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After over a week of high activity at the Rensberger Roost, I finally wrote again Saturday. A regular writing marathon. Sixteen pages. 3300 words! Yehaw! Today I worked cleanup on those pages.
I had about a half hour left over before picking up daughter at her play practice. Staring at my computer screen I read, "Chapter Sixteen." That's it. No title. No clue where I want to go next.
You know how you can zoom in when you use your GPS, and if you zoom in too closely, you kind of lose perspective on where you are in relation to where you are going? That's exactly how I felt. Time to pull back. Look at the whole picture again. What scene or scenes am I writing toward? How will I get to those scenes? I hate play by play scenes just to fill the time. I'm thinking a clean jump. But to where? The transition must be seamless.
So, for now, I closed the document. I went to my emails with my expert contact. Found the email that I needed. Uploaded it to my brain. Time to recharge. Let my brain do the pre-writing. I'm confident that when I next sit down to write I'll know what my character needs to do. Or what I need someone else to do to her.
In the meantime, I'm satisfied. The writing is going well. I'm at almost 18K out of an estimated 60K. I know the big scenes I need. I know the climactic scene. It's all those little ones that my characters show me that I have to be patient and wait for. I find that if I force it, I'll usually have to delete it anyway.
Happy writing all.
Aphra Connolly lies to her dad and flies to Seattle just to see her mother, Natalie. But Natalie can’t wait to get Aphra on the next plane home. Sure, she hadn’t told her mom she was coming, and maybe it wasn’t the best timing, but it had been four years since she’d seen her! As Natalie takes Aphra back to the airport, a phone call changes Natalie’s mind and instead of being boomeranged back home, Aphra becomes embroiled in the dangerous world of Natalie’s work as an covert ex-CIA agent.
While Natalie talks with her co-workers, Joe and Stuart, Aphra is isolated on the balcony of Natalie’s apartment, where, soon after, she meets Ryan, Natalie’s hunky neighbor, on the rooftop. But before the day is out Aphra’s boyfriend, Seth, arrives in Seattle and demands she return his ring; she witnesses Joe’s death; she is stalked by a blond man; and she ends up stranded on a mountain top with Natalie, Seth and Stuart. Will they be able to escape whoever is trailing them? Will Seth be able to save his dad by returning the ring? And will Aphra ever be able to connect with her mother again?
DEATH BY LATTE is the type of book that causes you to forget you have cookies in the oven, or that you need to turn out the light because it’s three in the morning and you know you have to get up early. You simply won’t care. You will be so engrossed in the twists and turns of the story that you won’t want to stop reading, especially since Linda Gerber is a master at writing chapter endings that compel you to read on.
DEATH BY LATTE is Linda Gerber’s second murder mystery thriller and I cannot wait to read her other titles. My thirteen-year-old daughter read this book, insisted I read it, and asked me to buy all of her books for her birthday. What better praise can an author receive than that? I only regret that when I give Ms. Gerber’s books to my daughter, I’ll have to wait for her to read them first.
This review was posted
here at
Teens Read Too.
For those of you who immersed yourself in the world of THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION, VOLUME I: THE POX PARTY, you must read M. T. Anderson’s second volume, THE KINGDOM ON THE WAVES. I would highly recommend you read the two volumes in order. In volume two, Octavian escapes the cruelty of Mr. Gitney and, with his former tutor, Dr. Trefusis, on his back, flees across the mud-flats to Boston. Once there, they are able to find lodging, trading only upon the name and reputation of the deathly ill Dr. Trefusis. With war closing in on Boston and their hostess in dire need of payment, Octavian once again finds himself with violin in hand, earning a small amount to apply toward their room and board. At this point, I was still cheering for Octavian, the escaped slave, hoping that he finally would find joy, peace and, most of all, freedom; yet at the same time, knowing that there must be more challenges first.
As the Revolutionary War advances, Octavian hears that the Royalists are promising freedom to all slaves who fight for the King of England. He joins and dons his uniform, a shirt inscribed with the words “Liberty to Slaves.” We are immediately immersed in the struggle to prepare an ill-equipped regiment for war. He becomes a member of Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment. Here, for the first time, he is surrounded by other slaves who speak other languages. They tell glorious tales of their homes in Africa and sing rousing songs that make his heart pound. They see him as different, a white man in a black body, and brand him with the name Buckra.
