Creature Care

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Having finished evening pet care, busily scrubbing the sink until it shone, I came to realize that little time is spent on caring for myself.  It’s a common theme among peoples of all situations, but worth addressing.  After all, if we adults don’t care for ourselves, who will?

And the first to suffer is my inner artist.  That’s something any reader of Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” knows all too well to be a true shame.  All the same, I’ve succumbed to bad habits and failed to refuel my creative nature.  Time for that to change.

Never a fan of New Year’s resolutions, for goal setting should never revolve around the calendar, I do intend to change this behavior as soon as possible.  So why not now?  There are plenty of fun projects at my fingertips; just a few minutes of letting my inner kid play would do wonders.

First, of course, I need to feed the fish.  Oh, well, I hope you’ll join me in doing something fun today!

Ways of Seeing

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In college, one of our assigned books was Ways of Seeing by John Berger, based on a series of 30-minute films in the early 1970’s.  While I recommend the book, this isn’t a review of it.  Rather, the title is evokative of a state of mind.  It’s on my shelf in my line-of-site from where I do a lot of my writing, so it’s something that’s in the background of my consciousness and the words have become a phrase in the substrata of my mind.

The way we see is unique.  Each of us could look at the same scene and come away with different impressions and imagery of what we saw.  This is valuable and necessary.  We don’t have to believe it for it to be true; we just have to see.

Do you have a camera, even just the simple one in your phone?  (Granted, some of the smart phones out there have cameras that are anything but simple.)  Have you experimented with just shooting a picture series of what you look at every day?  Try this:

Tomorrow, as you go about your daily round, take pictures.  If you drive, pause and snap what you see out your windshield before you start driving.  If you walk or take transit, snap pictures of stuff you see every time you go on your route.  The more mundane, the better.  Like a detective, we are after data and facts, not art.

Do you dislike pictures of yourself?  Experiment by taking one picture of yourself every day this week.  Do not judge; just take the picture and record the date.  “This is what I looked like on Tuesday.”  Play with different expressions and poses.  If you find yourself with one particular expression a lot, make that expression (for example, the one you have on your face when the phone rings) and take a picture of yourself.  What do you look like with that expression?

If you don’t have a camera, there are several good, inexpensive models you can find here, here, and here.  See if you have a friend who would loan you theirs.  If you have an affiliation with a school, they sometimes have them available for loan.

The point here is to become acquainted with how we see the world.  A fun twist on this exercise is to do it at the same time as your kids and then compare notes.  See what you might learn about each other.  Be prepared – leave your expectations at the door.  When you open your eyes and look, you’ll never know what you might see.

Have fun!

Darla’s Recommended Read: The Sound of Many Waters

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Do you enjoy novels that take you on a mysterious, extraordinary journey?  If so, Sean Bloomfield’s first publication is one you definitely want to pick up.  While written in an intelligent way still easy enough to follow without causing brain freeze, this particular trip takes the reader over land and sea, back and forth in time, and even into the human soul.

I must say it was known to me from the time of download that, unlike many of my Kindle e-books, this plot is not about romance.  Don’t expect to read some simple story about soul mates overcoming all odds to be together.  What you will find in this plot, however, is lots of heart.

“The Sound of Many Waters” follows two stories through amazing twists and turns, ultimately converging in a way virtually impossible to foresee.  If anyone out there guessed the ending, you have my utmost respect.
The two tales are intertwined by Spanish gold – one following a Spanish Conquistador who loses everything but begins reclaiming his humanity and the other tracking a modern day fellow with a good heart and extremely rotten luck.  Whether or not you particularly like these very human men, you cannot help being riveted by their ensuing trials, tribulations, and intermittent triumphs.  And the people they meet along the way are entirely tangible, however fantastic or humble his or her role might be.
I implore you to check out “The Sound of Many Waters”, the first book in many months that I plan to re-read from start to finish.  There is so much delightful symbolism that I want to journey with these characters again, especially knowing what I know now.  And I hope to get friends and family hooked into the tale, with hope of sharing my experience.

To read the author’s own synopsis, learn more about him, and find a link through which to purchase “The Sound of Many Waters,” please go to SeanBloomfield.com – The Sound of Many Watersand poke around.  You’ll be glad you did.  Happy reading!

NaNo; Now What?

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A few days ago, I succeeded in amassing a fifty thousand word rough draft to meet the National Novel Writing Month challenge.  I am grateful to NaNoWriMo creators at the non-profit Office of Letters & Light, as well as members of this blog, for the opportunity and the inspiration that made my creation possible.  With the closure of that November madness, I have relaxed from my frantic writing pace (a bit too much, truth be told – I don’t want to lapse back into a recent state in which I barely wrote at all).

