Last Saturday we took our oldest son and my best friend to a Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson concert. (Those of you reading this thinking "I'm your best friend and you didn't take me to any concert on Saturday. What's going on here?" never fear. I am lucky enough to have several best friends, just like I have three favorite kids, and those best friends who didn't go to the concert are still my best friends. Though you may be annoyed that I didn't take you to a concert. I'll make it up to you with a Dr Pepper. Or Red Mango.)
If you don't know who Jon Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson are, check them out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXtVBJDPs6k
It was an amazing evening. Truly a highlight to be remembered forever and not just because of the music. My son doesn't emote a lot, which can be nice in comparison to his brother and sister who hide not their feelings under a bushel. Ever. His 'blow-ups' are so mild compared to his siblings that you have to know him to know that he just blew up. On the other hand, as he said it once himself, "I am excited. It's just that my excited looks like everything else." Saturday night he hugged his dad several times and said how much he liked the concert. That is an unqualified success in my book.
Aside from the music, which was beautiful, and the actual playing of the music, which was unreal, was the joy of creation that filtered through the air and gave me goose bumps. Because of where we were sitting and how the stage was set up, I couldn't see Jon's face very well (unless he was actually looking at the audience) but Steve's face was right there, and there were times while he was playing that it shone with an almost holy bliss. And it made me think about writing, because that is the part of me that is creative. That is the place where I think I share that joy of creation that was so obvious Saturday night. Sometimes, when the words are coming and the plot is falling in place and I realize that all along I have been setting things up for the perfect solution without even realizing it, that is when I feel a little floaty inside, like I have done something magnificent, or maybe something magnificent used me for a lightning rod and this spark of brilliance came to earth in this place and this time because I was there to channel it.
Both of these men played their instruments supreme excellence, but they also didn't just play by the rules. Jon played the piano upside down and with his toes. Steve played the cello with every part of his hand except the back, and once even moved the cello instead of the bow. Undeniably, they were having fun. They knew what they did so well that they could play with it, and that is where a little, tiny ache crept into the concert for me. I have so much to learn about writing. I haven't honed my skills to the point where I can be given a word or a topic and write a story or poem off the top of my head. I still have to stress and think and work and think before I've got anything. I don't even tell my kids bedtime stories because I can't make things up that fast. So I have a lot of practicing to do before I become a writer on the level that they are musicians, and even then I don't know that I'll ever be 'like that.'
Last, but certainly not least for me, was the friendship between them. Many of the goofy mash-ups they played they had come up with at 2:00 in the morning. And that brings me to my friend who was there with us. Writing is often a solitary endeavor, but I never would have made it this far on my own. An extraordinarily close second to that high of being used as a conduit is brainstorming with someone who gets how you think, and that's Anne. She doesn't think exactly like me, but she thinks enough like me that she can take an idea and carry it forward in a direction I would want to go if I was only smart enough to get there myself. Those are some crazy awesome fun times, often at 2:00 in the morning.
So those are my thoughts on writing gleaned from a piano and cello concert. I hope someday to have more skill and fluidity in my writing, but mostly I want to work for more of those moments of bliss, when writing fills up the now to overflowing and I know it's exactly where I'm supposed to be.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Friday, December 10, 2010
huh
So, November, NaNoWriMo, and Kelsi and Joran have all come and gone. Have I mentioned that it had to have been a man who came up with the brilliant idea to put NaNoWriMo in the same month as my birthday, Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Seriously! Who's bright idea was that? Had to have been a man. (I say that even though my husband is the one who does all the Thanksgiving cooking, so it's not like I can claim days of slaving over the stove in preparation. However, there is no way on God's green earth that he is stepping foot in a store on Black Friday, so all the Christmas shopping is left to me, shopping and writing are not compatible.) I know. Excuses, excuses.
