(Alright, so it seems like the thing to do is to cross post.  Post on blogger and then copy into LJ. Originally I was just going to do the One Blog Thing.  But this seems doable.   I really do love the interaction here in LJ land so, I'm willing to give it a shot.  So, I'm going to be posting my recent posts in case the two of you who read things here would like to see them..heh :)

I have too many blogs!  So, new year, new blog.  I will now be a One Blog Woman.   I have loved livejournal but, sadly, I am switching over to blogger.  I know....Boo! Hiss! 

My sweet friend, newport2newport did me the favor of syndicating my new blog....you can friend it HERE. I'm not sure how the comments work on syndicated blogs.  Anyone have a clue?  I'm sure I won't be getting them in my inbox, but can I come to LJ and see them?  Hmmmm, well, I hope to still keep in contact with my dear friends here (I feel like I'm moving...at least there aren't any heavy boxes of books to heave out the door....) I plan on coming often to read my friend page.  I'm excited about the new blog, but worried I'll lose touch with some of you! Hopefully not. (I'm a natural worrywart.)

You can find my new blog here..... Shakespear's Stage. In the past I've tried to keep the different me's seperate and contained at their different blogs.  But no more! Now I'll be nutty and crazy in just one place.

I hope you'll visit me often. :)

I have too many blogs!  So, new year, new blog.  I will now be a One Blog Woman.   I have loved livejournal but, sadly, I am switching over to blogger.  I know....Boo! Hiss! 

My sweet friend, newport2newport did me the favor of syndicating my new blog....you can friend it HERE. I'm not sure how the comments work on syndicated blogs.  Anyone have a clue?  I'm sure I won't be getting them in my inbox, but can I come to LJ and see them?  Hmmmm, well, I hope to still keep in contact with my dear friends here (I feel like I'm moving...at least there aren't any heavy boxes of books to heave out the door....) I plan on coming often to read my friend page.  I'm excited about the new blog, but worried I'll lose touch with some of you! Hopefully not. (I'm a natural worrywart.)

You can find my new blog here..... Shakespear's Stage. In the past I've tried to keep the different me's seperate and contained at their different blogs.  But no more! Now I'll be nutty and crazy in just one place.

I hope you'll visit me often. :)

Alright.  What's the deal with syndicating posts?  Can I import outside blogs into LJ so that people can "friend" it? 

Anyone know? I'm, obviously, clueless!

Thanks!

My writing life is really good right now.  In fact, it's great!  And it's all because of my in-person critique group.

We email 10 pages of our novels to each other a couple days before we meet (well, that's what we're supposed to do!  Usually it's more like the day before!).  We meet twice a month at The Pastry Pub, a yummy little restuarant with great salads, sandwiches and to-die-for treats.  And then for a few hours we discuss and chat and eat and laugh. 

It's the best. 

We've been trying to name ourselves for awhile.  So hard.  We finally came up with The Pub Club.  Of course, this makes us sound like heavy drinkers and, in fact, none of us drink....at all.  Well, ya know, we do like water and milk and such.... heh heh.  But we liked having a name that had to do with where we meet AND we're all hoping to get pubbed. 

The group is so good for me since my life is so busy.  "What?" You ask.  "How can it help you if you're so busy? How do you have time for one more thing?" 

Great question.  See, I am very busy with my 5 monkeys.  School, scouts, church stuff, music lessons, play time, crafts and games....there's a lot to do.  Not to mention cleaning up after them (ok. I shouldn't mention that one actually...I'm not that good at that....)

But since I have a deadline, I have people expecting something from me, then I have to step up and do it.  I work well under pressure.  And in a way, it gives me permission to write.  Why do I need permission?  Well, it's all in my head, but sometimes it's hard to justify sitting down to write if they sink is full, the laundry is leaking out of the laundry room and children think they need to eat again (hey! didn't you eat 5 hours ago??!!) 
With a deadline, I have to write (Hey! Should we order pizza? Or how 'bout scrambled eggs for dinner?) I just HAVE to.  I love it.

