Type a Little Faster

Faith

2012-01-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

I spent the last week of 2011 evaluating the year, and how I'd done, goal-wise.

2011 was a year of experimentation for me. I learned a lot, and juggled a bunch of different projects. I worked on Wild Fables, the interactive story app for kids that my sister, her husband and I created (hard to believe it launched less than a year ago!). I learned to use Adobe InDesign, and formatted a gargantuan iOS5 programming ebook. I figured out how to launch an estore for t-shirts and other products using the animal silhouette designs I love to play around with.

Those were the major projects, but there were half a dozen smaller ones, plus big life events (I got engaged!). Taken in that perspective, I did a lot.

On the writing front, however, I didn't accomplished as much as I'd hoped. I wrote a book that I love, and revised it with my agent for a few months. It's now off in submission-land :) I'm proud of this novel. Other than that ... I wrote about 20k on another novel. I got on twitter, and connected with a bunch of lovely writers online and in real life. I went on a writing retreat, and to a conference or two.

So I accomplished some things, but I was left at the end of 2011 feeling like I could have done more, if I'd focused. I allowed so many projects and new ideas take me over that I forgot to give the important things top priority.

I have so many novels in my head that I can't wait to work on, and yet writing took a backseat for much of the year. That made me unhappy, but it was my own choice to keep making excuses about why I couldn't write.

It took me a while to pinpoint why: doubt.

We all struggle with it. Doubt that our writing is any good, doubt that we can sell a book and make ourselves a career at this. Doubt that we'll have any money coming in. Doubt that we can write another book we love as much as the previous one. Struggling with all of these doubts caused me a ton of stress last year, and it was all self-inflicted.

At first I thought I'd label 2012 the year of No Excuses. But it runs deeper than that. It's a matter of faith. Not religious faith, though for me that does play a part. But mostly, I decided, I needed to have faith in myself.

Faith that I can sit down every day and write. Faith that I can take my crappy rough draft and fix it. Faith that sending my critique partner a less-than-perfect draft won't kill me. Faith that I can ignore distractions. Faith that if I flub one day and don't write, I haven't derailed myself. Faith that I can sort out the characters and plots and pacing, and turn their sum from a jumble to a jewel.

It's easy enough to say I have faith in myself. So this year, I'm saying it.

I'm building it.

Often. Every day. Every hour. Any time I feel doubt nibbling at my peace of mind, tensing my shoulders and dragging at my mood, I pause and take a deep breath. Faith, I tell myself. I have faith. It's my focus for the year.

Almost a week in, things have been going swimmingly. Stress is down, productivity is up.

And I have faith that will continue.

Happy 2012, everyone! What's your word of the year?

Hey November

2011-11-01T09:20:00.000-04:00

November, I've got my fingers crossed that you and I will be great friends. There's certain things going on, including, of course, Thanksgiving! This year my mom and my sister and my brother-in-law are coming down to my new fiance's family's turkey-shindig :-) I am very excited for that, and for my plan to make pumpkin pies weekly (starting today).

But first, the past - my reading past! In October I read three books I wanted to highlight:

Favorite novel I read: by far, the hilarious and touching Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally, which I got to devour in ARC form. It comes out in a month, and would make an awesome Christmas present for anyone on your list who likes YA novels - it's got a strong and sassy heroine who struggles with love, sports and her future. Highly recommended.

And for nonfiction, I just discovered The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine, and wow has this book been great for me right now! For people with multiple interests who can't seem to settle on just one goal and stick with it, this look into how so-called Renaissance Souls work is great - the author (a life coach) has really helpful, concrete exercises and tips on how to structure one's life to make progress on multiple goals at once.

I'd been struggling with feeling down about myself because I keep switching between stuff: writing, learning InDesign for ebook formatting (that programming book I was working on is out now!), setting up a t-shirt store with my designs to hopefully try and defray the costs of a wedding (and also I started a new blog because I kept running into fun nature-y stuff I wanted to share), and more.

So I'd been feeling scattered, and like I was a failure for not being able to focus on one thing only. But this book helped me see my multiple passions as strengths, and to organize my schedule to make progress instead of flailing (there had been a LOT of flailing). Not everyone will fit the main definition of Renaissance Soul, of course, but I think most people can identify with it at least a little, and for anyone struggling with multiple projects, this is a great resource.

Third and final book I read recently and loved: Waiter Rant, a memoir by (spoiler alert) a waiter. He apparently had (actually I just googled it and it's still being updated!) a very popular blog a couple years ago, which got him the book deal, but the book is more than a collection of stories about good and bad customers (though there are plenty of those!): it's about a middle-aged guy struggling with his fears and trying to figure out what he wants to do when he "grows up." It was funny, entertaining, and moving. Recommended if you like insightful books that take you behind the scenes.

So October brought me some literary gems - can't wait to see what November holds!

A Love Story

2011-10-18T09:45:00.000-04:00

A week and a half ago, my boyfriend came home from work and gave me roses on our anniversary. Then he made me dinner: chicken and green beans, the meal with which he wooed me five years ago (it is SO GOOD. Tip for gentlemen: have at least one signature meal you can cook well to impress the girl of your dreams!)

While he was cooking, he gave me a glass of red wine and a cannoli to nibble, and we exchanged gifts. I gave him all three brilliant seasons of Arrested Development, because Gene introduced me to the show and because one of my favorite things in the world is laughing with him.

He gave me a vacuum cleaner!

That expression on your face was the one I was wearing too. "But it's a Dyson!" my boyfriend said proudly. I laughed, and told him I'd love watching him use it ;-)

We sat down to dinner, had some wine. My boyfriend kept checking his watch, and I assumed, since we were all dressed up and I looked all sizzling in my party dress, that we had a reservation somewhere. Then he said we should go watch the sunset from the balcony.

This is when I knew something was up :)

So we go outside, sip some more wine, and chat. And we watch what we can see of the sunset, which at this point of the year has retreated behind the edge of our building. (My boyfriend had not accounted for the seasonal rotation of the earth! But the sunset was there, somewhere.)

At some point, he brought up another balcony where, five years ago, he'd told me how lately he'd been smiling way more than ever before in his life. Why? Because of me, of course! Our first swoony kisses had ensued <3 We also saw a raccoon at some point that night, I believe, but I'm pretty sure it was before the kissing :)

Back to present day: my boyfriend told me that since that evening five years ago, he'd never stopped smiling. And he never wanted to. Then he got down on one knee. !!!

Not trusted with ribbon or rings!

For about ten minutes we were both a mess of tears, and laughter, and hugs, and kisses (somewhere in there I said yes!). He told me how he'd considered proposing by letting our cat Havarti wear my ring on a ribbon until I noticed, but scrapped that plan after remembering how much Havarti likes to eat ribbon (and anything attached).

I've never been a ring person, even said once or twice that I might not even want an engagement ring. My sister wisely advised my boyfriend (a year ago - girl can keep a secret!) on stones and settings anyway :) (thanks sis!) I cannot stop looking at it, and every time it annoys me by getting in my way when I am doing things with my hands, I am reminded that my best friend in the world wants to marry me, and I swoon all over again <3

When we were coherent again, my fiancé (!) and I called our respective parents with the good news. He told me the Dyson was a purposefully-unromantic decoy gift so I wouldn't suspect anything (ha!) And he told me again how much I make him smile.

I told him I'd keep him smiling if he kept me laughing :)

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

2011-09-07T13:23:00.001-04:00

The other day, a friend and I went for a walk around my neighborhood. Now that it's not eleventy-hundred degrees, we can do this and not melt into pasty t-shirt-wearing sludge! Yay for fall :)

Usually I'm pretty good at judging the weather, and if it might rain I bring along an umbrella to ward off the downpour. This trick always works: I am never rained on if I remember to grab my umbrella.

You can guess where this is going. The weather system came from the south instead of its usual northwest origin, so when I glanced out my apartment window I saw nothing but blue skies. No umbrella needed: let's go!

Ten minutes into the walk, it started to sprinkle. Fifteen minutes in, it started to rain in earnest. Thinking it wouldn't last very long, we took cover under some trees.

Five minutes later, it started to pour. The trees began to drool on us. A lot. We though surely the deluge was almost over. The skies laughed at us, and rained harder.

We finally decided to make a run for some shop overhangs about a block away. We arrived, totally soaked, and waited out ten more minutes of torrential downpour.

Then, figuring it was over, we continued our walk. You're laughing at me now, right? Yeah, we definitely didn't learn our lesson, and had to run for cover under the doorway of a church ten minutes later. That rain band took twenty minutes to pass, and then we really did beeline for home!

We commented a couple of times, while soaked and waiting, that we should have turned back earlier, or brought a phone so my boyfriend could come pick us up in the car. But we had lots to chat about, and all I remember now is how fun it was to run and laugh through the rain like we were kids again, and you know what?

If I had to do it again, I'd still forget that umbrella :)

What I've Been Up To: Crooked & Wide

2011-08-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

I've been MIA online for the last couple of weeks (okay, months).

Why? Because I've been working on a couple of rounds of revisions for my YA contemporary novel, and when I'm revising I tend to go into hermit mode. And when, like now, I'm waiting to hear back from my agent about whether we need more revisions (I think we're getting pretty close to sending it out, so fingers crossed!) I tend to channel my inner mime as well.

But I have been busy, with Wild Fables (we just released a new one!) and with another project I finally launched this week: a new blog.

I know, I already have a blog I'm neglecting. I don't need another, right? ;-)

But Type a Little Faster focuses on writing and publishing, and I felt like I needed an outlet for the other stuff I'm working on, the non-book stuff that would be wholly out of place here. I've been practicing with Illustrator, but creating a bunch of random art for my hard drive is less fun, and less motivating, than having a reason to create.

So I gave myself a reason. The new blog is a place I can share artwork, and is also a way to force myself to keep creating on a regular basis, as opposed to just when I feel like it. And it's a place I can be silly! You'll see if you visit. Regular features include dispatches from my cat, a diary written by a goose, and limericks about animals to accompany my artwork. Also, a goat who quotes.

See? Too silly for this blog :-)

To be clear, I'm not abandoning this site--it's my author blog, and I'll still be posting here when there's writing news or a book to recommend or such. But if you like animals and silliness and poetry, head to Crooked & Wide.

Have an awesome Friday, everyone!

Book Gems: We Bought A Zoo

2011-07-27T18:16:00.000-04:00

Animal-themed nonfiction has recently started weaseling (see what I did there??) in front of all the novels on my to be read list. I loved animals when I was little (prime tiger-meal size), but somewhere between cramming for the spelling bee in middle school and dynamics exams in college, I stopped reading about them.

I confronted this about a month ago, when I realized I no longer knew what the heck an ibis looks like (the horror!) and promptly reacquainted myself with my childhood natural habitat: the animal section of my local library stacks.

Straight nonfiction can be great, but dry; I've found I get so much more out of memoir-type books written by people who study and interact with animals. That way I can experience adventures without actually having to traipse around in leech-infested swamps or sift through elephant dung.

My favorite recent find: the memoir We Bought A Zoo by Benjamin Mee. It's the account of how he and his family turned a run-down, grubby zoo with a poor reputation into the Dartmoor Zoological Park, and it's got everything: laughs, tragedy, awesome animals, astonishingly bold and tenacious people, close calls, and eventual triumph in the face of long odds.

I guess I'm not the only one impressed by the story, because when I googled it just now to write this, I found out it's being turned into a movie! I know what I'm doing December 23 this winter :)

Anyway, I loved this book. Does it make me want to buy a zoo? Hell no! But I do want to go visit one, and marvel not only at the animals but at all the behind-the-scenes work it takes to run such a place.

Luckily, the National Zoo is only a metro ride away!

What's your favorite book about animals? I need more critters to devour! :-D

PS for a great book on feathered friends (Hummingbirds! Homing pigeons! Cassowaries!), check out Birdology by Sy Montgomery.

Giveaway Winner!

2011-06-27T09:00:00.008-04:00

First off, thanks!

To everyone who follows me, here and/or on Twitter. If I didn't have you lovely people to chat to, I'd have to talk to my cats all day (more than I already do). And although Winston has recently developed a new meow (he sounds like a duck, and expects me to praise him for it) to add to his repertoire, all he ever wants to discuss is how hard he's working on covering the entire apartment in very soft hair.

Also thanks to everyone who blogged and/or tweeted about the giveaway. And to those who entered it! Thanks to you, these three books have found a new home.

And the winner is .... Lindsay Writes, whose verification word was "sychootd". Yay and let's throw some confetti for Lindsay!

Yes, I've been messing around with Illustrator :) I am ... not very talented yet, obviously. But I'm working on it!

So congrats Lindsay, and I'll email you to find out where to send your new books!
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Triple-Twitter-Digit Giveaway!

2011-06-20T15:27:00.000-04:00

I break my blog silence with books to give away! Three, to be specific. Why three? Because I just broke into the triple-digits of Twitter followers! I am all about celebrating the small things :) And because the last book I wrote was a YA contemporary, I'll mail the winner of the giveaway three lovely YA contemporaries.

Let's get to the giving! The treats:

Forget You by Jennifer Echols: a romantic drama about amnesia, car wrecks and figuring out life and love.

Heist Society by Ally Carter: Sassy thief heroine who's forced into plotting a grand heist to save her father. The sequel, Uncommon Criminals, comes out this week!

The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy: About makeovers, standing up for what you believe in, and finding your inner Cinderella. The sequel, Cindy On A Mission, comes out this fall.

TO ENTER: all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your "verification" word is. They always amuse me :)

Bonus entry: Spread the word! Tweet or blog about the giveaway and you get another entry. Just leave a link in your comment.

Superbonus entry! IF you tweet/blog about the giveaway, you can earn a THIRD entry by telling me what your favorite YA contemporary was that you read recently.

Sound like fun? It does to me!You have until midnight this Friday, June 24 to enter, and I'll announce the winner on Monday the 27th.

Have a great week, everyone!

Alligator Friday

2011-06-10T08:00:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I'm having a good time toying with Illustrator :)

Here's a fun-loving version of Monday's pet!

Any name ideas for this beastie? My vote is for Sir Spots-a-lot. (What, like you could do better?)

You know what he needs? Yes. A limerick!

There once was a friendly pink 'gator
Who liked to eat lunch in a crater
He never was able
To snag a good table
'Cause he couldn't stop nibbling the waiter!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Alligator Monday

2011-06-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hi guys! I made you an alligator last night. He eats Mondays! He will chomp yours into nicely-digestable bits if you want him to. You don't even have to ask nicely.

Grrr, Mondays stand no chance against < insert name here >!!!

What should we name him? An alligator without a name is a sad alligator indeed.
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What I'm Up To

2011-06-01T10:01:00.000-04:00

Whoa, guys. Sorry for all the blog silence! I keep meaning to check off "Blog post" on my to-do list, but it keeps getting pushed to the next day ... and then the next ... and suddenly I find I haven't blogged in weeks! *bad Lynn*

So what's been filling up my time?

1. Wild Fables. We submitted our latest fable, The Ant and The Chrysalis, late last week, and the updated app should be released in the next few days! This is our sixth fable, and I'm still loving the process of putting these together. If you know any parent with an iPhone, I'd so appreciate it if you sent them the link to Wild Fables or let them know about our app, because I am terrible about marketing (another thing that keeps getting delayed on my To-do list!) and so haven't done much. *bad Lynn!*

2. Revisions. Enough said!

3. Shopping. I tend not to shop very often, but this spring I've been hit by the urge to wear dresses, and since I didn't actually HAVE any dresses, I've been rectifying that. I think the shopping bug has run its course now, though - which is good, because my wallet has been very angry with me *bad, bad Lynn!*

4. Socializing. Offline, mostly, and some fellow writers and I put together a writers' retreat out in the mountains. So much fun! Even more than the fun, though, I really came back inspired and excited to dive back into revisions.

Anyway, I'm intending to be more present online soon. In the meantime, fill me in--what's new in your life?

Childhood Inspirations: Horses Rule, Barbies Drool

2011-05-17T10:45:00.000-04:00

When I was little, a friend down the street loved Barbies. She had bunches of them, along with outfits and accessories and such. She wanted us to play with them, and make them talk to each other, and have adventures.

My sister and I never understood her obsession. Dolls? Lame. Barbies? No way. Who wants to play with a weird-looking lady?

Especially when there were model horses to anthropomorphize!

Specifically, Breyer horses!

Model horses were to my sister and me what Barbies were to my (misguided) friend. We were obsessed with them. My sister and I had at least a dozen each. They had names, individual personalities, and complex relationships with the other horses.

Our model horses went on adventures, formed cliques, fought with each other and later made up. The young ones would misbehave and get grounded, and then sneak out of the stable to roam the mountains (the bookcase) with their friends.

It was like a soap opera, but for horses! (okay, we were sort of weird kids)

We played with our horses for hours on end ... until one day we didn't find it as fun anymore. We began to see the model horses as plastic figurines, instead of the real live adventurers they used to be in our heads.

In short, we grew out of it. We realized this as it was happening, and it saddened us. Eventually we packed the horses away and stopped telling each other stories about which colt was mad at which filly and why.

But you know what? I never stopped making up stories in my head. They began to star people instead of horses, but my character-creating roots are in those early whinny-filled sessions of adventure and make-believe.

I still have those horses in a box somewhere. I will never throw them away. I just wish I remembered all of their names!

What were you obsessed with as a kid?

If I'd lived during the Han Dynasty, this would have been my favorite toy. He would have had a taste for clover and a tendency to annoy his friends with recitations of poetry. The other horses would pity his bobbed tail. From here.

Hype It Up!

2011-05-10T10:04:00.000-04:00

Hype: you can't escape from it!

Hype. It's something writers want, because it makes their book visible. Buyable. It makes a novel a talking point both among readers and writers. Even if people haven't read a hyped book, they've probably heard of it.

How do you get it? Usually it's the publisher who creates hype, by making a book their lead title and selling it hard-core to booksellers and foreign editors, by purchasing stand-alone showcase space in Borders and Barnes & Noble, by sending out tons of advance reading copies. Sometimes you can create hype yourself if you have a large enough audience, and/or enough blog friends willing to showcase you.

