Hey, kids! Do you want to write a hot debut dystopian novel? Do you long to chronicle the exploits of technologically advanced yet sadly trapped Dome People and the gritty, valiant outsiders who scrabble for existence on the ruined and... Read the rest of this post
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Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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If only putting on a metaphorical hat and necklace was the key to writing success, right? I'm still in the first stage of my next project, and that sorry mess on the left is probably an optimistic visual representation at this point. (To be totally... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Just drowning in work. I'm here, though! And I promise more words (and occasional pictures) will spill forth in multitudes (or, at least, multiples) soonish.In the meantime, I just found out the Hans Christian Andersen awards were announced by the... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Yes...it's that time of year again...the time where I am so snowed under (metaphorically, since I live in California) that I have to revisit an old favorite post instead of writing something original. But, since I'm sort of in the process of... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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With my final deadline looming on my upcoming novel--the one where I get a nifty-looking stack of printed proofs via Fedex, and then have to go over them with a fine-toothed comb for typos and any other remaining errors; with an absolute HEAP of... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Literary Life Observations, Writing Daze, Views, AF, Add a tag
There are so many mythologies around being a writer or an artist. By "mythology" I don't mean to imply a lack of accuracy or truth--just the idea that our culture has built up certain expectations about the way artists think, live, and work that may... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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We had such a fantastic conversation in the comments after my post entitled "Rekindling My Love for Blogging" that I wanted to reproduce some of those comments here, in the hopes of sparking more discussion--because I really think it's an important... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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...I sure am! Especially since I seem to keep thinking up horrific scenarios in which writers enter into ludicrous competitions for the delectation of a live audience, as if it isn't already enough that our work goes out into the world for judgment... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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The latest pie chart: presenting the truth about writing retreats. Please note: pie chart is a work of creative non-fiction. Your experience may vary. This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Welcome, all of you who have wandered this direction from various tweets and posts, and to our regular Wonderland crew. We're here with author Shana Mlawski, author of THE HAMMER OF WITCHES, and today, Shana's gonna give us some author-chat on...... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Since I am not the only person in my writing group struggling through a beastly rewrite, I hereby devote this cartoon to the lot of us--and anyone else out there to whom it might pertain.I suppose it goes without saying that the manuscript you... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Click to view larger. Sorry today's is a rerun. I had an idea all ready to go, but TIME, people, time is not on my side right now. Perhaps I should've taken a 2-week break from blogging, but I was afraid to stretch it out too long lest I fill that... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Which parts are burnt out? Answer: All of them!For the health of my poor brain and all of the many things I've been forcing it to do over the past couple of weeks, I'm taking a brief blogging hiatus until next week. With the last of my book edits... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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"Whoooo wants to finishthis revision for me?"Fresh off a weekend where I did nothing but edits, I find myself shockingly brain-fried. And, since I'm waiting on posting a few reviews until Cybils winners are announced (I got all excited, went and... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I know, that sounds like the punchline to some sort of bad Yakov Smirnoff joke ("In Soviet Russia, PLOT manhandles YOU!") but I'm pretty sure we've all been there. We think we're actually plot wrangling with the best of 'em, but the control is just... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Lee Wind and Mother Reader, those lovely individuals and blogging stalwarts, are once again doing their blog Comment Challenge this year. It's going on RIGHT NOW, in fact. Unlike previous years, this year I didn't even manage to sign up, let alone... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Now presenting not only your toon for the day, but also a freshly updated Toon Thursday Archive (which I sheepishly realized I had not updated since last March...oopsie). Anyway, here you go: This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Periodically I share things with my writing group that I think are a great idea to share with people across the board, as it were. So, from us to you: your periodic Bechdel Public Service Announcement.A quick refresher for those who don't know what... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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It feels good to know I can get back to a twice-a-week posting schedule again, rather than the sad little once-a-week I had going there for a while. Now I can catch up on reviews (there's one of Sailor Twain that I've had to keep putting off),... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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...or what passes for normal, anyway. YES, that means I have officially SENT OFF MY REVISION and can emerge at least partway from my self-imposed hermitude. Of course, now I have to catch up on all the other stuff I've been neglecting (including... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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So this is a Toon Thursday I came up with several weeks ago but just couldn't properly bring it to life, so it languished as notes in my sketch book until yesterday, when I finally was able to render it visually. (That, in part, is why the last toon... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing Daze, Happenings, Views, AF, Add a tag
...the reason I ask is that it seems my Toon Thursdays have moved to a tri-weekly format. There is just TOO MUCH STUFF happening this summer. Also, being sick this week is not helping my creativity any. It seems to be draining straight out of my... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Views, AF, Writing Daze, Toon Thursday, Add a tag
In honor of the fact that I will soon be embarking upon a major novel revision for my next book, due out in 2013, I set my mind a-pondering on the topic of what we actually spend our time on when we sit down to revise. I don't know about you, but... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing Daze, Toon Thursday, Views, AF, Add a tag
Last week was supposed to be Toon Thursday week, but it was pushed back a week because of the Summer Blog Blast Tour (go check out our interviews, if you haven't yet!). Accordingly, with an extra week to think about it, I have produced what might be... Read the rest of this post
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Brand new Toon Thursday, get it while it's hot! It may not be the early-morning edition, but surely you'll all settle for the evening edition, yes?Happy Thursday! This work is copyrighted material. Please contact the weblog owner for further... Read the rest of this post
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Great post. Interestingly enough, since so many people I know think that just about anyone can write a book, they've seldom asked me how I came up with the books I've written. Some might venture, "How long did it take you to write it?" But that's as far as the conversatin goes.
You're right--there are those who think anyone can write a book. I have encountered some of those, too.
I feel like, in a sense, yes, it's true that many people are in fact capable of penning a book-length manuscript. Not everyone is capable, however, of revising that manuscript, again and again, or viewing it with a critical eye in order to make it the best it can be. Of course, that's another aspect of the mythos: so many people want to "be writers" and "have written" stuff, but not so much with the actual work of writing. :)
I hear you. I'm always in awe when a writer pumps out three books in a year. How is this even remotely possible? It slays me.
That said- I think authors are vague to keep up the mystic. Fans don't want to hear how their favorite writers ignored everyone in their lives and didn't sleep, shower, or change their clothes for weeks to compose their "masterpiece."
Great post, Sarah! It's nice to hear someone else uses self-bribery to completes tasks -- I'd actually forgotten about that -- note to self--use a movie as a bribe. :)
-Kristin
What? Your characters aren't, like, speaking to you??? How can you be so prosaic!?
Yeah. For me, it's involved with sometimes looking at Google Images - if I'm not careful, for, like hours. And, asking Teh Internets how fast someone's collarbone might heal - I'm sure I'm on the same Watch List; I ask a lot of violent questions, and Google keeps track - and looking at old photo sites, and occasionally the OED - and yes, asking people random questions.
Occasionally, I study recipes...
Yeah, "mystical elements" is sounding better and better.