Anyone else want to share why they love their in-person group?  I'd love to hear what makes your group so great! 

*Ack! I had wanted to get more of Chapter 4 written by now. I'm meeting with my crit group next week and I've only managed to get 3 rough pages typed.  blech. This is a hard time of year to make writing a priority!

*My oldest son has expressed some interest in auditioning for the Utah Shakespearean Festival, which takes place every summer here in Cedar City.  I'm looking into what this intails.  If he auditions this year he'll have 8 days to learn a bunch of scenes and songs from The Music Man.  It will be interesting to see how interested he is in this.

*I'm trying to plan our trip to Legoland, California.  We're not giving our kids a typical Christmas this year.  Instead they're getting a trip(I'm tired of spending so much money on crud...I'd rather spend it on family memories).  We're staying for a week on the beach in Carlsbad, California.  And they are super excited.  Anyone know of fun places to take kids in the San Diego area?  Great restuarants, parks, beaches, etc?

*We're going to see my dad and brother sing with the Southern Utah Heritage Choir and Orchestra tomorrow night.  I'm excited to see them all decked out in their tuxedos and hear the choir singing Christmas songs.

*While we're not giving our kids a bunch of wrapped gifts this year, we are all making something small for each other, with plans to put the gifts in each other's stockings.  It's fun to see the kids planning what to make for each other.  I love seeing how creative they get.  I'm so glad I have crafty kids!

1: This morning I got all gussied up and went into my husbands work at the BLM (Bureau of Land Managment). Turns out there were 6 babies born to employees of this office in the last year. So, they wanted a photo of the wee ones and their parents.  And all the babies were girls!  They took pics of all the parents and the babies and also shots of just the babies together on a blanket.  Pretty cute. 

2: A guy I graduated high school with, and whose sister I was best friends with, works with my husband and him and his wife had one of the 6 babies(incidently there were only 19 in the class...so we all knew each other pretty well.  Small class, right?).  I had never met his wife before. And we hit it off!  She's so fun.  Yay!  I love it when you meet someone and instantly click. We both have 5 kids. She's chatty and outgoing.  And, apparently she doesn't have much of a censor either.  We were made to be friends.  We're planning on getting the familes together sometime. 

3: Today as I was walking home from borrowing movies from a friend I had to help a random stranger chase down his pug puppy through my neighbor's back yards.  He was a bit worried about walking into people's yards he didn't know but he couldn't catch the dog.  It was pretty funny.  So, I tagged along to help him look legit and not like a stalker.  After 4 different yards, he finally caught it.  ha!

4: I am currently buying pajamas on-line.  I usually make them for the fam. But I really don't want to this year.  So, I'm just buying some off of target.com. It feels good.

5: I made Ning Mung Ja Gai Yuk for dinner....I'm not sure I spelled that right.  In other words, Chinese Lemon Chicken served over rice.  Yum.  So good!

Bonus 6: I got some rough drafty writing done for my next chapter.  I guess, more like exploratory writing.  I came up with funny bits to add.  And I was having trouble deciding on a magical food.  I know, random.  But, finally it hit me....popsicles.  Sounds weird, I'm sure.  But, trust me, it's perfect.  Also, I needed to figure out why my MC would come back at one point.  He's supposed to walk away. But I needed him to come back and see what was happening behind him.  Why he wouldn't he just play it safe and walk away.  And then I realized, I had set it up already to show that he was a hero-type.  He wants to help the little guy.  So, I needed there to be some trouble.  For him to hear the people in  need and then, boom.  He has to turn around. He has to see if he can help.  And thereby, creating the beginning of the change to come in his miserable life. 

I had a busy day, but I don't feel like I accomplished much.