Octavian marches into his first battle behind other regiments, amazed that those first to confront the Rebels are little more than a sacrifice. He does not understand the logic behind this type of fighting. It’s not long before they are in retreat, fellow soldiers dead and dying all around, and something inside Octavian changes. How can it not?
With the Rebel force surging into Boston, the Royalists take to their ships. Octavian and the Ethiopian Regiment find a new level of darkness in the bowels of their ship. They spend weeks, nay, months aboard their watery foundations. Rations are less than sparse and sickness begins to spread. It’s a relief to row ashore, even if it is to burn Boston out from under the rebels who have claimed it. Men die. Men kill. Octavian knows not whether it be his bullet or another which steals life.
Back aboard ship, the monotony begins anew, broken only by the occasional duties on deck, and the visits of women as they gather laundry, including Nsia, the woman of beautiful voice and dance who takes his tongue and ties it in knots. He is relieved when Dr. Trefusis visits his ship and bades him fill the empty void with studies while they listen to stories of bravery and ingenuity. Stories of slaves escaping their masters to join the promise of freedom offered by Lord Dunmore and his Royal Navy. Octavian learns much about his mother’s tribe in Africa from another soldier from that nation. And as small pox devastates the Ethiopian Regiment, he learns more that he would have liked about the burial customs of his brothers-in-arms.
There is so much history bound up in this volume that it is almost overwhelming. Take your time reading. Savor the beautiful language. Immerse yourself in history from a perspective rarely considered. It is evident that M.T. Anderson spent much time researching his topic before putting pen to paper. Although Octavian is fictional, I feel he is real. I am grateful for the diary he left behind that lets us glimpse what life must have been like for The Ethiopian Regiment. And I am grateful that Mr. Anderson shared a slice of this perspective of our Revolutionary War.
I said it when I reviewed the first volume, THE POX PARTY. Mr. Anderson is brilliant. I can imagine him immersing himself in the history, entertaining his friends in the old English language. There would be no other way to write such prose with this level of accuracy and detail. I am a huge fan of Mr. Anderson and look forward to reading anything he writes. You will, too. Don’t expect it to be easy. It wasn’t easy for The Ethiopian Regiment. THE KINGDOM ON THE WAVES is an immensely satisfying read in so many ways. Octavian is real to me. He will stick in my mind for months. There is no question that this book deserves the gold star.
This review is posted here at Teens Read Too.
We lost one of our geriatric kitties today. Trouble was 15, almost 16. He and his two sisters were born in our home. We've had them longer than we've had our children. When my daughter was a teeny tiny baby, we'd open her bedroom door each morning just enough to let Trouble in. He'd jump in her crib and walk around her, rubbing up against her, till she woke. Even when we moved to our current home, and my daughter was three, we'd let him in her room and he'd jump up on her bed and gently wake her for me. That's when he also started waking my son. He did it literally for years when they were little. I loved it. They didn't get grumpy with him like they tended to with me. What a great start to the day, yes?
Last weekend I began noticing that the community water bowl was dry in the mornings. It didn't take long to figure out who was drinking so much. (His waking me in the morning meowing in my ear kind of made it hard to ignore.) Turns out he was severely diabetic as well as having some kidney issues. We thought we'd be able to manage the diabetes and left his with our friends, his vets, Thursday night and then again Friday night. Dr. Mike even took him home with them to monitor him throughout the night. But Trouble didn't make it.
He was just the coolest cat. If you check out the picture below, you can see he has two toes that have two claws each. He's a six-toed kitty. He was quite gifted in the claw department. He had 26!
As you can tell by his name, he was loads of fun as a kitten and brought our family much joy over the years. He will be sorely missed. His two sisters are definitely missing him already.
Trouble was the king of the house. Without question.
A rare moment with all our pets on the bed.
Trouble is keeping an eye on Bailey, our schnauzer.
The kitty center front, facing away from the camera is Tracksie.
We lost her on Christmas Eve. The two calicos are Trouble's sisters.
The little scamp on the end of the bed is my daughter's kitten, Reeses.
On more fun topic, my husband took my daughter and one of her friends to see Taylor Swift last night. Just behind the railing, the light is brightest on my daughter, elbows on the railing, wavy hair. Yeah. Watch for the hand shake.
