All I Want For Christmas...

Kristen Koster's wish list is a tough act to follow.  I'll take some of that butt glue if she has any to spare!

If Santa (the real one or my own personal Santa aka hubby) is looking for ideas, I jotted down a few.

At the top of my list is a Swing Chair for all of those long hours at the computer (when the butt glue kicks in.)   I test drove one at MacOutfitters .  Pricey, but, oh-so-nice!

Speaking of MacOutfitters, they also have iPads.  (Hint, hint!)  Let's just say I wouldn't be adverse to finding one of those under the tree either.

More practically speaking, though, all I really want is to enjoy the holidays and experience the wonderment and excitement of it through the eyes of the little ones in my life.

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season!

Check out the wish lists of my Accountability Group.   (Peaking allowed!)

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Even Siri Doesn't Know

As we're looking ahead to 2012 and a clean slate--a brand new set of goals, the question du jour posed to my Accountability group is:  Where are you now? Where is that, in comparison to where you were six months ago? A year? Five years, ten? How have your goals changed? What would you do differently?

I asked Siri (on my new iPhone) where I was, and she didn't know either.  Of course, it might have been during one of her periods of unavailability.

Or it could be that I don't know either.

2011 has been a rough and emotionally devastating year for me, one that began with a newborn little baby fighting for her life. My heart and mind were far, far away from Regency England, and getting words down on paper didn't seem all that important to me.  

And just as this little one faces her challenges each and every day, I am struggling to get back to where I was, writing-wise.  Writer's inertia (I won't call it block) is difficult to overcome, lost momentum, equally hard to gain back. 

So, to answer the question of where I am, the answer is not where I would like to be.  I've made only modest gains on my manuscript this year.  But it is nearly complete and I am hoping to cross that finish line early in 2012.

When activated, the iPhone's Siri asks, "What can I help you with?"    My question is "How can I help myself?"

For that answer, I'll take inspiration from that strong little girl and her loving parents by:
       1.  Focusing on what I can do, rather than on what I can't or didn't do.  
                                              and
       2.  Celebrating every achievement and hard-fought milestone, no matter how small  or seemingly insignificant.
   
To find out where my Accountability Group members are in their individual journeys, check out these links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

No Means No...Except When It Means Maybe?

...or, in other words, do you know where your Crazymaker is? 

The Artist's Way's author, Julia Cameron identifies Crazymakers as  "those personalities that create storm centers. They are often charismatic, frequently charming, highly inventive, and powerfully persuasive. And for the creative person in their vicinity, they are enormously destructive. You know the type: charismatic but out of control, long on problems and short on solutions."

And--I speak from  personal experience--every family has at least one Crazymaker.  (Or rather only one, if you're lucky.)  Some of you must have misplaced yours because I seem to have more than my share! Please retrieve them!

My DD is my Crazymaker.  She has grown into a wonderful woman, but her organizational skills (or lack thereof) and tendency to overcommit lends itself to chaos.  Chaos that spills over into my life, and all too often, my writing time.  

Because I allow it to.  Julia Cameron is right.  And oh-so-smart.

Why do I allow it?  Why does no turn into maybe, and eventually--inevitably, yes?  

Ms. Cameron's theory is that we use our Crazymaker as an excuse not to create. To be honest, this is not something I do every time, at least not consciously, but, looking back, there are instances I've done just that.   

So now I've identified the enemy--myself (for the most part) and diagnosed the problem, what can I do about it? 

• Learn when to say yes, and when (and how) to say no.  Repeat the mantra above.  (A tincture of tough love may be needed here.)
• Examine my reason for saying yes.  Is it something I really want or need to do, or am I avoiding the blank page?
• Find someone to help me be accountable to myself. 
• Respect myself and honor my writing time.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Right up there with the first day of school, and, oh,...yeah, Christmas.

NaNoWriMo is upon us.  That very special time when masochistic writers everywhere embrace 30 days of literary abandon in the pursuit of 50,000 words.  To the exclusion of all else, including friends, family, and, all too often, personal hygiene.

I am not among the faithful flock this year due to various factors.  The kidlets need fed, the Thanksgiving fare prepared (whose idea was it anyway to schedule Turkey Day during NaNoWriMo month?), and, last but not least, the Federal jury system has concluded that I have nothing better to do with my time.

But I plan to unofficially join my ACers and other crazy,...um, committed writers and write more this month than I ever deemed possible.

How do I like to reach for my daily word count?  After hubby leaves for work, I like to have my morning cup of coffee, check my email, then open Scrivener and get settled in.  I prefer to work in quiet solitude,  Or while listening to High Focus through my noise-cancelling headphones.