I helped out with the cub scout den meeting this afternoon.  We went to the college campus and the boys got to see plastic being printed and watch a key chain for each of them made.  Yeah.  That's right.  A printer that prints plastic in 3d.  Maybe everyone knows about these things.  But, wow.  I'd never seen one before.  The boys were seriously impressed. And my oldest, who came along even though he's not a cub anymore, said he wants to go into engineering.

I did puzzles with my 3 yo, searched for my sewing pattern for pajama pants (where the heck?), gave my oldest a hair cut (I'm worried it really looks like his mom cut it), tried to give away my cats and got a bit of writing related stuff done...

I have a whole bunch of issues I'm trying to work out before I can really start on the next chapter of Jasper.  One thing is I'm still trying to pin down my "hard" magic system.  I'm worried it's too complicated. But I'm trying to make it unique and different, but, of course not so different that it's, well, too complicated and weird.

I knew some things had to change in the middle and I wasn't sure exactly what would fill the void.  Today I found this link on April Henry's blog , for the structure of screenplays.  It's brilliant! And amazingly my novel seems to match up with much of it already.  Yes, novels and movies are different, but I like the structure this article outlines.  It helped me see what needed to happen and when with my middle.  It was a light bulb moment for me. 

I also did some magic research on-line, perused some witchcraft sites, looking for some ideas for my magic system.  I was really excited to find out there is a book that will teach me how to attact an elf.  Is that a Keebler elf? Or one of Santa's little friends?  Or maybe a hot elf with rippling abs?  Hmmmm, I hope they clarify that in the book.  You'd hate to get those mixed up.

Today I went to Wal-mart, Wal-greens, Smith's, the bank and Great Harvest (bread store). 

Blech. I'm pooped. You're probably wondering why I went to so many stores.  Coupons.  I'm trying to do the coupon thing. I'm not crazy into it like some people. But a friend gave me a bunch of coupon ads from the newspaper that she didn't want so I put them to good use.  And I found a bunch on-line, too.  Being a stay-at-home mom with 5 kids, it's good for us to find ways to save money.  Someday I'll have my big book deal and then I won't have to clip coupons, right? Zzzzzzzzz....oh. wait. Was I dreaming out loud again?

The shopping trip was a complete joy.  I got to Wal-mart only to realize I couldn't find a baby sling in the suburban.  I love to carry my babies in slings.  And Molly was tired.  She goes to sleep in the sling beautifully and then I can just whip around the store getting the shopping done.  Bah.  So, back home to get the sling.  (only about 10 minutes to home) Ran in the house, searched around, finally found one, back to the suburban, leaned over the seat to grab something and spotted another sling tucked between the seats. 

Seriously? 

Ahhhh!  But the rest of the day wasn't that bad. I did run into a fellow writer here in town. We were talking and Zoe (my 3 yo) was whining and whining and finally I stopped to check out what was wrong (because of course I'd been pretending she wasn't my child up until now) and I then see she is in a high state of anxiety because the gallon of milk sitting next to her had somehow gotten too close and is squishing her (not really. More like leaning on her).  Really?  Be a strong girl!  You're tougher than a gallon of milk!  *sigh* 

Later, after finally getting home, two of my boys got dropped off by the bus while I was getting the groceries out of the vehicle.  

This is when the storm arrived. Why was I not better prepared? Couldn't I have battened down the hatches? Or something? Maybe stocked up on chocolate?  

The Storm of Never-Ending Talking rolled in and didn't show any signs of abating until late evening....say around 9:45.

Everyone needed to either tell me something, show me something, cry about their owie, be held, ask me about chores, tell me about the funny thing someone said, tell me about the funny thing their sister just said who is in the same room as me and I can hear, ask me about homework, ask me where the glue stick is, ask me about the random red thing they found on the ground, tell me about the boy in their class that likes to take glue and spread it over the bumpy bits on his pencil box and leave it over night and then peel it off in the morning and and and....

Wow.  It was not the easiest of days.  