Why do you get it? Well, publishers usually try to hype a book for which they paid a lot of money. That's one reason, aside from getting to roll in piles of twenties, that writers are so excited by large advances--because it means the publisher is going to heavily promote the novel instead of letting it languish in the crowded new-release sea.

If the author can do this, his/her book will get hyped!

So hype is a good thing. Usually. In my mind, the problem arises when a book is hyped to the point that it can't live up to expectations. I've read several books recently that were super-hyped, but when I finished Page The Last, I was disappointed. And if I'd read the book without hearing all the hype, without all the glowing comments from bestselling authors and popular bloggers making it out to be the best book since [insert groundbreaking, fast-paced earth-shattering title that changed your life here], I would have enjoyed it more.

It's all about expectations, and whether they're fulfilled. Like with movies: when I watch a rom-com that got middling reviews I lower my expectations, and am pleasantly entertained. Here, the lack of hype lets me enjoy the movie for what it is. On the other hand, sometimes I watch a much-lauded Oscar-winner and come away scratching my head, confused why people thought it was anything but rubbish, and disgusted with the waste of my time. My expectations didn't match the reality.

Same with some (over)hyped books. And when I'm disappointed with a book, I won't read the author's next effort, so that hype has lost that author a reader, probably permanently. So sometimes, hype can hurt a book.

Then again, even if the book doesn't fulfill expectations, is hype ever really bad? After all, what if the only reason I even opened the book's cover was because of that hype? And even if half the people who read the book come away disappointed, the number of people who wind up loving the book is still probably way more than it would have been without the hype.

I'm writing this post because I'm sort of annoyed that a certain book was hyped so much when I sort of hate it, but I don't want to get all negative here. So I'll just mention a couple of books that, for me, more than lived up to their hype: The Duff by Kody Keplinger, and Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I loved them, and thought the hype surrounding each was well deserved.

And here's a book that, in my opinion, was under-hyped: Grey by Jon Armstrong.

Awesome and overlooked!

Your turn: what's a book that you thought lived up to it's hype? Have any suggestions for under-hyped and excellent novels?
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Friday In Bullet Form (Pun Intended)

2011-04-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

-I have had zero motivation to do, well, anything this week. I haven't even read any books! The only things I've done are shop a little and watch TV a lot (in, ahem, unrelated news, I have finished the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I have done some work for Wild Fables and my part-time pay job, but other than that I've just been existing.

-I think this is because I haven't given myself a vacation in ... I don't even remember when. I'd take a day off every week or so and call it my "weekend," but over the past six months I've written a novel and then wrote a different book and revised it and revised another book and worked on Wild Fables and then revised some more, and every time I finished a project I'd jump directly into the next one. This is what burnout is, I think.

-I haven't even been online much. Or exercised much. Or ... you get the idea. I think this funk is finally starting to ebb, and I hope next week I will wake up with an urge to do something. Anything. Visit museums, whip my apartment into shape, get back to taking long walks in the sunshine. Read!

-One thing I am doing is going to the shooting range again this afternoon. Will I cry? Time will tell ;-)

-Anyway, so I'm giving myself another week off, and am refusing to let myself feel guilty for taking a much-needed rest (anyone else do that?).

-Jumping topics, I am starting to want to wear dresses a lot. Who am I? I have NEVER been a dress person, but now every time I go shopping (and I have been shopping a lot lately since I loathe everything in my closet) I come home with another dress. And I try on clothes that I KNOW I would have snapped up a couple months ago, and now I think they're not my 'style'. What!? Who gave me a clothing lobotomy?

-Question for you: which part of your chocolate Easter bunny do you eat first? This year I ate his nose first. Not sure what that means, but it was tasty!

-Okay, off to shoot some targets and NOT shed any tears over it! Happy Friday, everyone!

Shoot Me Now

2011-04-22T11:29:00.001-04:00

My boyfriend took me shooting yesterday and well, it was an experience. Actually, I was surprised at my own reaction: I wound up sort of, um ... crying.

I know. Crying at a gun range. I felt like such a girl.

I've shot guns before - only once, though, and that afternoon was a) over a year ago, and b) at a mostly-deserted outdoor range in the middle of Nowheresville, VA. This was at an indoor range, and there were people around and guns going off left and right.

All the shots in the other lanes were LOUD, and I jumped a lot even while we were just setting up. I think that sort of unnerved me. Then, when my boyfriend had me load the pistol magazine, I couldn’t get the bullets in.

Like, really, hands? You're that weak? Answer: yes. It took me three minutes to load two bullets, and my boyfriend had to do the rest. By then I was frustrated with myself and embarrassed that I was so ineffective at freaking loading a magazine that my confidence went out the window. Not the best way to start shooting a deadly weapon, you know?

The CZ-82: unmoved by my tears

So by the time the bullets are all in the magazine, tears are leaking from my eyes and I'm trying to swipe them away surreptitiously but I'm wearing safety glasses and can't take them off, so it's kind of hard, and I'm trying not to think of what all the men on the range must think of me, this silly girl crying.

Anyway, I get myself sort of under control while my boyfriend shoots his first set, and then it's my turn.

Have I mentioned how terrified I was? It didn't make much sense--we were at a range and everything was pretty darn safe. Intellectually I knew that. But it didn't matter - I was terrified, and horribly embarrassed to be so.

So there I am, staring at the empty pistol and trying desperately to a) not freak out, and b) remember what the hell I'm supposed to do first. My boyfriend (he is patient, and amazing) goes through the directions with me again, and prompts me when I fling, "Holy crap tell me what to do PLEASE," looks over my shoulder.

And so I pick up the gun and load the magazine and put the safety on and get my sight picture and my boyfriend corrects my grip and stance and grip again, and then the safety is off and it is time to shoot.

I aim, and take a breath and let it out, and slowly squeeze the trigger. BANG! The pistol leaps in my hand, and a little hole appears in the target downrange. OH GOD, I DID IT! I am so relieved, but then I realize I have to do it again, and the terror hasn't abated. At all.

The magazine holds twelve bullets. My hands are shaking by the third. It's sort of hard to aim with shaking hands, FYI (I was more concerned with not embarrassing myself than with the bulls-eye, but I actually didn't do too badly.) Also, I'm sweating--ahem--bullets; my armpits are dripping and my back is soaking through my shirt, but I can't take off my hoodie because the long sleeves protect my arms from flying brass.

I can't tell you how glad I was to hand the gun over when I was done. My whole body was trembling. I was soaked in sweat. My cheeks were covered in tears, because they kept leaking from my eyes as I shot that pistol no matter how much I told myself not to be a scaredy-cat.

The P-64 is Polish, which might explain the language.

I mean, crying? I don't know what happened to me. But my boyfriend didn't say a word about it, just calmly gave instructions, and had me work on loading another magazine while he took his next turn.

The second time I loaded the magazine, I got nearly all the bullets in before asking my boyfriend to load the last couple (my hands need toughening for sure). And the second time I shot I didn't cry, though I was still shaking like crazy by the end. We worked on not letting the pistol buck in my grip, and my boyfriend praised me for everything I did right, and told me I was doing great, and corrected my stance (lean forward) and my grip and my stance again. We shot a CZ82 and a little P64 and then an AK47 rifle, and by the end ... I wasn't confident, exactly, but I was able to shoot without feeling like I'd shatter.

By the time I shot the AK-47, I was doing much better!

I was glad to leave the range, I'll admit. But I want to go back next week! I can tell I'll love shooting once I get used to it. Before I go back, though, I need to strengthen my arms (rifles are freaking heavy!) and practice loading a magazine, because I'm still pretty pathetic at it.

I'm sure there is a writing metaphor in here somewhere, right? The terror, sweating and tears? The being terrible at first, but getting better with practice? lol.

What's the last thing you did that scared the crap out of you but you did anyway?

Querying counts!

Groundhog Monday

2011-04-18T09:11:00.001-04:00

Ahhhhh ....

I am happy today. I finished (this round of) edits on Torched yesterday and sent the manuscript to a couple of beta readers. Even though I've already got some GREAT feedback and suggestions (from Caroline, who is incredibly insightful and amazing), I'm not letting myself touch the novel for a week. Then I'll revise, and afterward send it to some other writer friends who mentioned they'd be willing to beta read (right guys? *bats eyelashes*).

But for today, I am taking a break. By break, of course, I mean I will tackle the mountain of chores I've been putting off while I swam around in Revision Sea. Does anyone else do this--shove everything besides writing to the side until the draft is done?

I feel like a groundhog who's just poked her head up out of the dirt and am blinking at the sunlight and muttering, "Oh right, there's the rest of the world out here!" And of course I have a cute nasally voice, because all groundhogs do.

Okay, time to terrorize the kitties with the vacuum cleaner ...

What were you up to this weekend? Seems like every writer I know was slogging through revisions. Do you turn into a hibernating groundhog when you're working on a project? What does your groundhog voice sound like??

Soapy Friday

2011-04-15T09:24:00.001-04:00

Bonus soap points for cuteness!

What's a Friday without some randomness?

-Know what's amazing? Scented hand soap. I grew up without it, since my mom hates perfumes and flowery soaps. But washing my hands and having them smell like jasmine-vanilla makes me smile every time! It's the little things, right? And don't get me started on scented-vs-non body wash ...

-I hate doing laundry. It used to be that I'd wait until all my underwear was gone to do a load, but then I bought a bunch more so now I have a ton. Then it was whenever my socks ran out. So I bought a million pairs of identical white socks (I don't even have to match them anymore!) and now I only do laundry when my I run out of sports bras. Need more sports bras ... Also, I've found it to be Truth Indeed that bright colored sports bras are much more conducive to enjoying workouts than boring plain ones.

-Sometimes people in my non-writing life look at me weirdly when I mention I have a blog AND a twitter account. It just boggles my mind that a lot of people still think blogs and twitter are just silly hipster indulgences. But I've met so many wonderful people online, and some have even translated into in-person get-togethers. I don't know how I'd meet other writers without the blogosphere/twitterverse. Thanks to everyone who talks to me!

-Certain people (COUGH my sister COUGH) shake their heads at my recent conversion to instant coffee (prompted by the unfortunate demise of my Keurig wondermachine and the refusal to shell out over $100 for another one). But actually it's not bad, and SO EASY. Plus, apparently it's very European to make instant coffee? I read that somewhere. Really! So clearly I'm just being cool, not cheap and lazy.

-Our new Wild Fable, The Tortoise and The Hare, is out! Hooray! Even I haven't gotten to play with this one yet (I seriously need an iPad or iPhone), but I did get to make the video. Behold, my amazing(ly amateur) iMovie skillz:

-My laundry is now done! Hooray for clean clothes!

I MUST KNOW:
-What scented soap/body wash should I check out? I am currently grooving on Suave lavender-vanilla in the shower. I am basically a sucker for vanilla scents. Though fruits are fun too!
-What item of clothing do you run out of first?

Not what I mean by hand soap! Not sure I could actually use these. I'd feel bad if I broke off one of the fingers!

Breakfast: Every Day Treat

2011-04-13T09:48:00.000-04:00

Some people forget to eat breakfast. These people are probably cyborgs. If I skip breakfast I turn into a whimpering, snappish creature (who looks a lot like a bedraggled ferret) and can't do much of anything besides daydream about food. I learned in high school that even if it feels too early to eat, even if I'm not hungry right after I get up, I'd better eat something, or at least keep a granola bar in my bag for when I do start to feel those pangs.

PB smile brought to you by here

I'm a creature of habit, and I generally find myself eating the same thing every morning: peanut butter on whole wheat toast, with a banana, a cup of coffee and a glass of water. Sometimes I flirt with other breakfast foods (cereal, yogurt with berries, cottage cheese instead of peanut butter) but I always go back to my longtime love, peanut butter toast. It's my daily staple.

When I go out for breakfast/brunch, it's a different story. Why have toast when there are omelets and sausage and chipped beef? But I usually wind up picking the same dining-out meal in the end: French toast with syrup, with scrambled eggs and crispy bacon (The crispier the better! Is there anything sadder than uncrispy bacon? Maybe a crying puppy, but that is IT).

Something I haven't tried: French toast and bacon cupcakes!

What's your go-to everyday breakfast, and what's your 'dining out' or 'treat' breakfast? Also, what's the weirdest cupcake, breakfast or otherwise, you've tasted (and was it any good?)?

A Million-Course Meal

2011-04-11T10:52:00.000-04:00

There's so much I want to do in this life. This year. This month. So much I want to learn. I want to write, feel like I'm starving for it: novels, short stories, articles, poems. I want to be as great an illustrator as my sister. I want to be a marketing guru. I want to learn to make simple movies, and edit audio, and toss together a document in Photoshop or Illustrator. I want to be an artist, get back to my charcoal drawings, make jewelry.

I want to travel, to devour foreign places. I want to taste scuba-diving, rappelling, zip-lining. I want to have a house, with a deck and a hot tub and a huge kitchen and a couple of dogs in the front yard. I want to be fit, to do fifty push-ups at once, to run a marathon.

Pipe dreams? Ha! I have violin dreams :)

I want to read, I want to watch movies and TV shows, I want to cook gourmet meals. I'd like to work in a wine shop, a cheese shop, or a library. I want to learn to play the violin, and the guitar.

But the paths to all of these things branch in many different directions, and they don't all parallel each other. I can't walk down any of them without giving up something in return. If I gorge myself on writing novels, that time can't be spent learning programs like Photoshop or Illustrator. Working out is time not spent drawing, and learning my way around iMovie is time not spent working at a cheese shop.

Life is a buffet with a million dishes to choose from. So how do you pick a course?

1. Figure out what means the most to you. I have to do this constantly. Getting that nice house would be easy if I'd stayed on my engineering-job path, but I realized a writing career was more important to me. Health is more important to me than my charcoal drawing or jewelry-making hobbies, so if I have half an hour free, I drag myself to the gym instead of to the art supply shelf in my room.

2. Pick and choose. Your schedule, like your stomach, can only hold so much. I can't do everything. Not all at once, anyway! Someday I still might work in a wine and/or cheese store part time, or learn the violin, but for now I've got my hands full with writing and Wild Fables and my patent searching job. I've accepted that mastering more than the basics of Adobe Illustrator is a meal I'll have to tackle later.

3. Time manage, and focus. This is an ongoing battle with me. When I started writing years ago, I was terrible at self-discipline. I still don't think I'm fabulous at it, but I am better, and I'll get better still as I work at making sure I carve enough room in my schedule for everything that needs to get done. It's like Thanksgiving: if you gobble down too much turkey and mashed potatoes, there might not be any room left for pumpkin pie!

4. Enjoy. This is possibly the most important, and the hardest to remember. Often I get so caught up in striving that I forget to enjoy these choices I've made. Sure, there are difficult days, but if you're not enjoying the dishes you chose, you have to go back to the menu and reevaluate.

5. Remember: there's always tomorrow! Maybe I don't have the time to learn Illustrator now, but I might next month. Or next year. And I don't think I'll have that hot tub on the deck for a few years, but someday? You bet.

One day, Hot Tub and I will ride off into the sunset together!

Right now, I'm eating a multi-course meal: there are my novels, Wild Fables (which has several sub-courses like making videos, editing audio, and marketing), patent searching, reading, watching TV, and friends/family time. Everything else is just snacks :)

How many courses is your meal? What's something you can't wait to have to room in your schedule to devour?

Grump Be Gone

2011-04-08T15:19:00.000-04:00

Waking up on the wrong side of the bed is such a cliche, but today that's totally what I did. I don't know why, but this morning I was dissatisfied with myself, my writing progress, my bank account, my self-discipline (or lack thereof), my weakness for delicious food, my cats (!), my lengthy panic-inducing to-do list, everything. Even my banana muffins got the stink eye!

We all have days like this, days where even though the night before we were perfectly content and grateful (and I am! So, so am.) for all the wonderful blessings in our lives, we can't seem to shake the grumps. Days where we just know nothing will get accomplished, that we might as well hide under the covers and gripe about life.

Amen, kitty. Amen.

Usually I wind up getting more and more frustrated, finally saying 'screw it' and just reading a book, and then feeling even worse at the end of the day for not having the discipline to power through a silly case of the grumps.

Today, however, I was determined not to let that happen. Today I banished my grumps, and I thought I'd share what helped me.

1) Write it out. Sit down and let your fingers vent all the things that you're frustrated with, worried about, afraid of and angry over. Then write out possible solutions, and type yourself a pep talk. This helped me accept the fact that I'm human, and also to mentally turn my thoughts around and say, "In spite of this, I'm determined to have as productive a day as possible."

2) Smile. It's easy to get caught up in a determined "I'm going to beat this day if it kills me," scowl, but it won't help you out of a grump funk. So remind yourself to smile. At strangers. At yourself in the mirror. At your pets. At the picture of your family on the wall. It really does help, especially when other people respond and smile back. A smile is magical :)

Pink: at war with the blues (from here)

3) Wear pink. The brighter the better! I'm serious - bright colors having a salutary effect on mood has been proven By Science. Especially important if the weather outside is dismal (like today. Where did you go, sun? I miss you. But until you come back, I have my weapons-grade-pink tank top to cheer me up)

4) Turn the music up. Have a playlist titled 'gym'? Blast that sucker and let the pep shove the grumps away. Bonus points if you actually dance around a bit!

5) Prioritize. Look at your to-do list, and shove any task that can wait to another day. This makes the list of remaining items less intimidating. Also, some advice I've heard is to choose one task that will make you feel like you've accomplished something at the end of the day. Do that first, and the rest of what you get done is icing :)

6) Give yourself a break. Once I accepted that I couldn't do everything, it made it easier to just do what I could and remember that tomorrow's another day. So when you start beating yourself up about everything you haven't done, force yourself to instead count all the things you have accomplished lately. Grocery shopping counts!

All better? Well, I still haven't checked off much on my to-do list, but we've got food. Food is important. And hey, I wrote a blog post!

What do you do to snap yourself out of the day-long grumps?
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Five Ways To Fight Writer's Butt

2011-04-04T08:45:00.000-04:00

From Merit Badger

You know what I'm talking about. The best way to write and finish that novel is the BICHOK method (Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard). But a full day in a chair (or on the couch, or lying on the floor) in front of a computer does not a svelte rear-end make. And yet, working out seems like so much ... well, work.