These ideal conditions rarely happen.  My days are often fragmented by interruptions and family obligations, otherwise known as Real Life.

So I've learned to (cliche alert) roll with the punches.  I'm fortunate to have several options.  I may write on my laptop in the evenings while hubby is watching television.  Or I may grab my Alphasmart Neo (as I'm doing now) and make use of snippets of time.  Flexibility is the key.

Most importantly, you have to find out what works for you.

Take a moment and check out how my Accountability Group likes to work.  Here are the links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Research

As with many writers of Regency-era historicals, I love to research.  I find the time, its mores, and double standards fascinating.  So much so that I can often procrastinate,...um, waste time, searching for obscure facts I'll never use.

Which may lead you to ask, is all that extensive research necessary?

Well, yes and no.  Readers of Regency are extremely knowledgable about the period, and they expect a well-written, well-researched book.  And they have every right to do so.

But, at some point it time, an author actually has to begin putting words on the page.

The method I've found to work best for me is to:

1)  Read enough about the time period and location you're writing about to get a general feel for it.  If you're well read in the sub-genre, such as Regency, you've probably gleaned a wealth of knowledge already.

2)  If you're lacking a specific fact that is is pivotal to your work-in-progress, then you should probably take the time to find it before you go on.  Otherwise, mark it and keep writing.  You don't want to lose hours or days searching the internet for some obscure piece of information that really isn't all that important to the development of your plot, or worse yet, ends up getting edited out.

3) Obviously you'll want to sprinkle in bits of research to flavor your novel.  But, as with any seasoning, too much of a good thing doesn't make it better.  As tempting as it might be, avoid the urge to use a fascinating fact/description/whatever if it doesn't fit.  Like a subtle perfume, research shouldn't overwhelm the reader.

Thanks to the books I've purchased and the wealth of information available on the internet, I do most of my research at home these days.

Which is probably a good thing since it would take forever to cross the Atlantic on an ocean liner (I don't like to fly) and my library really frowns on my work attire of jammie pants and fuzzy socks!

For more research advice, check out the links below:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Books-A-Million

No, not the store, but rather what's on my bookshelves.

Well, maybe there aren't quite that many.

I keep a bookshelf in my office, filled with my reference materials and books on the craft of writing itself.  Not to mention the usual writerly fare of dictionaries and thesauruses.  Downstairs I have another bookshelf filled with even more research books.

Now for my confession.

I have stashes of fiction, much like a guilt-ridden dieter with a secret reserve of snack food.  In the end tables in my living room.  Under the couch.  In the basement,

And, yes, even in the bathroom.

Don't laugh!  One never knows when the opportunity for a Calgon-take-me-away moment will present itself.

And there are the ebooks on my Nook.

I resisted--even fought--the e-reader evolution.  Argued to anyone who recommended one that I like the feel of a "real" book in my hands. (I still do.)

But it only took a couple of page-turning swipes before I was hooked.  A great read is a great read, no matter what format it comes in.

And that's a good thing.

Since I'm running out of stashes!

Take a moment and check out these links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

It Keeps Me in Stitches

This week my Accountability Groups is blogging about our hobbies. It goes without saying that reading is one of my hobbies. That's pretty much a given with any writer.

I blogged earlier about genealogy being one of my hobbies--one I have to be very careful of.  I find old records, newspapers, and the like fascinating.  It's like digging for clues to solve a mystery.  A little bit like plotting.

Another one of my hobbies is sewing.  I just finished a few baby quilts.

My latest project

Again, I can find the similarities to plotting a novel.  Putting scraps together to make a (hopefully!) cohesive finished product.  And, more often that not, these projects are deadline-driven.  Usually someone else's deadline.

Both of these creative outlets can be time sucks, if you allow them.  And, unfortunately, I all-too-often do!

Last--but not least--is my love of football.  I rush home from church, grab a bite to eat, and veg out on the couch for three hours, getting my weekly infusion.

Yes, I am a lifelong Steeler fan.

You're probably thinking my hubby is one lucky guy, finding a woman who loves to watch football with him.  Except that I've probably married to the one man in all of Steeler Country who doesn't watch football!

Take a minute and check out the hobbies of my Accountability Group.  The links are:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Yes. No. Maybe so?

Does writer's block exist?  If so, how do you beat it?

This week I posed the questions to my Accountability Group.

Easy topic, right?  Ask any writer, and they'll give an immediate reply.

Writer's block exists for me.  Not in the literal sense where I can't find the words.  I can type fairly quickly or scribble down a jolt of inspiration (can't promise that it will be legible, though). 

I just can't find the right words.  

And if I do, per chance, find the right ones or ones I deem close enough, I'm hesitant to add more words--potentially wrong ones-- and ruin the near-perfection. 