So, I did not get any solid writing done. While I was nursing my wee babe, I did however brainstorm ideas for my problem with chapter 4. I think I came up with a good plan.  A way to add to the mystery, yet keep the magic constant and also get my characters some things they need.....all at the hands of a creepy old man in a long tattered purple robe who seems sinister but is actually another soul in need of help by my main character, Jasper.

Another good thing about the day, someone left us a surprise gift on our front door.  They knocked then left it and ran (well, I assume they ran. Although they probably just crept away. There is ice on our driveway. Running would be a bad idea...kind of spoil the surprise if I had to go help them up after they slipped).  It's an advent calendar made from a 24-cup muffin tin, cute scrapbook paper and magnets.  We opened the first one after we had family prayer.  It was the f

I got almost 2 hours of writing in today.  Tuesdays are a good day for writing since my little 3 yo goes to a mommy-run preschool (we take turns teaching it) and it's at the same time that my 7 month old takes a nap.  So...

Yay!  Alone time! 

I worked on cleaning up chapters 1 and 2.  Later, when both girls were down for a nap and my boys weren't home, yet, I got chapter 3 fixed up.  And then I started chapter 4.  I had a vague idea of what was going to happen and just let myself go and typed away a few paragraphs.  And I love them!  Love, love, love them.  There is drama and humor. 

Something I learned from my mentor, Patricia Lee Gauch, when I went to Chautauqua was that I write best when I just let myself go.  I mean, we've all heard that before.  Silence your inner-editor!!  But, somehow it actually sunk in there.  I think it's kind of like how sometimes people can be funny in person, in a crowd, but maybe it's harder to get that spontaneous funniness onto paper. 

I'm kind of a clown (this probably isn't surprising....). I'm always making jokes and being silly. I don't have much of a censor and often, I say things I really should have kept to myself (also, I often wonder what it would be like to be considered demure and graceful....)  But I'm always making people laugh (is that at me....or with me?....)  In order to be funny on the page, I have to let go, be spontaneous.  Not censor.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes....mmmm, not so much.

Now if only I could delete some of the things I say out loud like I can delete lines in my manuscript!

After I wrote those few good paragrahs, I realized they created a bit of problem which resulted in questions such as these floating through my head....

But why would he....?
And wouldn't he try to....?
Now how will he keep this a secret from....?

*sigh* It can't ever be easy, right?  And that's what makes it so fun!  It's like a giant puzzle.  I love it.

Today I read some great entries on blogs.  Here's one about outlining .  I loved this technique.  It's so basic and, yet, it's completely fantastic! And here's a great article  by Brandon Sanderson (mmmmm, love his Alcatraz books) about builidng magic systems. Thanks olmue  for that last link!  I devoured it.  It's brilliant.  It really go me thinking about my magic system....hard or soft magic? Or somewhere in between? 

I probably won't get much writing done tomorrow though.  It's early-out and two of my boys get home at 1:50, right in the middle of nap time.  And I have to do the shopping in the morning. snap.

Maybe if I make myself report my progress I'll be better at staying focused on my MG?  Maybe?  I don't know. It's worth a shot.

Right now I'm tweaking chapters 1-3 after the input I've recieved from my critique group.   I'm getting ready to swap some chapters with my awesome friend, fruitchoc   Mostly it's small things that need to be changed. Like I needed to give a reason for Jasper knowing what Matron's tacky rooms looked like (well, that's not hard....he has to clean them).  And I need to change up a dark character that shows up.  Apparently he resembles the Dementors a bit too much.  blech.  I wasn't going for that.  But, oh well.  I'll give him a big flowered handbag.  That'll change his personality completely, right?  ha. 

Also, for awhile now I've been trying to come up with a solid magic system.  I think  I've got it.  I think it's unique.  I haven't come across anything like it.  But I still have some issues with it. I need to get all my various magic users organized into different classes that make sense.  It's fun, but can be quite frustrating. And often I find myself thinking, "Why am I doing this???"  It can all seem a bit pointless.  But I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm going to stick with this.  I'm going to figure this novel writing business out.  I'm going to do it.  

