I have temporarily extracted myself from cyberspace, and will be AWOL for a few more days, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive and kicking.
1) Got the awesome hair treatment done, and I LOVE it! If you have hair like mine, I highly recommend the Global Keratin treatment (as well as Erin at Rocstar Hair in Chicago).
2) Drove back from Chicago in nasty, horrible snow. I was a little traumatized from the drive, but arrived home safe and in one piece. I have no desire to do any driving for a while, though.
3) My husband, my mother, and I are flying to Phoenix today to visit my in-laws for the holidays. I'm really looking forward to the break and time to eat cookies and work on writing.
4) Future blog posts will include a review of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone (which I started in October and finally finished this week), and a review of Scrivener, which I got to use for NaNo. Preview: I loved both. Stay tuned.
5) Upcoming reading for me includes: No Place for Heroes by Laura Restrepo, Junction 2020 by Carol Riggs, The Hating Game by Talli Roland, and finishing On Writing by Stephen King. I'll post reviews of these, too, as I finish them.
What are you reading right now?
Happy Thursday, folks! :)
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
My Own Personal Challenges
I've been reading (among many other things at once) On Writing by Stephen King. I enjoyed reading his books when I was younger. After having read every Christopher Pike novel published to that point in my life at least three times, Stephen King was the next step, moving into the world of adult horror/suspense/thriller/what-have-you. And, honestly, even if you don't like Stephen King's style or his stories or are simply jealous, you have to admit—the man's got something.
So when a friend loaned me his writing memoir a few months ago I thought, "Okay, sure. Seems like a good idea."
Then it sat on the shelf until I reached 50K for NaNo.
I thought to myself, "What now?" as I'm sure many other NaNo's do. So I picked up King's On Writing to see what advice I could glean on how to dust off my work boots and get back into it.
The book is full of fabulous advice. Above and beyond the tips like "Read a lot. Write a lot", he suggests setting a daily goal. Don't do anything until you reach your goal. Don't give up and walk away. Write while eating your lunch if you must. Obviously great advice, and something I could stand to implement into my own life.
But the piece of advice that has resonated with me so soundly today is about description. I tend to be an under-describer in my writing, particularly in my first drafts. As I read, I thought about my NaNo creation (whatever it may be) and about the setting. What had I described well? Ne, what had I described at all? Oh, it hurts to admit that I may have let the description slide some. But now I know at least one thing to focus on when I go back for rewrites.
There are plenty of other gems in King's On Writing. This is just the one that inspired me today.
What's some great writing advice you've been given/come across?
So when a friend loaned me his writing memoir a few months ago I thought, "Okay, sure. Seems like a good idea."
Then it sat on the shelf until I reached 50K for NaNo.
I thought to myself, "What now?" as I'm sure many other NaNo's do. So I picked up King's On Writing to see what advice I could glean on how to dust off my work boots and get back into it.
The book is full of fabulous advice. Above and beyond the tips like "Read a lot. Write a lot", he suggests setting a daily goal. Don't do anything until you reach your goal. Don't give up and walk away. Write while eating your lunch if you must. Obviously great advice, and something I could stand to implement into my own life.
But the piece of advice that has resonated with me so soundly today is about description. I tend to be an under-describer in my writing, particularly in my first drafts. As I read, I thought about my NaNo creation (whatever it may be) and about the setting. What had I described well? Ne, what had I described at all? Oh, it hurts to admit that I may have let the description slide some. But now I know at least one thing to focus on when I go back for rewrites.
There are plenty of other gems in King's On Writing. This is just the one that inspired me today.
What's some great writing advice you've been given/come across?
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
In Which I Have a Girlie Moment
It's Wednesday, December 8. Today I will turn in my final portfolio for my writing class and take my German exam, thus closing out this semester. By 8:30pm EST tonight, I will be FREE of academic obligations for almost a month.
So what am I doing to celebrate, you might ask? I'm going to Chicago to hang out with my old college roommates, reconnect with a high school friend I haven't seen since, well, high school, and get my hair done with the most amazing hairdresser. Hence, the girlie.