What's a dedicated writer to do?? Here are a few ideas:

- Take a walk. Don't call it exercise, just go for a stroll. Outdoors if possible, for added benefits (Fresh air! Smiles from passing strangers! Possible missteps into piles of dog 'presents'!). Indoors on a treadmill in front of the TV if you've got episodes of Bones, Glee or Survivor to catch up on.

- ~~Go for a run~~. Let's not get crazy here!

- Play with your cats/dogs/ferrets. You know they're starved for attention! What? You don't have pets? And you call yourself a writer ... Go adopt something*, quick! Then take five minutes out of every hour to get up and throw a ball or dangle a mock-mouse on a string. Your fat, bored tabby will thank you.

- Set up a standing work station. I have my Mac Mini on top of my bar-height table. Unfortunately this means I can no longer use it for martinis with friends, but we all have to make sacrifices, right? Standing for an hour can burn around 133 calories (if you're a girl), and you'll feel it in your haunches!

- Upgrade your writing snacks. Jelly beans, chips and chocolate are examples of motivational food that, sadly and contrary to desperately enticing rumors, do not contain zero calories if nibbled while churning out words. Swap for apples, carrots and other ~~boring~~ healthy foods and at least you can tell yourself they won't go straight to your hips.

No, chocolate WITH apples doesn't count as healthy :-( Life's not fair, I know.

- Every hour, stand and sit back down ten to fifteen times. It's similar to doing squats at the gym, and it only takes like thirty seconds. You can spare thirty seconds, right? Those characters with their antics will still be there when you get back!

Of course, the ultimate solution is the Treadmill Desk. One day I'll get one, when I have a) room for a treadmill, and b) $500 burning a hole in my wallet. Then I can eat chocolate AND work it off while I write! That will be a day for happy dances, indeed :)

Anyone have other techniques for battling Writer's Butt?

-----

*not a hamster/gerbil/rabbit. No, not a fish/turtle/tarantula either. Nor a bird. I think you may be missing the point here ;)

D.C., I Barely Know Thee

2011-03-30T11:28:00.001-04:00

Confession: I've lived around Washington D.C. since I was four years old, and I still can't find my way around it without a map or (preferably!) a guide.

Source: Lonely Planet

It's not because D.C. is that hard to navigate. It's set up like a grid, after all, and although all the circles and squares make it a pain in the ellipse to drive through, walking around should be a piece of cake (or a cupcake!). So why do I wilt at the idea of trying to navigate the downtown area by myself?

Because I almost never visit.

I know, I've lived less than an hour from all the museums and history and amazing food in DC for most of my life, and I rarely take advantage of them! *hides from shame* I think it's because DC has just always been there, so there's usually no urgent "reason" to go visit. Plus I only like to go in during the week because of all the tourists on the weekends!

Recently (as in the last few months), my friends and I have been making more of an effort to get into the city (most of us live in northern Virginia), but I just trail like a little blithe duckling behind the people who actually do know their way around. Then I wind up as turned-around as ever when I'm on my own.

So one of my goals this year: learn my way around our beautiful capitol. Go to museums (it's been over a year since I set foot in one of the Smithsonian ones!), take the metro, and walk the sidewalks with a paper map (sadly, my phone is not very smart) until I know my way about by memory.

I've seen the cherry blossoms twice this year, and been to several restaurants and happy hours in the past couple of weeks, so I'm on my way! If I can find a decent camera, I'll post about my excursions. BTW, anyone have suggestions about cameras? Point and click only, please :)

In a year, I hope to call DC a best bud instead of an intimidating acquaintance!

What amazing place/thing do you live near that you take for granted?
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Giveaway Winners!

2011-03-26T17:13:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who participated and spread the word about Wild Fables!

The winner of the free Wild Fables downloads is (those drums are rolling...)

agatewood1! I'll email you soon with a promo code you can use to download The Fox and the Grapes and The Lion and the Mouse.

And now, for the winner of the Bonus Spread-the-Word Giveaway:

Caroline Richmond! I'll email you too.

Hooray! Thanks again everyone :)

Giveaway Celebration: Wild Fables is Roaming Free!

2011-03-24T09:59:00.000-04:00

I'd meant to post about writing today, but we got the news yesterday afternoon that Wild Fables was approved by Apple! Squeee! They couldn't resist our adorable mouse, obviously :)

Mr. Mouse (I mean me) is (am) squeaking with excitement!

Even more squees (or squeeks? lol): Wild Fables is already in the App Store! SQUEEEK x sevenmillion! <3 Here is the link <3

As a reminder, Wild Fables is an interactive story app for the iPad/iPhone/iTouch, featuring devastatingly cute animals and the lessons of Aesop's fables. Where else can you help a crow figure out how to get a drink from a pitcher? (Yes, the crow caaws, and no, this sound effect isn't me!) For more about why Wild Fables is so fun, see this post on the Wild Fables blog.

The Crow and the Pitcher: read for free!

If I didn't mention it before, Wild Fables is a FREE download! That's right, free like sunshine and cat fur and a dog's smile (a friend of mine says dogs can't smile. HE IS SO WRONG!). You can read and play with The Crow and the Pitcher for free, and if you want more Wild Fables, The Fox and the Grapes and The Lion and the Mouse are available as in-app purchases.

The Fox wanted to be the free fable. But after we said no, he said being free is lame--just like those "sour" grapes he couldn't reach!

Okay, let's get to the GIVEAWAY! All you have to do to enter is: comment and tell me your favorite fable. It doesn't have to be one of the three I mention here.

The prize: one randomly-selected entrant will win ALL THREE Wild Fables!

Mr. Lion and Mr. Mouse think they are the cutest fable of all. Are they right?

Bonus "Spread the word" giveaway!
The prize: one randomly-selected entrant will win ALL THREE Wild Fables, PLUS a $20 gift certificate to either iTunes or Amazon.com!

To enter the bonus giveaway:
-tweet about Wild Fables or this giveaway, and/or
-blog about Wild Fables or this giveaway

If you tweet AND blog about Wild Fables (or this giveaway), you get entered to win TWICE. Leave a comment letting me know about your entries. And, you know, contact info is always nice! :-)

The giveaway window shuts this Friday (March 25) at midnight (eastern time, though I will be lenient--if the entry gets in before I wake up on Saturday and choose the winner, you're still entered) I'll post the winner on Saturday.

Yay! I'm so excited to finally get to share Wild Fables with everyone, and I hope people have as much fun reading the fables and playing with the animals as I do! If you've got any feedback or questions, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks so much for celebrating with me, everyone! :-D

Fluffy the Armadillo

2011-03-21T09:31:00.000-04:00

So it used to be a thing with me to write limericks when I was bored at work. My sister and I wrote them together, one of us emailing the first two lines of a limerick, then the other finishing the limerick and starting the first two lines of the next one. This got us through a summer of excruciatingly boring internships during college.

Later, apparently I revived the habit with another friend after college, though it seems we each penned our own verses instead of trading off halfway through, and while limericks were my poetry format of choice, she preferred the AABB scheme. I recently found some slanderous poems we wrote about a cute and cuddly armadillo named Fluffy:

This is Fluffy. He would never do what we accused him of doing. He swears.

Fluffy the armadillo ate men
from eight in the morning 'til ten
then after he slurped
some water, he burped
and started eating again!
-Me

Flesh-crazed Fluffy loved to lunch
On Phils and Stevens he would munch
When you see him come, climb a tree, though
He may just look like an adorable armadillo.
-My friend

Actually, this is a better Fluffy. He looks hungry. Did anyone know pink fairy armadillos existed?

I miss writing limericks. This may have to become a thing again!
What's your favorite form of poetry to write?

Milestones=New Shoes!

2011-03-19T14:31:00.000-04:00

I rarely have time to do any shopping while I'm in the middle of a project. So when I finally reach a milestone, often the first thing I'll do is take an afternoon and hit the stores!

Yesterday we submitted Wild Fables to Apple's app review process (yay!), and I haven't yet started editing Torched (my next task, starting on Monday), so yesterday afternoon I scoured some shoe stores.

Look what I found!

I've wanted boots like this for ~~weeks~~ months. Hooray!

These were six dollars. SIX! I love clearance racks :)

My feet will be stylish this spring :) Now I just need to paint my toenails!

What do you do to reward yourself when you reach a milestone? And what is your favorite toe-polish color? I generally stick with silver, since I usually wear silver jewelry, but sometimes I'll go crazy with red!

Squeak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace ...

2011-03-17T16:31:00.000-04:00

We're putting the finishing touches on Wild Fables today, and one of those polish aspects is: sound. We've picked out music, made clips of it to fade in and out in a (hopefully) wonderful accompaniment to the stories, and now we're figuring out sound effects.

A silent crow is a sad crow indeed.

At first we thought we'd just buy all the sounds we needed, and that definitely worked for a lion's roar and the caaaw! of a crow. But for a lot of clicks and thumps and whooshes, it proved easier to just make them ourselves.

We're using Audacity to sound edit, and a Rock Band microphone to record the input. So today has been (and will be until I leave to scarf corned beef at a St. Patrick's Day party!) all about recording squeaks and bumps and swishing swooshes.

Oh yes, I squeak!

This is one of the things I love about creative pursuits: learning new things! If you'd asked me even two months ago whether I thought I'd be trying to figure out how to reproduce the sound a grape makes when you pull it from the vine, the answer would be a blank stare. But on a three-person team, someone has to be the sound expert. And while I would absolutely not call myself an expert, if anyone needs me to squeak into a microphone and then raise the pitch until it sounds like a mouse, I'm your girl :)

A more important matter: did you wear green today?? I am wearing a green shirt with a jackalope on it. Jackalopes may not be Irish, but I have one on my wall at home (my dad swore they were real when I was little) and I named him Jackpot, so he could totally fit the Irish at-the-end-of-a-rainbow theme!

Con Fer Ence S!

2011-03-14T10:03:00.000-04:00

So I went to that conference (and I had business cards! Hooray! The print-yourself ones came out fine, and I even had fancy Vista-Print cards for Wild Fables:

These were much prettier than my personal writer cards, but as long as the personal ones saved me from having to write out my contact info, I was happy!)

Anyway. The conference (DE/MD/WV SCBWI spring conference) was great! It had been nearly a year since I went to a conference, and the fabulousness of meeting other writers and getting to talk about writing and books and passion was crazy-wonderful. I want to go to another one now!

People go to conferences for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's to grow one's writing skills, to pick up an editing trick or find out some new ways to get through that rough draft or hone your voice. Sometimes it's for networking. Sometimes it's for an in-person critique with an editor or agent or art director.

--And by the way, can I just say how impressed I am with anyone who signs up for a conference critique? Getting rejected via mail or email is painful enough. Facing an editor in person? Shudder. I was never that brave. So everyone who does this, know that I am in awe!--

Back to my point: I go to conferences mainly for the people. The talks are nice (and this one had very good ones!) but they're not really the reason I'm there. I go to conferences because in my Real Life I don't know any other writers. My non-writing friends are all very supportive, but they don't especially want to hear me ramble on about queries and drafts and being on sub.

So it's beyond wonderful to meet (in person) people who totally get it. People who are striving for the same goal as me, and we can all cheer each other on and commiserate and share our experiences. And we're all excited about books. Not just reading them, but creating them. That's a type of person you don't find just anywhere, and I'm always excited to meet one more :)

Another reason to go to conferences: snacks! This one had tasty muffins :)

So hello to everyone I met on Saturday, and thanks for all the excitement about Wild Fables! It made me so happy to see people enjoying our animals the way my sister, her husband and I do.

Do you go to conferences? Do you stick with local ones, or pony up the time/money for the big national ones? The only big one I've been to was RWA a couple years ago when it was in DC. It was expensive, but since it was so close I had to go!

Why do you go to conferences? Have you ever gotten a critique at one? Any conferences that really blew you away? Bonus points if you know of one in the DC area I can go to!

Business And Cards

2011-03-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

So I'm going to the MD/DE/WV SCBWI spring conference tomorrow, and I can't wait to meet more writers and book lovers in the area! The only thing is ... I have yet to make business cards.

Do writers need business cards? I think so. It's so much easier if, after chatting with someone for a while, you can exchange info by handing each other cards instead of having to find pen and paper and hope you won't lose that scrap in your purse later.

The first time I went to a conference I didn't have cards, and every time someone asked for my card I had to say, "No, but here I can find a paper somewhere ..." *commence digging frantically in purse while other conference-goer taps foot impatiently, then runs off to corner the editor walking down hallway* *events may have been moderately dramatized*

So basically, cards are a huge help. But the last time I went to a conference was like a year ago, and the business cards I used then are either bent or lost or weirdly printed (why did I keep those? I have no idea). I get the cards you can run through your own computer and pop out, and they look alright as long as my printer isn't being a pain. I keep meaning to buckle down and design some that I can order from a professional company, but never quite get around to it.

Plus, every time I sit down to make myself a business card, I get sort of stumped.

A writer's business card is a tricky thing. Usually all a card needs is your company's name, your name and your title, plus contact info and maybe the company's logo. But an aspiring author doesn't have a 'title'. Or a logo (I keep meaning to design one of those too. Or beg my sister to do it!).

So what do you put on that card? What title do you use: Writer? Author? Scribbler Extraordinaire? Teller of Tales to Vaguely Interested Squirrels? And what if, like me, you use a pseudonym online? Do you have all these people you meet call you by that name, or just explain every time you hand a card out why you use a pen name?

I tend to go back and forth. Which is why I highly recommend the print-yourself card blanks! They are crucial when you can't make up your mind :)

What about you--do you have professionally printed/designed business cards? Where do you get them from? Do writers even need them? Should they put pictures of their cats on them? I'd love to hear what you guys think :-)

What I've Been Working On!

2011-03-09T09:41:00.002-05:00

Oh, my, it's been a while! I've been very busy ~~scarfing cheese~~ ~~breaking my coffeemaker~~ ~~watching too much TV~~ working, but I think I'm finally at a point that I can dive back into the wonderful pool of Blogworld! I've missed connecting with all of you. It's so easy to get tunnel vision about writing and work, and so wonderful to come back online and see what all of you have been writing and reading.

Where I am: Wavecrossed is back with my agent, Torched is sitting on my computer for a couple more weeks so I can give it some space before I start revisions, and my Other Project is finally starting to come together!

Speaking of the Other Project, I can finally fill you in!

For the last, oh, six months or so I've been working with my sister and her husband to launch an app for the iPhone (and related devices), and we're a couple weeks away from sending it to Apple. Also, the website is up!

www.wildfables.com

Wild Fables are interactive picture books that ... you know, it's actually more fun to just watch the video we put together :) So here:

So that's Wild Fables! We have a blog post on the site that goes into more detail.

If you're interested, you can sign up on the main page of the Wild Fables website to be alerted when it's available for download. We have so much fun ourselves playing with the fables and their animals, and I hope other people like it. It's the kind of thing I would have loved when I was a kid.

We're starting out with three fables, and the first one (The Crow and The Pitcher) will be free!

I am a cute and thirsty crow!

If you know of anyone with kids who might be interested in Wild Fables, I'd so, so appreciate if you could pass the info along!

Busy Signal ...

2011-02-23T17:21:00.000-05:00

I thought that once I finished that rough draft I was working on (which I did last Friday, woohoo!) I'd dive back into blogworld with a vengeance. Um ... then I remembered that I'm also still revising Wavecrossed, and working on an ambitious and fun iPhone app project with my sister and her husband. There's still a ton to do, and we'd love to release it, you know, sometime this year. The website should be up soon, so I'll talk more about it then!

Anyway, I'll probably be offline for a while longer. I'm still visiting blogs, but for the most part I'm just lurking. Hopefully I should be back for real soon!

Havarti is watching you from his cat tree!

Finish Lines and Focus

2011-02-10T14:11:00.000-05:00

I thought my blog hiatus was last week, but apparently it's extended to this one too. Oops!

I'm past the 90% mark on the rough draft of my WIP, Torched, and even though I think it will run over the 80k-word goal, I'm pretty sure I'm within 10k to 12k of writing "The End"!

It's so close I can smell it :) It smells like strawberries and chocolate, by the way, and possibly champagne, all of which I intend to reward myself with when I cross the finish line.

I really want to get to that finish line by the end of next week. In order to meet that goal, some things have had to fall by the wayside. TV, reading, lunches with friends. The internet.

Right now I'm managing, barely, to keep up with reading other people's blogs, and sometimes twitter, but devoting time to even this short post is hard when my MS is sitting there shouting FINISH ME!

So until that rough draft gets wrapped up, here is Havarti guarding me from the siren call of the internet :)

If I try to write another blog post before finishing the rough draft, he has orders to attack me. With cuteness!

What things do you have to cut out to reach your goals?
What does your finish line smell like?
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Scooting Closer To The Dark Side

2011-02-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

... of computers!

By this I mean that I now have a Mac Mini. (and by 'have,' I mean 'am borrowing indefinitely from my sister and her husband)

Mac Mini wants to eat your brain. Resistance is futile!

I've used Windows-based PCs ever since I started logging online. I like my Dell laptop, and loooove my mini-laptop that I can take anywhere. I never thought I'd be one of those Mac people.

But my sister, her husband and I are designing an iPhone app together (more info on that coming soon!), and for my part I need to use a program that only runs on a Mac. So they loaned me one of theirs.

It's ... weird. The interface is different--not necessarily worse or better, but hard to get used to when I've been grooving on Windows for so long. And I need to dig out an old monitor from the closet, because it's been a while since I used anything but laptops.

So what system do you use? Are you a Mac convert, or a die-hard Windows user? One thing I AM excited about is that the Mac mini has the full Adobe suite. Can't wait to start using Illustrator!

Before that, though, I need to tackle the mountain of work I'm trying to avoid by blogging :) Happy Friday, everyone!

Stress Robot Strikes Again

2011-02-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

So much for not posting this week!

I guess I just woke up with something to talk about:

STRESS.

Sometimes I imagine stress as a robot stalking me. No, it makes no sense, but that's how it is. And ever since my boyfriend bought a Rovio robot, which had the creepy habit of waking up and rolling around in the middle of the night until I unplugged him for good, the Stress Robot has kind of taken that form.

Stress Robot has you in his sights!

