In My Little Corner of the World

What? Yes, of course I am working!

My new favorite spot to write is here: in the grey recliner in the corner of the living room, half-hidden by the Christmas tree but with a good view out the enormous picture window.

Although since downloading the Kindle app for Macs the other day, I've been doing less writing and more reading on my laptop. Not sure this was the best idea after all! I'm also having a terrible time not just buying any e-book that catches my fancy. Something about this instant gratification thing that is tremendously addictive, and dangerous. I have to keep reminding myself that this is real money I am spending, even if they aren't "real" (ie, paper) books.

Sigh.

But back to the writing. I really have been working, even if much of that work does look like I am just sitting and staring into space. After filling out a basic outline for the Celtic YA fantasy (and was I ever surprised to find myself working on that one again - I figured it was going to take much longer before I was ready to even look at that again, given my Frustrations with it on the last round), I've been doing much pondering about how things should go, and careful consideration of my writing style for this one (the source of much of my frustration before - no matter how much I wanted to keep a wryly humorous tone, it would insist on taking itself too seriously, and getting Grim and Depressing). I even have part of the first chapter written - and this is actually more progress than one might think, since (for me) as the first chapter goes, so goes the rest of the book. Plus I can reuse a decent amount of material from the last draft, so once I get past these new beginning bits, a lot of what is going on will be cutting-and-pasting with new (hopefully amusing) filler in between the old stuff.

I had planned to work more on my MG fantasy since finishing the first draft of the 1920s ms, but the muse stirred for this one, so I am bowing to her whims. As long as I am working on one of my plethora of unfinished projects, I'm not particularly fussy as to which one.

Especially since recently I found my research notes and partial outline for the story I had planned on writing this year, the one that got shuffled aside in favor of the 1920s story and the Celtic rewrite. Starsong, the one set in a Renaissance world with a heroine inspired by the Maya culture.

And I really, really want to start working on that one again, but with a second draft needed for the 1920s ms, a picture book to indie publish by this summer (that's the goal, anyway), a Celtic rewrite needing to be finished, and an MG fantasy impatiently reminding me that it's been the one sitting around waiting to be finished the longest ...

I am Not! Starting! Anything! New! Some people (those with sanity) would tell me this is too much as it is. And they would probably be right.

But it's fun.

Thanksgiving Update

I wasn't going to post on Thanksgiving, but ...

In between making pie crust and preparing the pie filling, I sat down for a bit (Carl was slicing the apples for me, so I wasn't just slacking), and ended up finishing the final revisions to my picture book MS. The final draft has been sent to the illustrator, who will start work on it after Christmas.

I am so excited!

And now I get to go put together an apple pie. Yesterday I made my first-ever french silk pie and a dutch apple pie, so this is my last one for the holiday. My baby is napping, and the bigger one is helping her Oma in the kitchen. Snowy landscape outside, peaceful house inside.

I hope you, in America, are having a wonderful Thanksgiving, and you, in other countries, are simply having a marvelous Thursday.

Much joy to you all!

Good Habits

I am trying to establish the habit, both for the littles and myself, of starting out our day with a glass (or small plastic cup, in their case) of water before we have anything else. It's hard for me in the cooler months, because I love to start my day with tea (if I get up before them, I will sometimes have a cup of hot water with lemon and honey, but it's too hard to explain to them how that is different from tea and therefore not a double standard), and hard for them because ever since they started drinking anything more than breastmilk they have loved orange-juice-and-milk to begin their day.

But we're persevering. The thought of that hot tea waiting for me at the end of my glass of water, and the OJ&M for them keeps us glugging. And for me, the thought of the health benefits for all of us are a reward in themselves. The littles, of course, don't care so much about that, this is just another of Mamma's weird notions (like washing hands after we use the toilet, not throwing clothes out of the dresser drawers, and not getting out of bed at 5 in the morning. Gosh, Mom) that they have to endure. My hope, of course, is that the habit gets so ingrained that it sticks when they are grown, just like brushing teeth.

As for how this relates to writing ... well, I set myself a goal to finish at least one, preferably two mss in November. That means writing every day. Often, to be perfectly honest, I don't feel like sitting down and writing. Just like preferring to drink my tea instead of having my water first, as soon as I sit down to write, I think of the cleaning, the baking, the sewing, the reading ... everything else that I'm not doing in order to write. And while I can do that afterward, it often feels like I should be doing it first.

The first sip of water is the hardest. After that, the rest of the glass follows naturally. And that first sentence, staring at a page without a shred of inspiration? So hard. But once I force my fingers to start typing (or writing, if I'm working in my notebook), the rest comes more easily. Last night I had set myself an hour of writing before watching Once Upon A Time. At first, it was not easy. But by the time 8:00 rolled around, I didn't really want to stop - I kept the computer on my lap and typed during commercial breaks (very interesting mental exercise, btw, trying to switch my perspective back and forth between tv show and ms!).

And while it isn't always the most fun to drink a glass of water first thing in the morning, or to write a few paragraphs every day, even (and especially) on the days when inspiration is far flown from me, the habits I'm installing will, I hope, last forever, and have marvelous results for the rest of my life.

What are some daily habits you try to set for yourself, and do any of them help you when it comes to establishing routine for writing?

Finding My Ark

This has been an up-and-down week for me.

I wrote a children's picture book. WHEEE!

I got the typical "oh that's nice" response or, worse, no response at all from family and friends when I tried to share my excitement. WAHHH.

One friend immediately asked about illustrations, and we started collaborating that night. WHEEE!

Trying to figure out the best way to self-publish that offered me electronic options AND the freedom to offer print books to indie bookstores and local galleries on my own AND didn't cost the sky completely and totally freaked me out. WAHHH.