Yes, I am the poster girl for only child perfectionism.  Not that I often achieve it, but I still insist upon it.

And effectively shackle my creativity in the process in doing so.

Now that I have that all figured out, you would assume there'd be a quick fix.

If there is, I haven't found it.  But I've come up with subterfuge--I mean a few strategies--that work for me.

• Switch it up! I have the luxury of having a desktop and a laptop computer.  Sometimes I'll switch to my laptop.  I know it sounds crazy, but I trick myself into thinking that I can't mess up the "good" version of my manuscript.  You can find a variation of this might work for you.  Use your word processor's track changes feature or change your font color.
• Chat challenges.   There's just something about the camaradarie of another writer who is banging her head against the wall, too.   Find a writing pal to check in with.  You'll be amazed how those words add up!
• BICHOK.  Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard.  Sometimes I find it's just a matter of finding my rhythm.  Of priming the pump.  Of keeping my butt in the chair long enough for the words to start flowing.  (It doesn't help that , in addition to being a perfectionist, I'm an impatient one!)
• Read.  This almost always works for me!  My subconscious is working in the background to find a way over, under, around or through the block.  Sometimes it's just a phrase, a description, an unexpected plot twist that sends me back to the computer.
• When all else fails, do the dishes (or another equally mindless task).  Does this mean that my hubby is actually trying to help me when he snacks all evening and loads up the kitchen sink?  Who knew?

The bottom line is that whether writer's block truly does exist or it's mere myth doesn't really matter.  A writer has two choice:  press on or give up.

And, in addition to being a perfectionist and being impatient, I am also too stubborn to quit.

Which is a good thing!

Check out how my writing pals deal with writer's block.  ·       

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

But We're Talking About Writing, Not Exercising... (Or What I've Learned From Writing)

I just got home from exercising the Wellness Program.  Did I want to go this morning?  An emphatic "no."  I have a cold.  You can literally write your name in the dust on my furniture.  There's Open House at school tonight.  The list goes on and on.  


Oh, and I would really like to get some writing done today.


Really?  Would I?


There are days I really enjoy exercising.  Okay, I'll fess up. Those days are few and far between.  But I like having exercised.  Past tense.

The same goes with my writing.  There are days when I love to write.  When the words are flowing fast and furious, and my fingers can hardly keep up.  I'm lost in another world, another time, and my characters actually do as I bid--well, at least, some of the time.


And then there are those days.  Days when I cannot seem to construct a sentence.  Days when it's a struggle just to form a cohesive thought.  When distractions of everyday life buzz around me like an annoying insect.  


Those are days when I like to have written much better than I like to write.


But...the most amazing thing is that when I go back and reread what I've written, I truly can't tell which pages were written on days that I loved writing them or on those all-too-frequent painstaking days when my Muse had to be coaxed, bribed--even threatened before she shows up.


What matters is that I show up.  Whether it be at the gym.


Or, more importantly, at the page....


This week the AC writers are blogging about what they've learned from writing.  Check out these links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

My Great-Grandmother Did What?! (Or Where Do I Get My Ideas?)

From my local newspaper: (1891)

"Matrimonial Ties
--Scott C____, a well known glass worker, formerly a resident here, and Miss Nettie, daugheter of Andrew G. R____ of this city, were married in Streator, Illinois, Thursday,  Mr. C____ is working in a glass factory in Streator and, not wishing to lose any time in coming here to be married, sent for his bride who left here Tuesday to join her lover."

Aww, romance.  The stuff of fairy tales.

How can one NOT see the glimmer of an idea here?  I'm going to cast aside cynicism and believe this happy union had everything to do with a man and woman being head over heals in love and nothing to do with my grandmother being born less than four months later!

As you might have guessed, I love genealogy.  Almost as much as I love historical romance.  I've found old newspapers, census records, biographies are all a treasure trove of ideas.

In addition to my grandmother's...um, rather "premature" birth, I have unearthed some skeletons in my family's closet.  An aunt who never knew the man that raised her wasn't her biological father.  A great- great grandfather who fathered the child of a 12-year old girl back in the 1910s.  (And, yes, thankfully, he was arrested and tried for it.)  My husband's great-great grandfather who was born in the 1860s to a widow two years after her husband died.  Talk about the math not adding up!

I read a story in the local newspaper from the late 1800s/early 1900s about a young girl being buried alive.  She had been given a dose of an opiate that induced a coma.  The neighbor's dogs kept carrying on at night, and finally the coffin was exhumed.  The lining was shredded from the poor soul trying to claw her way out.  I kid you not!

Sounds like Stephen King may not have such a fantastical imagination after all!

