Category: Writing

Critical Role

Charity, Writing

Well, I hate to admit it, but with all the cosplay craziness around here I’ve neglected my duties as co-admin of the charity anthology and have not been critiquing other writers’ works like I should have been. This morning (and possibly the next few) is going to be for playing catch-up.

I feel especially bad because the anthology has ground to a halt as writers await their critiques so they can move on with revisions and such. It’s not 100% my fault, but I do carry some of the blame for that.

I think part of my problem is that, in this group, critiquing seems like a never-ending process. I’ve posted so many updates to one of my pieces that I’ve lost count, even after thinking it was long since polished. I can see how that can be discouraging to the other writers, so I may have a talk with the head admin of the group about posting some positive things, like which works are “finished” and ready for publication. Perhaps that would raise morale and get things moving again.

Suppose I could write some more stuff too.

In the morning, before the dawn

Insomnia, Poetry, Writing

In the morning, before the dawn

I wake again, my sleep is gone

Also gone now from my day

Is any hope of restful play

 

I try to make some breakfast food

To lighten now my sour mood

But mood stays dark as starry sky

The time it ticks and passes by

Still my sleep I can’t regain

The path laid down is very plain

Try as I might, I can’t go back

To dreams so bright and room so black

I stretch and moan and groan and yawn

In the morning, before the dawn

The life of a cat

Cats, Musings, Thoughts, Writing

Man, some days I wish I could be a housecat.

Sleeping all the time. When I’m not sleeping, I’m eating, drinking, or playing. I have people that love me. I have food provided. I have sand to poop in.

Any surface is a bed. Any surface. I can get comfortable in the most uncomfortable of positions. My house is my domain, even when I’m the smallest person there.

Any thing is a toy. Any thing. A ball. A bell. A pen. A ball of my own fur. The only limits to my play are the limits to my imagination … which has no limits.

I am loved so much. I get petted and scratched and snuggled. My every need provided, my every want met.

Some days I wish I could be a housecat.

 

 

Conundrum

Cosplay, Musings, Sleep, Writing

Well, it’s Monday–that dreaded day when you can’t seem to decide whether you want to get out of bed, let alone what you want to do with your time before work once you get up.

I kind of want to write, but I’m not really “feeling” it right now. I know I need to sew, but I’m a little burned out on that one after a busy weekend working on cosplay.

Or, there’s a third option: I could just dick around on the Internet until it’s time to get ready for work. Not exactly productive (okay, not at all productive), but maybe that’s what I need…to not be productive for a little while. To just lie here with my laptop and breathe.

Or maybe sit here and breathe. Damn sunburned back. Ouch.

Onward towards Twenty

Novel, Sci-fi, Writing

No, I’m not turning twenty years old. I’m long, long past that. No, I’m talking about 20,000 words on my manuscript. It’s slow going, but I broke 19,000 this morning and think I have a decent momentum.

The story rapidly evolved from straight sci-fi to sci-fi/dystopian, which works fine for me. It’s interesting to try to imagine what the world will be like in a century or two. I haven’t fully explored the possibilities yet, but I already have ideas brewing. What wildlife would survive the crap we humans are doing to the environment today? What repercussions will our actions today have on the future environment? What cities/countries will survive the passage of time and what ones will fall?

With my first book, I kept the time frame current and used Christian mythology as a base for some of what I was writing. Now? Now I have almost total autonomy. I’m not creating a new world; I’m not up to full world-building status yet. Still, it’s envisioning the future of this world, so it’s a creation of sorts. I’m creating the future. It’s unreal.

Well, of course it’s unreal. It’s a work of fiction. But you get my point.

Everyone’s a Critic…but that Doesn’t Mean You Should Listen

Art, Drawing, Learning, Poetry, Thoughts, Writing

So I’ve taken a sidetrack from the manuscript to do some more work on the charity anthology (that is, in fact, still in the works). It made me think a bit about critiques and what they mean to a writer/artist (for the purposes of brevity, I’m going to be long-winded for a moment and say that for the rest of this post I’m going to just refer to all writers and artists as “artist”).

They say everyone’s a critic–and they’re right. No two people are going to agree 100% on the style of any piece of art, whatever the medium. But some criticisms are useful. So how do you tell which criticisms to take to heart and which ones to ignore?

In my opinion, the artist is the ultimate decision maker on their art, regardless of what others say. As an artist, you are the creator. You are God. But even a god can make mistakes, and therein lies the rub. You have to be open to acknowledging those mistakes and making changes based on the critiques you receive.

Take your time when giving and receiving critiques. As a critic, try to put yourself in the mindset of the artist. What are they trying to say? Is that sentence fragment on purpose? Is that swipe of the brush an accident or a happy little tree? As an artist, think long and hard about what the critic is saying. Do you really need to rephrase that fragment? Should you make that brush stroke into a happy little tree?