I had a beautifully positive response from the few friends who did get excited for me, and my first critique partner. WHEEE!

My husband and I had one of those conversations where no one is mad at the other, but everyone ends up feeling lousy afterward (nothing to do with writing). WAHHH.

And then I got sick.

And it's been raining for what feels like 40 days and 40 nights.

So, I'm finding an ark.

Today I'm going to wear nice clothes, bake cookies, play loud and fun music, laugh with my girls, work on sewing their skirts I cut out last week, and throw encouragement at everyone I can find, even if it is just online. I will hide myself from discouragement in joy. And hopefully when I emerge, the waters will have receded.

Just as soon as the two-year-old stops her wailing for no reason in the background.

What is your "ark" - where do you go, what do you do to rest and recover from discouragement or disappointment, or just plain blah-ness? Are you living in an area that's been getting drowned, like me, or are you one of the ones suffering from drought? If you are, I so wish I could send you some of our wet!

YA, Or Not

As I was working on my 1920s WIP the other day, I realized something important.

This is not a YA story.

The heroine and the hero, you see, have already come of age. Yes, the heroine is nineteen, but she is fully self-aware. The hero is in his mid-twenties. Both have lived through the War, both came of age during that time. This story is more about moving from young adult to fully adult, in the heroine's case, and in the hero's case - again, he's already adult, and he is more learning just some good, healthy life lessons (like, don't underestimate women - particularly one woman in particular!).

So. This puts me in a quandary. Either I make some major changes - changes that would alter the entire story (set it before the War, when they are younger? Make the house party one hosted and attended by parental figures, instead of heroine's personal friends? Keep it after the War and just have them live through it, instead of being personally involved? Somehow this is starting to sound like Muppet Babies or the like - take characters already established and just drop them in age) (did I seriously just make a Muppet Babies reference in this post?), OR I drop the entire idea of YA and just accept that this is an alternate-history adventure-fantasy, end thought.

I'm leaning toward the latter. Except I'm starting to panic, because everything that I've looked up in reference to agents and marketing etc has been YA. Are there other stories like this out there? Is there even a genre for alternate-history adventure-fantasy? (Outlander? I've never read any of the stories, but I have a vague idea those are somewhat similar) Do I go for the fantasy genre or the adventure/mystery genre? Do I cut out the fantasy along with the YA and just have it be a historical adventure?

So many questions. One of these days I'm going to write something uncomplicated.

How boring will that be!

Have you ever gotten halfway through a project and realized it's not what you had originally planned? Which is more important to you, sticking within your genre or sticking with your characters and plot? Do you think an alternate-history adventure-fantasy would have a market in the adult crowd? Did you watch Muppet Babies as a kid?

To Change, Or Not?

My mom got here yesterday, and we started the painting at the new place. I'm starting to have a faint hope that we might be ready to move by next Saturday, after all!

In the midst of everything else, I glanced over my completed children's story, The Magic Garden, the other day and thought, "Why did I stop sending this out?" I remember getting negative responses from all the publishers on my first list, but then I started on the second list, and somehow just ran out of steam.

So here's my question: my heroine is eleven (I actually Tweeted and put up on FB yesterday that she was eight - uh, too many paint fumes, I guess - but I really did remember writing her as eight. I must have aged her up later and then forgotten about it), and it technically would land as a middle-grade novel, based on protagonist's age. However, I wrote it with a simpler, cleaner style than I usually do (shorter sentences, simpler vocabulary, fewer parenthesis), and it's only 18,000 words.

Ought I to stretch it out and jazz it up a bit? I could do that, easily enough - it was really, really hard for me to keep it so simple to begin with! It's a story along the lines of Edward Eager and E Nesbit's fantasies - ordinary children who discover magic practically in their backyard, and have to learn its ins and outs, and thwart it and get thwarted by it. In the end, of course, the children all learn something important about themselves.

Half Magic, by Edward Eager, is around 30,000 words. Five Children and It, by E Nesbit, is a little over 50,000. I'm thinking it might be worthwhile, once I have finished the first draft of my 1920s fantasy-adventure, to pull out The Magic Garden again and see what I can do to make it more truly MG, instead of floating in this nebulous in-between region - not truly children's, but not MG, either.

What do you think?

Do you ever find that even though you believe in a story, you have to make some cosmetic changes to make it work? Have you ever lost steam on sending out a story, only to find it a good thing later, because it helps you make it even better before you send it out to anyone else? Do you agree that the world needs more stories in the tradition of Nesbit and Eager?

Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New

So ... in case any of you missed it, it's the new year. 2010 went out in our house with a game of Scrabble, 2011 is entering with colds and tea.

Last January, my writing goals for 2010 were to finish The Eldest Sister and find an agent/publisher for both Frozen Dreams (inspirational romance) and The Magic Garden (children's fantasy adventure).

I finished The Eldest Sister, did a complete re-write of Frozen Dreams to make it more appealing to agents (changed it from first person to limited third), and kind of pushed The Magic Garden to the back burner after getting numerous rejections.

This year, for 2011, I still want to find an agent/publisher for the finished MSS (now up to three!), and I have a brand-new project to complete. The Renaissance and Maya research, as fun as it is, is taking a long time, so my goal for Starsong is to finish the research and get at least the first draft written this year. Of course, I would really like to have the MS completely ready to send out into the world by 2012, but considering how short I fell in all my goals last year, I'm trying to aim a bit more realistically. After all, I do have a husband and two small children, as well as the distinct possibility that I will be packing up my household and moving across the country this year. One must be realistic in life, however fantastic one gets in one's writing!

In the meantime, I am spending this weekend trying to get myself and my family healthy again, and hope to get back to research and queries this week!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and that 2011 proves to be the year where your goals and dreams are realized.