma (FMC) and Robbie (the gay wardrobe/makeup guy), and that is distracting me.

Big White Sheet

One thing I noticed when I was reading through what I'd already writte was how big the plot holes are. Sometimes we Nano-ers make reference to "plot holes you could drive a semi through." Well, mine are so big and chopped up that I feel like a semi truck MADE them in the first place.

I almost feel like I need to cover my novel with a big white sheet and declare it dead. LOL

But I won't. Because despite the plot holes, it's a really good story. Or it will be if I ever get it fixed up. Right now, no amount of duct tape and hot glue are gonna do the trick. It's a crappy first draft.

But without the crappy first draft, you can't do a great second draft, and an even greater third draft. You can't ever have a great novel unless you bother to write that crappy first draft. I'm forever thankful to Nano for allowing me to write, for giving me permission to write, that first big crappy draft.

So today I'm going to try to match my characters up to their occupations; I wrote that first crappy draft in such fits and starts that I made one guy a trapeze artist in the first chapter, but by the last chapter he was riding bareback horses. My performers are good, but they aren't THAT good. I also need to match the kids the school teacher is working with to their appropriate parents and the parents' occupations.

Hubby says, "just leave it blank and fill it in later." It doesn't work that way. Determining these occupations and places early in the beginning is critical to getting them where they need to be at the end of the book. So I have my work cut out for me.

Bird by Bird

I've just recently started reading Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. It was recommended to me by another Nano-er, and I bought it last year, but had not gotten around to reading it. I've finished the introduction and first chapter, and it's a good read. Anne is blunt, but pleasant about it, and I find that kind of refreshing.

Her attitude is that just because you don't write well, or may write well but will never be published because of the tight market, doesn't mean you shouldn't write. I've been writing for years, with nary a hope for publication for the most part. But it hasn't stopped me from writing.

And I don't think it should stop anyone else either!

"Wanna write? Then write, right now!" as Erma Bombeck would say.

And that's exactly what I'm doing, for publication or pay or not, I'm still writing. If I don't, my head will asplode!

A New Year

Well, after dutifully letting my novel sit for a month, I drug it out of the mothballs and started looking at it. What is there isn't bad. There are some major inconsistencies and plot holes you could drive a B59 through, but all-in-all the story reflects what I was attempting.

Of course, there's the problem of not having finished the story...I need to get going on that, for sure. There is very much to complete, right in the middle, and a bunch at the end, before the ending that I did write before I stopped writing in November.

That made absolutely no sense. I started the story at the beginning but had an inspiration about something about 2/3 of the way through so I skipped ahead and wrote that. Then I had an inspiration about the end, so I skipped ahead and wrote that. Then I went back and kept writing from where I'd left off at the beginning of the story. That B52 I was talking about? Well, I think I have a whole Air Force full of them blowing through my story.

So, limbering up my fingers, I'm going to get back to work. I really want to write this story. Wherever it takes me, I want to write it. I'd love to have it done before the next Circus season starts. I may not make it, but I'm going to try.

Wow, I made it!

Hard to believe, but I DID make it this year, despite everything that tried to get in my way. I reached my 50,000 goal more than two hours before midnight. And like a good doobie yesterday, I went ahead and made my yearly donation to Nano to keep it going.

I think this year has been the worst for funding; there are so many people participating, but very few who are willing to even put up $5 to help keep this thing going.

It's not much to ask for a program that has done so much for writers world-wide. I'm one of them, and I've donated at least $25 every year, along with buying merchandise, and this year even making an in-kind donation for their startup as well. Any funds above and beyond what is needed to run Nano is donated to building and furnishing books to libraries in third world countries. This is a good cause and how can I not donate to such a great cause?

I hope others who participated this year will find it in their hearts to donate as well. Even $5 will help. Let's not let Nano fall to wrack and ruin because we were too cheap to help support their funding needs. Without Nano, we'd not be writing novels, and we wouldn't have the fabulous forums to hang out on, and we would not have all the cool widgets and etc. to work with during Nano.

'nuff said. I think I need to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow I'll continue writing, as I've not finished my story, just my 50,000. I have a long way to go.

35,000 words but it's still early

I realized this past weekend that I'd written 32,000 words on my Nano, which is wonderful. However, in the line of my story, I am only about four days into the storyline itself, which is actually supposed to run about four months.