Anyway, K&J are out of the dungeon, they have a new start, and they are now kind of cooling their heels waiting for me to get done with the dragons before I go back to them again. We shall not discuss word count, but I can assure one and all that I was never in any danger of hitting the 50,000 word mark. That is what next year is for. Which means that in the next eleven months I have to come up with a really good story idea. I mean, I couldn't even write the book when I'd already written it once and knew it inside and out. Or maybe that's my problem. The last two years I've tried to rewrite something I'd already at least started on once. Maybe what I need to do is wake up November 1st and start writing. I guess we'll find out in eleven months. At least I had a good time getting together with my writing buddies. Who says writing isn't a social activity? (Though not one to be carried out while shopping.)
Anyway, K&J are out of the dungeon, they have a new start, and they are now kind of cooling their heels waiting for me to get done with the dragons before I go back to them again. We shall not discuss word count, but I can assure one and all that I was never in any danger of hitting the 50,000 word mark. That is what next year is for. Which means that in the next eleven months I have to come up with a really good story idea. I mean, I couldn't even write the book when I'd already written it once and knew it inside and out. Or maybe that's my problem. The last two years I've tried to rewrite something I'd already at least started on once. Maybe what I need to do is wake up November 1st and start writing. I guess we'll find out in eleven months. At least I had a good time getting together with my writing buddies. Who says writing isn't a social activity? (Though not one to be carried out while shopping.)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Nanowrimo
Nanowrimo starts in just over an hour. Am I ready? No! Am I doing it anyway? Yes! Kelsi and Joran are being freed from the dungeon. They are seeing the light of day after six long years. Fresh start, blank page (screen). Better, stronger, faster. The bionic first-book-I-ever-wrote.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
day five and four months later
Okay, so I'm not technically writing on day five, which would have made me actually achieve my goal for writing every day of the conference. However, I am writing about day five, which is nearly the same. (And don't give me grief about it being four months later. I came home to two extra, not-completely-rotten-but-far-from-perfect kids living in my house for the summer. And after they left I had other excuses, not the least of which being the focus of this whole little post here today).
On the last morning of the conference we took turns having one on one time with Brandon out in the hallway where we could ask him questions/talk about our writing/have a staring contest. Because of my deep-seated, long-standing need to become invisible in situations where I feel inadequate, when people were writing down which order we were going to talk to Brandon in, I never really raised my hand. Well, not very high, and certainly not with any kind of vocal attention-getting techniques attached. So I was last. I think everyone was supposed to get something like 8 minutes alone with Brandon, but it's not like there was a timer or anything, and it's not like he's going to quit talking mid-sentence if somebody did come out and tell him exactly when time was up. So by the time it was my turn, I think I had maybe two minutes. I may have taken three. Anyway, while others were taking their turn and I was looking at the clock realizing my turn was going to be extremely short, I was trying to think of the most important question I could ask him. I don't know if I came up with the most important question, but by the time I went out in the hallway, I knew which one was bothering me the most (aside from the obvious 'why did I only get two freakin' minutes?')
So what does Michelle ask well-known, accomplished authors when she has their ear all to herself?
How do you know when it's ready?
That's the question I asked. I finished my dragon story several years ago. I gave it to people to read and they said it was good and to send it out. Now, granted, those people were family and friends, but they were family and friends who actually know a bit about the business of writing. My uncle is an actual editor, though an editor of non-fiction, schoolbook stuff. He said that there was nothing glaringly obvious that needed to be fixed and that any corrections would be personal to the editor who got it and couldn't be guessed at ahead of time. I have to say that makes a certain amount of sense. And Ethan, well, Ethan is co-authoring a book with Brandon Sanderson for pity's sake (though he wasn't at the time, it's true). I did send out one query letter to one editor (both Ethan and my sister knew her and said I should) and though she was not interested, she gave me some suggestions that sent me off on the not-quite-major overhaul. A couple of years after that, I started going to a class/writing group. The teacher was CRAZY about my book. Thought it was the best middle grade fantasy he had ever seen from a completely unknown, never-done-this-before person. I had my manuscript critiqued through chapter four and he wanted to start seeing query letters. I couldn't keep taking the class, so I kind of sat and twiddled my thumbs for a while, then last year I went to the writing conference. An actual author of actual children's books looked at my very own first chapter of my story. And told me to change it. (I should probably note that the very original first chapter was in the real world at bed time, which the editor I sent it to didn't like. She wanted it to start in the magical world to capture the kids right off. The children's book author at the conference thought it was too confusing starting in the magical world, that it needed to start in our world so the kids would be grounded in 'reality' before they went off trying to understand some made-up place.) I went from real world to Hiraeth to real world again, all on the suggestion of other people who didn't quite 'get it' the other way. (For the record, I now have a prologue in Hiraeth and the first chapter in the real world.) And at this conference, this year, they wanted yet another first chapter, which turns out to be the ORIGINAL first chapter, but without the kids going to bed (because who wants to read about that, right?). (Also, Anne was completely right about that. She has been telling me FOR YEARS that she wanted the original first chapter back and thought I never should have left it.)