Then I can get back to the creation of my crazy make believe world.

And just for kicks, here's another photo of my wee monkey because I enjoy showing her off!

I recently joined with a couple of super fun and talented writers to start up a little in-person critique group.  And I love it!  We have the best time.  We meet at The Pastry Pub which is a quaint little European-ish restuarant..  They serve some of my very favorite foods....a yummy Asian salad and Caramel Tiger Cake.  It's delish.  It's fantastic.  In fact it is so good we're thinking of naming our group after it. :)

I've been trying to rewrite Jasper, my struggling MG novel that I've been working on for YEARS.  I love this book.  I love the characters.  I love the creatures and the magic.  But I have issues with finding enough time.  Most of those issues revolve around this cute little one...



I know.   How does one get any writing done if a wee one like this wants to play with you or snuggle with you or laugh at you?  *sigh*  She is really fun though. 

A lady on a writing list I'm on posted her notes from a conference call she participated in.  Interesting stuff....


11 Suggestions to be a more productive writer:
Presentation by Kevin J. Anderson Nov 10,2010

1. Shut up and write. You cant’ wait to write until the muse hits. Think
of your writing as a job. Brandon Anderson had a night job as a clerk at
a hotel when he first started out as a writer.
2. Defy the empty page: If you can’t get through the first sentence
(stuck) then go to the second sentence/scene. Crash through words. Story
will Story will pick up its own momentum. If stuck on starting where you
left off, than retype the last page of what you wrote before and that can
get you going.
3. Dare to be bad: work on different projects at the same time. A.
research B. Outlining, breaking up chapters, C. character development
etc. D. Write the first draft of the manuscript. E. The editing phase. F.
Proof reading part (grammar spelling) and G. Running around and do
promotions. Kevin has about six projects in various stages of production.
If swamped on one project than move to another. Your projects can becomes
a horse race with five horses (books) running at a time. Maybe put
something on the fire for a new idea if you don’t have other books
currently in process.
4. Know the difference between writing and editing. The writing part is
the creative part such as building characters and describing the
adventure. Editing is the analytical part of the brain. This is where you
A. study the sentences, b. determine why a sentence is flunky. Confirm
details of the story. When you’re writing, turn off the editor in your
head. If you get to a spot that needs research than make a note on it and
just continue with the draft and come back later for the fix or research.
While writing you need to keep focused. Save self criticism and editing
of details for the second and later drafts. Be more productive by just
concentrating on getting through that draft. Once that is done you can
turn off the internal editor. Just concentrate on editing.
5. When you get time to write determine how to use every minute you
write. Figure out how to use all that time economically. Even in half
hour blocks a lot can be accomplished. Even a few sentences or paragraphs
in a short time can move the story forward. John Grissm wrote one page a
day on the first book he wrote. Everyone can find time to write 1 page a
day. Even page or few sentences moves the story forward.
6. Set goals for yourself and stick to them. If you set goal to write 5
pages a day than you need to stick to it. It must be an inflexible part
of your life even if you stay up to ensure that you write those 5 pages.
Set realistic goals that are challenging. If you set a goal of 5 pages
but only consistently write two than modify your goal. Make sure the goal
is realistic. (Melva, maybe page count over dong a specific time period.)
7. Some authors are productive when they think of their manuscripts as
being in a race. Once he and his writing group kept track of how many
things they had in the mail at one time. Have list of various markets and
just send things out constantly. Have it be a challenge to each other.
Use deadlines for different markets, contests to submit to. Decide that
there will be a new story for that deadline for each quarter of writes of
the future. Find a way to create goals and write for them and submit to
them. Give a reward for accomplishing different goals.
8. Create the best writing environment for yourself. See when you are the
most productive. What makes you get inspired to do more work? Figure out
what time of day you do your best work. Some authors work well in the
morning or evening. See what works best for you. Maybe you need to get up
early bef