So I'm looking at this 32,000 words, figuring I'm about 1/10th through my story or less, and who's going to want to read a book that's 300,000 words long?

Hmmm. There's a lot of detail I'm trying to cover. Much of what I'm writing is explanatory; it needs to be explained in order for the reader to understand the story. There is a lot of terminology that the ordinary reader wouldn't understand. This is different than anything I've written before, so it is taking me some time to work through it. It should make the editing process interesting, at the very least.

I am up to 35,000 words as of today. I hope to get to 50,000 this weekend. However, I'm going to be bogged down by family plans that I don't normally make this time of year, so that may limit what I'm able to produce. But I still have until next Thursday, so I'm sure I'll make it, if only barely.

Another Circus!

Tonight we'll go see Ringling's show. This is their last stop before folding for the winter. I missed last year's show because I was in Colorado on business; this year at least I will get to see it. Even though the circus in my book is not Ringling-style, it's still good to see the acts that are out there, and how the "big boys" do it. Ringling is still the biggest of the big boys, although that may be changing.

I'm over 27,000 words in my novel and I'm still in the beginnning of the story. It's only been three days in my characters' lives. This book is going to be huge, at this rate. But I should make my 50,000 for Nano easily, since we still have basically two weeks. I'm buzzing along. Some nights writing is easier than others. But I can produce 2,000 or more words an hour when I get on a roll, so it goes by quickly.

Back Home

Well, I'm back home after a week in Colorado. I didn't get as much writing done as I'd like, but I did put a hurting on it. I'm at about 13K now.

And I have an overbooked week this week, so we'll see how much I actually get done. Today is already booked up for most of the morning and afternoon. Tomorrow night I'm on a panel for a round table discussion, Tuesday night I have to go the library for the Young Nano Writers group that I'm part of, Wednesday is my social night with a local group (and I can't get out of it), and Thursday we're supposed to be at the Ringling show. I guess I can call Thursday research if I have to.

LOL

I have a couple hours this morning so I'm going to write and see how far I can get.

Boy, is this HARD

I've had a lot more trouble writing this year than I have in past years of Nano. I may have burnt myself out a bit early on with the whole research thing. Now I'm trying to catch up.

As of this moment I'm at 9,000 words plus and plenty of time to get out another thousand or two before bed. This is my last night in the hotel with quiet to write, so I should take advantage of that while I can.

Tonight's soundtrack is the CD from Cirque du Soleil's Quidam. Nice music, sucky show. LOL

Lily Lake

Every year when I come to Colorado in November, I make sure I drive up along the Peak to Peak Trail, a scenic highway that runs from Estes Park all the way to Nederland. It is a beautiful drive, and no matter how many times I do it, I still love it.

This picture came from this year's trip. My picture from two years ago ended up on the cover of my second NanoNovel, now published through Lulu (link to the right of my blog). Every time I go, it is different, but somehow still the same. This year the lake was starting to freeze, and there was some snow, but not much. It was snowing over the highest peaks, but only flurrying where we were.

Now, today I start my conference, and tonight I'm going to have to buckle down and do some serious writing. SERIOUS! I am so far behind. Agh!!

Writing and Having Fun!!

I did manage to write last night, almost 2000 words. I'm glad, because I was feeling like I was falling further and further behind. I had a really nice day yesterday, driving around in the mountains with my friends, so it is worth it that I'm behind, but still. At least my altitude sickness is gone this morning, and I feel normal again. Today we are heading into the mountains again, and tonight I should get some good writing done. The rest of the week should yield better results for my writing, as I'll be in a hotel room with nothing to do in the evenings. Yippee for me!

I'm in print!!

The article about me and my erotica appeared in today's Riverfront Times. It's a positive article, and appeared at the top of the Unreal column in the actual paper. This is the FIRST feature of the paper each week, which means I appeared at the very beginning of everything, just past the table of contents pages. That's pretty darned cool.

And I'm also happy that the article spins me and big girls in a mostly positive light. It is said sometimes that prejudice against fat people is the last "safe" prejudice. I don't know about that, but it seems that it's okay to bash fat people.

I, for one, don't care one way or the other. I'm old enough not to have to explain myself to everyone, or to have to justify my human womanhood.

An Excuse to Write

I managed about 3700 words yesterday, despite having a meeting last night that kept me from writing last evening. That's pretty good.