So, Mr Mull, with all of this conflicting input from people who supposedly know what they're talking about and at the very least are intelligent, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to know when to send in my manuscript to somebody? When do I stop listening to other people, and how much weight do I give their comments if I do listen to them? (Quite frankly, of all the people who have actually looked at any part of my actual book, Brandon Mull is the ONLY person who writes/edits/does middle grade fantasy. Nobody else has. Either they do fantasy but not middle grade, so they have no idea what is expected of middle grade books, or they do middle grade but totally don't 'get' fantasy. And it really kind of breaks my heart a little bit that I didn't get any real feedback from Brandon about my manuscript. Just a little.)
And now for his answer, which was crazy short (his 'assistant' was standing a few feet away, waiting to take him to lunch, but even so, the answer is so brilliant it wouldn't have taken more time anyway).
He said, DUM DUM DUM--
Trust yourself.
Seriously. Who'da thought?
When your manuscript is as good as you can make it, when you're only making it worse by fiddling around with it, send it out.
And how, Mr Mull, is one supposed to know when that has happened? Well, that's the tricky part. That's getting to know yourself as a writer and what you are capable of, and it comes with time. He said he certainly didn't know those things when he first started sending things out, but now that he's been doing it a while he has a better feel for when he's at that point. And I would dare say that once you have been through the editing process with an editor (or agent, even) you learn things that you really can't pick up on your own.
That answer fits in nicely with the other voice that's been in my head all these years. It comes most loudly from Dave Wolverton (I subscribe to his Daily Kicks) but I've certainly heard it from countless sources. Send out your best stuff. Polish and polish and polish some more. Don't figure that just because you've typed "The End" that it's ready to go.
So that's where I'm at. I've listened to comments and suggestions, which is good, because I've made improvements to my story because of them. However, this time around I am trying to listen to myself more. Am I saying something the best way possible? Is my plot exciting and clear? Are my characters lovable/hatable? Are they growing? Over confidence has certainly never been my problem, but I'm hoping that I am at least developing self-awareness.
On the last morning of the conference we took turns having one on one time with Brandon out in the hallway where we could ask him questions/talk about our writing/have a staring contest. Because of my deep-seated, long-standing need to become invisible in situations where I feel inadequate, when people were writing down which order we were going to talk to Brandon in, I never really raised my hand. Well, not very high, and certainly not with any kind of vocal attention-getting techniques attached. So I was last. I think everyone was supposed to get something like 8 minutes alone with Brandon, but it's not like there was a timer or anything, and it's not like he's going to quit talking mid-sentence if somebody did come out and tell him exactly when time was up. So by the time it was my turn, I think I had maybe two minutes. I may have taken three. Anyway, while others were taking their turn and I was looking at the clock realizing my turn was going to be extremely short, I was trying to think of the most important question I could ask him. I don't know if I came up with the most important question, but by the time I went out in the hallway, I knew which one was bothering me the most (aside from the obvious 'why did I only get two freakin' minutes?')
So what does Michelle ask well-known, accomplished authors when she has their ear all to herself?
How do you know when it's ready?
