Oh, Rats.

So after drawing inspiration from the commenters on my last post (thanks!), I managed to get my act together and was quite productive for a week, both in writing and in the day job.  I even spent some quality time with my boy, who had a four day weekend, and with myself: I  read the entire Hunger Games trilogy, because my husband was out of town and I could get away with pizza for dinner three days in a row.   

This past week, however, was another story.  I had every intention of getting writing done, but life got in the way, as it so often does.  My clients--I admit it, I am a lawyer by day--were making things challenging for themselves, and by extension, me.  My son played a lot of hockey. The dog had to go to the vet for the fourth time for the ear infection that just won’t die.  I played entirely too many games on Facebook, and I ventured onto Twitter. 

The most notable life event occurred on Tuesday.  I got in my car at 7:30 a.m. and it wouldn’t start.  Idly wondering which friend I could convince to take my son to school, I kept trying until it finally turned over.  Unfortunately, a whole bunch of lights then lit up the dashboard.  I ignored them until after I dropped off the kid, and then limped over to the car dealer.  Ninety minutes later, the service rep came over to me and gleefully reported that a rat had taken up residence on the engine.  She seemed to take a rather perverse delight in recounting, for everyone in the waiting room, the amount and type of rodent excrement that the mechanic found under the hood.  She even took pictures with her phone, just in case I didn’t believe her.

In the end, thankfully, my fears of thousands of dollars’ worth of unwarrantied repairs came to naught.  Either the rat didn’t particularly like Japanese automotive cuisine, or he just hadn’t been in there long enough to start dining.   I left the dealership only $25 poorer and with instructions to sprinkle crushed red pepper around the edges of the engine compartment.  Rats, apparently, hate pepper.

What, you may ask, does this eww-inspiring tale have to do with writing?  Nothing, really.  But it did make me realize that life--in all of its strange and wonderful variations--will always get in the way of writing if I let it.  There will always be crazy clients, kids, dogs, meals to make, and car trouble.   The goal, then, is to carve out writing time from all the other stuff, even if it’s just twenty minutes squeezed in during hockey practice.  I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting better about it. 

I’d be interested to hear your strategies for ignoring life’s rich pageant and getting to work.  Disgusting rat stories are also welcome.

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Writing everyday life from a Time Traveler's POV

In writing book two, I am at a part where I know exactly where I need my H/H to go but before I can get them there, I need a few things to happen first. My hero has come from the the past so it is a shame to not let him see just a little of the world as it is now. But, I also have to have a major turning point, to make the next part happen.


But as I am writing and trying to put my Hero in the lives we so easily live, I find myself at a stand still for a moment. This world isn't anything new to me. I take for granted some of the things that I have been blessed to have, such as a shower, washing machine, air conditioning and a grocery store.


I can get up in the morning, throw a load of clothes in the wash, take a 20 min shower, go to the store and be home...having all this done in two hours.



How long would such a feat take for someone who lived in the 1700's?


So, now I have to sit back and try to imagine what it would be like to see the water come out of the shower head just from turing on the nozzel and to feel a warm water hitting my skin at such ease. What would I think if I walked into a grocery store and saw all of those rows of food and wonder at the accessibility it offered?


If you are here reading this, let me know what you think. What would you miss if you couldn't have it OR what do you think would amaze you the most if you were the time traveler?


ME? I would miss the showers OR I think the way we communicate would amaze me the msot...telephones, email, SKYPE etc.

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The Ultimate Writer’s Revenge

Normally I don’t try to go negative when I deal with things. I really do feel like it doesn’t do me any good, it doesn’t hurt the other person and it just wastes a lot of energy. That doesn’t mean I don’t have negative feelings about some people. Because I do. Trust me, I have some very negative feelings about some very particular people. People who have hurt my family, or me, or been dishonest. But up until I started writing there wasn’t much I could do about these people. As much as it pains me to say this you can’t give a dishonest real estate agent or the guy who short weights you at the tea shop a good swift kick in the pants. No matter how much you want to.