My body tends to react badly to stress. In college, the Stress Robot first started stepping his game up: I began to have chest pains in junior year (the most stressful for engineering majors). They scared me enough to leave in the middle of a fluid dynamics lecture and drive an hour to my hometown doctor.

Turns out (thankfully) the pains were simply from muscles rubbing against some kind of membrane and ... you know, I don't actually remember the specifics. Bottom line, it wasn't dangerous at all, and was undoubtedly a stress response. My doctor gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills and told me to relax.

Compared to engineering classes, writing and publishing are stress squared. There's the pile of rejections, the crazy up-and-down mood swings, the exhausting hope. And even once you get an agent, or get published, it doesn't end. I hear that once you get that first book on the shelf, you get to confront the fun and happy world of ... bad reviews (dun dun DUN). It happens to everyone, and stress is just part of the deal.

Why this has been on my mind: the last couple of weeks, my throat has been tight. It started out just a little bit, but the past couple days it sometimes feels like a bar is being pressed across it. I feel great otherwise, so it's not flu or anything, and although I do intend to check with a real, live medical professional, I looked around online and found that this is a pretty common symptom of stress.

Dr. Cats remedy for stress: ten ounces of nap, three pinches of catnip

I know that I'm stressed--about my bank account, being on submission, getting my WIP rough draft done before I possibly go on vacation in a couple weeks (oh man would that be nice!), etc--but overall, I'm having a wonderful time. In the grand scheme of things, my problems are very small, and I'm aware of how blessed I am. Stress Robot should not be getting to me.

But still, my body's telling me that it's stressed. Message received! But ... now what? There's no magic pill to de-stress. A hot shower helps, and so does spending the evening reading, but other than that, I don't know what my body expects me to do to banish the Stress Robot for good.

Stress is bad, definitely, but to completely eradicate stress, for me, would be to also suppress that whole "I need to get things done" feeling that, you know, motivates me to get things done. Staying motivated without stressing out is a fine line to walk.

Havarti says: to bust stress, be boneless!

So how do you do it? Are you, like me, struggling with the balance between stress and staying productive? Do you get bi-weekly massages? Take lavender-scented baths? Meditate or do yoga?

Winston and Havarti tell me that petting kitties is a great way to banish the Stress Robot :-) I just might try it!
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Monday Mish-Mash

2011-01-31T08:59:00.000-05:00

You know those weeks where they've just started and you already feel behind?

Yup, that's me right now. The place is still a mess from the power outage, and maintenance has just discovered a leak in my kitchen, so they will be ripping it apart (and, hopefully, putting it back together!) today. I've just triaged the mess so they won't think I'm too much of a slob when they come back (or is that wishful thinking?).

I did manage, over the weekend, to almost catch up with my word count for Torched (hooray!), and my main goal for this week is to reach 70k words by this weekend despite all the other stuff going on. If I can do that, I will count the week a success :)

But blogging might have to take a backseat this week. I will hopefully still be visiting, but until I've wrangled some kind of control over my to-do list, I'd better keep the online shenanigans to a minimum.

And before I do anything else, I need to cut all the remaining tassels off the rug so Havarti will stop eating them! It's something I keep meaning to do but just haven't gotten around to yet. One question, though: does that mean Havarti wins the war?

Have a good week, everyone! What's one task you've been putting off that you plan to tackle in the next couple of days?
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Giveaway Winner!

2011-01-29T13:15:00.000-05:00

Whew, I have electricity again! And hot water! And heat!

I realized, during the few days I roughed it without electricity, that I take a lot of things for granted. My Keurig coffeemaker, for one - I have to say that Starbucks Via (the instant coffee packets) saved my butt these past couple days. I'm going to buy more so I have an emergency supply.

And of course, being offline drove me nuts. I seriously need that smart phone to stay connected! Oh, and insulation would be nice. I love my apartment, but the floor-to-ceiling windows that form the outside wall were not super-great at keeping in the heat. It was so cold on Friday I spent most of the day huddled in blankets on the couch, reading. Which, okay, is not such a terrible fate ... ;-)

Some parts of my adventures in non-electricity were actually pretty fun. My bf and I spent Thursday evening playing poker by candlelight, and had a wonderful time that didn't involve the Wii or our tv shows (crazy, I know!) Plus, Havarti isn't much of a cuddle-cat usually, but both of the kitties were being very snuggly because it was so cold :)

Now that the internet router has been restored, it's time to announce the winner of my first blog giveaway! Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and tweeted, and followed, and otherwise helped make my first giveaway a success - I really appreciate it.

On to the good stuff: I asked the random number generator who won the copy of Gail Carriger's SOULLESS.

RNG says ....

Mary from Feywriter!

Mary, if you email me at lynn (at) lynncolt (dot) com with your address, I'll get SOULLESS winging its way to you in the mail.

Thanks again, everyone, for participating :)

How's the snow in your area? Anyone else have adventures in powerlessness? Everyone keep warm and be careful on the roads!

Ack Winner Postponed

2011-01-28T19:07:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

DC finally got some snow the east coast has been showered with this winter, and even though we only got like two inches, it was very icy and took down our power lines >.<

I haven't had power (or, therefore, internet) since Wednesday evening (I'm borrowing five minutes on my friend's computer (along with her shower. Woohoo for being clean!)), but I'm supposed to get it back tomorrow.

So I'll do the giveaway winner thing Saturday. Sorry for the delay, and stay warm everybody!

My Muse!

2011-01-26T16:08:00.001-05:00

I mentioned my cat Havarti and his book last week, so this week I thought I'd introduce the other fur-machine in my life.

Winston isn't an author like his orange-haired carpet-nibbling friend, but he's a vital part of my literary process.

He likes to sit across the top of my writing chair and whisper ideas in my ear as I type. Sometimes he sits next to my right arm and points out weak points in my prose. Through petting him, he tells me, I will unlock the secrets of good storytelling. He sprinkles Magic Writing Dust (aka cat hair) on my laptop until I am swimming in it.

In short, Winston is my Muse.

Winston says: get back to work!

In fact, I made him a business card:

Hourly rate available.

He's good at his job, and he loves his work!
Who's your muse?

--PS: Today's the last day to enter to win Gail Carriger's SOULLESS! Go to this post to comment and enter. I'll announce the winner this Friday.--

What's Your Gold Star?

2011-01-24T12:09:00.000-05:00

Remember in grade school when you'd do well on an assignment and the teacher would put a gold star sticker (or 'way to go!' sticker with some goofy face, or something. I, being a purist, preferred the gold stars.) at the top when he/she handed it back? Rewards somehow make even that pop quiz on State Capitals bearable, at least in retrospect.

Some writer friends and I were having dinner last week (California Pizza Kitchen, yay! I get the Pear & Gorgonzola Pizza EVERY TIME, and never regret it) (*waves at Caroline and Meagan*) and we started talking about writer-rewards.

Novels take FOREVER to write, and getting published takes forever squared. (Really. I did the math.) Some writers give themselves chocolate at the end of a chapter, or pop champagne after finishing a rough draft (these are both excellent rewards, by the way! As is cheese. Always cheese.)

But, we asked each other, what would you reward yourself with if/when you reach that Holy Grail of publishing goals: a book deal?

My answer would probably be a smart phone.

Angry Birds and Twitter at my fingertips!

My productivity would likely plummet, but I've been coveting a smart phone ever since I realized my current phone is terrible for ... well, anything but calling and texting (and that texting ease is a huge step up from my last phone!). To be honest, a book deal in and of itself would be the best reward I can imagine, but it's still fun to think about.

So what's on your rewards list?

--And don't forget about my first giveaway! You can enter through this Wednesday (the 26th) to win a copy of Gail Carriger's SOULLESS. Thanks to everyone who's participating or helping spread the word!--

Giveaway: SOULLESS

2011-01-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

My first giveaway! Hurrah!

Unfortunately, advance copies of my cat's book were not available.
*wailing and gnashing of teeth*

BUT I have a book that's just as fabulous! Don't be skeptical - even Havarti liked this romp through a steampunk Victorian era. Oh yes, it's Gail Carriger's SOULLESS!

A novel of vampires, werewolves, and parasols!

SOULLESS is the first of a series (with a series name like The Parasol Protectorate, you know you're in for some fun!). The newest book came out last September, but you can't grab that one without reading the first, right?

I met (met=we were in the same room. Breathed the same air. I think we both had a cupcake!) Gail Carriger at a writer's conference last year, and got to hear her read an excerpt. Then I went out, bought this book, and gobbled it up. I loved it, and wanted to spread the joy and hopefully introduce people to this yummy (Really. The heroine likes to eat!) and hilarious series.

THE GIVEAWAY SCOOP:
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

BONUS ENTRIES (tell me in a comment if you do this!) for:
-following this blog
-tweeting about the giveaway
-blogging about it
-following me on twitter (I suppose a link would be helpful!)

If you've already read the book or something, I'd still super-crazy-appreciate if you'd help spread the word on Twitter or the blogosphere. I'd love to make giveaways like this a regular thing!

Last day to enter is next Wednesday, January 26, and I'll announce the winner next Friday. Thanks in advance to everyone who participates, either by entering or by telling interested readers about it!

PS - Need a parasol in real life? (you know you do. Well, I do, anyway. My skin freckles at the mere glimpse of sun!) This is a cute one!

Randomosity ... With Haikus!

2011-01-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

I love nature, and nature-inspired art, and especially art made of nature! And ESPECIALLY especially functional art made of nature.

For example: an iPhone charger made of cedar! I want.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/woodtec

The Promised Haiku:

Scented like forest
Now I just need an iPhone
Life would be complete

Also, a restaurant in Arizona is serving tacos made of lions. Seriously. Apparently this is not only legal, but people are making reservations! Innovative marketing, I guess, but I'm not sure I'm on board ...

Get in my belly! No? Okay, I'll just be on my way... *runs*

Lion Haiku for You:

Lions rebel now
Make human tacos and eat
You so can't blame them

See anything random on the web today? Bonus points for making it into a haiku :)
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My Cat Is Writing a Book

2011-01-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

It's a memoir.

He's finished the chapter titled, "All Bare on the Eastern Front."
Now he's working on "The Western Front and the Final Battle"

Other chapters:
"Conducting War ... and Naps"
"Sorties above the Kitchen Cabinets"
"Ribbon: A Yummy Distraction"
"Tassels: Like Spaghetti, for Cats"
"Dodging Water Attacks from the Two-Legged Guardians of the Carpet"
and my favorite, "They'll Still Pet You. Seriously."

I told him I'd ask my agent to take a look at it. In exchange for a peace treaty!

Goal for This Week: Don't Suck

2011-01-17T08:36:00.000-05:00

It's a good goal. Pretty vague, though. Can you give me some specifics, Goal List?

[Goal List: I think it's pretty self-explanatory]
[Me: yeah, but not easy to quantify.]
[Goal List: *blank stare*]
[Me: *wilts* Okay, I'll give it my best shot.]

My more concrete goals for this week include writing at least 10k on Torched (the rough draft has crawled past the halfway point! Woohoo!), not freezing my toes off (this is more difficult than you might think, given my loathing of socks. I know, you didn't think Sock Loathing was a thing. But it is!) and working on this blog.

One of my goals for this month has been to host a giveaway here. I've wanted to do this for a long time, since I have tons of books I'd like to pass along, but it just ... never ... happened. I don't know why.

Well, maybe I do: fear. What if people hate the giveaway? What if they throw virtual tomatoes at my blog until it looks like I drowned it in ketchup? Or even (prepare to shudder!) just ... don't participate? (Commence shuddering) Nothing is lamer than throwing a party no one shows up to, right?

This is a silly fear, as many fears are (not the one about alligators, though. I think that's a healthy fear). So in order to motivate myself, I'm telling you all right now that I'm going to host a giveaway on Friday. There will be books up for grabs! This means I have until Friday to figure out which books I can convince myself to part with (there may be weeping). That also means that if I don't follow through, you all have permission to feed me to the alligators.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

On a totally unrelated note, anyone have tips for how to host a giveaway? Is it hard to ship books internationally? Is there some complicated magical ritual, or do I just pick a book and declare This Shall Be A Giveaway?

So that's what I'll be up to. What goal are you kick-starting this week?
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Why Free (Bait) is the Future

2011-01-12T09:38:00.000-05:00

My favorite part of going to craft shows is the food tent (it's yours too, don't lie) because (obviously!) they give away free samples. Free is awesome.

And as a marketing tactic, it works. Even when I try to restrict myself to tasting my way through the food tent without buying, I always wind up walking away with a new artisanal jam (darling raspberry-jalapeno, how I wish I could find your maker again) and fewer dollars than when I came in.

And that, in a nutshell, is why free pays.

This is not my sainted raspberry-jalapeno jam, but it is pretty dang good, especially (you know what's coming, right?) with cheese! And they give out free samples too.

In this day and age, it's madness to sell any kind of creative product without letting people sample it first. When's the last time you bought a song without listening to the preview? Unless it's from an artist you know you like, you want to listen to a clip and make sure the music doesn't induce ear-vomit.

Same with books. Readers want to make sure they like an author's writing before they plunk down their plastic. But while in the past they just went to a bookstore and flipped through pages until they made a decision, who physically goes to bookstores anymore? (Answer: me. And maybe you. But it is definitely a trend that brick-and-mortar places are getting their bricks kicked by by e-stores)

Free samples are a way to forge a bond of trust between seller and consumer, one that lets the seller judge the product on its merits, not its packaging. I've been burned buying books online, when a novel with a gorgeous cover turns out to have ... not so gorgeous insides. Reader reviews help, but sometimes a book with fantastic reviews leaves me cold, while a novel with middling reviews lands on my Let's See How Many Times We Can Reread This Before The Spine Fails shelf.

Some authors upload the first chapter to their websites, and that helps. But honestly, for me that's not enough. Although reading a first chapter is entertaining, I'm not usually hooked enough by ten or so pages to buy the book. I'd read on, but not necessarily buy yet. There's only so much that can happen in one chapter, and even if I'm interested in the characters, the slavering urge to find out what happens next isn't holding me at gunpoint yet.

Whereas if I had a little more time with those characters, I'd be a willing hostage.

I loved how Paranormalcy employed the free tactic by letting people sample the first 70 pages. That's a good healthy chunk of the novel. And when I finished the sample, I was beyond hooked. I HAD TO KNOW what came next. So I grabbed my wallet and nearly broke my fingers in my haste to order the book.

Similarly, I just finished reading Grey by Jon Armstrong. This book, by the way, has the distinction of being the first one I read entirely on my computer (besides my own, of course!). I found out yesterday that Nightshade Books is giving away free e-versions of the novel, in the hopes of enticing readers to buy the sequel. Intrigued, I took the bait.

If you look at the reviews on Amazon, they're okay, but kind of across the board. But I LOVED this novel. It was fascinating. Every paragraph contained imagery that surprised me. Anyway. The point is that I never would have read this book if I'd had to buy it sight unseen. As it is, I can't wait to read the sequel.

Now, obviously this wouldn't have worked on me if I hadn't liked the book. But that's the lovely part of using free bait to attract customers. People who don't like it will walk away, not having spent any money and therefore not bitter about not liking their purchase. And therefore less likely to post negative things about the book on the internet.

And people who do like the book, i.e. the target audience, will be hooked. If they like the book enough to buy it after 70 pages, they are probably going to love the whole thing. Then they rave to their friends, who rave to their friends, who rave to their ferrets/cats/kangaroos, and suddenly the wave of word of mouth (which is really the only thing that sells books, in my opinion) makes the book a bestseller.

I wish all the books on Amazon had at least a fifty-page preview. Then again, I'd probably buy even more than I do now, so maybe it's better for my wallet that most books have no or too-small previews. But in my opinion, in five or ten years any book without a healthy free preview is going to be like an eHarmony post without a picture ... ignored (and probably alone on Valentine's Day).

What do you think? Are you more likely to buy a book with a preview? Is one chapter enough? Where can I find that raspberry-jalapeno jam?

As for me, I'm off to buy the sequel to Grey.

Be The Raccoon

2011-01-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

I like writers. No, not because they write books for me to read. Good books make me like books, and reading, not necessarily the writer in particular.

[READER: Lynn, where are the raccoons? You promised me raccoons.
ME: Wow you are impatient. Sort of like a racc--Wait, that's not where I was going with this.]

I like writers the same way I like artists. Lots of people like writers/artists, so this isn't exactly continent-shifting news, but I pinned myself down on why I like them:

They've got a point of view. They're trying to say something to the world. They have goals, and even though at least one, and probably many, people in their lives have predicted that they're not going to make it, or suggested they should do something less risky (a Real Job), artists/writers go after their goals like a raccoon after your McDonald's scraps. Those critters are determined.

(This raccoon is eating cheese puffs, not McDonalds, but whatever.

As a side note, I doubt there is any actual cheese in cheese puffs.

This is probably why I despise them.)

[READER: Yay, raccoons! Almost as fun as wolverines!
ME: Reader, I may or may not be modeling you on my sister. Sorry.]

I admire anyone who has the courage to pursue his or her dream, and anyone who has found it and is in a line of work he or she loves. It confounds me when I meet people at a party or something and we do the whole, "So what do you do?" thing, and they say they're a [insert acceptable job here] and I ask if they heart it or hate it, and they shrug and say, "It's okay."

Okay? And I ask if they intend to stay at the job and they say some variation of, "Maybe, I guess so." And it's all I can do to not shout, "WHERE IS YOUR PASSION?" Because I think life without passion is ... blah. Meh. Pointless. It's like a life without cheese (dairy tolerance, please don't ever forsake me).

But of course you can't yell at people at parties (well, unless it's 3AM and everyone's drinking from Tupperware because the glasses/mugs/bowls are all dirty and no one's sober enough to clean them. THOSE are fun parties.) or people will edge away and tell everyone you smell of crazy. So I nod politely, sip my wine and search for the cheese tray. If there isn't a cheese tray, I race to the nearest grocery store and bring one back.

This is not to say that non-writer/artist people have no passion. I am lucky to know a bunch of (mostly government--hey, DC is just across the river) "Real Job" friends who love what they do and care deeply about doing it well. I like these people too, because they are also following their dreams, and I am only a tiny bit jealous that their dreams pay them actual salaries and they probably don't have to field calls from their worried mothers about whether they still have health insurance and stuff [YES MOM I DO].