That's the question I asked. I finished my dragon story several years ago. I gave it to people to read and they said it was good and to send it out. Now, granted, those people were family and friends, but they were family and friends who actually know a bit about the business of writing. My uncle is an actual editor, though an editor of non-fiction, schoolbook stuff. He said that there was nothing glaringly obvious that needed to be fixed and that any corrections would be personal to the editor who got it and couldn't be guessed at ahead of time. I have to say that makes a certain amount of sense. And Ethan, well, Ethan is co-authoring a book with Brandon Sanderson for pity's sake (though he wasn't at the time, it's true). I did send out one query letter to one editor (both Ethan and my sister knew her and said I should) and though she was not interested, she gave me some suggestions that sent me off on the not-quite-major overhaul. A couple of years after that, I started going to a class/writing group. The teacher was CRAZY about my book. Thought it was the best middle grade fantasy he had ever seen from a completely unknown, never-done-this-before person. I had my manuscript critiqued through chapter four and he wanted to start seeing query letters. I couldn't keep taking the class, so I kind of sat and twiddled my thumbs for a while, then last year I went to the writing conference. An actual author of actual children's books looked at my very own first chapter of my story. And told me to change it. (I should probably note that the very original first chapter was in the real world at bed time, which the editor I sent it to didn't like. She wanted it to start in the magical world to capture the kids right off. The children's book author at the conference thought it was too confusing starting in the magical world, that it needed to start in our world so the kids would be grounded in 'reality' before they went off trying to understand some made-up place.) I went from real world to Hiraeth to real world again, all on the suggestion of other people who didn't quite 'get it' the other way. (For the record, I now have a prologue in Hiraeth and the first chapter in the real world.) And at this conference, this year, they wanted yet another first chapter, which turns out to be the ORIGINAL first chapter, but without the kids going to bed (because who wants to read about that, right?). (Also, Anne was completely right about that. She has been telling me FOR YEARS that she wanted the original first chapter back and thought I never should have left it.)
So, Mr Mull, with all of this conflicting input from people who supposedly know what they're talking about and at the very least are intelligent, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to know when to send in my manuscript to somebody? When do I stop listening to other people, and how much weight do I give their comments if I do listen to them? (Quite frankly, of all the people who have actually looked at any part of my actual book, Brandon Mull is the ONLY person who writes/edits/does middle grade fantasy. Nobody else has. Either they do fantasy but not middle grade, so they have no idea what is expected of middle grade books, or they do middle grade but totally don't 'get' fantasy. And it really kind of breaks my heart a little bit that I didn't get any real feedback from Brandon about my manuscript. Just a little.)
And now for his answer, which was crazy short (his 'assistant' was standing a few feet away, waiting to take him to lunch, but even so, the answer is so brilliant it wouldn't have taken more time anyway).
He said, DUM DUM DUM--
Trust yourself.
Seriously. Who'da thought?
When your manuscript is as good as you can make it, when you're only making it worse by fiddling around with it, send it out.
And how, Mr Mull, is one supposed to know when that has happened? Well, that's the tricky part. That's getting to know yourself as a writer and what you are capable of, and it comes with time. He said he certainly didn't know those things when he first started sending things out, but now that he's been doing it a while he has a better feel for when he's at that point. And I would dare say that once you have been through the editing process with an editor (or agent, even) you learn things that you really can't pick up on your own.
That answer fits in nicely with the other voice that's been in my head all these years. It comes most loudly from Dave Wolverton (I subscribe to his Daily Kicks) but I've certainly heard it from countless sources. Send out your best stuff. Polish and polish and polish some more. Don't figure that just because you've typed "The End" that it's ready to go.
So that's where I'm at. I've listened to comments and suggestions, which is good, because I've made improvements to my story because of them. However, this time around I am trying to listen to myself more. Am I saying something the best way possible? Is my plot exciting and clear? Are my characters lovable/hatable? Are they growing? Over confidence has certainly never been my problem, but I'm hoping that I am at least developing self-awareness.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day four
I am in the midst--THE VERY MIDST--of rewriting chapter one. I am writing this only because I set a goal to post every day this conference, darn it, and I'm not going to drop the pen now (so to speak). (And don't tell me I can't mix/mess-up metaphors. I do it all the time. I am the champion of the mangled metaphor!)
That's all you get today. The new and improved (also known as the old, very-first-but-back-again-completely-different) chapter one awaits.
Come on, Rebecca, be brilliant.
That's all you get today. The new and improved (also known as the old, very-first-but-back-again-completely-different) chapter one awaits.