Life and living. That's what it's all about. We were fortunate to have so many wonderful years with Trouble. He was one lucky, happy, pampered cat.
...they might be reading! Check out recorded books on PLAYAWAY. I just discovered them at my local library! Too cool! And we're an itty bitty town! I bet you guys had already heard of them. But I'm so excited. What a great way to reach today's teens!
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cynthialord 's book, Rules is featured on the advertisement bookmark. But instead of the familiar yellow duckie, the cover features a red toy car.
Oh, and you can also find adult titles if you wish.
And just for fun, check out this a cappella tribute to John Williams. Listen all the way through. It's worth it. Especially if you like Star Wars.
Voice. The essential element in all writing. You either have it, or you don't. That's what we hear anyway. But then we're told to read, read, read. If you want to write YA, read YA. If you want to write picture books, read picture books. How can you write historical fiction if you hate to read it? Right? It makes sense to me.
So I signed on to review books at Teens Read Too. I surround myself with teens. I read mostly YA books. Eventually, my voice started shining through in my writing. But is that enough? Just reading in your genre?
When I went down to Coral Springs, I listened to I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak on CD. Amazing. I've never done that before. Wait. Not true. On vacations we used to get younger children's books on tape for the kids. But this was different. This wasn't just a 1-3 cassette tape book. This lasted HOURS. A long time to immerse yourself in VOICE. And the voices in that book! So mahy. So varied. And the narrator was amazing! The protagonist meets so many characters. It was a great study in voice.
Now I'm hooked. I'm listening to The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Oh. My. God! The book is incredible! No...don't tell me the ending. Two more CD's to go. But again, I find myself thinking of voice.
Must a character's voice always be the same? Think about it. Don't you use a different language (voice) at home than you use at work? I know I do! (I'd get fired otherwise. LOL.) I use a different voice when I'm talking with teens than adults. And to take it a step further. Is your inner voice different from your spoken voice? Jenna Fox has made me think on this. That's a particularly interesting question. Since, when you write in 1st person, the narrator IS your character. But sometimes, even in first person, you have specific inner thoughts in italics. Should they be the same voice as the narrated voice?
Joyce Sweeney does not let her writers in her critique groups use copies when critiquing. Joyce wants them to be auditory listeners. I wondered why. Now, I think I'm starting to understand. For me, it's about voice. If you've never listened to a book on CD in your genre, consider doing so. And while you're listening, think about voice.
Happy writing all.
Many writers are solitary people. Me? I'm a teacher. I love to talk. Although I find myself often more comfortable with my students than I am with adults. But the more I write, the more I read, the more I find I want to write and read. When given the choice of a party with adults versus staying at home in comfortable solitude with my family nearby, I'll pick the solitude almost every time.
Over the years I've found myself resenting phone intrusions more and more. That demanding, insistent ring that says answer me now. The voice on the other end demanding that you stop what you're doing to take care of what I want now. And I find myself snapping at my mother, or an unsuspecting nurse just trying to schedule and appointment. Who's fault is that?
I tell my son that video games are dangerous. They change the wiring of your brain and put your thinking in a rut. They make your thoughts feel clumsy when you try to focus on something outside that world of technology. Yet when my own children interrupt the world of my own making, my characters, their interactions, their little problems, I react with sigh, a roll of the eye, exasperation at being interrupted...again.
That's when I realize I have to pull back from my addiction. Writing is so important to me. This business of craving the approval for my writing, the desire to hold my novel in my hands, consumes me. I must crawl out of my self-imposed confinement, my writer's cocoon, and stretch my limbs. I open my eyes and remember the life that surrounds me.
It's important to remember to live. What good is a book in the hand without a loved one to share it with? What good is a publication contract if your children no longer bother to share their day with you?
I write because I love it. I write because I hope to make someone's life richer in the reading of my words. But I live because I love. And to love, I must live. Take a break. Breathe in the freshness of the morning air. Listen to your children. Laugh with your husband. Your writing with be better for it. I promise.
I just found out that Beastly by Alex Flinn (alexwrites) is going to be made into a movie! Wahoo! She's a terrific writer and so deserves this. Read her announcement here!
My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's about a year ago. Today I went to a symposium on Parkinson's Disease to learn more. Uh...it was not without humor.