I get that people don't always like their jobs, and that, particularly in this economy, sometimes you have to take whatever job you can. But some people don't seem to even be dreaming for the future, or aiming for any goal in particular. Or if they have a dream, they just wave half-heartedly at it or stamp "Someday" across it's forehead.

But writers dream, and writers aim high. Anyone who does that is awesome in my book (I punned. Forgive me. I think I also called myself awesome, since I'm a writer too, but hey, my cats swear I am awesome, and they would know.)

So if you're as or more determined to reach your goals as that raccoon is to find that half-eaten double cheeseburger, please find me at parties. I will be the one beside the empty cheese tray.

From The Heart

2011-01-07T18:52:00.000-05:00

Things that made me smile today:

-My boyfriend asked me what a cam is. And I knew the answer! See, my engineering degree IS coming in handy. My mom will be so proud :-)

-My cat is really cute when playing with ribbon. Not so cute when vomiting up ribbon, though, so I have to watch him!

-I ate at my favorite Italian restaurant last night, and got to take home half the gnocchi for today's lunch! It's my absolute favorite dish for leftovers. What's yours?

-Tonight's agenda, assuming I make it through my impending gym session, includes wine, a pizza, and watching Inception. I love our 40-inch TV. It makes stay-home dates awesome :-D

-I finished my word count early today, so I made you all a gift! And I wrapped it:

Happy Friday, everyone!

Good Things Take Time

2011-01-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

Watch the video! I'll wait.

Done? Is your jaw still on the floor? Mine is. This guy did the whole video by himself, and if you check out the YouTube page for his description it took somewhere between 500-1000 hours to complete. That's kind of a big window, but at a minimum it took 500 hours.

Five hundred hours! All during his down time. That really is a labor of love.

But then, it shouldn't surprise me. I know from my sister's graphic design work how long this stuff takes. And novelists are used to mastodon-sized projects. I don't think I've ever counted up how many hours it takes for me to write a novel, but if I stacked them on top of each other (how many inches thick is an hour??) I'm positive the hour-tower (a rhyme a day keeps the blues away) would soar past my 17th-story apartment windows.

What's the longest you've spent on one project? Did it turn out the way you wanted? My answer is probably my first novel, which took what felt like eons, and turned out exactly the way I wanted ... if what I wanted was a pile of paper to stuff under my mattress!

Resolutionary

2011-01-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

The start of a new year, woohoo! It's like starting a new novel: everything seems so fresh and shiny and glowy in your head, and you envision it in all its perfection, and motivation is so high you're practically drowning in it.

Then you start living it, start putting it on the page, and as the days/words go by, everything starts to get ... muddled. And by mid-February (or the midpoint of the rough draft, to keep beating my analogy-horse) you'd rather scrub the kitchen floor with your toothbrush than do just about anything on that NYResolution list.

New Year's Resolutions don't mean much to me, honestly. That's not because I don't make resolutions, but because I make a new list of them about four (or ten) times a year. The cycle of goals and determination and waxing/waning motivation is tricky to navigate, and every once in a while, you just need to feel like you're starting fresh.

That said, here's a smattering of what I want to accomplish in 2011:

- Finish Torched. Plus all the rewrites and editing and such. And, you know, send it to my agent and hope she swoons over it!

- Write another novel (a YA fantasy; the concept burst into my head a couple of days ago and it was all I could do to keep from ditching Torched (as much as I love it!) for the Shiny New)

- Reach and maintain my Elusive Goal Weight (preferably accomplishing part one of this goal by February, when the bf and I plan to hide out from the cold somewhere bikini-friendly!)

- Run five miles straight. I am a terrible runner. I hate running. But I think I might like it if I could get past the whole Learning Curve of Pain. Also, think of how much more cheese I could eat if I could run it off!!!

- Do twenty-five push-ups. Real ones, not the girly ones where your knees are on the ground. My previous maximum for real push-ups was five, and that was before I took three months off of all exercise, so I'm starting from scratch again. Sigh.

- Learn Photoshop, graphic design, and app design. This one's a little hard to quantify, but it includes the goals I'm working towards with my sister and her husband of releasing iPhone apps. The holidays have wrecked our schedules as far as this collaboration is concerned, but we'll get back to it in a couple of days. (RIGHT, sister dear??)

- Read at least one novel each week. If I don't make this a goal, reading for fun slips between the cracks in my day.

Okay, the list is getting long, and I haven't added all the minor goals: cooking more, cleaning the apartment once a week (so cat hair stops invading my food and dresser and lungs!), hosting giveaways on this blog (coming soon, I promise!), tweeting more (I'm @lynncolt if you want to judge whether I'm accomplishing this or failing miserably) and a ton of others. It seems like the more I think about my goals, the more I have! So I'll stop before I overwhelm myself.

What's your most important goal or resolution for 2011? Was there a 2010 goal that stuck out for you, one you're proud of accomplishing or one that got away?

Better than Wine, Cheese, Jewelry or Books (yes, even books!)

2010-12-31T10:57:00.000-05:00

I have to change my answer for my favorite holiday gift this year :-)

I'd planned to post yesterday and again tomorrow, but my schedule is all out of whack ... for the nicest reason possible!

I haven't really talked about this on the blog, but my boyfriend's been in Afghanistan for the last four months, on a civilian deployment. So it's just been me and the kitties for the last third of the year (the cats have survived--barely--the boredom of having only me to talk to!)

He was supposed to fly back and get in on the second of January, but he got super-amazingly lucky on flights and managed to change his original itinerary, and I picked him up from the airport yesterday morning!

BLISSSSSSSSSS!!!

After being away from him for the whole holiday season, getting to kiss him at midnight tonight is the best gift EVER! Then on the first we're going to go surprise his parents, who still think he's getting home on the 2nd. Mwahaha!

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! And although this was meant to be an entire post in and of itself, I don't want to forget to tell all my blog friends that I've so incredibly enjoyed e-hanging out with you this year. It means a lot to have friends along this journey. So thank you! --end mushyness--

Goals for today: beat my boyfriend at Wii bowling! Or at the very least, Peggle.

PS - have you seen the gingerbread-and-chocolate White House?

Out With The Old: Changes Afoot

2010-12-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

The end of a year, the start of a new one. The perfect time for change, don't you think? I've retooled this blog, as you might have guessed. I'm probably not quite done, so I apologize for any odd formatting or test pages that go awry in the next week or so!

Also, what do you think? I crave opinions! I made the header myself in Photoshop. Any tweaks you'd suggest?

And since now is the time when everyone's dragging home their piles of Christmas loot, what was your favorite gift this year? For my part, I was surprised with a couple of necklaces I liked at art/craft fairs I've attended in the last couple of months. Apparently my friends listen to me more than I thought they did! Also, apparently I am very unsuspecting and gullible (in both cases the friend advised me not to buy the necklace, then snuck back later to get it). But I'm fine with that, since I get to be so wonderfully surprised :)

Goal for today: Buy new jeans! Also, don't get blown off the road by the gale-force winds outside my window. Stay safe in these winter storms, everyone!

10 Holiday Songs To Complement The Classics

2010-12-22T16:42:00.000-05:00

I love the traditional Christmas song list: Burl Ives, Nat King Cole, Elvis, plus all the familiar tunes that are covered by various artists. But after about ten times through the cycle of songs on the radio, I start wanting to hear something different. Same holiday spirit, but new (to me, at least!) songs. So I went on a search, and here are some new favorites I found:

All My Bells Are Ringing by Lenka. You may have heard this in mall stores; that's where I first did, and found myself grooving along. When I got home I immediately looked it up!

Christmas Is Going To The Dogs by The Eels

My First Snow by Matt Morris. Just a gorgeous song.

It's Christmas by Coconut Records. Target's giving away this song and a bunch more (including the next three on this list) for free. Yay Target!

Get Down For The Holidays by Jenny O.

Electronic Santa by Blazer Force. This song cracked me up the first time I heard it, and every time it pops up on the playlist it makes me grin. My sister thinks I'm nuts, but honestly how can you dislike a robot santa??

Tiny Tree Christmas by Guster

Christmas Isn't Christmas by The Boy Least Likely To. I failed at finding a video to link to. Maybe the Grinch stole it? They've got a whole holiday album on iTunes, so if you like their sound there's more to love.

It Really Is (A Wonderful Life) by Mindy Smith

It Snowed by Meaghan Smith. No relation to Mindy, as far as I'm aware, but similar pretty voices.

And that's ten! Anyone have favorite holiday songs to add to the list?
Merry Christmas, everyone :)

Why My Word Count Hasn't Budged

2010-12-20T17:02:00.000-05:00

Oof. Second only to the holidays in disrupting my schedule is ... getting sick. Tis the season, right? Lol.

I self medicate with orange juice (no pulp), soup and hot tea. And I catch up on my reading (as if one can ever truly catch up!). I watch TV, which is an activity that even a cold-fuzzy brain can handle. I try not to allow mountains of tissues to pile up. And I have my mother's voice in my head saying, "Vegetables, fruits, and hydrate!" Not bad advice. I think I will go eat a tangerine :)

How do you get rid of your colds? More importantly, how do you like your orange juice: pulpy, calcium-fortified, mixed with other juices, traditional?? Just please don't tell me you don't like OJ at all! :-P

Out Of The Ordinary

2010-12-17T09:03:00.000-05:00

I like to take four-mile walks around my neighborhood in the afternoon, weather permitting. But the onset of winter hit at about the same time I lost interest in my beloved walks--I was a tad bored with them, and also I was really just tired for a few weeks, so I didn't do much exercising at all (which, counter-intuitively, probably made me more tired, but let's not dwell!).

Then yesterday ... it SNOWED! Despite last year's snowstorms, it's actually pretty rare for the DC area to get snowfall that sticks to the ground, but yesterday there was a good inch and a half on the ground by noon. At first I figured I'd watch it from my apartment and just huddle around some hot chocolate, but then I remembered I needed to go to the library (my book club is reading Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen).

The library's about a half mile away, so I decided to get out in the snow, at least for a short walk. I suited up, put my new playlist of holiday music on my iPod, and headed out.

It was magical :) As long as you weren't driving, that is! I saw several cars slide a bit, and even helped one driver get his car unstuck. Be careful on the roads, everyone!

And when I got to the library, I picked up the book (in hard-copy, plastic-sheathed form so it wouldn't get wet on the way back!), walked out the door ... and turned the opposite way from my apartment. The snow was just too fun to miss. I did my entire four miles (the first time in maybe a month), and had a lovely time.

I love how sometimes a new twist to an old, beloved trail can make it new again. It's the same way with books. There's only so many stories that are really out there, but a new twist makes it fresh. And magical :)

Happy Friday, everyone, and keep warm!

Time In A Line

2010-12-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

When I started writing seriously, as in not just tapping away whenever I felt like it but really making it a primary goal to finish a novel and get it published, I had a timeline. I thought I would finish the book in six months, get an agent, and have a book deal by the time I hit the one-year mark.

Ha! I'm still not there, and it's three and a half years later. That first book is covered in virtual dust bunnies so thick I don't think I'll ever brush them off, and those first queries and synopses I sent out make me cringe more than seeing my seventh-grade yearbook picture (and that is saying something! Trust me.)

I've set umpteen more timelines, usually very aggressive ones (like rabid-cat aggressive) and feel a pang of disappointment whenever I fail to meet one. But that doesn't mean I'll stop sketching out timelines, because the mere act of imagining success in a set amount of time is the act of believing in myself. And that's necessary for any dream, no matter how far away.

Now, however, I set timelines about goals I can control. Getting a book deal? That's up to my agent, my book and the editors considering it. It's not something I can directly control. So I don't worry about publishing-timelines anymore. I know my books will get published when they're ready, when one of my stories hits the right editor at the right time. My job, and my timeline, is about writing the best novel I can.

But I guess my point is that we shouldn't beat ourselves up if our timelines are overly optimistic. Because without that optimism, without that belief in ourselves, we wouldn't get past the first page. Real life will crash in again and again, but whenever I set a timeline for myself I'm looking in the mirror and saying "You CAN do this." I might meet that particular goal in the time frame I set for myself, or I might not. But a timeline is like a road, and until you build that road, you can't walk down it. And if my timeline is rabid-cat aggressive, I'm much more likely to get my butt in gear than I am if my timeline's attitude resembles a kitten napping in the sunshine.

Are your self-set timelines optimistic or conservative? Do you rip them up in a fury when you don't meet them, or let your cats do it? (Tip: it's much cuter when the cats do it. Though perhaps messier.) What's your current timeline, or goal? Mine is to have 40k of my WIP done by the end of the year (the holidays are doing their best to disrupt this!) and finish the rough draft by the end of January. Overly aggressive? We shall see!

Winter Whistles By My Window

2010-12-13T16:01:00.000-05:00

In the last week or so, it has finally started to feel like winter. The DC area is weird with seasons sometimes; I remember one New Year's Eve day a couple of years ago that was 60 degrees and sunny, and some friends and I had an outdoor picnic at a winery - one of my favorite activities!

Then last year we had a couple of snowstorms (that we really were NOT prepared for) and the whole area started clamoring that it was Snowmageddon or the Snowpocalypse! Shoveling out my car is definitely not as fun as picnicking. Lol.

Today it's windy (I live in a high-rise, so wind can get pretty loud) and cold, and more chills are right around the corner. I still do not have a shovel. If I get really super-bloggy this winter, it's because I'm snowbound! But really, I do like winter. There is something about the cold, the bare trees, and the winter nights that I find beautiful (so long as I have hot chocolate waiting for me inside!) Plus, I get to wear my favorite coats :-)

Has your winter already started? (of course, any Australians reading this are heading into summer, right?) Do you get much snow where you are? Anyone have winter traditions? I love hot-tubbing in winter; the contrast between cold air and hot water is so much fun! Though it would happen much more often if I actually had a hot tub :-) One day, right?

Friday Five

2010-12-10T09:06:00.000-05:00

1. I wrote 3k on Torched yesterday, the most I've been able to write in one day in a while. I'd almost forgotten how to shut my inner editor up and just let the words flow. Of course, today I've got some clean-up to do, and I need to wrangle that 3k into a cohesive chapter, but that's so much easier to tackle with actual words on the page!

I need to tell my inner editor to take a hike more often. I get so caught up in wanting to write a great rough draft that my inner writer starts avoiding the computer, as if sure it will let that inner editor down. Which is thoroughly silly!

2. Anyone else loathe Christmas shopping? I love giving gifts, but the actual shopping I could do without, especially when I'm in the middle of Toys R Us and some guy steals my cart and dumps my stuff where I can't find it and therefore I have to go around and collect all the gifts again! Grr. It's enough to turn me positively Grinchey! :-P

3. One thing I do love about the Christmas season? The smells :) Gingerbread is a favorite, and soon my sister and I will get together for a sugar-cookie-baking bonanza! I looooove sugar cookies. And both of us love arguing over whether we can fit another elephant-shaped cookie onto the baking sheet and whether we should be making such a fragile shape anyway or go with sturdier hearts and stars. What's your favorite Christmas (or anytime!) cookie?

4. I just finished Kristin Walker's A Match Made in High School, and adored it. Spunky, fun but not perfect protagonist, witty repartee, and a voice that had me cracking up all over the place :) I'd recommend it for anyone who likes light-hearted YA.

5. This week I took a couple hours and cleaned out some of my apartment, finally throwing away things I have no idea why I was keeping. An incomplete (and terrible) knife set when we got a new (and fantastic) one a month ago. A coffeemaker that is broken (why, Lynn, why?). An assortment of empty boxes (just in case ... I don't know, the zombie apocalypse happens and I need something to throw at them? Hmm, maybe I should have kept those knives ...). I have serious hoarder tendencies, so it was good to combat them for a bit.

And that is five. Onward, weekend!

An Ocean of Books

2010-12-08T10:18:00.000-05:00

I walked into Borders yesterday to buy presents for some cousins of mine, and headed back to the kids' section (they are 10-year-old boys). I've heard a lot about how there aren't many "boy-books", but, at least in the middle-grade (called "independent reader" on the shelf, which threw me for a while) section there seemed to be plenty. I picked out a few that sounded fun, and then scooted over to the YA nook.

Dang, there are a ton of books! This is obviously a good thing, and it makes sense, since there's dozens of novels put out each year just in YA. But being confronted with all the delicious covers and intriguing stories was a little daunting. How is a trying-to-get-published author to compete with all of those books? Sometimes it feels as though, even if I do launch my little novel on the waves of publishing, it might drown in the ocean of books out there.

Thankfully, the phrase "voracious reader" throws me a life preserver. Book-loving teens don't just devour one or two novels a year; they rampage through the shelf (at least, I did when I was a teen!) reading everything interesting they can get their hands on. So the fact that all those shiny, yummy books are crowding the shelves is an indication that the genre is healthy and thriving. Which is a very good thing for a trying-to-get-published author :-)

The hardest thing about looking at those shelves? Trying to pick which books will make my Christmas list!

Anyone else get a little overwhelmed by shelves upon shelves of books?

Liberty: It's Creative!

2010-12-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

The problem with real life is that, while it's often so much crazier than fiction, it's not always as dramatic, or easy to simplify, as it needs to be to fit a book or screen format. That's where creative liberties come in. Whenever I notice that a book, movie or TV show was "inspired by a true story," it makes me look up what the real story was, what was changed or taken out to make the story into fiction.

Ever see the Showtime's The Tudors, about the life and wives of King Henry VIII? If you haven't, you should--it's fantastic, and melodramatic, and dishy. And also, as you might suspect, not always as historically accurate as it could be. Some historical figures are merged into one character, timelines are toyed with, motivations are guessed at. But watching the first season made me then skip over to wikipedia and look up all the real-life events and people. So even though historians might be annoyed at the creative liberties, those liberties made the story interesting enough for me to go learn what the real deal was. That's the power of creative liberty.

Even in stories that aren't inspired by a real life event, there will be creative liberties taken. Settings can be tweaked, an injury that would actually take months to heal might only take a week and a half in the novel, etc. Sometimes it's sloppy writing, but usually it's just a streamlining that makes the story more compelling, more accessible than it would be if it were strictly true to life.