I am a woman cursed (or blessed—the grass is always greener, yada yada) with thick, curly, frizzy hair. I hate dealing with my hair because it can be such a tangled mess. When I do my hair—i.e., blow dry and straighten to defrizz—it can take at least 30 minutes. And for Thanksgiving, when I was fixing my hair, I fried the circuit in half the house by having the flat iron, hair dryer, and a space heater all on at the same time.
How excited am I to go to Chicago? Oh so very! In August I put up pictures from my college roomie's wedding. Said amazing hairdresser came from Chicago to Wisconsin to do the hair of everyone in the wedding party, and while she cut my hair on the loading dock of a building at Beloit College, she told me she was getting certified in a new type of hair treatment to straighten hair. This weekend, I will have this done. It's organic and relatively chemical-free. And it's supposed to be so amazing that I can walk straight out of the shower and let my hair air dry with little to no fuss.
I'll let you know how it goes, but hopefully the girl in the picture above will never have such horrid hair again!
So what am I doing to celebrate, you might ask? I'm going to Chicago to hang out with my old college roommates, reconnect with a high school friend I haven't seen since, well, high school, and get my hair done with the most amazing hairdresser. Hence, the girlie.
How excited am I to go to Chicago? Oh so very! In August I put up pictures from my college roomie's wedding. Said amazing hairdresser came from Chicago to Wisconsin to do the hair of everyone in the wedding party, and while she cut my hair on the loading dock of a building at Beloit College, she told me she was getting certified in a new type of hair treatment to straighten hair. This weekend, I will have this done. It's organic and relatively chemical-free. And it's supposed to be so amazing that I can walk straight out of the shower and let my hair air dry with little to no fuss.
I'll let you know how it goes, but hopefully the girl in the picture above will never have such horrid hair again!
Monday, December 6, 2010
After Emerging from the Hole...
A lot of stuff happened while I disappeared into the world of NaNo.
Most shocking to me was the announcement that Nathan Bradsford is no longer agenting (gasp!). I'm happy to hear that he'll continue blogging, and his new job over at CNET must have the potential for fewer hours, but I'm still shocked.
Talli Roland's new book The Hating Game hit Amazon.com's Kindle sales at a sprint. I grabbed my copy on the 1st, but if you haven't had a chance, pop over to Amazon and grab a copy. The Kindle version is only $2.99. Paperback will be coming out soon.
Okay, these are the big ones that I know about. What else did I miss last month?
Most shocking to me was the announcement that Nathan Bradsford is no longer agenting (gasp!). I'm happy to hear that he'll continue blogging, and his new job over at CNET must have the potential for fewer hours, but I'm still shocked.
Talli Roland's new book The Hating Game hit Amazon.com's Kindle sales at a sprint. I grabbed my copy on the 1st, but if you haven't had a chance, pop over to Amazon and grab a copy. The Kindle version is only $2.99. Paperback will be coming out soon.
Okay, these are the big ones that I know about. What else did I miss last month?
Friday, December 3, 2010
What I Learned from NaNoWriMo
Okay, I've had a couple of days away from it, so I think I can write about it. Hurrah for Dec 3! :)
National Novel Writing Month was intense for me for many reasons, and many of those reasons were writing-related without being NaNo-related.
First, I learned that I'm not superwoman (even if I want to be). I can't do everything. I'm grateful I'm not taking more classes this semester, because nothing would have gotten accomplished if I were.
Second, I leaned a lot about writing. I have a much deeper appreciation for an outline now (which I might not have realized without seeing Lynda's post). I was so anxious to start writing for NaNo in October that I had to do something, so I outlined and character sketched. Amazing things about my story and about my characters came to light through that process. And without that outline, in my situation only superwoman (see #1 above) could have finished with 50K by Nov 30.
Third, I learned that it's okay to give up. I know. I did make it to 50K, but if you look at my NaNo stats, there was over a week of inactivity once I reached about 12K. I had other projects for school that took a lot of time (see my end-of-November posts on "Never Truly Gone"), and I had to tell myself it was okay not to finish the NaNo novel. In fact, it wasn't until I reached 40K that I honestly thought I would make it. If I hadn't given myself permission to not win I probably would have been so wrapped up in my own personal anxiety-hell that I wouldn't have reached 25K.