Come on, Rebecca, be brilliant.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Day three
Okay, so I didn't have to mention Lloyd Alexander at all. Nobody had issues with my names, except for Liosalfar, because it was in the Fianovar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay (which I read, and loved, years ago but had forgotten that name was in it), and Jambalaya. Just wait till they find out about Mulligatawny. And I'm going to rewrite my first chapter (AGAIN) but I can't talk about that right now. It may be the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it.
I went to a panel on net-working, which I am terrible at, but I'm going to try to be better. Writers have a tendency to be introverts (at least this one is). Introverts are not known for being extroverts.
There was more I was going to say, but my brain is mush. Oh! The comment yesterday about British rights. I certainly don't have such a thing yet, but someday I hope to. Those foreign sales are something to think about, according to Dave Wolverton (and I believe him). I'm just trying to learn from the masters. (I still haven't actually spoken to Dave, or given him a hug or anything. He's always surrounded by people and I don't want interrupt. And I don't think I would dare give him a hug right now anyway. Apparently he was in an accident a while back and he moves like he is in so much pain. I guess I'm afraid just hovering around him will add to his discomfort, so I don't linger.)
Tomorrow is the booksignings. Duncan has asked me to get an autograph from Brandon Mull. He doesn't care what it's on, he just wants his name and Brandon's name on the same piece of paper. I'm taking The Candy Shop Wars to get signed. I think he will enjoy the book.
I went to a panel on net-working, which I am terrible at, but I'm going to try to be better. Writers have a tendency to be introverts (at least this one is). Introverts are not known for being extroverts.
There was more I was going to say, but my brain is mush. Oh! The comment yesterday about British rights. I certainly don't have such a thing yet, but someday I hope to. Those foreign sales are something to think about, according to Dave Wolverton (and I believe him). I'm just trying to learn from the masters. (I still haven't actually spoken to Dave, or given him a hug or anything. He's always surrounded by people and I don't want interrupt. And I don't think I would dare give him a hug right now anyway. Apparently he was in an accident a while back and he moves like he is in so much pain. I guess I'm afraid just hovering around him will add to his discomfort, so I don't linger.)
Tomorrow is the booksignings. Duncan has asked me to get an autograph from Brandon Mull. He doesn't care what it's on, he just wants his name and Brandon's name on the same piece of paper. I'm taking The Candy Shop Wars to get signed. I think he will enjoy the book.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Day two
I am destined to sleep through this conference, I can tell. It's even later than it was last night and I almost slept through one of the lectures today. Honestly. It's hard being this pathetic. But I am, so this has to be quick.
Our assignment from yesterday was coming up with a one sentence pitch. Here goes.
Three siblings discover they are the lost heirs of a magical land.
Done before, yes, I know. But it's something, and something I haven't had before. I'm working on the paragraph pitch, and will hopefully have that tomorrow (later today). Also tomorrow (later today) I will be getting feedback on my prologue and first chapter. My nerves are jangling, to say the least. I am anticipating comments on prologues in general, and names (Liosalfar and probably Hiraeth). I intend to stick to my guns, siting Lloyd Alexander as the president for funky words in middle grade, and also Welsh.
In other 'news' Dave Wolverton's presentation was wonderful. However, I don't have enough brain cells awake right now to say how or why. Except that I will probably also be siting him too. I want that British contract too.
Our assignment from yesterday was coming up with a one sentence pitch. Here goes.
Three siblings discover they are the lost heirs of a magical land.
Done before, yes, I know. But it's something, and something I haven't had before. I'm working on the paragraph pitch, and will hopefully have that tomorrow (later today). Also tomorrow (later today) I will be getting feedback on my prologue and first chapter. My nerves are jangling, to say the least. I am anticipating comments on prologues in general, and names (Liosalfar and probably Hiraeth). I intend to stick to my guns, siting Lloyd Alexander as the president for funky words in middle grade, and also Welsh.
In other 'news' Dave Wolverton's presentation was wonderful. However, I don't have enough brain cells awake right now to say how or why. Except that I will probably also be siting him too. I want that British contract too.
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