My novel Wavecrossed is set in southern coastal Maine, but instead of trying to make the story fit into a real life town, I made one up, basing it loosely on a real town and high school that I visited. I see this a lot in novels (and TV series). And even if a novel is set in a real city, like a lot of urban fantasies, sometimes things have to be changed to fit the story. Authors will even note what creative liberties were taken in an afterword or such. They recognize that the point of the story is the characters' journey, not whether there really is a French bistro on the corner of 5th and Market.

Do novels or TV shows or movies that take creative liberties bother you? Have a favorite example of one that bugged you, or one that worked really well? Have you taken some in your own work, or do you try to make everything as real-life as possible?

Writing and Cheetahs

2010-12-01T10:35:00.001-05:00

First, cheetahs: I dare you to find the pictures in this article about a cheetah mom raising six cubs in Kenya not the cutest you have ever seen! As the article points out, only ten percent of cheetah cubs survive more than three months, and these six are already past that point! I found it inspiring, an example that extraordinary things do happen and crushing odds can be beaten.

But that actually wasn't the point I was going to make about writing :) Cheetahs are super-fast in a sprint, but not so great as endurance runners. And as I'm looking over my progress on Torched, I'm realizing that I barely hit 1k per day. Which means that it could take me four months (or longer, if I hit a rough spot) to finish the rough draft. I've found that a lot of non-writers think that writing, and publishing, happens fast. But it takes a loooooooooong time. So far, I average a book a year. Granted, that includes revisions, more revisions, yet more revisions, and I'm still learning and hopefully the time it takes to write a novel will go down eventually.

Writing novels isn't a sprint (except for NaNoWriMo, but that's a whole 'nother game). It's an endurance sport. Lots of people start writing a novel, realize how freaking long it takes to even string together 80k-100k words, and quit before they can find out to their horror that the first draft then has to be revised.

So: writing? Not for cheetahs. Except maybe that cheetah mom, who has some serious determination!

Question: what animal are writers, if not cheetahs? How long does it take you to write a novel? For simplicity we can stick with rough drafts times, since revisions essentially take until the book is scrapped or published!

Starting In The Wrong Spot

2010-11-28T20:11:00.000-05:00

Writers sometimes find that their novel starts in the wrong point in the plot. They open too soon, usually, and spend fifty pages meandering to the meat of the novel, or they start too late and have to shovel in backstory. We've all read novels like that, right? Starting at the wrong spot can totally put the reader off what should be a kick-ass story.

This is as much of an issue on the smaller level as it is for the big picture. While I didn't start Torched in the wrong place (I think!), I did just mis-start a chapter. I didn't figure it out until I was going over the scene and wondering why it blew elephant chunks (really, it did). Then I realized that the first page of the chapter was just ... boring. So I chopped it. Much better!

Ever have trouble pinpointing the "true" starting point for your stories or chapters? How do you find it--trial and error (my option!) or is there a method?

Is It Too Early To Start Begging Santa For Books?

2010-11-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, so as a broke aspiring writer, I don't get to buy as many new books as I'd like. But soon it will be Christmas! So here's the question: what should be on my list??? I am currently addicted to YA, as you will see below.

It's near the end of the month and I doubt I'll have the time to read another novel this week (since my sister's art show opens this Friday and I am going to be helping her prep, set up and not freak out), so here's my end-of-the-month What I Read list. Some good ones this month! I would recommend any and all of these for your (or the teenager in your life's) Christmas list :-)

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. So fun! Love the voice, and the world, and the characters. Also, the cover is gorgeous.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Lovely, make-you-think book about life, loss and death. The thing that struck me most about it was the character-building; by even the middle of the book I felt I knew the main character better than I know some of my real friends!

I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter. Been wanting to read this for a while, and it's as fun as I'd imagined. Girl's school for spies! Love and disaster! Skews a little younger than I ususally read, but I still loved it.

Numbers by Rachel Ward. This one I hadn't heard much of before I picked it up off the shelf, but it was fantastic. The protagonist can see people's death dates when she looks at them. Cool idea, and well executed. Loved the voice; it's believable rough-side-of-the-tracks outcast type, and makes the book hard to put down.

So what have you been reading? What should I put on my Christmas list? What's on YOUR Christmas list, bookwise (though if you want a plush disease, feel free to share that too. Or, you know, something else that is at once creepy and cute!)

Character Attack!

2010-11-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

When I started writing fiction, I started writing fantasy. I luuuurve fantasy novels, read tons of them growing up, and they're what inspired me to think I could add my own stories to the shelves in the first place. I've written about oracles and prophecies, I've written about mermaids, I've written about selkies, and I've written about vampires (and ex-vampires). I never had any interest in writing something without a paranormal element. At all.

Erm. Until now. For some reason, my new WIP is a YA contemporary. I blame my writing exercises, which put me into contact with a character who is quite a lot more opinionated than any of my previous protagonists. And she wants her story told now. But she's not a mythical creature, nor will she meet any, nor is there any magic in her world (besides the power of pep rallies and mascara--she is a cheerleader).

When I tactfully pointed out that these issues made her ineligible for WIP status, Rose (the aforementioned cheerleader) made some scathingly witty comments, then told me I already knew her better than I knew any of my other protagonists. And that she was much more fun. And you know what? She might be right.

So Rose's story, tentatively titled Torched, has hijacked my writing and kicked the 'fantasy' out of my 'fantasy author' title. For now :-) I'm one chapter in, and covered in New WIP happiness, that heady feeling where all is shiny and bright and Rose really is as clever as she thinks she is (but soon she'll wind up in jail. That will teach her!). The word count progress meter is up on the right side of the blog.

Ever have a character show up and not take no for an answer?

Advice and the Giving Thereof

2010-11-16T08:28:00.000-05:00

A lot of the time I feel that because I'm still unpublished, I really have no place in the writing-advice sphere. After all, I'm still learning, (and still have so much to learn!) so why should anyone listen to me?

But rumbling about the online writing world for 3 or so years has actually given me a wealth of information that is valuable to other aspiring writers, and I finally realized this recently when I was asked for advice by two people.

One was my brother-in-law, who needed someone to look over his programming-book contract. The numbers involved were too small to interest an agent, and plus he is co-authoring the book and the other author is the one who set everything up. But he needed to make sure his rights were protected, and let's face it, a publishing contract can look daunting to someone not versed in legal language and/or publishing talk. Since I've been around the book world for a while, I've learned at least what is normal and acceptable in a publishing contract, so I was able to point out a couple of spots where the language needed to be changed, and point out which paragraphs should be nixed for any future books he wants to write. It was nice to be able to use all this knowledge I've been accumulating!

The other advice-needer was my pay-job boss, who is also a writer-on-the-side and is writing a nonfiction book about creativity (it sounds pretty cool, so I hope it makes it into print!). He's sent out a proposal to agents, and has one who is giving him a lot of feedback. The suggestions she's making are pretty daunting, he says, and he's asked me my opinion on a bunch of her comments to see if they were normal or if she was just crazy. Agent-speak can be as odd as legal-language (sometimes agents forget that writers don't always understand that when the agent says, for example, to cut the word count in half, it's not arbitrary but actually an experienced opinion on how long a book in that area can be to be attractive to publishers), so I got to translate, and also impress on him how amazing it was to have an agent giving so much feedback when she hadn't even offered to rep him yet!

So it seems that while I'm still learning, I've actually got a lot to teach too :) Do you ever feel unqualified to give writing advice (or artistic advice, or whatever your preferred field is) even though you are a writer (or artist, etc!)?

Buttons, Hooray!

2010-11-09T08:12:00.000-05:00

Seems like I only manage to post once a week these days. Still not a lot to report on the writing front: instead of diving into NaNo, I decided to devote November to doing writing exercises. I don't do those enough, and I need practice with voice and characterization.

I'm also still doing Photoshop tutorials and learning about website and interface design. Here are a couple of my recent creations:

A lovely glossy button with an easily changed shape on the front, from this tutorial.

A zigzag button!

One of the awesome things about graphic design is that you can spend a couple of hours, or an afternoon, on a project and have something to show people. I love that :)

Hodgepodge and Quiz

2010-11-02T09:09:00.000-04:00

You will be graded. Partial credit will be given. :-P

1) For the last few weeks, writing motivation has been pretty low. Like, ocean trench low. But suddenly it's November, and I don't know if it is everyone's enthusiasm for NaNo, or a timely writerly pep-talk from the lovely Caroline(thank you!), or just that I've had enough time to work out some other issues, but the writing bug is biting me. It feels tingly :) Is it too late to whip up a concept for NaNo? Lol.
QUESTION 1: Are you doing NaNo this year? why or why not?

2) Novels I read in October:
Requiem for the Devil by Jeri Smith-Ready: Awesome. Loved it.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett: My book club's pick. Also awesome. This is a book I'd never have read if not for book club. So glad I did, and I highly recommend it.
Siren by Tricia Rayburn: YA paranormal without the standard vamps/faeries/angels.
The Duff by Kody Keplinger: I thought I wasn't going to make my goal of four novels a month, and then Caroline let me borrow this. Finished it in four hours, and wished it took longer :)
QUESTION 2: what novel that you read in October would you recommend?

3) I was a pirate for Halloween this year. Not an earth-shattering costume, but I figure everyone gets one year where they're allowed to be a pirate without being considered uncreative. My most creative costume was probably last year when I was an aquarium. A sexy aquarium :)
QUESTION 3: What were you for Halloween this year? What was your most inspired costume ever?

4) Blogfriend Kristin named her new computer Honeycrisp. How adorable of a computer name is that?? My laptop is named Gooseberry.
QUESTION 4: What is your computer's name?

5) Anything else? Oh yeah. Go vote!
QUESTION 5: DID YOU VOTE TODAY THE ANSWER BETTER BE YES! No political views need to be disclosed, but hey, this is our civic duty. Go be heard in the polls!

Changing Tracks

2010-10-25T13:32:00.000-04:00

Writing novels sometimes feels like I'm in a tunnel. Novels are super-long projects that can take months to shape into something sparkly and delicious, and when I'm in the middle of a WIP I tend to focus on it to the exclusion of other creative pursuits. But a diet of just words leaves my inner artist looking something like this:

So recently I've been changing it up a bit. I made the above cute little bird in Photoshop (following this tutorial), and am planning to devote much of the rest of the year to learning my way around the program so that I can at least call myself an intermediate user :) It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but kept putting off, because the hours that slip away wrangling with layer masks and shape vector points were hours I always felt I should be putting to good writing use.

Sorry for being so absent online recently! Anyone like playing around with Photoshop or Illustrator? Anyone have a hobby that competes with writing for your free hours?

Three on a Thursday

2010-10-14T09:06:00.000-04:00

1) Rain has blanketed D.C., making it hard to even see past the neighborhood's trees. The grayness makes me want to curl back up in bed like my cat, but in a few minutes I'll turn on every light in my apartment, push play on the iPod hooked up to my living room's surround sound, and get to work.

2) I'm reading about the Crusades this week, and as with most of history it's kind of mind-boggling. Some serious ridiculousness goes on during the Crusades. I think every five pages some poor city gets massacred. The more history books I read, the more grateful I am to have been born in the US, in this era.

3) My beta readers have finally gotten their paws on Revitalized :) You know, it's never easy to let people read my work, because no matter how many times I tell myself it's a rough draft and that it's okay for it not to be perfect, some silly part of me thinks it's perfect. So the back-to-reality moment can be jarring! But though there's lots of things for me to fix/define/deepen, the overall feedback has been great :)

Time for that iPod! What music do you listen to at work and/or while you're writing?

In Which I Reveal Anti-Social Tendencies

2010-10-11T15:37:00.000-04:00

I love a lot of things about my high-rise apartment building (the view of DC, the balcony, the fact that utilities are included in the rent, and the gym on the bottom floor for starters) but one thing that I can't quite get used to: long elevator rides with strangers. People get on, maybe do the nod of greeting, and then you stand there awkwardly. Unless one of the people feels the need to talk >.<

What is there to talk about? The weather, of course. I am realizing just why small talk about the weather is such a cliche--because that's just about the only thing to discuss with people you might see around from time to time but never for longer than sixty seconds (even though those seconds seem to last for an hour within the confines of an elevator!)

Other than that, the only topic of conversation is if someone comments that I live on the top floor. I respond with something along the lines of "Yes, the view is amazing," and hope desperately for time to speed up so we get to their floor. Then there's the goodbye. I've learned that the person getting off the elevator is the one who says "have a nice day," or a similar sentiment, and the person staying on the elevator responds with "you too." Otherwise you wind up trying to talk at once and drowning each other out.

Anyone else have elevator-small-talk subjects to share? How do you handle elevator etiquette in your building or office? Does anyone actually like elevator-talk?

Early Birds

2010-10-07T08:43:00.000-04:00

The last couple of days I got up at 6am. This is a huge change of pace for me, since I usually get up at 8am or even later. But I'm finding that when I get up early and hit the gym before taking a shower and having breakfast, I get a lot more done that day--not just because I have more hours to work with, but because I feel energized. It's a feeling I don't get when I roll out of bed later in the morning.

My failure point when trying to get up early has always been the moments just after my alarm goes off. I wind up talking myself into staying in bed a while longer. The moments between alarm and out-of-bed movement are the most painful of my day. So this article about how to get up right away at the sound of your alarm, was really helpful. I still have more practicing to do, but I'm hoping to eventually reach the point where I get up early without having to really think about it!

Anyone else struggle with getting up early? What time do you get up, and is it self-directed or because you have to get to a job on time? If I have somewhere I have to be, I don't have trouble getting up early. It's getting up early when there's no one relying on my presence but me that's hard!

How Many Books?

2010-10-05T08:16:00.001-04:00

One of my friends just gave me a stack of books she got from this year's RWA national conference (which I didn't get to go to, sadly!), so my to-be-read pile has practically doubled. I need to start making some headway!

I tend to keep count of everything I accomplish, so that when I wonder what the heck I was doing with my time I can go back in my files and point to things and say "See? I was actually doing things, I swear." Last month I read three novels (Catching Fire, Mockingjay, and Soulless, if you're interested), and three nonfiction books (Last Call, Generation Kill and a biography of Niccolo Paganini).

This strikes me as reading too little. Or is it? I did spend a large portion of last month watching rom-coms and marathoning Veronica Mars, so I can probably do better this month. But it started me wondering, how many books do people average? And by people, of course, I mean my literary-minded blog friends :) Do you read mostly fiction, nonfiction, or a mix? Have any particular book that's a must-read for October?

Bring On The Pie

2010-09-27T23:09:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago, my sister and I were going to get together and have dinner. For dessert, we decided to indulge a craving: pumpkin pie.

Now, when I want pumpkin pie, I want it made from Libby's pumpkin pie mix, not from scratch (the same way that when I want macaroni & cheese, I mean Kraft's neon-glo concoction! Hey, you know you love it too.) So I went to the grocery store. But I was foiled! No Libby's was on the shelf.

No problem, I thought--I'll hit another grocery store. But none of the stores in my area had it (I tried Shoppers, Harris Teeter and Giant. Yes, I got a little obsessed), and finally I had to give up. No pumpkin pie. My sister and I were very sad. (Chocolate made us feel better, though!)

Now I find out it was the fault of last year's harvest weather, which caused a shortage. I had no idea! But at least the horror is over :) I know what I'm eating for all of October! And November. And ... well, you get the idea.

Got a favorite pie? Do you make it from scratch, or are you a fan of mixes like me?

Don't Beat Yourself Up

2010-09-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday everyone!

Even though we've technically got nearly another week to go, this weekend feels like the end of September (Doesn't it? Or am I just crazy? Wait, don't answer that.) Oof, I have gotten a little derailed in my goals-list this month. Most of it is my own fault, to be perfectly honest, and sometimes I feel pretty upset with myself regarding the mismatch between my Planned Goals and my Fulfilled Goals.

But the thing is, beating myself up isn't very productive. It makes me feel depressed, it makes me feel like a loser, it makes me feel unmotivated. And that's a vicious cycle: lack of motivation leading to lack of progress, leading to even less motivation ... you get the idea.

So how do we break the cycle? Well, like most difficult things in life, it's very simple, but never easy: I just need to snap out of it. Not very helpful, I know. But there are things I can do, specific steps I can take, to push myself into "snapping out of it". Here's a couple tricks I use:

1) Switch it up. Go somewhere, take a walk, visit with friends. I've been kind of a hermit this past month, and haven't really wanted to see anyone. But on the occasions where I did drag myself out of the apartment to socialize, I wound up having a lot of fun, which recharges me, and also feeling a ton more motivated. On the other hand, if you're feeling "socialed-out," go ahead and cancel a couple social activities and stay in to recharge.

2) Take a real break. Sometimes when I'm dragging my heels it's because I'll have tried to work for a few hours, then finally given up but felt guilty about it the whole rest of the day. Guess how restful that is? Not at all. So sometimes you might just need to give yourself permission to take a day off, guilt-free. Don't plan any work, and if you want to read novels or watch TV all freaking day, go right ahead!

3) Try, try again. I'd be lying if I said these tricks works all the time. It certainly hasn't for the last few weeks, for me. But I'll keep at it. It's like when you have a computer problem and you try the same tactic (like rebooting) over and over, and even though it didn't work the first couple times, suddenly it does (what is with that, anyway?).

Something inside me feels like I'm about to turn the corner, so I think next month (which apparently in my head starts next week!) is going to be great :)

Any other advice? Does today feel like the end of September to anyone else?

5 Things This Week

2010-09-22T16:35:00.000-04:00

1) I am still on sort of a blog-and-internet hiatus. Unplugging is nice, and I get to read more :)

2) Speaking of reading, I am in the middle of Soulless by Gail Carriger and am quite enjoying it. I had the pleasure of hearing the author do a (spoiler-free, thankfully) reading of the sequel last spring at a convention, so now I am imagining her voice as I read!

3) I am busily revising Revitalized so my beta readers can get their paws on it. I promised a couple of them they'd get to see it by the end of the month, so if I don't come through they might just chop me up into little bitty Lynn pieces.