Then I started writing as a hobby. And one night I couldn’t sleep, so there I was, lying on the couch and trying to think of what I wanted to do with this new found hobby. What was I going to write about? I had no idea. So I flipped on the television and there it was. Arguably Heath Ledger’s finest movie—A Knight’s Tale.  Wouldn’t you know it? The best line of all comes on not five minutes after I flip on the screen.

“Today I may be standing here naked but one day I’ll write about this and leave you naked and shivering for all of humanity to see, immortalized for all time.”

That’s when it hit me. Writing has a lot of great, wonderful things going for it. It opens new worlds of creativity, it makes your mind race and then there’s that dirty little secret that no writer really wants to confess. Writing is the perfect revenge. That horrible boss you  had a few years ago? Make them look ludicrious for all the world to see. That teacher in High School that you hated? Give them a horrible fate to get the story started. And the guy from the tea shop and the real estate agent from above? Have you ever heard of better people to die slow, painful, and agonizing deaths at the hands of villains that would make Nora Robers alter ego JD Robb hide under the covers, quivering in fear? Me either. 

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Building Home


I took a trip home to see family this week. It’s funny how a place can get under your skin. Even though I haven’t been back in six, almost seven, years now, it felt like home. The airport, the freeway, the neighborhood where I used to own a house, even driving around, the Treasure Valley is my home.

Even though I’m considered a resident of a state and own a house 1600 miles away. My life is here.

Of course this got me thinking about writing. And how my characters are looking for that one elusive concept. Home. A place to feel safe, and loved, and needed.

Okay New Kid readers – here’s the conversation… If you write, do you have themes you return to, like home or redemption…And if you are a reader, what themes in books are you drawn to? What do you want in your books besides the happy ever after?

Lynn

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The Dirty, The Clean and The Writer

I'm a slob.  Let's start there.  I know this about myself, but since no one has to suffer it but me, I figure - no need to change.

Last night my mom told me I need to clean my house.  I know this, but she made a good point after I quickly got over being butt-hurt about being called on my lack of housekeeping skills.  Her point was that my energy, my feng shui if you will, needs cleaned so I can be more productive with my writing.  I agree.  The clutter of my house is cluttering up my brain and I am not being as productive as I want to be or need to be.  

So, I'm sitting in my pajama's looking at my coffee table that has a foot and a half of stuff stacked on it and the floor covered in old (but clean thanks to my dogs) plastic food containers from the frozen dinners I live on thinking that maybe I need to clean my house.  I should, perhaps, stop dwelling on my lack of writing, take a few days off and clean.  De-clutter, throw out things, file, organize - you know - Clean - with a capital C.  I still have boxes stacked in my kitchen from two (maybe three) Christmases ago.  Yes - it's that bad.   

Knowing myself as I do, I have all the best intentions in the world and I want to clean my house, but will I?   Will I really do it?  If I have enough pressure and/or reason to - yes.  If not - oh, hell no - I won't.  This leads me to my proposed solution.  Pressure.  I do work well under pressure.

I'm thinking an experiment - I tell all of you that I will clean my house.  No, I promise, I will clean my house. Then we see together if I can up my writing production by next month's post (any writing would currently up my production - but I'm talking more than that).  Next month I report to you on my progress. 

Here's the baseline.  Right now.  Professionally: I'm writing a couple hundred words a week at best, I'm not sure where my story is going and I'm avoiding writing.  Physically: I'm tired and naps are my best friend.  Mentally: I feel overwhelmed by all I have to do and really don't want to do anything except take a nap.   Personally: My love life is great, my family is pretty good, and my secondary passion and education is wonderful.

I am now committing to cleaning my house over the next two weeks and then we shall see if that helps with my energy, focus, and writing ability.  I think I will keep a diary over the next month and we'll see in the next post what happens.  A little menacing and/or cheer-leading from ya'll might help :)

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Doubts


I had a lighthearted piece all ready to go this morning, but at 6 AM I had an anxiety dream and I jumped out of bed to look in the mirror, convinced my eyes were bleeding.   I was suddenly plagued with doubts, not just about the blog post, but about everything.     

Last night I was at a dinner party with five teachers, a pastor, a social worker and a lawyer.  (No, this is not the start of a bad joke.)  Three people at the table had published books, and another has a debut novel coming out next year.   Most of these books are non-fiction, but that's irrelevant.  Half of the people in the room had had an idea, were motivated to write it down, and found someone to publish it.  All of them have at least some income from writing. 