So, now what goal should I set?  Wise folk have told me it is best to step back from a new WIP, letting the creative mind take a break between the processes of writing and editing.  With that in mind, I incidentally plan to focus initially on writing for blog posts.  One particular endeavor is overdue for a new chapter on a serial story.
Obviously, posting chapters requires a very different technique from the NaNo rush where no time can be spared to look back.  NaNo is simply a mad rush to produce new material.  Instead of just diving into writing for that blog, I first need to review the chapters so far posted, getting back into the mood of that tale.  I think the distinct change of pace will be most welcome.

Please wish me luck.  And happy December, all.  May you create in abundance, however you proceed.

NaNo No No

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It’s no secret that I’m participating with National Novel Writing Month (NaNo for short).  Sadly, I find myself in a very different place from when I wrote my Writer Wednesday installment for this blog.

Today I sit at the keyboard wondering why the house is so quiet at 1:30 in the afternoon instead of simply enjoying the fact.  Usually I hear talk radio wafting from the office next door where my husband works from home.  There’s no sound at all, though, and I realize he may be taking a rare nap.

This realization should make me happy.  After all, he’s not going to disturb my writing if he’s asleep, right?  Instead, I found myself wishing he would knock on my door and ask me to come out to spend time with him and the cats.

Why is this?  Sure, it’s nice to be wanted but, frankly, the inner critic is telling me to throw in the towel.  The dream sequence idea that so motivated me the other day seems to have taken over.  My most recent story additions consist of nothing more than aforementioned dream sequences, endless sex scenes, or worse yet, a puzzling combination of the two.

The predicament is actually more funny than truly worrisome, I know.  And this bump in the road should motivate me to jump off in another direction, even if the new tangent makes no sense.  That’s what the motivational messages on the NaNo web page suggest.

Instead I’m tempted to turn on the television and see what mindless drivel might distract me from my frustration.  And therein lies the “no no” from my blog post title.  Stopping now, just after 2:00 when possibly a crazily productive hour could lie ahead (I typically write until three on a good day), is a rotten idea.

So, I’m going to wrap this up and jump back into my silly, meandering, but growing manuscript.  Trimming, editing, and overall refined plotting can wait.  There are words to write that have never seen the light of day.  That’s too big an opportunity, some might say even a responsibility, to quit now.

I hope you’re having a productive day, whatever your endeavor.  Just keep moving forward and you’ll hopefully find yourself advancing to a better place with every step.  Even if your walk only seems to take you backward, I’m rooting for you from my own little path, so hang in there!

Darla’s Writer Wednesday – Keeping the Faith

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Today I find myself nearly smack in the middle of National Novel Writing Month.  If you’re a writer, I hope you’re with me.

This, my third effort, started shakily.  With only a title thought up on a whim, one character that has starred in numerous unpublished short stories, and the vaguest of plot concepts, I fell prey to my biggest failing – editing instead of writing.  The word count floundered, the tale going nowhere as I painstakingly sought the perfect verb for a single sentence instead of pouring forth the paragraphs required to generate fifty thousand words for the month.
Then yesterday happened.  Dreams from the night before woke me with vivid if nonsensical images.  I wrote what I remembered in my morning pages (like a journal, it’s an exercise recommended by Julia Cameron’s “Artist’s Way” creativity workshop), whether to purge them from mind or record them for posterity, I do not know.
Still getting an early start after that, I sat at the keyboard with no clue how to continue.  The people on the page meandered through some dialogue when the notion of a dream sequence occurred to me.  I’m sure you know where this is going, but I’ll say it anyway.  Why not use the new material my sleeping mind generated?  I proceeded with my largest daily word count ever.
The whole sequence might be throw-away material; I don’t know yet.  But knowing I’ve produced something that has never before existed has left me invigorated to keep going.  And as soon as I post this, I’m going to get back into that document and strive forth.

I’ll say again, I hope you’re with me.

Monday with Aunt Noony – and a Fireside Chat with Kimberley Troutte!

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My friend, Kimberley Troutte, is up for several awards and I wanted to chat with her about the awards process and how it fits in with the rest of her writing. She was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to chat with me. Grab a cuppa and join me as I get to talk with Kimberley Troutte!

ACN: Kimberley, you said you received word that your manuscript, Epicenter (also called Her Guardian, His Angel), is a finalist in the RWA contests Launch A Star AND the Melody of Love. You also have a second manuscript, God Whisperer, in the finals of the Hot Prospect contest. First, congratulations! That’s awesome news!