4) Speaking of chopping things, my new food fad is sweet potato fries. It's surprisingly easy (though it requires a sturdy knife) to chop sweet potatoes into fries, toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and then roast them in the oven for twenty minutes or so. Superb TV snacking food! Also it's sort of healthy, right??

5) I am also reading Generation Kill by Evan Wright, who followed Marines through the invasion of Iraq. Fascinating ground's-eye view of modern war and what conditions our soldiers had to fight though. Highly recommended.

What's everyone reading? Got any favorite TV snacks?

On Art and Minions

2010-09-17T09:49:00.000-04:00

Ooh, today I actually have something to say! You know those periods when you feel kind of in a fog for a while, and then you snap out of it and the day is shiny and your brain wakes up and says 'oh, hi world, let's get to it!'? Apparently that happened this morning, which is odd since I also feel like I've got a cold coming on (nose, quit whatever you're up to. Seriously.)

Anyway, today I get to be an artist's minion! My friends Vicki from VMW Studios and Callie from Monster Hollow Studios are in an arts fair this weekend, and I'll be helping them set up today. Lugging ceramic sculptures isn't super glamorous, but then we get to argue over placement and prices! Then tomorrow I'll help watch the booth. Should be fun! My only problem will be keeping my wallet from spilling open to buy lots of art that I can't afford. Arts fairs are a dangerous place for me!

This is my way of paying my awesome beta readers back for their willingness to read and critique my novels. It's an arrangement that works out rather well, except that I don't produce books nearly fast enough for them! Anyway, if you want a peek at an artist's life and tips on what artists go through for an arts fair, Vicki has a post on it on her blog.

What's everyone up to this weekend? Have any artist friends you want to give a shout-out to?

This Is What Happens When I Get Blogger's Block

2010-09-16T13:27:00.000-04:00

Apparently, September has thus far been the Month I Have Nothing To Say.

S cintillating topics are
E scaping me at the moment.
P erhaps I need to get out on the
T own,
E ntertain some friends,
M ake merry, or
B efriend an
E lephant or
R accoon.

Erm. Surely we can make better poetry than that? Give it a whirl in the comments, if you're bored!

Dreams And Nightmares

2010-09-13T09:38:00.000-04:00

Last week, I had a dream in which my critique partner read my new manuscript ... and thought it was just about the worst thing she'd ever read. Ack! I remember crying, wailing, and despairing for what seemed like hours. And I remember her telling me that yeah, I was kidding myself and yeah, maybe I should give up this whole writing thing.

Then I woke up. Whew!

Not super-hard to figure out the meaning of this. I've finished the rough draft of Revitalized, which means that once I clean it up a bit and fill in some of the research gaps, I have to actually (gasp!) let other people read it. This is the most frightening part of writing, at least for me. A rough draft can be for myself, but eventually the whole point of writing a novel is, you know, for other people. And other people have opinions. Opinions that could be damaging to my little writer's ego. I might find out that my novel isn't perfect (the worst!).

I used to be very shy, and when I was a newbie writer and had to face the truth of my first novel, the realization that it was crap very nearly destroyed me ... or so I felt at the time. I managed to get over it somehow, and I got bolder. Stronger. Rejection and disappointment actually ... helped me? Weird.

Of course, every time I have to show my work to someone and confront the possibility of failure I feel that despair creeping up again. But that's normal. Because dreams are guarded by nightmares. Only by fighting through them, confronting them as many times as it takes, can we build ourselves into heroes.

No one has ever published a novel without being told by someone, be it an agent, editor or reader, that his or her writing is awful, her story uninspired, her characters flat. Even published authors have nightmares about their novel being crucified by critics, their series dropped by their publisher, their proposals being rejected. Do they let that scare them into finding some safe, stable job that isn't such hell on self-confidence?

No. They go out there and fight that nightmare anyway, because past all the specters of failure is the dream, waiting for them to reach it.

So hey, Lynn's subconscious, chill out and dream about kittens or something (though maybe that could turn into a nightmare too. RUN FROM THE KITTENS!). Because come morning, I'm reaching for the dream again no matter how scary the nightmare guarding it is.

Do you have writing dreams/nightmares? Do they feature rabid kittens??

Popping In

2010-09-08T10:20:00.000-04:00

I've been mostly offline since last weekend, and probably will stay that way until next week. I've finished tearing through all three seasons of Veronica Mars (man, I wish that show hadn't been canceled!) and am mulling over why it was so incredibly addictive. The super-sharp wit? The relationships? The season-arcing mysteries coupled with the mystery-of-the-episode? Yes, yes and yes. Amazing storytelling went on in that show.

Anyway, I'm getting together my goals for this month, and for the rest of the year. Lots of research in the near future, and hopefully a rough draft of another book, and revising Revitalized so my betas won't skewer me with fondue forks in their impatience :)

What's everyone up to? Got any "I will finish this by the end of 2010" goals?

August Reads: Dogs, Unicorns, Fools and Games!

2010-09-02T11:57:00.001-04:00

Time for the monthly wrap-up! In 2010 I set myself a goal to read at least one novel per week, and while I got behind in the spring, I'm now officially caught up, and then some :)

1) The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory: this made me want to read more historical fiction. 'nuff said.

2) The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: told from the viewpoint of a dog, this made me cry, and laugh. I was on the treadmill at the time, so what my fellow gym-mates think of me now, I don't know.

3) Rampant by Diana Peterfreund: it took me longer to get into this than it should have, considering the book is about rampaging vicious unicorns (!), but by the end I wanted to read the next one, so I'll call it a win :)

4) The Luxe by Anna Godbersen: I've wanted to read this ever since I saw the gorgeous dress on the cover. Dishy, scandalous fun. Will I read the sequels? We'll see.

5) The Devil's Trill by Gerald Elias: I read this because it features violinists; it's a mystery, so not quite my thing, but well done, in my opinion.

6) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: and then I immediately ordered the other two books in the trilogy. They arrived yesterday!!!

7) Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs: I don't read much urban fantasy, to be perfectly honest, but I love the Mercy series.

And I have so many awesome books on my bookshelf that I can't wait to get to! Read any of these? What did you think? Got any suggestions for me?

Write What You Don't Know

2010-08-31T10:09:00.000-04:00

Writers hear a TON of advice snippets. Write every day; Kill your darlings; Adjectives are not really your friends; etc. One that we get a lot is: Write what you know. It's basically meant to nudge writers into tapping into their own lives and experiences, because theoretically you can pull out more specific details and emotions when you're talking about things you know backwards and forwards. It's like subject experts being pulled to the front of a panel or auditorium and talking about their subject. They're fluent and authoritative. If you ask them about something else, however, they'll flounder.

But the problem with Write What You Know is that unless you've had a wild array of life experiences, you'll wind up writing about, say, cheese-obsessed post-college twentysomethings who want to be full-time authors. (quit yawning!) If you write about paranormal happenings/creatures, you're okay because you get to make everything up: rules, mythology, everything. But what about when you want to incorporate some country, illness, profession or even ethnicity you know little about?

There's always research, and I love learning new things. My WIP Revitalized has a protagonist who is a violin virtuoso. Thing is, I know nothing about the violin outside of seeing/hearing it in middle school orchestra (I played the clarinet). But I've got to make the reader believe that I, or at least my main character, knows what she's talking about. The fear is that I'll get something wrong, and everyone who catches the error will come out of the woodwork to burn me alive (or in Amazon reviews) for it.

The easiest thing would be to make my protagonist some profession I already know about. But (being a Patent Examiner is supremely boring and) her devotion to the violin affects her, and the story, profoundly. It would be a completely different story without it.

So how do you try to keep those errors from creeping in?

1. Visit the marvelous library. Yep, research books are, to me, the best way to get that initial grounding in the subject. Start with nonfiction, preferably one of those "Violin for Dummies" or similar books. Read at least a couple books on the main subject and related ones (classical music in my example) before outlining and writing the rough draft.

2. Surf the wondrous internet. Any random facts you need, like what rosin cake brands are used by professional violinists, are probably here. What did writers do before the internet?? *shudder*

3. Employ the skipping technique. Don't obsess over research before you've written that first draft. Get enough of a handle on the subject that you can know what type of details are needed where. Then instead of getting bogged down trying to figure them out during that first draft, just leave a blank, or a highlighted space, or some placeholder.

4. Do more research. Once you've got the bones of the story down you can dive headlong into fleshing it out and getting those details right. Go back to the library for as many nonfiction books as you can handle. In my case, spend hours on YouTube or listening to CDs of famous violinists or violin-centric music. Surf that internet like it's your job.

5. Read topic-specific FICTION. I plan to pick up every violin-centric novel I can get my hands on in the next few weeks. This helps give you an eye for what amount and type of detail you need to help your reader live in your world/hobby/etc without getting bogged down in technical terms and extraneous tidbits. In addition, it can help you find more things to research.

6. Pick and choose. Carefully. Don't include every detail you ever learned. Pick ones that are easily accessible to the reader who knows nothing about violins.

7. Talk to real live people who are subject matter experts. I have a beta reader who has a friend who used to be a professional violinist. Once I feel ready, I'm going to take him to lunch and pick his brain. If he seems interested in reading the manuscript, I'll probably ask him to point out any errors for me. (I suspect this is what people did before the internet.)

8. Use your betas. They'll tell you if you've overdone or underdone the new subject, whether they can't quite picture what you're saying or whether they skipped over those exposition paragraphs because they were boring. Revise as necessary.

9. Accept responsibility for all errors. If/when your book actually starts accumulating Amazon reviews and someone points out mistakes, don't freak out. Post an acknowledgment and possibly a "what it should have said" section on your website. Poke fun at yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. As long as you did the best you could, just relax - and be happy people care enough to comment!

I'm now on steps four and five for Revitalized. On a related note, any of my readers know their way around a violin and want to volunteer to (eventually) beta-read the manuscript?

Anyone have other tips? What's the last subject you incorporated into your WIP on which you had to do intensive research?

The End Is The Beginning

2010-08-27T12:48:00.000-04:00

I typed the two most amazing and frightening words today: THE END, centered and one space down from the last sentence of Revitalized's manuscript. Amazing because, well, I finished a 93,400-word draft, so hooray! And frightening because while I wrote the rough draft for my eyes only, now I have to think about (gasp!) showing it to people

This is the fourth novel I've completed--and by completed, I really mean started. When I finished the rough draft of Wavecrossed, I thought I was mostly done (you can stop laughing now). I knew it needed some editing, but I thought it was small-potatoes stuff. It wasn't until the manuscript went through three major revisions (I should put that in caps: MAJOR revisions) that it won an agent, and it went through another round of edits before going on submission (keep those fingers crossed!). The idea that I thought it was mostly done when I typed THE END now seems ludicrous.

So this time around, I know that THE END is not the end, not even close. I've got the first sketch of the novel down, but I need to do more research and fill in the shadings. It needs details, and clarification of character motivations, many of which I didn't figure out until late in the novel anyway. I've got some mulling to do about my main character and her tone, which is at times uneven. The manuscript needs to be freed from all the mistakes and awkward writing I can see, and only then can I send it to my beta readers, who will give me a whole other list of things to fix.

And you know what? I can't wait :) But next week is soon enough to think about the road ahead. Today is celebration time!

What do you do to celebrate THE END of a rough draft?

Books Make You Lose Weight

2010-08-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

Another bad habit I have? Not working out enough. Solution? Make the gym fun. I used to go on long walks outside, but it's too hot and humid to do so now. And just the treadmill, even with music, is boooooring. So what do I do now when I don't feel up to hitting the elliptical machine?

I take a book down with me. I don't know why I never did this before. Set the incline at 5 degrees, the speed at 3.5 mph (just slow enough to concentrate on the page), and suddenly I'm getting my long walk and also getting to read :) An hour can pass in a flash, and I leave the gym with a smile on my face. I suppose audiobooks can have the same purpose, but I never really jumped on the audiobook thing.

The Hunger Games kept me glued to the treadmill past quitting time. I'm reading Silver Borne now, and it'll probably do the same. Know any other great treadmill-books?

Habit Alchemy

2010-08-24T10:26:00.003-04:00

Bad habits are hard to resist. They let you take the easiest road, they have a siren call, they're fun. Let's eat cheese and crackers for dinner, they call in their breathy voices. And just one more glass of wine won't hurt. Let's watch TV instead of write. They're like the popular girls inviting you to sit at their table. Are you really going to walk away?

The after-effects of indulging a bad habit are ... less than pleasant. Those extra pounds, the aching head, a WIP that just won't finish itself. Bad* habits are goal-breakers. Everyone's got a few. I've got a ton (yes, I weighed them), and I'm trying to clean house.

Some of my habits are easy to address (or at least it's easy to SEE the solution), like overindulging in treats (I have not had my favorite cheese in a week! That is a major victory for me. I am not allowed to buy it again until I feel like I've built some kind of discipline). Others are more slippery.

One of my worst habits is switching my brain off in the afternoon. I'll think "work-day is done!" and then I'll just chill out for the rest of the day/evening. But then I feel like something's missing, like there's something I could be doing that's better for me than watching TV or cruising the internet or even reading a novel. I feel at-ease but unfulfilled. I have all these goals, and I'm not going to reach them without hard work, so why am I slacking off?

Answer: it just got to be a habit. So now, after dinner, instead of reaching for the remote control or a novel, I'm sitting myself down at my laptop and opening my WIP file. If nothing happens after fifteen minutes I'll put it away, but usually I write at least a couple paragraphs, and sometimes I get on a roll. I don't know where I lost the habit of writing whenever I had a spare moment, but I want it back. I've also started reading more nonfiction in the evening, before bed, because there are so many interesting things I want to learn about and there's no reason to keep "research" for "work hours."

Changing habits is hard: sometimes I turn to the TV or internet anyway. But habits, as with all goals (and WIPs, I suppose) have to be tackled one day at a time. And you keep with them because you know one day your lead habits will turn into gold (see? Alchemy? I'm SO CLEVER.)

What's a habit you'd love to break? What's one you'd love to have?

*I kept writing "bat habits," which would have been much funnier.

5 Reasons Why August Is Awesome

2010-08-23T10:03:00.000-04:00

1. The weather makes elevator chit-chat is a snap. "My lord, it's just sweltering out there! Hope your car wasn't damaged by that storm that flashed through the other day..."

2. There is absolutely NO reason not to postpone any and all outdoor activity to September, which means more time for writing and reading! (And if you need more reading material, check out this list of the top 100 YA books, as voted on by readers. Though personally i think #97 should be rated higher.)

3. Similarly, there is NOTHING on TV, which means less distractions from writing! (I may get this rough draft finished by the end of the month after all!) (I cannot wait for Survivor. Yes I'm still watching even after 8 million seasons. What show are you waiting for?)

4. I spend most of my time daydreaming about being a penguin in Antarctica, which ... I mean, there's gotta be a book in that somewhere, right? (Actually, I'd prefer to be a leopard seal. They eat penguins!)

5. Ummmmm. Anyone gonna help me out here?

Distract Me

2010-08-20T10:04:00.000-04:00

How to distract yourself while your novel is on submission:

1) Go to the gym. Good for nerves, good for the heart, good for getting rid of all the extra calories you consume because you've got a chocolate bar with you at all times that you nibble on compulsively because you "deserve it" due to all the noble patience you are pretending to have.

2) Count the ways you feel old: Beloit College creates a "Mindset List" every year so professors can connect better with how incoming freshmen see the world. Even I feel old, and college wasn't so long ago ... It's just weird to think that none of these were true before 1992. My fav is #51 (you mean there's a time in the history of the earth that food WASN'T irradiated? lol. But seriously. Things we take for granted, right?). What's yours?

3) Picture the cover of your book, and try to create it in Photoshop. I'll admit, I am really stumped for Wavecrossed. The title feels modern, but I want a nature-y watery feel for the images. Also, my Photoshop skills are, shall we say, limited. Apparently cover design is harder than it looks (surprise, right?). Any suggestions?

4) ~~Freak out.~~ Go see all the cool (free) things around where you live. I am a metro ride from D.C. but haven't been in all summer (it's tourist season, and also the worst weather of the year. But come September when all the kiddies are back in school ... Smithsonian time!).

5) Read a book. Someone else's, not yours. That's what novels are there for, right? To whisk us away from boredom and stress. I have The Hunger Games on my bookshelf, and as soon as I finish my work for the day I am so all over it!

Any other suggestions for distraction?

Yes I Am That Awesome

2010-08-17T17:45:00.000-04:00

Quiz: How did I strain my neck yesterday?

a) rescuing a selkie from the jaws of a killer whale

b) taming and then exchanging witty repartee with a wild telepathic mustang

c) wrestling a panda-grizzly hybrid in the National Zoo

d) brushing my hair

Anyone know how to fix neck strain, or do I just try not to move it for a while and let it heal itself? Also, who knew I tried to whip my head around to glare at my cat so many times during the day?

>.< What's your most interesting* injury?

*feel free to substitute lame, far-fetched or heroic

(PS the answer was obviously a!)

On Arrival

2010-08-16T21:05:00.000-04:00

If you don't follow the Deadline Dames, this week they're talking about how they got to where they are. I love learning what routes people took to success, and find them incredibly inspiring. Dame Devon's road was looong, but now she's got one series published and another contracted. Yay determination!

I thought it was interesting how at first, selling enough stories to professional markets so that she could join SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) was the moment she felt she'd "arrived". It would be about a decade later that she got her first book deal. A lot happened between the two occurrences, and it got me thinking. The feeling of "I've arrived" is an intensely personal one, and different for everyone. So at what point do you think you'll have "arrived"?

Is it selling that first short story, getting an agent, nabbing that book deal? As my boss at Wildside Press tells me, selling that first book is only the first, and easiest, step. So maybe "arriving" is a little more complicated. Is it the point at which you support yourself wholly by your writing? The day your novel hits the bestseller lists? The year you're invited to be a speaker at a conference?

If you're an artist or other creative type, is it doing your first solo show, or selling a piece for a certain amount, or even getting a piece in a museum? What's your measure of that first success? When do you go from "on your way" to having "arrived"?

For me, I think the defining "arrival" moment would be the day my first novel hits the stores. *daydreams about said moment with blissful smile* What about you?

Five on a Friday: August and Guns

2010-08-13T10:21:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much to say this week. I hit 80k on the rough draft of Revitalized, so (probably next week, since my weekend is packed) now I begin the final tumble towards the finish line!