It’s all subjective, of course. Well, not grammar…that’s objective. Except when it’s subjective. Savvy?

Critiques are that simple, and they’re that complex.

Workin’ Hard for the Money

Exercise, Fitness, Novel, Writing

Well, I made it through a long, tiring work day. My back is sore, my legs are sore, my arms are sore … in fact, not too many places on me aren’t sore. Still, I made it through, and I got rare praise from the surgeon.

Tomorrow is an off day, and though it’s my anniversary (yay!–three years strong), my husband will be working until 1pm, giving me plenty of time to write. I also plan on writing some more tonight. If I keep it up, I’ll break 20k before the weekend. Pretty amazing, considering the first draft of Whispers of Death was not even 40k words long, and this book is in its infancy still.

I probably should exercise tomorrow, too. I have got to get back into exercising. Just because work gave me a workout today is no excuse to not get back into the swing of things exercise-wise. I have the day off, my husband will be occupied with work, and I can try one of the workout DVDs I have in the living room while he works from the bedroom. I get so self-conscious when anyone sees me working out, even my husband, so this should be interesting … he’d better not laugh. 😉

Back on Track (for now)

Novel, Writing

Well, thanks to the advice of an author friend of mine, I think I’m slowly getting back on track with the manuscript. It’s still slow going, but it’s picking up speed and I think I’m going to have a better time of it … for the time being.

Writing is so hard to predict. I don’t know how full-time authors do it. I would be staring at the screen for half the time. I guess it comes down to focus and practice and developing a routine, but even with my routine of writing (or trying to write) every morning before work and every weekend when I have time, I still hit blocks.

This week I have Wednesday off (which, though it’s my anniversary, should give me time to write since my husband will be at work for half the day), so my plan is to write as much as I can.

Will I reach my goal of a completed first draft by the end of the year? It’s looking less and less likely as I get more and more stuck, but I still hold out hope. Whispers of Death was going slowly at first as well, but I blew through the ending once I had a good momentum going. This book will be interesting, because I sort of wrote a scene in the sixth or seventh chapter that belongs more like 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the book. So I have to keep the scene and just write the parts in between. Which will be tricky, given the way I normally write. I like to write in order, but I hadn’t planned on the scene being as integral to the plot, and I surely hadn’t planned on it spawning a new plotline of its own.

I love it when a story takes on a life of its own–probably why I enjoy pantsing more than planning–but this one is really challenging me. Political plots and intrigue aren’t my thing, but apparently they’re the thing this book wants to have.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Novel, Writing

Thank the Gods for the “Find” feature in Word.

So, let me give you some backstory here: Every Wednesday, Twitter has a trending hashtag called #1linewed where there is a theme set and writers can post a line or two from one of their works that fits that theme. For example, today’s theme is “eyebrows.”

Dear Gods, I never realized how many times people raised their eyebrows in my current manuscript!

Being the obsessive-compulsive person that I am, I can’t just let it go until it comes time for edits and whatnot. I have to fix it now. That has been the majority of my writing this morning–taking out a multitude of eyebrow raising and finding other ways for the characters to express emotion.

It happens. Writers get their little quirks or favorite phrases and they don’t even realize until revision/edits that they’re doing it. Well, apparently I’m an eyebrow-raiser. I don’t remember doing it in my last novel, but I think I’m trying too hard to “show don’t tell.” I know there are other facial expressions/body language-type things I can use, but I guess my go-to is the eyebrows.

I suppose I should thank whoever picked today’s theme. Now I can go through and fix this before it gets out of hand, and be wary of it as I write further.

Monday (Lack of) Motivation

Celebrity, Sewing, Writing

Ah, a Monday morning off. So relaxing.

Except I need to be working on cosplay stuff. I’m so close to being finished with both of our cosplays for Phoenix Comicon. I need to get my ass out of bed and get to working on them, though.

The last few things are pretty simple, just time-consuming. I’m still debating on making a belt for myself versus buying one. It would be pretty cool to be able to say that I made the entire cosplay myself (aside from the lightsaber), but do I really want to make another belt?

I should also be getting ready for my interview with an actor this morning…another rarity lately. It’s an actor that I enjoy, and I get to ask some burning questions about a show I like. Win-win. I have the questions ready and typed up in a Word file (makes transcribing afterwards so much easier), but I’ll need to clear off some space in the craft room for me to take the call. I have to have my laptop there because I don’t want to waste printing a lone sheet of paper just for the call, and the sewing machine is smack dab in the middle of in the way.

Or…I could write some more. Haven’t gotten anything new written in the past few days. I need to step up on that if I’m going to finish the draft by the end of the year like I planned.

I think I’m going to go get an energy drink. Maybe that will get my gears turning.