Can you tell me a little more about Epicenter?

KT: I would love to. Epicenter, is the dramatic story of an American philanthropist and a Haitian doctor who are fighting to save lives when the greatest earthquake Haiti has ever known rips their world apart.

ACN: How did they get considered for Launch a Star and Melody of Love? Is that something you had to submit, or were you nominated? How does that work?

KT: These are writing contests in two different RWA Chapters (Romance Writers of the World). I entered online, paid my fee and kept my fingers crossed. Preliminary judges read all the entries, score them based on predetermined scoresheets, and determine which entries are good enough to move to the final rounds. I was honored and thrilled to hear that I was moving to the finals where agents and editors determine the final standings of the winners.

And the nail biting begins…

ACN: Is there a contest fee?

KT: Yep. Usually around $15-35 USD.

ACN: How about God Whisperer? What is that about?

KT: It’s the story of a mother and her eight-year-old son who are hiding for their lives in a Danish community in the hills of California when the boy becomes famous due to an ear surgery that allows him to hear God.

God Whisperer is near and dear to my heart. I wrote it because my little boy was born without an ear canal or eardrum in his right ear. The outside of the ear looked normal (albeit a little smaller than the left) but he had no hole! Very rare. The amazing surgeons at UCLA recreated his ear, drilling the hole, making an eardrum from his own tissue, and lifting the bones so that they could pick up sounds. It was a miracle when my boy could hear out of both ears for the first time in his life and I wanted to pour that love and miracle into a book.

ACN: How did it get selected for Hot Prospect? Is that something you did on your own, or were you nominated? How does that work?

KT: I entered it in the online RWA writing contest. I was so pleased that it was a finalist in the single-title category that I cried.

ACN: What made you want to be considered for these?

KT: I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope to win :-), but mostly I entered these contests looking for answers. I had made huge revisions to the beginnings of both manuscripts and wanted to know if the changes worked.

First chapters are hard for me. I tend to revise them several times before the book is ready. I always worry that I might be starting in the wrong place, or in the wrong point of view, or including too much backstory, or…

The questions I hoped that the judges would help me answer were:

  • Would readers be hooked enough to want to invest their precious time to read on?
  • Am I clear—not too much backstory but enough information so that the reader is not confused?
  • Are the character likeable?
  • Is the plot interesting?

I was thrilled to pieces to see that the preliminary judges liked my first chapters, OMG they really did.

ACN: How do you find contests fit into your writing process? Is it something you do out of enjoyment, or is it part of your overall marketing strategy?

KT: Contests give me a chance to see where I am succeeding and falling short so that I can improve my story before other readers and publishing professionals see it. I always keep in mind that judging is subjective but if two judges touch on the same weak point, it probably needs to be changed.

ACN: What advice would you give to a writer wanting to start out competing? Where would a person start and what strategies could you recommend?

KT: I would recommend going to the RWA [Romance Writers of America] website. There are all sorts of contests for the unpublished and published alike and you don’t have to be a member of RWA to enter. Make sure you read the rules carefully and email the contest coordinator if you have any questions. I would choose a contest that offers judges feedback so that you can learn and grow from their advice. And remember that it is a subjective process. All judges, just like readers, are not the same. I have had one judge love the chapter while the other disliked it rather intensely. That’s the way it goes sometimes. If you are willing to put yourself out there and enter with an open mind, determined to use the contest as a tool, you should be able to learn something from it.

ACN: I wish you every success and, regardless of whether you win, you should be proud for having entered. That takes guts and I’m sure proud of you.

KT: Thank you so much. I am in a place of happy shock. I’m so grateful that judges gave up their time to help me become a better writer. It’s such a gift.

Write on!

Kimberley Troutte

Writer Wednesday: Power to the People

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Betcha thought this was gonna be about the election, eh?  Nope!  It’s about personal empowerment!

Aunt Noony’s Five Tips to Regain Your Power and Your Voice

  1. Try morning pages.  Write three pages of longhand writing in the morning, each day.
  2. Eat clean.  Close your mouth, honey, and don’t put that crap in there.  You know the crap I mean.  Treat your body like a fine, precious object, ’cause it is.
  3. Go to bed.  Make sure to get lots of good sleep.
  4. Say no!  Keep your schedule clear of minutiae that only pleases others.  Schedule time for yourself and for passtimes you enjoy.
  5. Follow your passion!  What excites you?  Do that thing.  Don’t know yet?  Get yourself a copy of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and experiment until you find something.  Don’t be afraid to play; all the big kids do it!
And remember!  Your vote, and voice, are critical!  ~hugs~