I suppose that at another point in my writing life, this impromptu gathering of literary talent would be inspiring.  Instead it threw me into a panic.  Am I fooling myself?  Do I have the discipline and the talent to pull this off?  What if I never finish anything?   Even if I do, what if everyone hates it?  

I have completed, more or less, the first draft of my book, but I am in the rewriting phase.  I have been in this phase for over a year.  I have scrapped the entire thing and started over from scratch, twice.  I have scrapped the do-overs and gone back to the original.  I have started two other manuscripts instead of working on this one, because there is not much that is fun about rewriting.  It’s hard, plodding work.

I would like to think that I can sit my ass down in my chair and finish this book.  Perhaps I can, if only for the immense personal satisfaction that I will get from doing so.  But what if the doubts win?

Marin

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It’s Like Eating An Elephant

How do you eat an entire elephant? You eat an entire elephant the same way you eat a bon bon. You eat it one step at a time. Remember that. There will be a quiz by the loin cloth wearing cabana boys at the end of this post.
Now, you may wonder what elephant eating and novel writing have to do with one another. It’s very simple—you succeed at them in the exact same way. When I got the call on my first novel it had been a super secret project. My family knew I was going into my office every night to write but they had never seen the manuscript. Other than that the only people who knew I was writing was the people at Savvy Authors and the people on my RWA loops. And those people can’t pick me out of a lineup to save their lives. Okay, now some of them can but not back then. So for me, they didn’t count. No one knew. Especially not the people at my old job.
So, when the call came in of course it came in while I was at work. In a staff meeting. With 50 other people. So I excuse myself, step outside and take the call. Then scream at the top of my lungs because WTF someone just bought that super secret book I never thought was going anywhere. Everyone is not surprisingly shocked.
But the next day things were different. Suddenly people wanted to  know how I did it. And very rarely were they happy with the answers. Because the thing is people see writing a book as one of those great, esoteric things that those super smart people over there do. Those author people. Real people don’t write books and if they do they don’t get published. But I was a real person. I sat in the cubicle next to them, I cracked jokes about the ugly ass clothes my boss thought made her look 25 instead of 50, ect. So everyone wanted to know how I did it. Then they were disappointed with the truth.
Why? Because the truth is this: Every night, once my kids were in bed I went into my home office, turned my computer on, put my fingers on the keys and I wrote. And I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. I didn’t turn on the television. I didn’t watch American Idol. I didn’t play WOW. I wrote. Every day. That’s how I got the sequel out to. And the first half of another contemporary novel that’s currently in revisions. Every night I sat down and wrote.
And now that I’m one of those rarified full time authors? Guess what I do. Every day, after dropping the oldest off at school and taking the time to go to the gym to work off the butt being an author has given me, I sit down and I write. Then when the kids go to bed I sit down and I write again. Every day. No exceptions. No excuses. No ifs ands or buts about it. I sit down at my temporary kitchen table in my temporary apartment and I put my fingers to the keys and write.
Because that’s the super secret initiation into becoming an author. It’s not magical dreams that come to you of two kids staring at each other in a field. It’s not flipping between the news and reality television shows. It’s not getting high and seeing the story play out in front of  you. All of those are great if they work for coming up with an idea (personally I’d avoid the getting high one but that’s just me). But when it comes time to differentiate the people with a great idea for a book from the people who have written a book that super secret difference is this – the people who wrote a book sat down and put their fingers to the keys. The End.
So when you get discouraged about your writing. Or your writer’s block or not selling. Or whatever it may be that happens in your writing career here’s the thing to keep in mind. The greatest difference between the authors you love and that annoying guy at the grocery store who always wants to tell you his novel ideas while he’s bagging your eggs is this: The writers sat down and wrote.
Now back to the loin cloth cabana boys pop quiz: How are eating an elephant and writing a novel the same?
Answer: You do it one tiny bite at a time.
For those of you who remembered from the beginning the cabana boys shall all be coming to visit you shortly. Please have margarita mix and suntan oil waiting.