Today I am home again, but not willingly. My van won't run this morning. Well, it runs, but badly. This van has a problem with popping off vacuum hoses, and when it does, it runs rough and won't idle. So, I took it to the shop and hubby brought me home. I really did need to go to work today, though, so this is really a bummer.

But, maybe I'll get another 3700 words in today. That would be good!

Ready, Set, WRITE

The Big Write is HERE!

I hope everyone enjoys the experience. I will try to still post almost daily, but no guarantees!!

So close I can taste it...

We are two days away from the Big Write. After all the anticipation, it's so close we can touch it now. I am prepared to write. Yesterday I had an hour or so before a gig so I parked my butt at the local Bread Co. (Panera Bread) and read through some of my notes and descriptions. I haven't looked at any of my notes or read a circus book for at least a couple weeks. So I needed to get myself refreshed and get my brain back to working on this story.

Speaking of Bread Co., I don't think I've ever noticed how noisy it is in there. I suppose it was partly due to the location (in a more chi-chi neighborhood) and the time of day (late afternoon on a Saturday). But I was glad for my good headphones, because the noise level was quite extreme. Part of that noise was their pseudo-jazzy-I'm-so-hip-it-hurts music on the speakers overhead. I'm sure the people at Bread Co. think that is soothing and encourages a sense of calm, but I found it to be otherwise.

There are other Bread Co.'s near me that I can go to. They have free wireless. And of course the uber-quiet Barnes and Noble is nearby too, and their wireless is free to me because I have business-class DSL at home through ATT. There is also a Borders, but I've not been there yet to see what it is like to work there. I will probably not do much writing at Borders, however, their wireless is not free nor is it value-priced (I don't consider $40 a month for limited access to be a good value). And I need to be online when I work for research and to get to some of my files.

Today I'm fixing a big dinner. It is likely the last one I will fix for quite some time. Everyone is just going to have to fend for themselves around here after Tuesday.

Amok Amok Amok AMOK Part 2

So as I mentioned a couple days ago, the reporter from the Riverfront Times conducted her phone interview with me on Wednesday. As I sat in my car on the parking lot of the local Shop 'n Save, she and I talked about my collection of erotica, published earlier this year through Lulu. I've sold a few copies; I hope to get it marketed better in the coming year. It's just sort of been on the back burner. Sometimes you just have too much on your plate, and something has to wait until later.

Since I have not seen the article yet, I can't really say how the reporter is going to spin what we talked about. Mostly we talked about size acceptance, and I talked a lot about how sex was perfectly normal no matter what your size. I talked about some of my inspirations for writing erotica, including Hanne Blank, and the Story Guy. I talked about how I'd "found" myself after going to chat rooms after my divorce ten years ago, and how I'd met my husband at a dance for big people put on my Ample Romance (now a defunct group).

Depending on the coverage the article gets me, I may need to push my book to the front burner once again. I know there is a market for it, especially since Hanne Blank is pulling away from the plus-sized erotica she has gravitated to in the past.

Finding Time to Write

I'm sitting here in a relatively quiet house that is in a mode of waiting. My husband's last remaining auntie died yesterday and later today we will go to the funeral home. Tonight is the big Halloween Ball we've been preparing for all month. Hubby is off working (cleaning house for a disabled lady) and I'm off work because of the wake. This morning I chaufferred hubby back from the mechanic so they could work on his truck, and finished up the last of the halloween costume details, and now I'm sitting here waiting for 45 minutes to go by so I can rinse the color out of my hair.

Good time to get some writing done!!

I may not get a full 45 minutes done, at least half of that time will be spent catching up on emails and reading the local news, especially the weather. The Cardinals could clinch the series tonight if it would just stop raining and let us play!! No luck there so far, but I'm hopeful.

This week, and especially today's, roller coaster schedule is not unusual for us, really. If it weren't for my ability to write in snatches, I would never get any writing done at all! So if I only have a 10-minute snatch to write in while the biscuits are baking for dinner, or twenty minutes until the dryer is done, or 45 minutes while I wait for my hair color to work, then I'll take that. It's better than no time to write.

I know someday all this "busy" that we have in our lives will be gone and I'll wonder where it all went and what to do with myself. Yeah. Right. Somehow, I think I'll be just fine!