This week the AC writers are blogging about where they get their ideas. Check out these links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Got Ruby Slippers? (Or What Inspires Me?)

That was the question posed to my Accountability Group this week.

I suspect my sources of inspiration will be the same as many of theirs.  And many of yours as well.

Nothing helps my fickle Muse get her mojo on like reading a good book.  Sometimes reading (or rereading) just for pleasure or, more often than not, trying to figure out how that author kept me glued to the pages.  I have even been known to get an infusion of inspiration from reading a bad book, contemplating how it could have been better.

I have lots of visual cues in my writing cave.  One of my them is my sparkly ruby slippers.  No, not one of the four pair in existence, one of which sold for $666,000 at Christies Auction House in 2000, but a 4" magnetic pair.

They're a reminder of one of my favorite quotes.

Dorothy had the shoes, but lacked the vision.  Take control!
--Anonymous

At first glance, the quote might seem frivolous to you, but it reminds me that Dorothy had the means to get back to Kansas all along.  She just didn't realize it!

If clicking my heels together three times would result in a book contract, I'd be right on that.

But what I can do is take control--and get out of my own way.  One of the biggest (if not the biggest) impediments to my writing career is me.  Whether I'm feeling inspired or not, it's my job to write.  As Pablo Picaso once said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working."

The AC writers are blogging this week about where they find inspiration!
Here are the links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Shoe Drama: Lessons Learned From A Five-Year Old (or How I Write)

If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's the predictably of certain events.

Every September the leaves begin their transformation into a swath of brilliant color.  Just as predictably, my neighbors will begin burning those leaves once they fall.  And, without fail, there will be shoe drama the first week of school.

Last week did not disappoint.  Those Skechers Twinkle Toes that felt wonderful in the store only a few days earlier now were too tight and hurt.

And the socks?  Well, I think it would be easier to achieve world peace than to get the seam at the toe just right....

In reality, the shoes were uncomfortable, perhaps, but not too tight.  What they were was constricting after a bare-feet-and-flip-flops summer. 

After wailing and tears (hers) and gnashing of teeth (mine),  I did convince the five-year old skeptic that she just needed to break them in.  "The more you wear them, the better they’ll feel,” I assured her.

Much like my writing schedule.

After a lackadaisical summer—with lackluster productivity, it’s time for me to do the writing equivalent of wearing shoes again.  It’s time to settle back into a writing schedule.

And, just as predictably, there will be those don’t-want-to-just don’t-feel-like-it times when I will find it equally constricting and uncomfortable.

That same sage advice I gave her applies to breaking in a new writing routine.  Show up at your desk regularly, if not daily.  With the tincture of time and repetition, the schedule will become comfortable.

As much as I would like to be pursuing my writing on a full-time basis, it isn’t possible right now.  But what is possible is committing to consistent writing.

Every Sunday I look at my schedule for writing opportunities for the upcoming week.  (Notice I didn’t say free time.  As any woman will attest, it simply doesn’t exist.)   Then I plan my writing schedule accordingly and claim that time.  Before someone else does.

Does all go as planned?  Invariably, no.    Do I get to the keyboard daily?  Not always.

But can I commit to breaking in my shiny new writing schedule?  Part-time, yes, but more importantly, on a consistent basis.  

Yes, I can!

The AC writers are blogging about their schedules this week! 
Here are the links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

How I Write-My Writing Cave

spe-lunk-er  n : a person who explores and studies caves.

That definition fits me.  I spend a lot of time in my writing cave., exploring Regency England through my words and studying craft of writing.

I have a cozy bedroom-turned-office, complete with all of the necessary (and some of the not-so-necessary, but nice) writerly accoutrement--Scrivener installed my iMac, noise-cancelling headphones (I love hubby, but his guitar...um, not so much), and, of course, my Lambchop-turned-Muse.  And did I mention tons of books?

I prefer to do my writing in my office, but it doesn't always happen that way.  Sometimes I write on my laptop in the living room while hubby watches the same episode of How It's Made (for the umpteenth time, but who's counting?) or Swamp Wars.  Hey, it's (sort of) quality time, and it keeps up both happy!

Even though hubby and I are empty nesters, I still share the struggle of writing with young children underfoot.  Or in my case, on lap.  I'm writing this on my Alphasmart Neo while my infant grandson snoozes.  There are even times when I'm forced to resort to pen and paper.  Whatever works!

One of my best writing "finds" is my Accountability Group.  They're an awesome bunch--invaluable, indispensable, and then some!

This week they're blogging about their writing caves and how they write.  Check out their sites!

 Alexia Reed
Angeleque Ford
 Kristen Koster
 Kimberly Farris