I couldn't find my writing notebook last night. I couldn't find it this morning, after a quick glance around. It wasn't at school. Looked more after I got home. All over. Moved stacks of junk mail. Looked on my desk. On the dining room table. The table by my chair. The kitchen. The bedroom. Kids room. The laundry room. The car. Even my bathroom. Beginning to feel panicked, (sooo many WIP ideas in it), I even drove back to school and searched my classroom again. Nada. Came home. Stood in entry to living room telling son that I couldn't find it. Trying very hard not to panic. Looked under the table by my chair. Behind the trash can.
You guessed it. It was there. Standing on edge! Which explains why I didn't find it when feeling under the table. Unbelievable. Yeah. Guess it's time to de-clutter. Sigh.
No...gonna write first!
Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club as well as many other novels. This video is somewhat lengthy, but if you have 20-25 minutes, I think you'll be glad you watched it. I love the part where she talks about how we, as creative people, get help from the universe. So many "yes" moments.
She says to put yourself in the story until there is a transparency between yourself and the story you are creating. I like that. Total immersion.
Thank my mom. She's the one who got me thinking. A couple of days ago I posted about my muse and Mom said she almost commented but didn't want me to be embarrassed. Uh...I'm not too easily embarrassed. You know that better than anyone, Mom. Heh. Heh. But she wanted to point out that I called my muse a HE. "Don't you know the muses are female?" she said. I didn't. I don't think I ever took a course about Greek mythology. Heck, I don't even know if they WERE mythological! Grin. So, I decided I should educate myself.
Here's what I found. There were nine muses, and, as usual, Mom's right. They are all female. Now, I should add that Barbara, one of my wonderful writer buddies, has a fabulous historical fiction novel where I should have learned this. And, I admit, as I read, I found it to be familiar. But even so, I still feel that my muse is male. I don't know why. I don't know what he looks like, (I rarely picture characters in books either), and I have no idea what he calls himself. I'm just glad he calls me. Grin.
So, if you research the Greek men, it seems they all thought of themselves as Gods. Hmmm...Maybe that's why I think of my muse as male? Wait...I'm not sure I want to go there. My muse can certainly get a big head and then there will be no keeping him under control. You know? As it is, he certainly knows how to go off on a tangent, he gets harebrained ideas, and he often totally distracts me from the more mundane things of life...like remembering to pick up my daughter from play practice. You know, meaningless things like that. LOL. Yeah. Just like any man, it's a good idea to stroke the ego often, but you don't want them getting the idea they're in charge.
I'm trying something new today. Usually, when I write, I make myself write in order, straight through, beginning to finish. If an idea comes and I'm not ready for it, I just jot a note and plod forward anyway. But this morning a scene popped in my head that I know won't happen till probably the last third of the book. I'm talking the whole, entire scene. Not just a snippet. (I couldn't just write notes on the shower wall, in other words.)
So, I'm writing it. All of it. Now, before I lose it. The scene is too important to lose the nuances that I feel right now. The relationships between the characters in the scene. What have I learned today? Listen to your muse. He's a gift not to be wasted.
I had a great time in Coral Springs! Made it there and back safely, although I'll admit that I stopped at one of the turnpike plazas on the way home, after only driving for about an hour and a half. I'd just leaned the driver's seat back when hubby called. After chatting for a few minutes, I told him I was going to take a quick 15 minute nap since I could feel fatigue coming on and the plazas are 45 minutes apart. I didn't want to risk driving that much farther tired. Plus, the traffic was heavy.
I slept for an HOUR! Gee, I guess it was a good thing I stopped, huh?
So, the trip was terrific. I got wonderful, encouraging feedback. I didn't really come home on cloud nine as such, but more feeling validated. That what I'm doing is working. The voice is right. The tension is right. The hook is fabulous! Yes! Yes! Yes! But...now I have much work before me. I must finish the book. Dare I try to have it finished by the Fl. SCBWI workshop June 20? Sure. Why not? It's a goal to shoot for!