PS: For those of you who’ve followed from the beginning the current world domination equation looks something like this:

F(cabana boys to writer)=  2.5*(|temperature|-25 degrees Farenheit)+(1*#of children writer has)+(3*number of projects under deadline that are not within 30 days of turn in date)+(5*number of projects that are within 30 days of turn in date)+(10*number of overdue projects)+3
If you’d like an explanation of the cabana boy formula or would like to suggest additions or modifications please comment and we can discuss. 

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A Plot, A Plot. My Chocolate for a Plot.

The time has come to begin the next book. And I’m stymied.

Usually a new idea arrives, almost on cue, a few weeks before the WIP is finished. In fact, sometimes I can hardly wait to finish the current work because I’m eager to get started on the next one. The ideas for all three previous stories each appeared first as a scene. The scene developed outward from there into the whole.

Well, sure enough, about three weeks ago a hero and heroine popped in for a cup of tea. Told me their life stories up until the time they met. Told me what they wanted out of the future, although they weren’t sure how to get it. I smiled. “Leave that to me,” I muttered.

They had just said goodbye, when the villain slunk through the door, calling for a cup of ale. He settled for coffee. With a sneer, he told me just enough to make me really dislike him. Then I recalled that a well-known author (whose name does escape me) said every villain is the hero of his own story. Perhaps Sir Bad Guy did have a sad childhood. I’ll think about it.

So I sat down to begin my process. Usually I do an initial write-through with backstories and overview of the whole book. In the past, this rough synopsis has run about three pages, single spaced. I started to write:

Backstory on heroine and her motivation up to the point she meets the hero? Check.

Backstory, et al, for hero? Check.

Inciting incident for their meeting? Check.

Motivation for villain? Check.

Then I hit a wall--and realized--I have no plot.

Yikes!

For the next several days, I wrestled with one option, then another. To no avail. Today I took the problem to my critique group for a brainstorming-plotting session.

Bless them, they had several suggestions, and I have some points to build on now. Just talking out the problem helped tremendously. One thing I realized; I need to go back to my research books to pin down the historical events so I won’t have King John in the wrong location as the action takes place.

I’m looking forward to it.

At Last!

How do ideas come to you? Does your new story interfere with the WIP?

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Dream a little dream with me...


I’ve posted one of my Lynn Laws before to New Kids readers. Your goals have to be within your control.

I can dream of Harlequin American buying the manuscript on their slush pile right now, but that can’t be my goal.

My goal is to get the book written and take a chance by sending it off. Goal done.

Now hope sets in.

One of my loops had a woman who wanted to “Goal” how many stories the loop would sell. Of course, I went off and explained, gently, I thought, how you can’t goal for something not in your reach.

She came back with an exasperated, “It’s just a goal.”

I didn’t respond back. But you know I wanted to scream. All caps and everything.

Selling can’t be a goal unless you have control over the results. And as all you writers out there know, we have no control over anything once the manuscript leaves our hands. All we can hope is we wrote the best story we could, and the publication hasn't just published something similar.

So today, we’re backing off goals (because apparently I’m a little testy), and focusing on dreams.

What are your dreams? I read about a writer who listed out her dreams (things not in her control AT all) along with the goals she needed to complete to open herself up to the result. One of her dreams was to be invited to write a novella for an anthology. The key dream word here is INVITED. She could write a novella, get her name out to other authors that she was open to the invitation, but she ultimately had to wait for the universe to grant her wish.

And it did. She was invited to not one but two anthologies that year.

So what do I need to ask the universe for?

Dreams 2012:

*Sell the three romance manuscripts out there on editors’ desks.

*Snag a Great Agent who loves my cozy as much as I do.

*Sell three or more short stories

I have more. But you get my drift here.

In order to sell three or more shorts, I have to write, edit and submit them. There’s my goal to support the dream.

I have to query agents with my cozy because for some reason, they won’t come knocking at my door without me doing my part. (New goal – query five agents a month)

So, New Kid Readers, what are your dreams? And do your goals support them?

Lynn

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New Kids on the Writer's Block is a group blog. We are ten writers who banded together to go through the process of publication as a community. We're pre-published (for the time being), and are open with our process. Please feel free to ask questions. Thanks for stopping by, and welcome!

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