1) I am reading The Guns of August, about the outbreak of World War I. I resisted reading this for so long, but now I have to for book club (yes, because it's August! lol). It was difficult to get into, and I'm not a history buff by any stretch, but now that I'm a third of the way in ... I'm engrossed. The circumstances that got the world into a giant war are just insane, and by insane I mean they were propelled by the idiosyncrasies of the people in charge. You just can't make this stuff up. In fact, if you put this stuff in a fantasy novel, people would tell you it wasn't believable.

2) Seriously, though, you can't make this stuff up. Russia's Minister of War at the time believed that the next war would be won by sabers. As in, swords against guns, he thought swords would win the day. Seriously. This was the guy in charge of their military. What??

3) Speaking of Russia's leadership, the czar, Nicholas II, was supremely bad at government. Why? Because his father deliberately kept him uneducated in statecraft (to cut down on any ideas Nicholas might have about overthrowing his father early). His father had planned to let Nicholas start learning when he was 30, but "miscalculated his own life expectancy and died when Nicholas was twenty-six." This is why absolute monarchies can so easily turn into disasters: there's no safety net. Because of a little paranoia on the part of their monarch, the Russian people were basically screwed.

4) The French were physically outmatched by the Germans before the war, and knew this. Their plan for winning any theoretical war was ... elan. No, seriously. They believed that the French will to win would make up for any deficiencies in, say, firepower and numbers. Of course, not everyone agreed, but this (and the requirement of having England fight on their side) was the prevailing military "plan" for any war with Germany.

5) The Germans were the only ones, it seemed, really prepared for war at the time, and they were overprepared. So overprepared, in fact, that because their labored-over plan included invading Belgium on a pre-defined time-table after declaring war, they did so even though a) the excuse for war was over on the Russian border, and b) the Kaiser didn't want to. The Kaiser (aka the German Emperor, aka the guy in charge) wanted to march the whole of the army to the east, instead of fighting on two fronts and bringing England and France into the equation, which would happen if Belgium were invaded. But the German Chief of Staff refused to alter the plan, because ... it was the plan.

This is all mind-boggling. Have you seen this level of ridiculousness in novels? No one would take it seriously. And I am only a third of the way through the book. I'd highly recommend tackling it, even if you don't like history or dense reads.

This is why book clubs are awesome: they make you read outside of your comfort zone. What have you read outside your comfort zone lately, and did you love it or hate it?

When Caffeine Isn't Enough

2010-08-10T10:34:00.000-04:00

Those days.

The ones where you slept poorly but you drag yourself out of bed to the coffee-maker, trusting that no matter how much you feel like a bag of cement, that magic infusion of Extra-bold Blend will transform you into a Diligent Go-Getter with bright eyes and a brain that zooms.

But then breakfast and coffee is over, and although now you can speak and read, the world is overlaid with a big blanket of whycan'tIgobacktosleep? Creativity feels locked away, while intelligent thought seems like a chore. There's all these goals and tasks and errands, your daily life and your dreams tangled up in your to-do list, but insurmountable has become a monster chewing your ankles, and it has way more energy than you.

What can you do?

I don't really have an answer. Will a nap zap or worsen the lethargy? Will a gym trip revive or exhaust? Will another cup of java give me chest pains? If I stare at the screen long enough, will my rough draft's word count increase on its own??

My cat promises playing with him helps. If it doesn't, I'll try his other suggestion: kibble.

Thank You, Subconcsious

2010-08-05T11:26:00.000-04:00

Oh subconscious
I do love when you
Make connections out of
Loose threads.

I'm driving in the car
And suddenly I know
How a character
Tries to kill my protagonist
And also how said protagonist
Escapes.

It all makes perfect sense
And details I'd mentioned
Earlier in the draft
Even though they seemed pointless then
Now draw it all together.

How do you do that?

Character Quirks: Food

2010-08-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

At some point in a novel, your characters have to eat. And although (unless your book centers around food) you can get away with keeping most of the chewing off-page, what a character eats can say a lot about them. Do they hate garlic, or are they addicted to pickles? Allergic to seafood? Do they eat cheese at an alarming rate (not that there's anything wrong with that, ahem)? Everyone has weird food quirks, and they can help deepen a character's personality.

I think I've mentioned my amazement at the variety and ridiculous toppings of sandwiches mentioned in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (caviar? herring? ack!) I found it fascinating. Although to be honest, I wasn't sure whether the quirks of what they ate were specific to the characters or if that's just the weird stuff they eat over in Sweden!

Showing the regional food, of course, is another way food quirks help enrich a novel, by beefing up (get it? you know you're laughing) the setting. If I'm reading a novel set in modern-day Italy, for example, I want to taste that pasta!

My own food quirks: here are three "normal" foods I shudder at:

1. Soda - I was raised drinking juice and milk. By the time I was old enough to be confronted with Coke and Sprite at my friends' houses, I hated the taste. I remember in high school, a friend's parents made a point of keeping milk in the house specifically for when my sister and I visite.

2. Cheetos - or cheese doodles, or whatever you call them. Ew. Gross. Cannot understand why people eat these.

3. French fries - okay, it's not like I gag at the thought of eating a french fry, and if they're there and there's nothing else to eat, I'll mildly enjoy them. But french fries just don't do much for me (unless they're slathered with, say, cheese. Have I mentioned I like cheese?).

What are your food quirks? Hit me with some weird ones :-)

What I Read: July

2010-08-02T09:57:00.000-04:00

So I'm trying to read a book per week this year. Not that I can read only four/five books per month, but 1bk/wk reminds me to read when I'm wandering the apartment wondering if there's anything good on TV (answer: not really. When does Survivor start up again??). Meanwhile, there is always something good on book-channel :-)

July 2010 reads:

Ender's Game: this was a reread. Caroline talked about rereading it, so I was pulled to my Bookshelf of Beloved Books as by a magnet and had to dive in.

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: this was for my book club, and I'm glad I finally sat down and found out what all the hype was about (deserving hype, I might add). It was fantastic, though I was a little bemused by all the extremely weird sandwiches the characters ate (is it a Swedish thing? did anyone else think they were odd??).

Mirror Dance: anyone who likes SF, or any book that is funny and fast-paced and action-filled, should read the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. But start at the beginning.

before i fall: another book I read because of the hype. Another book that was deserving of said hype. I'm still thinking about it days after finishing, and the voice is so honest and real. I don't think I could write a book like this. Sometimes I find that the most engrossing art is art I can't make myself, you know?

Pretties: the sequel to Uglies, by Scott Westerfield. I've realized it's kind of rare for me right now to find a book I love enough to read the sequel, but I loved Uglies and Pretties didn't disappoint. The finale to the trilogy is going to be on my list for August :)

Anyone read these? What did you think? Any books you read in July that you'd recommend?

On Image

2010-07-29T10:26:00.000-04:00

What do you think of the new look for the blog? Not totally different, but more light spaces. As much as I like dark red (mmm, dark red, the best color for wine and roses), I accept that there is a Too Much line :)

I also finally made myself find some sort of picture of me I could post. I don't consider myself photogenic, so it was tough, but there I am!

I've been doing some preliminary research on marketing, since of course I hopehopehope to need it soon. And a lot of articles focus on tips, and ways to get your name and product out there, but these types of articles assume one large thing: that you've got your image down pat. But what about those of us who don't?

In marketing-speak, image is called your personal brand. You have to brand yourself in order to have a succinct cohesive message that people will remember. But, certain people *coughmecough* wonder, how is someone supposed to figure out what their brand is? Can't we just, you know ... be ourselves?

Well, yes and no. People are complicated, while the best brands are simple. And if you waver about without a simple, pointed message, trying instead to show everything, no one will remember anything. A personal brand is a subsection of one's self, showing only what one wants people to see, only what one wants them to remember. But how do we excise pieces of ourselves, glue those pieces together and proclaim This Is Me?

I tend to think of image as that nebulous writing-term voice--hard to define, but you know it when you see it. But image and brand are more active than that. While both voice and brand should be indelible, voice tends to develop unconsciously. Brand, however, has to be developed consciously. One piece of advice I read (and I can't remember where or I'd link to it) was to choose three adjectives to define your brand (and for writers, aside from the book itself, the author IS the brand): professional, smart, angry, chatty, snarky, no-bullshit, lyrical, edgy, dark, blunt, etc. Then keep those three facets in your head every time you blog/give an interview/do a podcast. That can be your brand slogan.

I was going to ask what your personal brand/slogan was, but then I tried to come up with three adjectives for my own. Ack. Do we tell the truth about how we view ourselves (Lynn Colt: neurotic, whiny, tentative), or blaze a trail of how we want to be (Lynn Colt: witty, passionate, inspiring!)? The former sells us short, while the latter invites skepticism.

Oh, I'll ask it anyway: tell me your personal slogan, the lame one or the awesome ideal. Or a silly one -- Lynn Colt: hyper, sugary, ear-splitting! Or Lynn Colt: sparkly, bloodthirsty, brooding (wait, I'm not a Cullen ...). Lynn Colt: scaly, fire-breathing, avaricious! Okay, this is a lot more fun than concocting a real brand :)

You know, this is a great exercise for the characters we make up too. They've got their images to think of just like we do, right?

Three Topics For Tuesday

2010-07-27T15:34:00.000-04:00

1) In case you haven't heard, Jeri Smith-Ready's new WVMP novel, Bring On The Night, is now available!

The WVMP books are awesome (a vampire radio station! what's not to like?) and a must-read for anyone who likes urban fantasy, vampires, and/or kick-ass heroines who take shit from no one. Confession: I'm not a huge urban fantasy fan, but I make exceptions for Patricia Brigg's Mercy books and JSR's WVMP books, in both cases because my urban-fantasy-loving friend handed me the first in each series and said "Trust me, you'll like it." She was right!

Anyway, if you haven't read the first WVMP book, Wicked Game, definitely start there.

2) I've finally hit 70k for Revitalized! I've hit the point where I'm starting to wonder how much over the 100k "finish line" this rough draft is going to spill. Can I fit it all in? Of course, my MSs tend to slim down during edits, but I already know this book needs a little plumping up in terms of setting/mood/description. So I'd rather not start revisions with a 120k+ manuscript!

For your WIP, how long do you expect it to be? If you have novels under the bed, how long were those? Mine were 104k, 99k and 84k (that would be Wavecrossed), respectively (the first two were adult fantasy, not YA, which is why they're longer).

3) I just deleted some whining about how being on sub is driving me nuts. Instead, something that made my inner engineer laugh: ConstructionFails.

Come Back Sash

2010-07-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, so you know when you realize something's missing and even though it should be RIGHT THERE, it's just ... not? And no matter where you look, this thing is absent most definitely without leave?

I am quite irritated with a sash for a dress at the moment. Only the fact that I, when packing to go to a wedding in Pittsburgh last weekend, out of indecision/paranoia packed two dresses saved me (whew!). But now I am home and have cleaned my room and the sash is apparently still on vacation so how the heck am I ever going to wear this dress? A trip to the fabric store may be in order.

None of this has anything to do with writing. You know what does? John Scalzi's Utterly Useless Writing Advice. As you smart readers probably already figured out, it's not useless. I've written a couple of articles with the intent to submit to online/print venues, but never actually submitted anything (I kind of assumed my stuff was crap and would be immediately rejected. Maybe I should give it a go now that I am very friendly with rejection?). Have any of you? Any luck with it?

It's Monday. How about a joke featuring kangaroos? You're welcome:

A kangaroo kept escaping from the enclosure at the zoo. Knowing how high he could hop, the keepers erected a new ten-foot high fence, but the following morning the kangaroo had got out again. So they put up a 20-foot fence, but still the kangaroo managed to escape.
Watching all this, the llama in the next enclosure said:
"How high do you think they'll go?"
The kangaroo replied:
"It doesn't matter unless someone remembers to lock the gate at night!"

Random Friday

2010-07-23T09:46:00.000-04:00

My goal today: hit 70k words on Revitalized before slogging through afternoon traffic to Pittsburgh for a wedding (the bf can't take off work early, unfortunately! Oh Rt 270 you are going to vex me I know it already).

Came across some random interesting things:

Something I am not going to do should I ever become famous: employ an umbrella-holder. I mean, seriously? Yes some of these are from the red carpet so I'm sure the event employs the holders, but the rest ... I would just feel so ridiculous having someone hold an umbrella and trot along beside/behind me. I like the feeling of isolation you get from being under your umbrella in the rain. Does that make me weird?

Something that revived my faith in humanity: Wish Upon A Wedding charity for terminally ill people.

Something that just made me laugh: fictional characters are on Twitter! Including Darth Vader, Frodo Baggins and Dr. Tobaias Funke!! The Bones McCoy one made me laugh the hardest :)

Saving the weirdest for last:
OMG something that makes me simultaneously intrigued and grossed out: beer served in a squirrel. A dead squirrel. Its taste has hints of cinnamon and orange (the beer, not the squirrel). It was roadkill (now I'm talking about the squirrel). Put it together and it's $765 a bottle. The makers have already sold out! (Damn, too bad for us, right??)

Happy Friday, everyone :)

Congrats to Gretchen!

2010-07-22T09:11:00.000-04:00

Woohoo! My agent-sister Gretchen McNeil got a book deal!!!

Here's the Publisher's Marketplace announcement:

Gretchen McNeil's BANISH, a young adult urban fantasy about a teenage exorcist who realizes that the rash of demonic possessions in her town are not isolated incidents--and that she's the only one who can stop them, to Kristin Daly at Balzer & Bray by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown (NA).

Sounds like an awesome novel, right? I can't wait to read it! If you want to congratulate her, hop on over to her blog. She's got a book trailer for Banish there too. w00t!

And I Join the Waiting Game

2010-07-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

Wavecrossed is on submission. Ack and yippee!

It's a strange feeling. After the rush of excitement yesterday when I got my agent's email that she loved my revisions and would start submitting in the next couple days, and after I called my bf, betas and mom to share the good news, and after I went to the gym for an hour to work off the nervous shakes, it hit me that I'm done. For now at least, I've done all I can do for Wavecrossed. It's out there, ready to impress (or bore, but hopefully not!) editors on its own merits. Now I just ... wait (but we writers are used to that!).

My agent instructed me to immediately find a hobby that will take me away from the computer, since it will be several weeks or even months before replies start coming back to us. Lord knows I've got plenty to do. Like finish the dang rough draft of Revitalized. And learn to photoshop. And, you know, those pay jobs I've piled on myself.

It just feels kind of ... odd. Awesome, but odd too, becuase when submitting to agents, I was the one doing everything. I was very close to the process. In fact, I WAS the process. And now I'm removed from the action (this is probably a good thing for my poor nerves, lol). I have to keep reminding myself that my beloved Wavecrossed is Actually Out There.

Good thoughts and fingers crossed!!!

Tomorrow Is A Lovely Day

2010-07-20T12:12:00.000-04:00

First day in a while I've put in a solid 2k on Revitalized. Feels good :)

It's easy to get discouraged when my self-imposed deadlines sail on by with a merry wave, and my adorable regimented schedule turns into a shambles. I lose time to unexpected things, or the words just don't come. Life gets in the way, and I get behind. And then I get in the way too, letting the distractions get to me, blowing off a morning of writing or surfing the internet instead of working. And then getting frustrated with myself. Sometimes I lose an hour to this funk, sometimes I lose a day. Sometimes I lose a week, or more.

But the thing that keeps me going is that I can always start fresh the next day. Even if five attempts to start fresh and get motivated fail, there's always tomorrow. Yesterday it failed. Today it didn't. The thing is, you have to try. Every day. At some point it will stick, and a productive streak alights like a butterfly. I've been trying to attract that dang butterfly for over a week now. Now I just have to grab my net :-)

I feel so good when I've been productive. Will it continue? Only tomorrow knows :-) But I do know that I'll try.

Five on a Friday

2010-07-16T12:01:00.000-04:00

First time I've done this :)

1. The wordcount for Revitalized has finally budged from 60k! Okay so 1k isn't a lot, but it's something, and I think I've got the momentum started again.

2. Um, apparently there was an earthquake here in the DC area this morning? I kind of wish I'd been awake for it!

3. I finally had a reason to buy a Costco pie--it's my friend's birthday and she said she'd rather have pie than cake. It's sitting all deliciously coy on my counter, daring me not to wait until this afternoon.

4. Speaking of this evening, we are making it a girls' night, filled with brooding men and period costumes (plus the aforementioned pie!). We're watching North & South, a BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel.

5. Just finished Pretties, by Scott Westerfield. It was just as good as the first one (Uglies), and I can't wait to read the trilogy finale, Specials!

Anything exciting happen with you today, like an earthquake (whether or not you were awake for it!)?

Grab Bag

2010-07-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

The lame: I am having one of those mornings where I want to blow off writing. It's rainy out, I have all these chores to do, there's that shiny new photoshop cs4 book I want to work through, I'm tired after my morning workout, blah blah. I am nevertheless going to sit my butt down at my minilaptop (that's where I do my rough drafting now) until at least noon. Words will flow eventually.

The awesome: I spent the last couple days rereading the 60k (out of a probable 100k) of my rough draft of Revitalized, and completely fell in love again. In fact, I was terribly annoyed when the last chapter sputtered out. Ack! If I want to be able to read the whole story, I suppose I'm gonna have to write it :)

The nerve-wracking: the new Wavecrossed MS was approved by my betas, so I sent it off to my agent on Sunday. Now I wait to see what she thinks. I realized I get the same anxious feeling every single time I am waiting to hear what people think of my writing. Lord help me when (I originally wrote 'if', but it's when--sometimes I still freak out and pinch myself and grin idiotically about the whole having-an-agent thing) this novel actually gets sent on submission! I plan to plant myself in a circle of lavender candles and make my friend teach me to meditate.

The unrelated: I am switching my cats from dry food to wet. The younger cat took to it just fine, but the pudgy one is turning up his nose at it. I've tried dribbling tuna juice over it, and pressing dry kibble into it; those tricks get him to eat a little bit, but he's still being stubborn. Any tips? Should I just let him get used to the idea, and hope this few days of not eating much (I do make sure he gets some food in him) slims him down a bit?