Oh, and rememberber my question about quoting teen fiction in my novel? Yeah. Can't do it. Well, not unless I have lots and lots of money. Which I don't. See, I thought it best to quote award winners, so they would still be in print years down the road, (making the huge assumption that mine will also be in print...LOL) BUT...if I quote award winners, then I'll be paying them significant royalty fees for the right to use their words in my book. IF they even agree to let me do it. So, I can reference the fiction my protagonist is reading, free advertisement and all, but when she has to read some fiction out loud, I'm going to have to make up some fictional work for her to read.
Yeah, fictional fiction. Get it? I just crack myself up. So sad..... *shakes head*.
Ok....off to make dinner. Happy writing all! Enjoy yourself!!!!
I leave after lunch. A five and a half hour drive south, one night's stay with a sweetheart of a writer buddy, only to drive straight back tomorrow. Why? To go to my mentor's 2 hour invite-only critique group meeting to share the first 10 pages of my WIP. Oh...and lunch with wonderful writer buddies that I only get to see, at most, twice a year. I hate to drive. I hate driving somewhere I've never been before.
I can't wait!
Call me crazy.
Or call me a writer obsessed!
ETA: NOT the sweetheart of my writer buddy! She's the sweetheart! LOL.
Left wrist, mild. Right wrist, moderate to severe. Not severe because I still have feeling. So now I'm told I'll have to have surgery to correct it. Mind you, I'm not in pain at all. I'm experiencing occasional numbness and the doctors think it's making my Raynaud's symptoms worse. A friend has recommended massage therapy (saying it's 90% effective) before undergoing the knife. She says that carpal tunnel surgery rarely really fixes the problem, although my doctor says otherwise.
Any experience with this?
I'm playing with the idea of quoting and footnoting various passages of the books my main character reads in my WIP. There will be a couple of chapters that must quote what she's reading. I know I'll need to carefully choose her reading selections to keep from dating to book too much, but at the same time, her choice of reading material will be one way that my reader will see her growth. I know, weird. But I'm curious to see how else it's been done.
Can you give me some mg (or ya) titles that refer to current novels within their own?
Thanks for the help!
I just found out my daughter is watching The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, (book written by John Boyne), in her language arts class! I didn't even know the DVD was out! They are loving it! My daughter said this morning, that she hopes they finish it today, she can't wait to see how it ends. Obviously, she has not read the book yet. The class is instead reading The Devil's Arithmetic"by Jane Yolen. I wonder what she'll have to say about the movie once they finish it.
I'm taking the day off today. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I left sub plans for the entire day, and I'm going to spend the morning on my WIP. Yipee!!! I gave myself an hour to "play" on the internet. Uhh...I have about 15 minutes left. Grin.
Happy writing all!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't wait to see this!
Anybody using Friendfeed? I like the idea of being able to post in one place. But I'm not sure if this is how it works. I haven't signed up yet but I see they list LinkedIn, Facebook, Flicker, Twitter, and several others. What I'd really love is to be able to post to specific groups. Not everyone wants to hear my writing rambling, and there are things I might want to post that I don't want my students to read.
Comments?
See, when I think I've just got to get out of teaching, I learn something new that reminds me that I might just want to stay in the classroom to stay connected to my teens.
Did you know there's more than one meaning for the word bobbleheads?
lizannewrites posted this link on her journal and it was so good I thought I'd share it as well.
http://www.powerofattitudemovie.com/index.html
Thanks, Lizanne!
Yeah. That. For some reason my Word 2007 has stopped doing spell check. It has no problem with grammar check, especially finding sentence fragments. (I like them, darn it!) So I spent over an hour Thursday evening trying to fix the problem. The thing is, it works on my new laptop, just not the old one. My writer buddy suggested that I may need to reinstall it on the old laptop, and that maybe the 2003 wasn't deleted. I'll look at that later.
Meanwhile, I got out of town with my hubby last night. This last week has been incredibly stressful at work. (You don't even want to know...) So I ate prime rib, and ordered some kind of raspberry concoction. Very good, but not worth the $7.00 or whatever it was. Then we killed some time at Best Buy. I bought a new laser printer! I've been doing much more printing than I used to and my inkjet was killing me on ink. We bought a Brother that prints only in black and white, and is already set up for wireless printing. I just printed from my living room! Sweet! I didn't know Brother made printers, I thought they made sewing machines. For now, I'm happy.
A night out with the one you love, and a tech purchase will cure all that ails you. I'm ready to write today!
Have a great one, all!
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