Fourth, I learned I'm not a writing multi-tasker. Oh, man. When I have to juggle three different traditional stories and one graphic-novel-like project, I can't think about more than one at a time. And that's okay. I don't see myself in this position again (too often) when I have to think about all of them on one day. Granted, I could work on story A on Monday and story B on Tuesday and that would probably be okay, but when I have drafts of three different stories open on my computer at once, it's probably too much. Hopefully I won't have to do that again.
Finally, I realized that I can do this. Maybe I won't be the next writing superstar, but I have something in my head that needs to reach wider audiences. And I WANT to write. And I love it, despite all the hard work. And while editing isn't exactly my idea of fun evening in, I like that, too. I'm ready to take on the challenge of the industry and move from being a writer to an author.
National Novel Writing Month was intense for me for many reasons, and many of those reasons were writing-related without being NaNo-related.
First, I learned that I'm not superwoman (even if I want to be). I can't do everything. I'm grateful I'm not taking more classes this semester, because nothing would have gotten accomplished if I were.
Second, I leaned a lot about writing. I have a much deeper appreciation for an outline now (which I might not have realized without seeing Lynda's post). I was so anxious to start writing for NaNo in October that I had to do something, so I outlined and character sketched. Amazing things about my story and about my characters came to light through that process. And without that outline, in my situation only superwoman (see #1 above) could have finished with 50K by Nov 30.
Third, I learned that it's okay to give up. I know. I did make it to 50K, but if you look at my NaNo stats, there was over a week of inactivity once I reached about 12K. I had other projects for school that took a lot of time (see my end-of-November posts on "Never Truly Gone"), and I had to tell myself it was okay not to finish the NaNo novel. In fact, it wasn't until I reached 40K that I honestly thought I would make it. If I hadn't given myself permission to not win I probably would have been so wrapped up in my own personal anxiety-hell that I wouldn't have reached 25K.
Fourth, I learned I'm not a writing multi-tasker. Oh, man. When I have to juggle three different traditional stories and one graphic-novel-like project, I can't think about more than one at a time. And that's okay. I don't see myself in this position again (too often) when I have to think about all of them on one day. Granted, I could work on story A on Monday and story B on Tuesday and that would probably be okay, but when I have drafts of three different stories open on my computer at once, it's probably too much. Hopefully I won't have to do that again.
Finally, I realized that I can do this. Maybe I won't be the next writing superstar, but I have something in my head that needs to reach wider audiences. And I WANT to write. And I love it, despite all the hard work. And while editing isn't exactly my idea of fun evening in, I like that, too. I'm ready to take on the challenge of the industry and move from being a writer to an author.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Hating Game Web Splash
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/hX2ieD
Don't have an actual Kindle? Don't worry! It's super easy to download and use on a number of different devices.
Download a free app at Amazon for Mac, iPhone, PC, Android and more.
About THE HATING GAME:
When man-eater Mattie Johns agrees to star on a dating game show to save her ailing recruitment business, she's confident she'll sail through to the end without letting down the perma-guard she's perfected from years of her love 'em and leave 'em dating strategy. After all, what can go wrong with dating a few losers and hanging out long enough to pick up a juicy £200,000 prize? Plenty, Mattie discovers, when it's revealed that the contestants are four of her very unhappy exes. Can Mattie confront her past to get the prize money she so desperately needs, or will her exes finally wreak their long-awaited revenge? And what about the ambitious TV producer whose career depends on stopping her from making it to the end?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
A New Month
It's December 1st. The new month starts with a thin blanket of fresh snow. A time for new beginnings and space heaters.
Okay, NaNo's over. My group project is done. My second story for my class has been turned in to be workshopped on Friday. So what do I do with myself now?
Blog catch-up!
Yes, folks, I'm coming to catch up on your lives and say hello. That's the plan.
Okay, NaNo's over. My group project is done. My second story for my class has been turned in to be workshopped on Friday. So what do I do with myself now?
Blog catch-up!
Yes, folks, I'm coming to catch up on your lives and say hello. That's the plan.
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